The founders of one of Central Oregon’s richest resources for mountain biking trail intelligence are bookending their decade-long community give-back with a plea:
Keep BendTrails alive by buying it.
“It’s been a fun run for us,” says Robert Rekward, one of four friends who launched Bend Trails in 2016. “I think we’re just looking for something new. BendTrails has kind of reached a point where it’s not going to evolve without somebody else stepping in with different ambition. There’s always room to make it better, right?”
Similar to Trailforks but specific to the Deschutes National Forest and much more-frequently updated, BendTrails is an interactive portal that maps 250 trails stretching 700 miles. Trails are searchable by short blurbs detailing difficulty, length/elevation gain and trail condition. Click on one and you’re presented with a clean topographic map that situates the trail section in relation to the vast trail network. Riders learn in advance whether a previously-too-muddy section has firmed up, for example, or if that one downed tree has been removed.
Spending about five hours each week moderating user comments, Rekward maintains the site with the help of friends Joe Myers and Troy Arnold and his wife Valerie Rekward.
“Val was always super big on the idea that BendTrails is a gift to the community,” said Rekward, who lived on Kauai for 30 years before moving with his wife to Bend in 2014. “Of course, it was a business where we had to break even and make money. I think why BendTrails is so valuable is because it gets an insane amount of traffic. …Hopefully someone can monetize that.”
That BendTrails has enjoyed 6 million page views via 3 million user sessions over its lifespan speaks to the site’s intuitive user experience. Since 2018, Rekward says BendTrails has brought in $295,000, mostly through sponsorships, with about $30,000 accounting for the sales of schwag, like riding jerseys, branded with BendTrails. That’s about an average of $30,000 each year. (In its first year, BendTrails hosted sponsors for free and didn’t begin charging until 2018. Joe Myers originally began BendTrails in 2013 as a blog with a social media presence.)
Rekward and his team penciled out the core assets’ value at around $88,000.
“All the Reddit know-it-alls are like, ‘It’s not worth anything,’” Rekward said with a chuckle. “Like, ‘I could totally rebuild that with a college kid and $1,000 worth of A.I.’”
Rekward says he knows what BendTrails is worth because he builds websites for a living.
The founder and owner of Delicious Design, Rekward, 57, says BendTrails is about the 200th website he’s made; originally, it was a pro bono project for Central Oregon Trail Alliance. When the nonprofit trail maintenance and advocacy group pivoted from what would have been an intensive online obligation, Rekward and his crew finished the site and launched it themselves.
Local rider Kevin English says BendTrails going dark is a loss for the community in several ways.
“Bend Trails is leaps and bounds more important than TrailForks because it’s a community asset — people really tied into it,” he said. “I’m really indebted to them.”
English co-founded Dirty Freehub, which is an online trove gravel cycling loops throughout Oregon (and beyond) and a nonprofit since 2022. He says Bend Trails inspired him to grow Dirty Freehub — he even hired Delicious Design to build their website. He adds that businesses tied to tourism should be concerned with Bend Trails going dark.
“If I was a hotelier, I would be somewhat concerned that we just lost a really important marketing asset that brought people to this community,” English said. “I’d be asking myself: how did we let this die? And why wasn’t BendTrails at least partially funded with some of the Transient Room Tax funds?”
The Forest Service is sad to see BendTrails go, as well. In an email, Public Affairs Officer Kaitlyn Webb said BendTrails supported the agency by sharing timely and accurate trail info on its site. She added that it was very helpful to have local individuals to whom the forest staff could reach out to directly regarding closures, stewardship opportunities and etiquette messaging.
After relieving himself of BendTrails on June 1, Rekward says he won’t miss moderating commenters, who might argue about any hot-button topic, such as whether the Forest Service’s April 1 allowance of class-1 e-bikes on 161 miles of trails is a good idea. Anywho, with all the new free time, Rekward will have more opportunities to noodle around on his e-bike.
“You can put that in your headline,” Rekward said with a laugh. “I’m pretty much an e-biker now.”
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