S&S Trail Services, LLC Press Release
Posted by Ryan Spates in S&S Trails Blog on Nov. 20, 2008 - 1:49 pm
Austin, TX, November 20, 2008 – S&S Trail Services, L.L.C. was formed by Ryan Spates and Dr. Susan Stormer in September of 2008. S&S Trails seeks to provide land managers, non-profit organizations, and volunteer groups with hands on expertise in trail planning, design, and construction. The company specializes in building sustainable natural surface trails for mountain biking, hiking and horseback riding.
Ryan and Susan are well known within the trail building, mountain biking, and outdoor communities as the first state level crew modeled after the highly successful International Mountain Bicycling Association’s Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew. (www.imba.com/tcc) The standard length of service for Trail Care Crews with IMBA is two years; Ryan and Susan traveled the State of Texas for a total of four years with the Texas Bicycle Coalition as the Bike Texas Trail Doctors.
After they parted ways with the TBC, Susan and Ryan joined Talon Trail Systems L.L.C. as owners and spent the last two years constructing trail and leading workdays all over the United States. Susan now serves on the board of the Professional Trailbuilders Association (PTBA) and Ryan is secretary of the Texas Mountain Bike Racing Association (TMBRA).
Together Ryan and Susan have led over 60 trail building classes in Texas, teaching sustainable trail building techniques to mountain bikers, hikers, master naturalists, members of the American Quarter Horse Association, Texas Equestrian Trail Riders Association, the Sierra Club, and Boy Scouts of America. They have helped in the design of over 300 miles of natural surface trails, and the construction of an additional 200 miles of trail.
Ryan and Susan’s work with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, as well as many local, city, and county governments, has been instrumental in opening new trails and ensuring continued access to trails throughout Texas. During their tenure as professional trail builders Ryan and Susan have visited over 65 state parks and worked on trails in more than 30 of them. The pair was also recognized by American Trails as exceptional crew leaders during the 2004 National Symposium in Austin and received the same commendation during the 2005 State Trails conference in San Marcos. In November 2008, Ryan and Susan led a session at the National Trails Symposium in Little Rock, Arkansas on new technologies and techniques for trail building. They have been invited to be presenters at the 2009 Professional Trail Builders Association conference in Asheville, NC in March and at the Southeastern Equestrian Trails Conference in Gainesville, FL in July.
During their tenure at both Talon Trails and the TBC, Ryan and Susan’s work often focused on rerouting or repairing existing trails that had significant erosion issues. This led to a growing expertise in rock armoring, raised tread construction, and design work in sensitive ecological areas. Both Ryan and Susan believe that there is always more to be learned about trail building, and they spend at least two weeks every year doing continuing education with colleagues at different trail gatherings around the world.
Ryan Spates (ryan@sstrails.com) has been a mountain biker and hiker since 1989 and has visited most of the US and 6 other countries. Originally from the technology industry, Ryan decided to pursue his trail building hobby as a career many years ago. He was initially trained by some of the early Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crews and spent many years as a volunteer trail steward in the Houston area. Some of his early design work can be seen on the hiking and mountain bike trails in Huntsville State Park.
Susan Stormer (susan@sstrails.com) has been a mountain biker and hiker since 1995, and an avid equestrian for over 25 years. She is a doctor of clinical psychology who maintains her licensure to provide assessment and counseling services when she is not working with Ryan to build sustainable trails. Susan began her volunteer trail work activities in west-central Florida in the mid-nineties, continued them while on residency in Jackson, Mississippi, then became even more involved in trail building when she moved to Austin in 1998 and met Ryan.
For further information on S&S Trail Services, please visit our website www.sstrails.com or contact us directly.
Ryan Spates Susan Stormer, PhD.
ryan@sstrails.com susan@sstrails.com
713.446.6610 713.448.0161
