One trail enthusiast is helping transform Missouri towns into mountain biking destinations

The nonprofit GORC Gravity has already helped six small Missouri communities that formerly leaned on mining, such as Ironton and Steelville, transform undeveloped hills into mountain bike parks and trail systems.
Dave Schulz keeps detailed notes of the trails he’s worked on in a small black notebook. The cover is peeling from the years of carrying it to different parks across Missouri, and he’s filled more than 100 pages with the details of the mountain biking trails he’s helped to develop.

Schulz, who formerly worked in law enforcement in national parks and is a lifelong biker and nature lover, volunteers to work with local governments and bikers to build trails. The 41-year-old does this work as part of a nonprofit he started with friend Steve Friedman in 2019 to support mountain bike park development.