[PMBA] The Philadelphia Mountain Biking Association

2010 Rally in the Valley: April 17

2010-02-15T12:45:25Z

The Philadelphia Mountain Biking Association (PMBA) will hold its fourth annual "Rally in the Valley" on the third Saturday of April, the 17th, in the Wissahickon Valley Park. As always, this year's event will be a day of fun and excitement for all levels of riders.

The "Rally in the Valley" is an event that brings together mountain bikers, families, local bike shops, and PMBA's supporters. This year's event will have a festival-like atmosphere with food, fun rides, time-trial challenges, friendly competitions, bike handling clinics, music, and door prizes. Funds raised from this event support trail maintenance days in the Wissahickon Valley park, in addition to mountain bike clinics held throughout the spring, summer and fall.

Get ready for the new event: "The Monster Climb" - who's going to take the trophy for the fastest climb up this huge hill!?!?

For the past 3 years the "Rally in the Valley" has drawn over 250 riders with over 60 volunteers providing support. Rain or Shine, PMBA welcomes you to be part of this incredible day.

Click Here for MORE info & pics from 2009

February TMD will be postponed due to snow!

2010-02-25T14:48:43Z

Our plans for this weekends Trail Maintenance at Summit Ave will be postponed due to MORE SNOW! We will be continuing this work once the snow melts a bit. Please keep an eye on the site for an udate on the date. Worst case scenario is we shall pick this task back up in March. Thanks!

Neighborhood Bike Works Donation Drive

2010-02-08T22:05:06Z

Please help PMBA support a great neighborhood bike program that helps children build a bike of their own.

SATURDAY FEB 27th 10am to 3pm

NOTE THE CHANGE IN LOCATION BECAUSE OF ALL THE SNOW! NOW AT PACHELLA FIELDS & PAVILION.

Event Details & Parts Wish List

Directions

January 2010 Volunteer Trail Work

2010-01-19T21:35:56Z

A big "Thank You" and pat on the back to all of the approximately 35 people who came out on a COLD Saturday, Jan 30th to volunteer and help make the Wissahickon Park a better place.

We brought a fight to the ocean of invasives plants on the hillside directly below Summit Ave, along the corridor of our proposed new BYPASS trail. Great job everyone. We proved our determination and mettle to the Fairmount Park Commission and Wissahickon Restoration Volunteer representatives who were present. We want to thank those gentlemen, Dave and Steve, for their guidance and assistance with our work. Also, thanks to Luis and Starbucks Coffee for helping keep us energized and warm!

Project details here: Summit Ave Bypass

PMBA 2010 Clothing Items

2009-12-09T23:30:49Z

We have some awesome PMBA swag for sale. We have updated our jersey inventory, including a sweet new vest, and we have introduced some new apparel items like hoodies, fleece jackets (mens and womens) as well as a cool messenger bag. Check our MERCHANDISE section for our jerseys, and CLICK HERE to see our apparel items, which introduce our new logo which you will be seeing everywhere in 2010.

These are sweet items as well as fundraisers for our club. A small portion of each item is contributed to PMBA to support our programs.

Delaware Trail Spinners Bridge Install

2009-10-15T18:51:24Z

If you have ridden White Clay/Middle Run and are looking for some cool trail volunteer work between Xmas and New Years, look here: www.trailspinners.org/bridge.html

Also, please speak out for all mountain bikers and complete this survey for the state of Delaware.

They are using this information to help develop trail plans so our opinions will be heard and considered.

http://www.destateparks.com/activities/trails/index.asp

Letter from the new PMBA President

2009-10-04T23:50:38Z

Dear PMBA,

On Wednesday September 30^th, 2009 the Board of Directors assembled for the monthly BOD meeting. This meeting was particularly interesting as it was also the annual Executive elections. As many of you might have heard, Lou Harris (President), Rob Krotee (Vice President) and Chris Hunter (Vice President) have retired from the executive positions to allow some new blood to steer the ship for a while. Actually, it is speculated they just wanted to ride more, but I digress....

September 2009 Newsletter

2009-09-01T15:48:53Z

Download Newsletter Here

Statement on Recent FPC Actions

2009-09-11T18:23:18Z

PMBA cares very much about what happens in the Wissahickon Valley Park, which arises from and even transcends our desire to ride our mountain bikes there. PMBA has proved its care and commitment to the Park through the hundreds of volunteer hours its members have spent maintaining the trails and controlling erosion damage, among other things. As a steward of the Park and local trail systems, PMBA is fully committed to the continued preservation of the Park's environment and the land we ride on. We are motivated and sustained by our passion to ride.

Yet, we acknowledge the challenges the Wissahickon faces on a daily basis and the impact these challenges may have on surrounding communities. As an advocacy group, PMBA may not always agree with the alterations made to the trail system in the Wissahickon by land managers and we acknowledge that other user groups and political bodies may agree with us, though some may also have their own views about what's best for the Park. We strive to understand our differences while remaining committed to the importance of working together with land managers and other user groups.

In response to recent demolitions of technical trail features (fallen trees transformed from obstructions into effective and meaningful user management tools) and other biker utilized features in the Wissahickon, PMBA raises the following concerns. Many of the removed features performed important passive control roles as well as other purposes, such as user conflict reduction and erosion control, which support all trail users. PMBA will continue to advocate integrating properly designed and approved technical trail features in the Wissahickon, which will be a process and will require a lot of hard work. While PMBA does not support illicit or rogue trail building, we acknowledge that the Daisy Field "Bowl" has been used by bikers for over 20 years and fulfilled a valuable biking need that is as legitimate as any recreational use in the Fairmont Park System. Additionally, bikers took it upon themselves to police the underage parties and clean up the trash left afterwards. We will continue our efforts to build an approved bike park area in the Wissahickon to officially acknowledge and serve this need.

We have and will continue to support the Fairmont Park Commission, the Friends of the Wissahickon and communities at large in the City of Philadelphia, all while advocating mountain biking, sustainable trail usage and stewardship. It is PMBA's goal to reach a common understanding with all trail users in the Wissahickon. This is what we have done and will continue to do.

With that said, we need and count on our members' support. A strong PMBA will serve all the people who ride mountain bikes in the Wiss and beyond. Now, more than ever, consider making contributions (time, expertise and/or money) to PMBA to help us achieve the goals we set forth above.

August 2009 Newsletter

2009-08-11T14:12:48Z

Download Newsletter here