Climbing Turns

IMBA Trail News
Volume 12, Number 1
March 1999

All of these programs -- everything we do-- is directed toward IMBA's fundamental goal: making sure that wherever you live or visit, there are good trails to ride. -- Tim Blumenthal

All of us at IMBA headquarters in Colorado have enjoyed plenty of rest, family time and skiing during the last few months, but it's also been a winter of remarkable change and growth at our office.

The big news is the hiring of two key staff members: Development Director Rod Kramer and Membership Director Pete Webber. While you, as an IMBA member, should naturally be more interested in what our organization is doing than who's doing it, allow me to tell you a bit more about our new staffers.

Rod, Development Director

Rod is well known in the mountain bike world as the founder and driving force behind Dirt Camp, an innovative mountain bike vacation and instructional program that has guided and inspired several thousand people to become passionate mountain bikers. At Dirt Camp, Rod was a master of publicity, garnering extensive (and frequent) coverage not only in national cycling publications, but also in Outside, Men's Journal and mainstream women's mags.

Rod Kramer and Pete Webber. Rod leads IMBA's major donor and corporate partner programs. Pete manages our membership efforts.

Now Rod works fulltime for IMBA. His 25 years of cycling experience and powerful personal connections are already paying dividends as he develops new and existing IMBA programs and sources of funding. Rod also boasts more than a decade of professional work as an architecta heritage that quickly reveals itself when you step into his office. The furnishings are sparemaybe even starkand his desk is adorned only by a mouse pad, a translucent iMac and a mug filled with evenly sharpened pencils. A single painting on the wall behind his desk casts splashes of pleasing color wall to wall. I give Rod grief about it (I'm jealous) but it's simply a wonderful space an ideal environment in which to write, plan and create new IMBA programs many of which you'll hear about soon.

Pete, Membership Director

Pete Webber is another prominent person in the mountain bike world. About five years ago, he pedaled a meteoric rise to the top of U.S. pro mountain bike racinggoing from unknown to top-15 in a single season. Since then, he's been a contender on the NORBA circuit, one of the strongest Americans in international competition, and the backbone of Team Gary Fisher. His on-the-bike work ethic and approachable style has fostered the development of an unofficial fan club that includes Mountain Bike editor Zap Espinosa and thousands of fans around the world. Early in his elite racing career, Pete tapped into IMBA's Boulder affiliated club, the Boulder Off-Road Alliance. Last year, he effectively handled BOA's publicity efforts while racing and traveling fulltime.

While Pete's still riding and racing cyclocross, his elite mountain bike racing days are behind him...at least for now. Pete has dived into the task of building and supporting IMBA's membershipall of youwith tremendous gusto. He's learned the intricacies of our database (Filemaker Pro) in record time, he's becoming a bulk mail expert, and he already knows more than anyone would want to know about merge/purges, file exports, and postal regulations.

Everyone who works at IMBA nownot just Pete and Rod is passionate about cycling. On any given day the mix of bikes at the office is pretty amazing: road, 'cross, trials, cruisers, one-off category-defying prototypes, and of course, plenty of fat-tire flyers.

Dan and Heather

In addition to Rod and Pete, we've also added two more fulltime staffersthe people you're most likely to talk with first if you call or email us. Dan Vardamis is IMBA's new Advocacy Associate. He's working with our ace Advocacy Director Jen Lamb to improve our interaction with our state reps, club leaders and government officials. Dan, who will also focus on essential office duties, is a master's student at the University of Colorado School of Journalism. Not only has he been publishing his own Colorado mountain bike magazine (called Off Camber), but he's been promoting a popular, high-altitude race series in the old mining town of Caribou, high above Boulder in the shadow of the Continental Divide.

Our other new fulltimer is Member Services Coordinator Heather McRoberts. Originally from Michigan, Heather is a pro-class mountain bike racer who worked with VeloNews for several years before joining IMBA. If you've ever attended a race, trade show, or mountain bike festival and stopped by the VeloNews booth, you probably met Heather. She's enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and could no doubt drop me in her sleep.

Continuing staff

Sorry to ramble on about our new staff, but I'm hoping this gives you a picture of the office team that's leading IMBA's efforts to keep mountain biking on track. That image wouldn't be complete without a mention of our professional backbonethe key staffers who have been with us and continue to develop their skills and expertise. That's Advocacy Director Jen Lamb, Finance Director Carmela Weber, National Mountain Bike Patrol Coordinator Jon Alegranti, Trail Care Crew Coordinator Scott Gwozdz, veteran Communications Director Gary Sprung, and Jan & Mike Riterour original Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew, who have returned for year three of their important mission. We are also lucky to have Judd deValle, a CU senior marketing/Spanish major, working three days a week as our International Advocacy Intern. This is not to forget our excellent 14-member board of directors, which has guided IMBA from an idea to something tangible during the last 11 years.

