What tech leadership and trail building have in common

People often ask me how I balance a career in IT with running a dirt jump community. The truth is, the skills overlap more than you'd expect.

Systems thinking

A good IT infrastructure and a good trail network share the same principle: every part needs to connect. In IT, a weak link in your pipeline breaks the whole deployment. On a trail, a poorly shaped lip sends you off-line for the rest of the run. Both require thinking about the whole system, not just individual pieces.

Building for others

At ICE Tech, I build systems that 35+ countries rely on every day. At Holmen Dirt, I build trails that kids and adults ride every week. In both cases, the work isn't about me — it's about creating something reliable that serves other people.

Iteration

No trail is finished on the first dig. No system is perfect on the first deploy. You shape, you test, you watch how people use it, and you improve. The feedback loop is the same whether it's monitoring dashboards or watching riders hit a new feature.

The common thread is caring about craft. Whether it's code or dirt, doing it well matters.