6/21/2015 Adventure seekers: Colorado Springs branch of Gociety aims to get people outdoors

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Adventure seekers: Colorado Springsbranch of Gociety aims to get peopleoutdoors

By Amanda Hancock ( /author/amanda-hancock ) • (mailto:amanda.hancock@gazette.com) Updated: June 15, 2015 at 10:41 am • 0

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6/21/2015 Adventure seekers: Colorado Springs branch of Gociety aims to get people outdoors

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The Friday night hours rolled by as Bobby Mikulas wandered his house, phone

in hand, waiting for the familiar buzz. For a twenty-something guy with a flair for

all things outdoors, a movie on the couch wasn't going to fly. He had something

else in mind.

Within minutes, his phone lit up. He had a plan.

The only catch? It could be with a complete stranger.

"I didn't expect a response so quickly," Mikulas said. "We left awhile later and

then we went ice climbing at a spot nearby in the middle of the night. It ended

up that I had met this guy before so it was awesome."

The impromptu plan was a sign that Gociety, a Denver-based social networking

site, is working. The premise of Gociety (think Meetup or Peoplehunt) is to

connect explorers and adventurers with similar ZIP codes.

After officially starting last year, there's now more than 10,000 people using the

site (gociety.com (http://www.gociety.com/)) as well as its mobile app, with

networks open in Seattle, Boston and San Francisco. Mikulas and his wife,

Brooke, launched the Colorado Springs branch in February.

"At first, you don't know what to expect. You send this post out to the void and

you're wondering what kind of people are going to be there or if anyone is

going to show up at all," he said.

At first, the couple's plans to ski or go mountaineering netted zero joiners, but

they kept posting and hoping to see new faces. Then, things started to click.

"A few months ago it was just my wife and me, and now there's pretty much

always a solid size of group of people showing up and posting their own plans,"

Mikulas said. "This morning she went to hike the Incline and she called me after

and was like, 'Well, I now have a place to stay in Dallas and Boulder and Denver

if we ever need it and hey, I made a few new friends.'"TRENDING LIFE ARTICLE

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6/21/2015 Adventure seekers: Colorado Springs branch of Gociety aims to get people outdoors

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Unlike other sites, Gociety is exclusive to outdoorsy adventures. Users post an

event online - whether it's fly-fishing, running, hiking, mountain biking or

something else - add a date and time, then wait for members to press the join

button.

Mikulas was born in the Springs but moved around from New Zealand to

Boulder and other cities in the past few years, dabbling in outdoor scenes,

looking for a place good enough to settle down. No place seemed to beat out

his hometown.

His worry is that people don't know all that is going on here and they get pulled

in by similar, yet slightly shinier, cities. "I get depressed once a year when one of

my best friends moves to Denver or Seattle or Portland because they want that

younger, vibrant scene," he said. "I'm like, 'Just wait, we have so many people

who are young and have high energy and want to meet people.' They just don't

know each other yet."

That might be the case for Amanda Ridgway, who moved to Colorado Springs

two years ago and says she's now starting to put in a real effort toward meeting

people via Gociety.

"I joined because I am not a Colorado native - I don't know many people here -

and this seemed like a great way to meet people while improving my lifestyle,"

Ridgway said in an email. "I am a beginner in most activities and I'm not a

natural athlete, but I am trying to soak up all that this great state has to offer,

get fit and maybe make some friends."

The group has around 800 members in the Pikes Peak region, but Mikulas isn't

focused on numbers. "We want this to be a community builder. It's important

for our city to have these like-minded people get together, especially those

young professionals. We want to keep people here and also draw people here."

'neighborhood' park and pond was

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6/21/2015 Adventure seekers: Colorado Springs branch of Gociety aims to get people outdoors

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Mikulas has organized so-called community nights, where folks can move

beyond their online profiles and get together in person, usually over a beer. In

May, he hosted a fourteener prep class and had more than 100 show up at local

taproom Ute and Yeti, to talk through belaying, proper shoes, packing and other

how-tos. Plus, the first pint is always on Gociety.

Plenty already is slated for the rest of the summer, including weekly Friday

morning hikes and sunrise yoga. There are also plans in the works for the

biggest event to date - a two-day, multisport mountain getaway in late August

with the hopes of attracting 500 people.

"Our long-term vision is that you can show up to any city and you can hop on

Gociety and find a plan and meet new people and go on adventure," Mikulas

said.

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