European office

One more thing: we've opened a virtual office in Switzerland that is staffed two evenings a week by IMBA board member Chris Payne. Our goal is to improve our contacts and support for mountain bike advocacy internationally, and the logical place to start is Europe, where there have been a rash of recent trail closures.

Long-time IMBA members will appreciate this growth. It wasn't too many years agosix, in factwhen IMBA had only one fulltime staffer. Our advocacy guy served as our shipping coordinator... that is, when he wasn't doing his job as executive director.

Bye to Jackie and Kristin

It's time to note the departure of a few well known IMBA faces. After more than four years of great work as our Office Manager, Jackie Cope has moved forward to a new position at a Boulder marketing company. Kristin Wachtel, our Project Coordinator for more than a year, has also moved on. We wish good luck to them both.

Linda now Bike/Ped Coordinator for Austin

I'd also like to recognize the tremendous contributions of one of IMBA's longest-serving board members. Linda DuPriest is stepping down from our board after 10 years of outstanding service. Linda has accomplished so much for IMBA and mountain biking...and will unquestionably achieve much more in her new professional role as the Bicycle & Pedestrian Coordinator for the city of Austin, Texas.

A brief recap: Linda connected IMBA with Specialized in '89, and was responsible for their steady, generous support of our work that continues to this day. Linda guided the difficult process of developing IMBA's current logo, producing a moniker that is strong, distinctive and versatile. Linda pushed IMBA to become more involved in federal politics, including National Park Service trail policies and Congressional decision-making.

1999 Objectives

In the midst of these staff and board changes, IMBA has formulated ambitious plans for '99 that include two fulltime Trail Care Crew schedules, an expanded National Mountain Bike Patrol, a coast-to-coast series of Trailbuilding Schools, a new Trailbuilding video, a new pocket guide to trailwork, a series of IMBA Epic Rides, new member benefits, an expanded international access effort, a new Web site, reader-friendly improvements to IMBA Trail News, additional club support and more grants. Somehow, in the middle of this, we're all hoping to find more time to ride. Hope we can pull it off.

All of these programseverything we dois directed toward IMBA's fundamental goal: making sure that wherever you live or visit, there are good trails to ride. This is a long-term objective, not something we can collectively expect to achieve in '99. We will never lose sight of the fact that most of the work toward this goal is performed by local and regional mountain bike clubs, who remain indispensable to the future of mountain biking.

Trail closures develop swiftly; new trails take shape slowly and not often enough. But every hour invested in the the future of mountain biking is an hour well spent.

This year at IMBA, there will be more of these hours than ever.

