[ebxtreme]

Hi all,

If you ride Galby with any regularity, please take a few minutes to help out the WMBC....

In order to get a better understanding of our community using the trails on Galbraith, we’ve put together a rider survey. As the survey states, this information is completely anonymous and the WMBC is not collecting any personal data (email, names, etc.). This information will be used to support future discussions with land managers in Whatcom County and provide insight into the recreational value mt. biking has in Bellingham.

Please take 5 minutes to fill out the survey and help the WMBC learn more about the rider population.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/wmbc_rider_survey

Because a lot of riders don’t frequent the various bike forums or aren’t likely on this email list, I’ll be setting up a couple of weekend days at Birch St. and Galbraith lane to capture info. from other users and riders. I would love to have some volunteers who could help me with that effort (maybe in 2 or 3 hour shifts). While it’s true that I’m broken (again) and can’t ride right now, I do have several trail projects happening on the hill and would like to keep those moving forward. Let me know if you’re interested in helping out with such an endeavor.

Cheers,
EB

 

[ebxtreme]

Bumpity bump.

If you've ridden Galby in the last 12 months, please fill out the survey.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/wmbc_rider_survey

Cheers,
EB

 

[Da Peach]

Completed

 

[ebxtreme]

Hi all,

The WMBC has wrapped up our 2010 WMBC Rider Survey for Galbraith Mountain. We’d like to thank the 739 respondents who took a few minutes to fill this out and give us their feedback. It not only gives us a snapshot of the ridership, but it also shows the importance mt. biking has to the residents of Bellingham, Whatcom County and the region.

Thanks again to everyone that participated. The comments given (constructive) were all appreciated and it seems folks generally are stoked with the direction of the hill. Also, I’ve got to give props to Daniel Probst who took a sunny morning/afternoon to hand out surveys at the Birch Street entrance and big thanks to Sharon Bader (NSMBA) for a template that we worked from. We’ll post this info. up on the WMBC website as well.

Cheers,
EB

2010 WMBC Rider Survey​

About the Sample:

Over the course of an eight week period between June 3rd and August 2nd, the WMBC conducted a trail user survey to target mountain bikers recreating on Galbraith Mountain. This survey was done entirely online using survey monkey web-based software. The survey was sent out to the WMBC’s email list and promoted on the WMBC site, Ridegalbraith.com, ridemonkey.com, Facebook and mtbr.com. Additionally, it was posted on the 4 kiosks on Galbraith Mountain and Daniel Probst and Eric Brown handed out the survey web address (url) to riders on the hill over the course of many days.

After a respondent completed the survey, a cookie was dropped on their computer to ensure they couldn’t fill it out more than once. If a respondent tried to access the online survey again, it redirected them to the WMBC’s website (www.whimpsmtb.com).

Respondents were asked about their use of Galbraith Mountain trails, frequency of use, transportation and access points, type of preferred riding, gender, age, duration of visit, family income, mt. biking experience and area of residence. For any non-Bellingham residents, we also asked about their use of local businesses during their riding trips to Galbraith Mountain.

Profile of Typical Galbraith Mountain Bike Rider:

The typical rider is male, between 30-39 years old, with ten years plus of mountain biking experience. The typical rider uses Galbraith Mountain multiple times per week spending 2-3 hours on the trails. Because the typical rider lives in Bellingham, they often ride to the trails and ride with groups consisting of anywhere between 2-5 riders.

The characteristics of the 739 respondents are summarized in the document below:

Rider’s Age:

The largest group of respondents falls within the 30-39 age bracket (40.1%), while the 20-29 and 40-49 groups were almost tied at 23.8 and 23.5% respectively. Note: There are more young riders on the hill these days and we feel this age group does not correspond in the survey with the actual younger users on the hill.

Rider’s Gender:

82% of those surveyed were male and 18% were female.

Area of Residence:

68.1% of respondents are local (57.2% Bham, 10.9% Whatcom county). 19.7% live in the Seattle-Bellevue area and the rest live in Skagit county and “other” locations. We are seeing increasingly more riders from B.C. and elsewhere and, as such, believe those numbers are larger than they appear in this survey.

