Guerrilla Trail Crew: Tweets, Shovels, and Rides Again
I'll admit, I initially regretted agreeing to help clear off a little-used bike trail in the dead of a record winter on what was an otherwise perfectly good Sunday. “The hardest part of any ride is the first 200 feet,” my fellow Guerrilla Trail Crew member, Scott, later said, and I'm happy to report that he was certainly right.
But how did I go from aggressive loafing to volunteering with the GTC, maintainers of Omaha's bike trails?
First Quarter
Sunday, around noon, an hour before the time I had agreed to become a volunteer shoveler on the Keystone trail, I was sitting on the couch, watching the beginning of the Pats/Ravens game.
Quick sidebar: how do you tell if a sports fan was born in Nebraska, or moved here later in life? Ask them the final score of a professional football game. Any game, regular season or playoffs. The person that stares back at you quizzically like you've just inquired about a Olympic bobsled result is the born and bred Omahan. If they start slurring Suh, Suh, Suh, monosyllabically, then they're from Omaha and deranged. Bonus!
Anyways, Ray Rice ran for an 83 yard touchdown on the Ravens' first offensive play of the game, and I was taking special pleasure in watching Tom Brady struggle. Warm, feasting on a breakfast burrito and copious football, I can't say I was really excited about fulfilling my obligation.
Second Quarter
It's not like I was a long-standing member of the Guerilla Trail Crew. Far from it. The day before, I was on Twitter, and saw Scott (@ScottRedd) Tweet:
“I'm thinking of biking stretches of the Keystone and/or Big Papio with a shovel on my back, stopping to clear drifts. Anyone care to join?”
I think my exact response (at least the way I recall it) was:
“I'm a wee, very little bit, sorta interested. What time?”
Before I knew it, a Liberty Bell sized gong was ringing out across the Twitterverse:
“Join @scottredd and @Omaha_NET to help improve cycling conditions on Keystone Trail. Meet at Keystone @ Blondo, 1pm” (said the good people behind @OmahaCyclist).
And then it was Retweeted by @ActivateOmaha. @Gwellman says he's was onboard! @jonathanneve sent his support but had to work.
“Oh no!” I thought “What have I done?”
Me, a humble Yankee patriot, just walking down the colonial streets, when all of the sudden someone thrusts a flag into my hands, and I'm leading the charge, spearheading the Revolution with egg still dripping down my face! (you like how I worked both my Yankees and the hated Patriots into that one? Well I certainly did).
I hardly knew what the GTC was. Later I had Mike D explain it for me:
Third Quarter
If all that Twitter talk sounds like mumbo jumbo, don't worry, I completely understand. Not long ago, I thought Twitter was the website people used exclusively to inform the world that their cat had just sneezed. And for some, it still is the primary means of sharing life's extra special moments (“Saw a guy go to catch the bus, and the bus totally didn't stop! Epic Fail!”).
However, Twitter's not all evil, and it's not that hard to use (an @ symbol, for example, represents someone's username). Twitter's a great way for businesses to interact with customers and increase their brand reach. Normal people (i.e. those without an agenda) can use it to get a sense of what news stories are trending toward popularity. Of course, you can use it to connect, too.
My volunteering with the Guerilla Trail Crew represented one of my first Twitter to “Real Life” experiences. We talked about cleaning the Keystone Trail, took that collective desire, and transferred it into positive action. That's the power of Twitter. That, for better or worse, is the strange world of autonomous friendship and passive inter-connectivity we're living in.
With the sun shining for once, and a group of energetic, four-season riders forming a Guerrilla peloton, we set out to finish what the city of Omaha Parks and Rec. started (I think trail clearing falls under their jurisdiction). Without getting too deep into the bikers rights vs. drivers rights plowing argument, we had a grand time.
It is undeniably more fun to bike in a group. Just ask anyone who's ever participated in Critical Mass. And volunteering always gives one a pleasant sense of accomplishment. Shoveling the underpasses, where snow from the roads above tends to accumulate in icy drifts, and some of the other the random unplowed stretches of trail, became a fun project. A real whistle-while-you-work mentality took hold, and the few runner's who stopped to thank us seemed genuinely surprised and grateful.
Fourth Quarter
Were any mountains moved? You be the judge (fast forward to 2:30 for a really cool time lapse video of us at work).The hardcore commuter biking community in Omaha is admittedly a small one, and given the weather, our work could easily melt away soon (which would not bother us in the least I'll have you know).
However, the idea that I left my house in order to support a cause I feel strongly about, biking as a means of transportation, is a nice takeaway for a day's work. The idea that it came about through Twitter frankly tickles me, a feeling I had reserved for the space somewhere between internet dating and online horoscopes.
