Allamuchy Volunteer Trail Work

Paydirt

2021 was the last year Paydirt is recorded through the spreadsheet. Please log in the manage your volunteer projects.

About Paydirt

Paydirt is JORBA’s volunteer management system. JORBA Park Reps host volunteer trail events all over NJ.

History

The Paydirt program was created in 1996 to encourage the mountain bike race community to build working relationships with trail advocates and land managers. Wally Tunison borrowed the concept from motorcycle enduro racing and with the help of Sarah Frost, implemented the system into a mountain bike racing incentive program. Paydirt has logged over 65,000 hours since it’s inception. Park systems value that volunteer work at $1.5 million. Paydirt is how JORBA track all volunteer hours.

Collaboration:

The first step to starting a Paydirt program is to develop a collaborative relationship between volunteers, race promoters, trail stewards and land management. Both user groups must work towards a sustainable plan for both responsible racing and trail access. This may vary from park to park or region to region. Patience, understanding each groups needs and sometimes compromise is needed. Events can be a great way to raise funds for projects and tools, and more trail access serves all mountain bikers, including the racing community. So there is opportunity for both parties to gain. Land managers can gain, when user groups work together, and fund themselves. Sponsors and bike shops can gain from trail access and active racing. Get everyone on board to support Paydirt.

Motivation:

The big question: “how do you involve the race community in trail work?” Often too focused on training to want to take time with trail work, racers can be hard to convince of the importance of trail care and trail access. This is where Paydirt comes in. Racers get hooked on racing and then come out for Paydirt, in order to get more points. Once they come out to work, more often than not, they come to realize the importance of their involvement, and even have fun. Jorba has witnessed racers adopting trails and parks, new race venues created, as well as trail stewards run races to fund trail projects. After a while the line between racers and maintainers becomes blurred, as many become advocates of both.

Education:

Having the ear of the race community can be a huge opportunity to offer education. New racers emulate experienced racers. If the fast guys are working on trails, the new guys want to do it too. The first few years could be a tough sell, but if each year, you teach the concept to the new beginners, in a few years, the majority of racers accept the concept of giving back to make more places to ride and race. Getting a few local pros or elite masters on board could be very helpful with persuasion by example. Have them help advertise the benefits of Paydirt.

In 2013 racers from the H2H series donated 1500 hours of the 5000 performed locally, so I would say that racers “dig” Paydirt.

The Benefits of Pay Dirt

  1. Race Points for the H2H Series:Any racer competing in the H2H series can earn points equivalent to 1 extra 5th place or 1 20th place in the series. Racers must work a minimum of 10 hours (5 for juniors) of trail maintenance for a 5th place points and 5 hours for a 20th place points. Will this give you an edge on the folks that do not participate in trail work? You bet it does! However, this participation allows racers to give back to their sport and achieve a level of satisfaction only accomplished through trail work. You also help keep the trails “tip-top”; after all, “what would you do without trails”?For race points to be awarded, all work must be approved and signed off by public land manager. Forms must must be submitted to the Paydirt Administrator by June 30 2018.
  2. Improved Tracking and Online ReportingRacers and volunteers: as long as you participate in a JORBA sanctioned volunteer event, you no longer need to send in an Individual Pay Dirt form, yahoo. With the chapters all using a standard sign in form (below), your participation will be tracked automatically. Now that should make some of you smile! If you participate in something in NY, NJ, PA and its not a JORBA chapter running the event, please use the individual Pay Dirt form (below) and have it signed signed by an official.

Pay Dirt Forms are no longer used for recording volunteer hours.

Please log in and manage your volunteer projects.

Pay Dirt Administrator – Ellen White: Ellen will collect and keep a record of JORBA sign up forms, scan any hard sign up forms, update hours onto the spreadsheet, and publish it on the JORBA site.

For more information on the Pay Dirt Program please email Paydirt(at)Jorba(dot)org.

Pay Dirt Standings