Letter from the new PMBA President

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....

Lou, Rob and Chris have been with PMBA since its inception and have done amazing things to create a legacy for themselves and something that all mountain bikers in our area can be proud of.  I personally am sincerely grateful for the hard work that it took to get the group started and bring us to where we are now.   I think we all owe them a great deal of gratitude. 

Lou, Rob, Chris - Thank you for everything. 

Fortunately, these gentlemen have decided to continuing to serve as Board Members and volunteer their time and knowledge.  And I am thankful for their continued efforts.

Allow me to introduce the Executive Officers (in alphabetical order)-

Kenn Rymdeko (President)

Paul Harris (Vice President)

Jon Pearce (Vice President)

Kelly Bostick (Secretary)

Nick Fortune (Treasurer)

 Being the new President, I have many tasks before me.  With the help from the Executives and the Board of Directors, I feel we will be able to push forward and continue the diligent work that has been ongoing.   We all have things that we would like to get accomplished, and I will share a few of my goals with you here.

The international Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day is Saturday, October 3^rd, and although a great deal has already been planned, I will do all that I can to assist this in being a fantastic event for all ages.  Many volunteers have already stepped up and built obstacles which are not only fun to ride, but are inherently safe.  Others have reached out to Neighborhood Bike Works programs, and they have planned to be in attendance.  I encourage everyone to come out and participate or volunteer, and help grow the next batch of riders by showing them how much fun we have on two wheels in the dirt. 

It's no secret that some trails and trail features have been demolished recently without any forewarning.  Strengthening our relationship with the FPC is paramount to a better understanding of one another.  Our hope is that should a trail need to be adjusted, that they ask for our help and the work is completed without heavy equipment tracks and damaging the fauna within the park.  Additionally, this mutual understanding and education will aid in reducing user group conflicts and strengthen the position of mountain bikers in the city of Philadelphia.

The hardest of my goals to accomplish is a giant one.  That is to get each one of our members more involved in many different aspects of our community service to make mountain biking better in our area.  This can be done in many little ways that don't take a lot of valuable personal time.  We have many committees that can use more participants, particularly our Outreach Committee.  The Outreach Committee is essentially our marketing department and spreads the word of PMBA around the Delaware Valley.  As I ride on the trails, I still bump into people who are unaware that we exist.  We become stronger with numbers, so I ask you all to inform all your friends about PMBA and all the volunteer work we have done over the last three years.

I've written a lot here, and I thank you for taking the time to read it.  In closing, I'd like to reiterate my thanks to Lou, Rob and Chris for their years of service and their willingness to continue volunteering.  And thanks to all of you for your continued support of PMBA. We wouldn't be anywhere without our members.

Sincerely,

Kenn Rymdeko

Philadelphia Mountain Biking Association

www.phillymtb.org