Our Story
The sprouts of the guild in Silkeborg
Silkeborg has had an official mountain bike trail in Nordskoven since 2010, created in collaboration between local cycling clubs and the Danish Nature Agency. However, after a few years of intensive use, parts of the trail had become severely damaged by mud and wear. In 2014, a group of passionate local mountain bikers therefore took matters into their own hands and began to voluntarily renovate and improve the Nordskoven trail in close dialogue with the Danish Nature Agency.
The initiator Erik Skovgaard Knudsen – himself an experienced mountain biker – founded the Silkeborg Sti- og Sporbyggerlaug (SSSL) in December 2014 as an open community for all users of the forest with an interest in building and maintaining paths and tracks. Volunteers flocked to the group via a new Facebook group; within the first year, the group had over 1,000 members, which became the seed for the further project.
In early 2015, the visions gained further momentum. Silkeborg Municipality, the Danish Nature Agency and a number of partners – including tourist organizations and national sports federations – launched an ambitious collaborative project called “Mountain biking in the Lake District” in March 2015. The project had a budget of 14.5 million kroner and aimed to make the Silkeborg area Denmark’s leading mountain biking destination with a network of trails of absolute top quality.
This official support gave the volunteers even better opportunities. The guild's close collaboration with both the Danish Nature Agency Søhøjlandet and Silkeborg Municipality was now formally anchored in the project, where SSSL represented the users with their good ideas.
From Facebook group to association
The rapidly growing Facebook group soon became a full-fledged association. In January 2016, the Silkeborg Path and Track Builders' Guild held its first general meeting and adopted the association's statutes, marking the formal founding of the guild.
Erik Skovgaard Knudsen became the association's first chairman, and together with an elected board of directors, he could now work even more structured towards the vision of "Denmark's best trail and trail network".
The guild continued to mobilize volunteers on a large scale – all with a love for Silkeborg’s nature and a desire to take part in the practical work. Over 1,200 members were already affiliated with the Facebook community in mid-2016, and of those, around 350 took turns helping out on the so-called “track days” where tracks were built and maintained.
This open model – where hikers, horse riders, mountain bikers and other outdoor enthusiasts contribute – made the guild a constructive gathering point. The basic idea was that all users of the forest should have ownership and influence over the trails, rather than conflicts arising.
As chairman Erik Skovgaard explained to the press: Mountain biking is booming, but "there are still 10 times more kilometers of riding trails than mountain bike tracks. We want to do something about that"so that Silkeborg can exploit its enormous potential as an international mountain bike destination.
The rebirth of the Nordskov trail – from mud to championship
Already in 2016, the many volunteer hours bore fruit in Nordskoven. Hundreds of hours were spent transforming one of Denmark's muddiest trails into one of the very best. The result caused a stir: Dagbladet Politiken named the Nordskovsporet trail as one of the country's 10 best MTB trails, and it was estimated that around 50,000 annual users of the improved trail. Politiken udpegede Nordskovsporet som et af landets 10 bedste MTB-spor, og man estimerede omkring 50.000 årlige brugere af det forbedrede spor.
In June 2016, the effort culminated when Silkeborg, as host city for the Danish Mountain Bike Championship (XCO), was able to inaugurate the renovated Nordskovspor in style.
Mayor Steen Vindum cut the ribbon and paid tribute to the volunteer trail builders who had made the trail “one of the very best in the country”The Danish championship race gave the guild a well-deserved opportunity to celebrate the success together – and with the entire country’s MTB elite present in the forest. The event cemented Silkeborg’s reputation as a center for outdoor sports, and it emphasized the value of the partnership that the guild was part of. The “Mountainbike in Søhøjlandet” project had now delivered its first major result, created jointly by volunteers, Silkeborg Municipality, the Danish Nature Agency and several organizations.
Trail construction continues in Vesterskoven
With the Nordskovsporet revived, attention turned to the next chapter: Vesterskoven west of the city. Already after the summer of 2016, SSSL called for volunteers to begin the construction of a completely new trail in Vesterskoven.
The ambition was to create another long, continuous mountain bike trail – this time in the hilly terrain south of the Silkeborg Lakes. The work in Vesterskoven presented new challenges. Along the way, Museum Silkeborg made spectacular archaeological discoveries in the area: a system of field boundaries from the Iron Age covering over 300 hectares was revealed using laser scanning (LIDAR). The Trail Builders Guild began close collaboration with the museum’s archaeologists to ensure that the new MTB trail was adapted to the ancient field systems and did not damage them. This meant, among other things, changes in the route and extra considerations, but also great professional learning for the trail builders – a unique meeting between ancient monuments and modern outdoor life.
Despite the challenges, the project progressed steadily thanks to tireless volunteer efforts. During 2017 and 2018, the new trail took shape. The result was a 17 km long blue MTB trail that winds through the hills and valleys of Vesterskoven. The trail offered something very special: Denmark’s longest continuous downhill for mountain bikers, laid out as a flowing “flow trail” down through the forest. Again, volunteers were responsible for most of the construction – supported by the Danish Nature Agency and Silkeborg Municipality. Countless local enthusiasts spent hour after hour in the forest floor to shape berms, jumps and secured lines.
When the Vesterskov trail was completed around 2018, Silkeborg had truly emerged as a mecca for mountain biking. The city and surrounding area now had several kilometers of high-quality trails – from the technical challenges of the Nordskoven to the long flow sections of the Vesterskoven. In total, over 45 km of official MTB routes had been established in Silkeborg Municipality since the start of the project, including Denmark’s first actual bike park. This explosive development was largely due to the close interaction between the volunteers in the trail builders’ guild and the public actors.
Community, development and recognition
With two major trail projects completed, the development certainly did not stop. Silkeborg Sti- og Sporbyggerlaug has continued to grow and professionalize its volunteer efforts. In 2018, the guild took the initiative to bring international inspiration to Silkeborg. 25 volunteer trail builders from SSSL and neighboring groups in Søhøjlandet as well as employees from the Danish Nature Agency gathered for an intensive course with two of the world's leading trail builders, Mark McClure and Gary Hampson.
Over a long weekend, the foreign experts taught the Danish volunteers according to IMBA's (International Mountain Bike Association) principles in both theory and practice. Vesterskoven provided the ground for the practical part of the course, where the participants practiced construction techniques and design techniques directly on the trail. The purpose was clear: to ensure that the volunteers had the latest knowledge so that Silkeborg's trails can also be built sustainably, safely and entertainingly in the future. The initiative illustrates how SSSL continuously educates its “Trail Bosses” – the volunteer leaders – through courses and knowledge sharing, so that the quality of the trails is kept at the highest level.
At the same time, the guild's popular support has only grown. Silkeborg Municipality proclaimed itself"Denmark's Outdoor Capitalin 2017 as part of a strategy to promote outdoor life and health. The Trail Builders Guild is a central player in this vision, as the voluntary commitment creates ownership of the new facilities. SSSL is now part of Silkeborg Outdoora collaboration where the development of both the voluntarily created forest trails and the Silkeborg Bikepark is jointly supported. The guild has also inspired similar groups in neighboring municipalities, and this has contributed to the recognition of voluntary trail building today.