imba

This month, the International Mountain Bicycling Association is challenging riders everywhere to get out and ride their local IMBA Epic or nominate their favorite backcountry singletrack ride for this designation. An IMBA Epic is a demanding, mostly-singletrack experience in a relatively-backcountry setting that is at least 20 miles in length. Currently, 37 IMBA Epics can ...

Ed. Note: Mountain Bike Trailer Park is a regular column written by Uncle Dan that appears monthly on the Dirt Rag Interwebs. If you missed his previous columns, check them out here. Have you had those breaded cauliflower “Buffalo wings” yet?  I first saw them a few months ago at a restaurant. They’re kind of a chicken ...

For more than a decade, the Ride Centers and Epics designated through the Model Trails program have become iconic mountain bike destinations that influence communities across the country and the world to raise the bar on great places to ride. “It was time for IMBA to evolve its Model Trails program to mirror the evolution ...

The International Mountain Bicycling Association has just announced that Dave Wiens will be taking the position of Executive Director. Leslie Kehmeier caught up with Dave during his previous role as Chairman of the organization’s Board of Directors, a role to which he was elected this past November. This interview was also published in our latest issue, ...

In Part One of The (mini) Van Life, Dan Fausey travels…in a mini-van…to Arkansas for the IMBA World Summit. Read Part Two next week! Germans do a few things right.  One of them is language.  See, Germans keep it simple – when they lack a word for something, they make a new one by putting ...

Advocacy work isn’t often fun or compelling reading. But it is important. Vitally important. Which is why we went to the IMBA World Summit. There is much to talk about from the summit, but since we all know most of us riders won’t want to read about the nitty-gritty, I’m going to hit you with a ...

This mountain-bike-specific trail system in the Paradise Ridge area of the King Range National Conservation Area is the result of a partnership between the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA), along with the Redwood Coast Mountain Bike Association. The 11.6-mile Paradise Royale Loop is a great introduction to the ...

“Adventures of Slowmo Bro” is a video series produced for the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) that features professional mountain bikers teaching lessons on trail etiquette and trail maintenance. NICA oversees middle and high school mountain bike racing and launched this series with the support of the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA). Episode 2 features Greg Minnaar and ...

The International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) is now accepting applications for 2016 visits from the Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew, IMBA’s grassroots educational program. Featuring a traveling team of two as well as nine regional staff members, the program offers everything from sustainable trail building schools to high-level land manager trainings, as well as organizational support ...

The International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) announced that its 2016 World Summit will be held November 10-12, 2016, in Bentonville, Arkansas. “Bentonville, specifically, and Northwest Arkansas, regionally, have shown a commitment to developing world-class mountain biking trails,” said IMBA President and USA Executive Director Mike Van Abel. “I look forward to introducing mountain bikers from around ...

Courtesy of IMBA For more than a decade, IMBA has recognized trails and trail systems around the world that stand out as models for the best that mountain biking has to offer. From rugged, long-distance treks to front-country networks that challenge and excite riders of all ability levels, the Model Trails program is designed to ...

By Lani Bruntz Everyday it happens like clockwork: I meet another rider on the trail, or am just pumping gas, and I get asked, “So, where do you live?” I still stumble over the answer, which usually ends up being, “On the road,” or, “In that there Subaru.” Before I can explain, I am interrupted with, ...

Words by Sarah Galbraith. Photos by Tristan Von Duntz. The notion of flow exists in all kinds of sports,” says Mark Eller, Mountain bikers have, of late, seen the development of communications director with the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA). Eller has worked in skiing, snowboarding, surfing, and climbing, and now mountain biking. He points out ...

As part of the continued US Topo maps revision and improvement cycle, the USGS will be including mountain bike trails to upcoming quadrangles on a state-aligned basis. The 2014 edition of US Topo maps covering Arizona will be the first maps to feature the trail data, followed by Nebraska, Missouri, Nevada, California, Louisiana, New Hampshire, ...

Courtesy of the International Mountain Bicycling Association: The MTB Project website and mobile apps have been updated and improved with new functionality. The apps are available in both Android and iOS versions, and are completely free. MTB Project continues to grow in popularity, with a catalog of user-generated content that now exceeds 34,000 miles of trail. ...

IMBA Trail Care Crew Jordan and Lani.  Courtesy of IMBA. Photo by Joshua Lawton. IMBA is now accepting applications for Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew (TCC) visits in 2015. This is one of IMBA’s oldest and most successful programs, now entering its 18th year. Trail Care Crew visits present an opportunity for land managers, trail organizations and ...

We’ve spent many an hour around Dirt Rag headquarters talking about how valuable an online trail database would be to the mountain bike community. Throughout the years there’s been a multitude of attempts, but few of those efforts gained lasting traction. That is, until now. In May of this year, MTB Project celebrated its first ...

If mountain biking is going to continue to mature and grow, it’s essential that we prepare the next generation of riders to be good shepherds of the trails. IMBA does its part each year by hosting Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day—an opportunity to share your passion with some little rippers. The event always takes ...

For the fifth year, Niner has created a special IMBA themed bike in support of the non-profit’s mountain bike advocacy efforts. This year’s version is a custom painted ROS 9 Plus complete bike with special detailing and components throughout. The ROS 9 Plus is a brand new addition to the Niner line up – an ...