Mountain bike Experience:

Galbraith mountain bikers have a wealth of experience on the bike. 46.7% have 10+ years experience while only 9.9% have less than 2 years experience. This is a group of hardcore riders.

Annual Family Income:

63.2% of respondents have an annual family income of $50k or more. This certainly coincides with the respondents’ age and, more importantly, speaks to the purchasing power that mountain bikers bring to the community.

Uses on the mountain (check all that apply):

Not surprisingly, 97% of respondents use Galbraith Mountain for Mountain Biking. This was promoted primarily to mountain bikers and they’ve built the majority of the trail network, but the survey address was given to many trail runners as well. 14% of respondents trail run, but there is a big crossover between the two activities because 85.6% of the respondents that trail run are also mountain bikers. 9.6% of respondents use the hill for hiking.

Preferred types of biking (check all that apply):

65% of respondents ride All Mountain. This isn’t surprising since Galbraith’s trails, access and topography cater to this type of mountain bike experience. 41.4% ride FR, 39.6% ride XC and 36% prefer Downhill. There is a lot of crossover as well. For instance, of the respondents who selected XC as a preferred type of riding, 23.5% also ride FR and 29.7% also ride DH. This also holds true of respondents who chose FR or DH as a favorite type of biking.

Frequency of Use on Galbraith:

60% of respondents recreate on the mountain at least weekly and 36.8% are on the mountain multiple times per week. This illustrates the important role Galbraith Mountain plays to residents of Bellingham.

Duration of Use:

54.1% of respondents recreate on Galbraith for 2-3 hours per outing. 22.4% recreate for 3-5 hours and 21.6% use it for 1-2 hours per outing. Our respondents spend a lot of time on Galbraith Mountain.

Group size (check all that apply):

80.6% of respondents most often recreate with a group of 2-5 people on Galbraith Mountain and 20.2% sometimes recreate solo.

Access to the mountain (check all that apply):

52.6% of riders use both the north and south sides to access the mountain. 25% access it solely from the south side (Galbraith Lane) and 24.3% access it solely from the north side (Birch Street). 2.7% access it from other trails that lead from their respective neighborhoods.

Transportation to the mountain (check all that apply):

Not surprisingly, with neighborhoods flanking 3 sides of the mountain, 39.7% of respondents ride their bike to the trails a large part of the time. 56.4% carpool and 40.9% drive solo.

Parents with kids:

Most respondents either don’t have children or don’t ride with them today (unfortunately, we didn’t differentiate that in this survey). Those that do ride with children, typically ride with 1-2 kids at a time (98 of our respondents). We’ve also witnessed many parents drop their older kids off in the lot and pick them up after the ride as well.

Non-Bellingham residents:

People that selected anything other than “Bellingham” as their area of residence were asked a series of questions to estimate their economic impact on local businesses when riding Galbraith Mountain.


Bike Shops:

67.5% of non-Bham residents have visited a local bike shop in the past year for parts or service during a trip to Galbraith Mountain.

Other Businesses (check all that apply):

94.4% of non-Bham residents have frequented another type of business in the past year. 83.5% have visited a restaurant, 77.3% a gas station and 67.4% a grocery store.

Typical Spend Amount:

Non-Bham residents are spending money at local businesses when they visit Galbraith Mountain. 36.7% spend between $20-40 per trip, 26.6% spend $10-20 and 14.8% spend between $40-60.

 

[Da Peach]

Interesting. I'm surprised by how few Vancouver-ites visit. I'm due for a pedal... Maybe when Whistler shuts down.

 

[ebxtreme]

Interesting. I'm surprised by how few Vancouver-ites visit. I'm due for a pedal... Maybe when Whistler shuts down.

There are BC plates in the lot almost every day I ride. Even the land owner and the parks guys commented on that recently. It just means they didn't fill out the survey....I noted that in the analysis above.

"We are seeing increasingly more riders from B.C. and elsewhere and, as such, believe those numbers are larger than they appear in this survey."

EB