How e-bikes helped a community rebuild

In October 2024, Hurricane Helene swept through the Southeastern United States, leaving destruction in its path. Towns were flooded. Homes were lost. Lives were changed. The North Carolina mountains – usually buzzing with hikers, riders and visitors – fell still.  

Pisgah National Forest, home to hundreds of miles of world-class mountain bike trails, was hit especially hard. About 80% of the trees in the forest were downed. Trails that once felt like hidden ribbons of dirt through dense green forests were now impassable tangles.  

And for those who live in and around Pisgah, these trails are more than just places to ride – they’re part of the region’s heartbeat. They bring in hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. They fuel local businesses. And they offer something deeper: a way to connect, to move, to engage. Losing them meant more than just missing a riding season – it meant losing a thread in the fabric of daily life. 

Local volunteers knew they had to act quickly to start stitching that fabric back together. But with roads blocked and most trails only accessible by bike or foot, recovery looked like a long uphill climb. 

That’s when Trek Territory Manager Matt Ciancia had a powerful idea. What size chainsaw fits on an electric mountain bike alongside a few litres of fuel and bar oil? Members of the Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association (SORBA) and the G5 Trail Collective were about to find out.

At Matt’s recommendation, Trek donated 14 Rail e-MTBs to help volunteers from both organisations haul supplies and better navigate the forests. Trail restoration tasks originally projected to take months or years suddenly became much more manageable.

Clean-up crews rode Kitsuma, Pisgah’s crown jewel trail, from bottom to top in a single day – a job they assumed would take at least a week. Within five months, they had collectively cleared 160 miles (257 km) of trails, leaving just 30 miles (48 km) to go in a process many feared would take years.

And their work isn’t done. These same e-bikes will soon be put to use building hundreds of miles of new trails and helping Pisgah – and the people who live and ride there – come back stronger. 

Storms will always come. What matters most is how we show up after.