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	Climbing Turns IMBA Trail News Volume 12, Number 1 March 1999 All of these programs -- everything we do-- is directed toward IMBA's fundamental goal: making sure that wherever you live or visit, there are good trails to ride. -- Tim Blumenthal All of us at IMBA headquarters in Colorado have enjoyed plenty of rest, family time and skiing during the last few months, but it's also been a winter of remarkable change and growth at our office. The big news is the hiring of two key staff members: Development Director Rod Kramer and Membership Director Pete Webber. While you, as an IMBA member, should naturally be more interested in what our organization is doing than who's doing it, allow me to tell you a bit more about our new staffers. Rod, Development Director Rod is well known in the mountain bike world as the founder and driving force behind Dirt Camp, an innovative mountain bike vacation and instructional program that has guided and inspired several thousand people to become passionate mountain bikers. At Dirt Camp, Rod was a master of publicity, garnering extensive (and frequent) coverage not only in national cycling publications, but also in Outside, Men's Journal and mainstream women's mags. Rod Kramer and Pete Webber. Rod leads IMBA's major donor and corporate partner programs. Pete manages our membership efforts. Now Rod works fulltime for IMBA. His 25 years of cycling experience and powerful personal connections are already paying dividends as he develops new and existing IMBA programs and sources of funding. Rod also boasts more than a decade of professional work as an architecta heritage that quickly reveals itself when you step into his office. The furnishings are sparemaybe even starkand his desk is adorned only by a mouse pad, a translucent iMac and a mug filled with evenly sharpened pencils. A single painting on the wall behind his desk casts splashes of pleasing color wall to wall. I give Rod grief about it (I'm jealous) but it's simply a wonderful space an ideal environment in which to write, plan and create new IMBA programs many of which you'll hear about soon. Pete, Membership Director Pete Webber is another prominent person in the mountain bike world. About five years ago, he pedaled a meteoric rise to the top of U.S. pro mountain bike racinggoing from unknown to top-15 in a single season. Since then, he's been a contender on the NORBA circuit, one of the strongest Americans in international competition, and the backbone of Team Gary Fisher. His on-the-bike work ethic and approachable style has fostered the development of an unofficial fan club that includes Mountain Bike editor Zap Espinosa and thousands of fans around the world. Early in his elite racing career, Pete tapped into IMBA's Boulder affiliated club, the Boulder Off-Road Alliance. Last year, he effectively handled BOA's publicity efforts while racing and traveling fulltime. While Pete's still riding and racing cyclocross, his elite mountain bike racing days are behind him...at least for now. Pete has dived into the task of building and supporting IMBA's membershipall of youwith tremendous gusto. He's learned the intricacies of our database (Filemaker Pro) in record time, he's becoming a bulk mail expert, and he already knows more than anyone would want to know about merge/purges, file exports, and postal regulations. Everyone who works at IMBA nownot just Pete and Rod is passionate about cycling. On any given day the mix of bikes at the office is pretty amazing: road, 'cross, trials, cruisers, one-off category-defying prototypes, and of course, plenty of fat-tire flyers. Dan and Heather In addition to Rod and Pete, we've also added two more fulltime staffersthe people you're most likely to talk with first if you call or email us. Dan Vardamis is IMBA's new Advocacy Associate. He's working with our ace Advocacy Director Jen Lamb to improve our interaction with our state reps, club leaders and government officials. Dan, who will also focus on essential office duties, is a master's student at the University of Colorado School of Journalism. Not only has he been publishing his own Colorado mountain bike magazine (called Off Camber), but he's been promoting a popular, high-altitude race series in the old mining town of Caribou, high above Boulder in the shadow of the Continental Divide. Our other new fulltimer is Member Services Coordinator Heather McRoberts. Originally from Michigan, Heather is a pro-class mountain bike racer who worked with VeloNews for several years before joining IMBA. If you've ever attended a race, trade show, or mountain bike festival and stopped by the VeloNews booth, you probably met Heather. She's enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and could no doubt drop me in her sleep. Continuing staff Sorry to ramble on about our new staff, but I'm hoping this gives you a picture of the office team that's leading IMBA's efforts to keep mountain biking on track. That image wouldn't be complete without a mention of our professional backbonethe key staffers who have been with us and continue to develop their skills and expertise. That's Advocacy Director Jen Lamb, Finance Director Carmela Weber, National Mountain Bike Patrol Coordinator Jon Alegranti, Trail Care Crew Coordinator Scott Gwozdz, veteran Communications Director Gary Sprung, and Jan & Mike Riterour original Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew, who have returned for year three of their important mission. We are also lucky to have Judd deValle, a CU senior marketing/Spanish major, working three days a week as our International Advocacy Intern. This is not to forget our excellent 14-member board of directors, which has guided IMBA from an idea to something tangible during the last 11 years. European office One more thing: we've opened a virtual office in Switzerland that is staffed two evenings a week by IMBA board member Chris Payne. Our goal is to improve our contacts and support for mountain bike advocacy internationally, and the logical place to start is Europe, where there have been a rash of recent trail closures. Long-time IMBA members will appreciate this growth. It wasn't too many years agosix, in factwhen IMBA had only one fulltime staffer. Our advocacy guy served as our shipping coordinator... that is, when he wasn't doing his job as executive director. Bye to Jackie and Kristin It's time to note the departure of a few well known IMBA faces. After more than four years of great work as our Office Manager, Jackie Cope has moved forward to a new position at a Boulder marketing company. Kristin Wachtel, our Project Coordinator for more than a year, has also moved on. We wish good luck to them both. Linda now Bike/Ped Coordinator for Austin I'd also like to recognize the tremendous contributions of one of IMBA's longest-serving board members. Linda DuPriest is stepping down from our board after 10 years of outstanding service. Linda has accomplished so much for IMBA and mountain biking...and will unquestionably achieve much more in her new professional role as the Bicycle & Pedestrian Coordinator for the city of Austin, Texas. A brief recap: Linda connected IMBA with Specialized in '89, and was responsible for their steady, generous support of our work that continues to this day. Linda guided the difficult process of developing IMBA's current logo, producing a moniker that is strong, distinctive and versatile. Linda pushed IMBA to become more involved in federal politics, including National Park Service trail policies and Congressional decision-making. 1999 Objectives In the midst of these staff and board changes, IMBA has formulated ambitious plans for '99 that include two fulltime Trail Care Crew schedules, an expanded National Mountain Bike Patrol, a coast-to-coast series of Trailbuilding Schools, a new Trailbuilding video, a new pocket guide to trailwork, a series of IMBA Epic Rides, new member benefits, an expanded international access effort, a new Web site, reader-friendly improvements to IMBA Trail News, additional club support and more grants. Somehow, in the middle of this, we're all hoping to find more time to ride. Hope we can pull it off. All of these programseverything we dois directed toward IMBA's fundamental goal: making sure that wherever you live or visit, there are good trails to ride. This is a long-term objective, not something we can collectively expect to achieve in '99. We will never lose sight of the fact that most of the work toward this goal is performed by local and regional mountain bike clubs, who remain indispensable to the future of mountain biking. Trail closures develop swiftly; new trails take shape slowly and not often enough. But every hour invested in the the future of mountain biking is an hour well spent. This year at IMBA, there will be more of these hours than ever.


Help \| Site Map \| Copyright