For our 50th episode, we’ve seized on the opportunity to do something pretty special and bring you a joint episode with another new podcast, The Gravel Lot. We’ve talked a lot on the show over the past several months about the positive effects of fitness on our communities, and this week I get to talk to a couple of guys who have real world experience in helping to make it happen.
For our 50th episode, we’ve seized on the opportunity to do something pretty special and bring you a joint episode with another new podcast, The Gravel Lot. We’ve talked a lot on the show over the past several months about the positive effects of fitness on our communities, and this week I get to talk to a couple of guys who have real world experience in helping to make it happen.
Doug McClintock and Jon Wolery are with the Cincinnati Off-Road Alliance (CORA), which is the local chapter of the International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA). CORA has built something pretty special in and around their city, that is a case study in intentional, effective community development. We compare notes on the different paths our IMBA chapters have taken over the past several years, and detail some of the challenges we face together.
We cover how communities are built around a unifying struggle, and how not everybody has to agree, or even get along, for the group to be cohesive and productive. We talk about how to harness passion, create buy-in, and create connections to the organizations around us to become part of a rising tide. The result is a fun and candid conversation that contains lessons for members of any community that wants to see their tribe grow and succeed. It was also a chance for me to play the opposite role as a guest on their show, and talk about some of the successes and failures I’ve seen as a volunteer and race director for my IMBA chapter.