I recall fondly the first time I met someone in real life whom I had only previoulsy known on the internet (I was a freshman in high school, she was senior, and AOL Instant Messager played matchmaker). I have stayed with foreign families around the world through Couchsurfing. I returned to Omaha from my holiday sojourn through Craigslist's Rideshare service. And I meet up regularly with bloggers thanks to @SiliconPraire forming a chapter on meetup.com for the Omaha Blog Company (which I totally encourage you to come out for!)
Now, I've had my first Twitter-to-Guerilla activism experience. And it felt great.
Overtime
So what to do with all this fresh info?
Definitely check out Guerilla Trail Crew if you make use of the bike trails of Omaha. Their mandate is to help care for the trails through volunteer activism. They're in the process of incorporating as a 501(c)(3), and would love to acquire donated snow equipment and storage space to help facilitate their work.
Joining Twitter is free. Follow @Omaha_Net, say hi, and tell me what you thought of the story.
If you're intrigued by Twitter, I'm happy to give you my perspective. It's delightfully easy to use yet subtly complex to fully understand as a marketing vehicle. Whether you're a business or just a neighbor, you can Tweet me @jordyclements or jordy [at] omaha [dot] net (send me an email) and I'll be happy to give you my take and help you get started. I also wrote a lengthier post about earning money through Twitter on my blog. Check it out! Enjoy!
Comments
Scott (not verified) says:
January 12, 2010 : 14 years 38 weeks ago
Jordy:
This is an awesome writeup of the event. I read this and it looks like I had way more fun than I really did. And my fun-o-meter was already at 100%. Nice.
I love the way you wove in the social media aspect of the event. Like you, I think there’s a real promise for people getting important things done by leveraging social media. It allows one, not only to reach out to their friends, but their friend’s friends, and so on.
It seems the GTC’s first action has already inspired a “copycat” event. Someone cleared some neighborhood sidewalk ramps for elementary school kids out in west Omaha today.
I look forward to riding with you again. I’m sure it will be fun, and an adventure, no matter the destination.
Regards,
Scott
Michael (not verified) says:
January 13, 2010 : 14 years 38 weeks ago
Excellent article! An interesting story of how new-age communication leads to activism.
One of the many things Omaha falls short on is accurate and interesting news reporting. The big 5 local media outlets KETV, WOWT, KMTV, KPTM and the Omaha World Herald do not give enough (or any) attention to stories such as this. They simply regurgitate stories that national news agencies report. If only we could get the “big 5” to report stories of importance, such as this one, Omaha would catch up 20 the 21st century like most cities its size.
Bravo to you for playing a role in making Omaha a better place for all. And bravo to all volunteers!
Jesse (not verified) says:
January 13, 2010 : 14 years 38 weeks ago
This was a cool article. And that is a sweet frontpage pic.
Kenzors (not verified) says:
January 13, 2010 : 14 years 38 weeks ago
i thoroughly enjoyed reading this article. keep up the shoveling, just don’t hurt your back!
J-Ro (not verified) says:
January 13, 2010 : 14 years 38 weeks ago
I gotta tell you, this article rocked! I would join up with the GTC in a second if I lived in Omaha! I found this site one time when I was researching convection ovens (no clue how that brought me to a community site for Omaha, NE), but the pictures interested me, so I kept reading.
I live in Boston and I would kill for a site like this in our area. Boston.com ain’t got shit on Omaha. Seriously, though, is Omaha really that fun, cause I’m secretly thinking about making the move. Any jobs for country music-lovin chemists out there??
Keep up the good work guys and gals!
Scott (not verified) says:
January 13, 2010 : 14 years 38 weeks ago
J-Ro:
The GTC is nowhere, and it is everywhere. Just by writing what you did, YOU are now the GTC in Boston. Congratulations.
Omaha IS all that fun, and more. What makes is fun is that there a budding new-urbanism and creative class movement starting to shake things up. A reenergized interest in cycling is just a part of that.
Omaha used to host the Army Corps of Engineering chemistry labs, but I think they moved that operation to Mississippi. There may be chemistry jobs with Conagra, but I really don’t know. Check http://careerlink.com/
jordy says:
January 13, 2010 : 14 years 38 weeks ago
@Scott I didn’t sit down and mean to write about social media, I meant to write about shoveling snow! But I love that their might be a “copy cat” to our humble day’s work as the GTC. Good ideas spread quickly these days.
@Michael I think part of the reason we felt compelled to start something like Omaha.net was the way traditional media handles news these days. That said, I’d like to interact with them more in the coming months. There’s plenty I could learn from the companies that have helped shape the “truth” in this city for so many years, but maybe we could learn ‘em a thing or two, as well.
@Jess @ Kenzors Thanks!
@J-Ro Take your passion, direct it toward the people you trust in this world, and rely on the truth that these days, the only impediment to the spread of a positive message is the sluice gate of inaction. OK I admit, it took me 5 solid minutes to come up with that metaphor. Churchill I am not!