Outdoor Allies: Philip Darden

Ever wondered how you can do more for public lands but you aren’t sure where to start? Outdoor Alliance’s Outdoor Allies series explores how other outdoor adventurers got their start in advocacy work and their advice for how you can harness your passion for the outdoors into advocacy for the land and water you love. Philip Darden is the Executive Director of the Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association (SORBA), a regional organization with 47 chapters across the southeast.

Can you tell us how you first got into mountain biking, and what about it drew you in?

I started out as a kid riding bikes with friends in the suburbs of Atlanta. When I went off to college, there weren't as many mountain biking opportunities. I had some friends who rode trails about an hour from Auburn, so I started asking, “What would it take to build trails closer to here?” The state park allowed us to start building, and that really got me into the advocacy side of things. I was racing at the time, which is a very singular thing to do. I got burned out and thought, “What else could I do to affect more people who just want to get out and want to ride their bike, regardless of competition or not?” I helped get a chapter of SORBA started in 2012, and it just kind of went from there.

SORBA began in 1989, the same time as IMBA, the International Mountain Biking Association. Can you talk a bit about how the two work together?

SORBA got its start in 1989 in the Atlanta area and spread through Georgia, then South Carolina. Eventually it became a regional organization, and we now have 47 chapters across the Southeast. Tom Sauret, the original Executive Director at SORBA, was instrumental in how we started out working together. Having a partner like IMBA on the national level is a good thing because you can go to them and say, “Hey this is what we're doing, what are you seeing elsewhere?” A lot of the time trail organizations are on the same track, and the insight we get back from them is incredibly helpful. We continue to grow together.

Speaking of the work on a national level, you recently went to Washington D.C. with IMBA to lobby for mountain biking and more trail access. Tell us about your first time in D.C. and what you learned.

It was a really educational experience. I had met Todd Keller, from IMBA previously, so my whole goal was to go and see behind the curtain, learn from people who have been lobbying for a long time. It’s all about relationship building, and it’s great to see how other mountain bikers handle themselves in meetings with lawmakers. There are some incredibly passionate and inspirational advocates out there. I’m interested in how we can take what we learned there and work on the state and local level to increase the awareness of mountain biking in the Southeast.

Now that you’ve been to Washington D.C. with us, what’s the one thing you want other mountain bikers and the outdoor recreation community to know about getting more involved?

Being actively engaged is necessary. It's necessary to be involved nationally, but also more so on the local level. You can see a lot of change being done when you work with your local politicians. I think about this a lot with our chapters. We’re sometimes challenged by our members who want things done faster, or differently than what’s actually possible. It’s a benefit to all to be a part of the advocacy process. This includes sending letters to your representatives, and going to meetings with land managers and your local advocacy organization.

There are so many ways to get involved. It’s true! That being said, what’s your definition of trail advocacy?

I don’t think it’s definable. A lot of folks only count their physical trail work, when they’re out building or doing maintenance. They’re only counting the hours on the trail, but there's so much work to be done. There's so much needed in fundraising, the messaging side of things, communications and social media, all of that is trail advocacy. Often, it’s only the real big physical labor that’s being showcased. Advocacy is that plus supporting your local organization through volunteering, to being the chapter president, or doing the paperwork needed to just exist. If you don't have the time or the physical ability to come dig, donate money, you'll still be making a difference! Trail advocacy is really anything you could possibly imagine doing for the betterment of the trails that you’ll ride and enjoy.

I have a lot of conversations with our chapters and one question that I love to ask is what's their favorite trail tool? The answer is always some sort of physical tool, like a shovel or a McLeod. My answer is always my camera. The camera is necessary for documenting the experience we’re having and sharing it with everyone else. There can never be enough photographs or video content. A lot of the mountain biking stuff you see depicted in the industry is more west coast. Finding good quality images to use for putting the message out about what we do can be challenging, and I like having stuff that looks like us.

Access to trails, and the public lands system as a whole is much different on the east coast. How does that determine how and where you build, and what does it mean to have trails close to home?

There's very little BLM land on the east coast, and the National Forests we do have aren't huge, so we rely on local and state parks, and sometimes private land for trail building. We’re talking about small swaths of land, anywhere from 30 to 3,000 acres which is relatively small when compared to public lands on the west coast. One of the things that drove me to move to Knoxville is the Urban Wilderness trail system and how it's all intertwined within my neighborhood and South Knoxville.

I can go to my basement, grab my bike and do a 40-mile ride from my front door. A lot of communities are like that here in the South, and we've done a good job at it, whether it was intentional or not. Connecting these smaller networks to bigger ones makes for some really great riding. It’s not going to be this backcountry experience where you're way out in nature, you're going to see houses and stuff, but it really is quality riding and you get to experience more of it because it’s in your backyard.

What have you learned in your first year as Executive Director at SORBA, and how do you hope to chart the path forward as mountain biking continues to grow in popularity?

I absolutely love what I do. One of the things that I find to be more of a challenge is how passionate volunteers can be, which is a good thing. We recently hired a development director and seeing her insight on things has been pretty incredible.

There’s been a significant increase of riders since COVID, a lot of new riders that weren’t a part of the days when trails were hard to get. Now is a good time to be a mountain biker, we have a lot of trail access, and more variation in the type of riding you can do out there. Educating the new folks that come in is absolutely necessary in making sure we continue to have access to these trails, which includes making them a part of the advocacy process.

SORBA now has 47 chapters in seven states. How do you ensure collaboration across each one?

Running a nonprofit is hard, and running a volunteer group is also hard. You may have somebody do a position for two years and then have to hand it over. Having other people out there doing these same things as you in neighboring communities, is kind of playing in the same sandbox. There’s a lot of support in knowing that you're not out there on an island and that you can reach out to other organizations.

We set aside time each month in a video chat to just talk about what's going on, and I think that's huge. You don't have to reinvent the wheel, somebody out there has probably already done what you’re trying to do and sharing that knowledge is so incredibly important. The idea is, a rising tide floats all boats, and everybody’s work is valuable. The mindset should be this isn't mine, it’s ours. That’s what’s at the heart of being an advocate, it's not just my trail even though I’m seriously invested in it, it's our trail and we get to share it with everybody.

Lightning Round:

Favorite close to home spot: I recently moved to Knoxville, so my favorite spot now is the Urban Wilderness. There’s a trailhead 50 feet from my front door which gives me access to a huge network of trails.

Go-to gear for the trail: My favorite trail tool is a camera. Sharing the story of our organization with quality images is so impactful. My hip pack also carries all the necessities: water, snacks, phone, etc.

Podcast or book you recommend: I have to plug the SORBA Stories podcast we started this past year. There’s currently only two episodes but I am really proud of the content we are producing.