About

I’m Mike Mansmann. I’ve spent twenty years in the dirt and the snow: first building trails, then selling the bikes that ride them, now telling the stories behind them.

It started in 2005 on trail crew at Kingdom Trails in Vermont, cutting and shaping the singletrack people drive hours to ride. From there I spent nearly a decade managing East Burke Sports, the shop at the foot of those trails, growing the business while leading a team and learning what a rider needs to hear before they trust a bike.

In 2019 I crossed the counter to Santa Cruz Bicycles as a Brand Representative, managing more than 150 dealer accounts, shops like the one I used to run. Then a winter turn: CRM Marketing Manager at Sunday River Resort, building dynamic email that met skiers and riders before they reached the lift, and stepping in front of the camera as a snowboarder in the resort’s brand shoots.

From 2025 to 2026 I was Brand Marketing Manager at Cane Creek Cycling Components in Fletcher, North Carolina. I made much of the work myself. I shoot, edit and direct, so the idea and the finished frame come from the same place.

MM.Directive is my independent creative direction studio. I get to the core of who a company is, then make sure it shows up the same way everywhere a rider meets it.