Just Who Exactly is Gezzamatic? Part 2

So yeah, Forrest. Y'all know about it by now. I think I can modestly claim it has been successful, at least in gaining the attention and interest of the mtb community. Whether it has been successful in transforming the economic fortunes of Forrest is not a question I can answer. Indeed it is a question that would receive widely differing answers from the good people of that town.

I was the project manager for two years. Based in Melbourne, I had a DSE colleague based in Forrest who was the arms and legs and local face of the project. I also had a steering committee of Parks Victoria and other DSE people who also had to be satisfied with the decision that were being made (by me, mostly). There were also some local mountain bikers engaged on the project that were fairly critical in shaping the overall project.

Early on in the project we realised that we needed to bring in someone external to help with the design process, someone who was known in the mountain bike community and would lend some much needed street cred to the project (let's face it, government agencies are not always known for being in touch with the 'people' especially youngish, outdoorsy types like mtb'ers). We chose Glen Jacobs and his business partner Dylan Jeffries. 

At the time they were still using the Mudcow Visions moniker, the legacy from their days as mountain bike film makers. They made the trip from Cairns down to Forrest, rugged up against the antarctic cold and got on with the job. They met with all the stakeholders and tried to distill from each person what their hopes and ideas for the project were. Eventually they delivered the final concept plan to me which outlined the Mudcow Vision vision for Forrest.

It was the start of a fortuitous business relationship - I now work for Glen and Dylan as their only full-time employee. I guess at some point during our relationship as client (me) and contractor (them) we became friends, and I think both parties had a realization that we could benefit each other. For me, going to work at World Trail (the new name of the company) represented an opportunity that I would never be offered again and I knew I would never forgive myself if I didn't roll the dice and grab with both hands. For them, I bought two things - knowledge of how their clients (mostly government agencies) operate and the environmental credentials that their clients were always asking for. That was about two years ago - I think I left DSE in April 2007.

So that's the short version on how I came to be a full time trail builder.