Trails are useless to mountain bikers when they’re off limits. But that access also needs to be balanced with the needs of other user groups and especially the environment. “Crossing the Divide, Protecting the Places We Ride”, produced by Grit and Thistle Film Company, documents how IMBA and its chapters work with the conservation and ...

Last spring Bell Helmets and IMBA partnered to award a total of $100,000 to three trail projects in the first Bell Built Grants. With the hope of making it even bigger in 2014, Bell and IMBA hope to spread the word so riders all around the country realize the opportunity they have for a trail ...

Spirit Mountain in Duluth, Minnesota, has been named one of IMBA’s Model Flow Trails. This year, IMBA is recognizing five Ride Centers, four Epics, three Flow Trails and two Gateway Trails in locations from the Czech Republic to Kentucky. These trails should go on your short list of riding destinations. These are the trails worth ...

by Melonee Hurt If you haven’t experienced East Tennessee’s newest mountain bike park, Tannery Knobs, you need to. But this fun new skills park isn’t the only biking hotspot in the area. We kicked around this fun mountain town for a weekend and can whole-heartedly recommend several good biking spots, great biker-friendly places to stay, ...

By Brett Rothmeyer The sun is just cracking over the Uintas in Park City, Utah. Main Street is starting to chatter as the doors to cafés open; the wisp of a broom on the sidewalk is overtaken only by the occasional slow-moving vehicle headed up the hill. I had long daydreamed about riding Park City ...

By Melonee Hurt The newly-opened Tannery Knobs mountain bike park in Johnson City, Tennessee, is small at just shy of four miles of trails on 40 acres of land. But what it lacks in size, it more than makes up for in impact for this burgeoning mountain town. Although Johnson City has always been surrounded ...

by David Tucker It’s late afternoon and the air has a bite to it. The heat of summer is gone, replaced by the angular and indirect sunlight of fall. Four grade-schoolers huddle together while their mate sits on his bike, poised above a miniature tabletop, waiting anxiously to drop in. “Can I send it?” he ...

By Bryan Chambala   In 2017, there was no bike shop in Millinocket, Maine, but there was a librarian with a Karate Monkey frame in his garage and a bunch of parts that didn’t fit. “I had a garage full of road bikes that I had assembled over the years, but I was having a ...

New year’s resolutions are fraught with peril. By design, they set us up for failure in their all-or-nothing approach to self-betterment. The new, hip thing to do is to “set intention.” If you identify as a girl, are at least eight years old, and intend to gain some bike skills in 2019, consider taking a ...

International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA), SRAM Cycling Fund and Ohio University have teamed up to create a survey that aims to gain insight into how riders use both our local and destination trails, and how we interact with our advocacy groups. While mountain biking enthusiasts are often engaged in their communities, providing information about their ...

If you were a kid given the opportunity to make a flavor of GU, what would it be? This is a flavor you’ll want to be sucking down in goo form when you are sucking air so hard you’re afraid you might bonk. GU Energy Labs teamed up with the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) to ...

For perhaps the first time in modern history, government officials beyond the highest-ranking are household names in the United States. People who are not very involved in politics and invested in policy-making likely had no idea who was Administrator or Acting Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) prior to the recently-resigned Scott Pruitt. And ...

Whose your favorite mountain biker of all time? The Marin Museum of Bicycling‘s 2018 nominations are in and you have until July 15 to make up your mind and cast your ballot. If you had all your friends nominate you, now’s the time to nudge them to pay the newly-lowered fee of $7 (down from $30 ...

The International Mountain Bicycling Association just announced the creation of International Women’s Mountain Biking Day, which is to be held on the first Saturday of May every year. IMBA will partner with SRAM, PeopleForBikes, Rebecca Rusch and others to promote the inaugural edition of this event, taking place May 5, 2018. International Women’s Mountain Biking ...

The International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) will host its first-ever IMBA UPRISING event to bring together female leaders in mountain biking from all over the country who are cultivating strong riding communities in their backyards. The event will take place March 22-25, 2018, in Bentonville, Arkansas. UPRISING is two-and-half days of hands-on collaboration among dedicated, ...

By Katherine Fuller If we could all just live by the great commandment of “Don’t be a jerk,” mountain biking wouldn’t need an etiquette guide. But we have met the enemy and he is us. Recent IMBA surveys indicate even mountain bikers recognize that the biggest threat to access is … mountain bikers. The good ...

The International Mountain Biking Association has announced its 2017 class of IMBA EPICS, consisting of nine trails and trail systems in the United States and beyond. IMBA EPICS are defined as “demanding, mostly (at least 80%) singletrack trail experiences in a natural setting that are technically and physically challenging, at least 20 miles in length, ...

One of my favorite parts of mountain bike road trips is discovering those “along the way” trail systems that aren’t your destination but are a nice break from sitting in the car. We all have backyard haunts, and by stopping at small, little-known trails on a trip, you get a glimpse into someone else’s. On ...

The International Mountain Bicycling Association’s Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day (TKMBD) will take place on October 7 this year. This annual event seeks to introduce the joy of mountain biking to the next generation of enthusiasts and activists. Mountain bike clubs, IMBA chapters, youth groups, community organizations and schools all over the country host ...