22 Jan 2014
New trail organization looking for board members: Durango Mountain Bike Association
A new trail organization is coming together in Durango with the narrow focus of building trails and features specifically for mountain bikers, says the group’s founder.
Photo courtesy of Brian Schoff.
Called the Durango Mountain Bike Association, the oranization’s President, Kurt Smith, says he is in the preliminary stages of designing the mission statement, setting up the board of directors and working on the website www.durangomba.org.
As a resident of Durango, Smith is actively recruiting mountain bike advocates to be on the board of directors for DMBA, this new 501c(3) non- profit organization.
The working mission statement that Smith said will be open to modification by the board of directors for DMBA is as follows:
The Durango Mountain Bike Association (DMBA) is an all volunteer, non-profit organization dedicated to building, maintaining, and advocating for sustainable singletrack trails.
Special emphasis will be on alternative trails on public lands.
Alternative may refer to jumps, technical features, DH trails, jump
parks, and pump tracks, to list a few.
In a conversation with Smith, he said that he wants to see the group’s efforts be put into long term plans for freeride trails, and long distance cross country trail connectors.
“It’s in its infancy and it’s built from a frustration of seeing a lot of trail being developed all around us in different communities and feeling like we have a very strong community of bikers but we’re not having some of the results from a standpoint of trail building and type of trail, in some cases, that I think our community would support and needs,” said Smith.
Wanting to focus on the future of providing more for mountain bikers, Smith said he’s trying not to get distracted with the previous challenges that individuals have historically had in pushing government officials to approve the progression of mountain bike trails and features in the Durango area.
“There’s going to be a certain level of interest as to why there’s even a need for a second trails association in Durango, so I’m of the positive let’s look forward,” said Smith. “Obviously what I’m focused on is a narrow vision of trails for mountain bikers.”
Smith has also been talking to the Regional Director of the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) for Colorado and Wyoming about trying to get DMBA set up as a chapter of IMBA.
“I think that this community has enough momentum and enough mountain bikers to support this single-focused association,” said Smith.
This blogger agrees that there is a need for an organization that’s solely focused on mountain bike trails, although IMBA’s Regional Director Jason Bertolacci and that organization will have to weigh these issues, and may even come to Durango to discuss it with local leaders, he said.
“I think that Kurt is dedicated to applying for the new organization and a chapter of IMBA,” said Bertolacci. “and so out of this process, we’ll need to decide whether or not the application is accepted or not and if we support it as a new organization.”
Anyone that’s interested in joining the board of directors for DMBA is encouraged to email Kurt Smith at Kurtshmiddie@gmail.com.
