about trail unknown

​After living in a van together and searching for the best mountain bike trails around the world, Hugo van Dorssen and Tom Shopland set up Trail Unknown in 2017.

Trail Unknown's mission is to get more people out enjoying the beautiful wild areas of the UK by providing guided mountain bike tours in National Parks and AONBs, and leading school bike clubs.

In 2019, Tom and Hugo became the Adventure Ambassadors for Specialized Bicycles. 

OUR Team

Hugo van Dorssen - Owner

Happiest exploring outside, he's an avid trail hunter and has a passion for creating & sharing adventures.  When not working on Trail Unknown he's in social enterprises building their sales and marketing teams.  ​​Ask him about the time he tried to solo jump start his van on a hill... hugo@trailunknown.com

Tom Shopland - Owner
Tom's passions lie in promoting outdoor adventure for improving society's well-being, sustainability and love for our natural world. When not working on Trail Unknown, he's at Oxford Brookes University looking at how cities are designed to encourage more cycling and walking. Ask him about the time he went viral on the internet... tom@trailunknown.com

Magnus Baker - Social Media Chief

Creative, people person and hipster bikes sums up this man. He's the dude you want on an adventure for the laughs. When he's not working on Trail Unknown Magnus is helping start and run pubs, bars, cafes & breweries in Oxford. Ask him about the time he found himself riding over a crumbling ancient bridge on Dartmoor... marketing@trailunknown.com

​our passion as a solution

​We’ve seen firsthand how mountain biking and the outdoors can benefit local communities and the happiness it brings into people’s lives. Let us refer you to that moment when you get down to the bottom of a beautiful, flowy trail, your eyes wide and your giant smile plastered with mud and flies. You feel an indescribable feeling of mystical wizardry excitement flowing in every direction, you know you're stoked and you're looking for the nearest person to high five or to recall a moment of madness with all the necessary tyre on dirt sound effects and wild hand gestures. And after a good days ride, there's that easy warm feeling of deep joy, glowing inside as you sit around a crackling camp fire surrounded by like-minded others and serene nature.  When life itself is in a beautiful hazy flow of smiles and good memories of when you bounced off a root and nearly clipped that tree but at the last minute just let the bike hang sideways like it was all on purpose. These are the feelings that we are packaging and selling. Because everyone needs more of it, especially in England, as is sadly reflected in the research on the deteriorating state of mental and physical health in the UK.
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who we work with

We work with organisations to help spread the love of cycling ​​through content creation, event organisation and infrastructure planning. For more information - see how we work with brands here.