More trails and counting in 2021

2021 was an incredibly successful year for IMBA and for trails. We continued our mission to create, enhance, and protect great places to ride mountain bikes. We furthered our vision for everyone to have access to great places to ride, from trails close to home to iconic, backcountry experiences. We continued to focus on more trails close to home to see new trails in 250 communities by 2025. We’re no longer selling the idea of trails—communities and trail champions are coming to us. We’re no longer explaining trails take time—our innovations in trail planning and building have accelerated timelines. Great trails close to home are happening, and more communities want in.
 

Created In Columbus   Committed in Chattanooga   Engaged in Salt Lake

IMBA Resources

Creating Trails

In Columbus

The mountain bike community in Columbus, Georgia craved a more natural riding experience away from busy city parks. Two decades in the making, Columbus acquired a blank slate just north of downtown to sculpt into what is now the Standing Boy trail system. IMBA Local partner Chattahoochee Valley Area SORBA and local trail champion Blake Melton have been leading the vision for Standing Boy. They partnered with IMBA to plan and design 25 miles of singletrack in a multi-phase plan that includes shared-use trails, bike-only directional trails, and trails for all skill levels. IMBA Trail Solutions was back in 2021 adding a bike-only gravity descent chock full of hits, rocks, and berms. It's the first trail of its kind in central Georgia and the next level of progression for Standing Boy.

Construction | Stewardship

Along the Atlantic Seaboard fall line in Columbus, Georgia; in the bluffs of Chattanooga, Tennessee; in the forests of Millinocket, Maine; and on the ridges of the New Hampshire’s White Mountains, IMBA’s Trail Solutions crew carved new trails for these communities. In each, IMBA’s construction team worked alongside IMBA Local Partners and other trail partner organizations, training volunteers on sustainable trail maintenance techniques to keep new professionally built, high-quality trails in tip-top shape for decades to come.

Committed Partners

In Chattanooga

Riders in Chattanooga have long had many miles of shared-use singletrack, but have lacked a variety in trail styles that will introduce more riders to mountain biking and keep riders pedaling as their skills progress. Now, nearly a dozen partners in the Chattanooga trails community–led by IMBA Local partner SORBA Chattanooga and local trail champion Taft Sibley–are ambitious and all-in for more and better trails. IMBA has partnered with local leaders to help secure land, funding, trail planning, trail design, education, construction, and training for ongoing stewardship that will sustainably maintain the area’s first one-way trails and gravity trails. These trail systems are so close to home, you can see rooftops through the trees. Walden’s Ridge Park will open summer 2022 after two years of advanced construction by IMBA Trail Solutions.

Planning | Design | Funding

Beneath every berm and tucked behind every trailhead IMBA partners on, is a professional trail plan developed alongside the community and funded through a variety of sources. With IMBA’s Trail Accelerator Grants, trail plans provide communities leverage for more support and more funding. Based on past estimates, grants awarded in 2021 will leverage at least $2.28 million more for trails. That includes more federal funding—hundreds of advocates turned to IMBA in 2021 to navigate new funding available through the Great American Outdoors Act.

Engaged Communities

In the Salt Lake Valley

The Bonneville Shoreline Trail has become a model for more trails close to home, passing six Utah counties in the Salt Lake Valley and serving as a backyard trail to over one million residents. Simultaneously, it’s a long-distance dream, potentially stretching 280 miles from the Idaho border to Nephi, Utah, and connecting near trail systems like Draper’s Corner Canyon, which hosts the biggest NICA league in the country. IMBA has been a partner on the trail for more than two decades through education, trail design, trail construction, and by leading the Bonneville Shoreline Trail Advancement Act in Congress, a bill that would adjust federal land management boundaries to connect more of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. The bill received hearings in April, June, and November 2021, and has strong bipartisan support.

Access | Assessment | Advocacy

Long before wheels are humming along a trail, a new trail starts with a vision. That vision takes investment: assessing opportunities, working for land access, and rallying community support. IMBA worked alongside locals in Utah, California, Colorado, Washington, and Montana to advocate for six federal bills in 2021 that would create and protect access for trails. IMBA partnered on eight priority bills for more trail access and trail funding for every community across the country, and monitored and advised on dozens more legislative opportunities.

Mountain Biking's Ride to Prominence

Stories from the trail reached more new and long-time riders in 2021. Media coverage increased and IMBA’s social media presence featured richer visual storytelling alongside local community voices. Join the conversation with us on YouTube, Instagram, and LinkedIn. 
 

Trails are Common Ground

Trails have become more crowded than ever. Evolving technologies by all trail users creates conflict between user goals and experiences, and risks trail access long-term. Trails and trail systems of yesterday are no match for the user needs of today and tomorrow.

IMBA was a catalyst to unite local, regional, and national advocacy organizations and companies to cast a new vision for trail use and experiences with Trails are Common Ground. The national initiative launched in late 2021. 

Never before have trail user and advocacy groups collaborated in this way to make trails more welcoming and inclusive for everyone; to lift user knowledge and empathy so users are kinder and more responsible; and to innovate how trail systems are planned and designed to accommodate various trail pursuits harmoniously.

IMBA Supporters and Partners

Are Creating More Trails

More trails close to home happen thanks to forward-thinking and acting supporters of all kinds. Philanthropic support of IMBA’s mission and programs in 2021 was the strongest in years—an expression of confidence in IMBA’s progress to support trail development in 250 communities by 2025.
 

Companies and foundations recognize the need to accelerate trail development. We thank every single company, retail business, and foundation that stepped up and forward with generous support IMBA can devote to trail development. In particular, Tom and Steuart Walton for helping IMBA pioneer Trail Accelerator Grants. These grants help projects get off the ground and leverage more funding for project completion, seeing upwards of 2,100-fold increases in funding for trails. 
 

IMBA thanks Niner Bikes for promoting a bike sweepstakes featuring a rad, one-of-a-kind JET 9 RDO that raised more than $45,000 for trail advocacy and development. Niner puts its heart and soul into the IMBA mission. As does Shimano, which takes advocacy and creating trails seriously. Shimano is a generous, collaborative partner with their finger on the pulse of issues facing mountain bikers. Shimano is not only the backbone of corporate giving to IMBA’s work, it also powers Dig In to help IMBA Local Partners raise more for trail project needs.

IMBA welcomes new and phenomenal philanthropic partners, including VISTA Outdoor Foundation. VISTA Outdoor Foundation joins IMBA’s more trails close to home initiative in a big way. IMBA thanks all the awesome outdoor companies behind VISTA. Plus a new foundation partner joins IMBA to create new trails in Omaha, Nebraska. The Conine Family Foundation continues as a significant partner supporting IMBA’s strength in government relations.

Meet All Our Partners
 

The Singletrack Society, donors that make generous and major gifts to the mission, grew by 30 percent in 2021. The Society made one of the biggest differences in IMBA’s ability to support IMBA Local Partners, to win on the policy front, and to educate more communities on trails. Society members are special, fun individuals who care, share the IMBA vision, and see the return on their philanthropy. Thank you to each and every member of the Society. Consider joining them.
 

Donors of every kind and at every level were generous in helping IMBA in 2021. Thousands made donations to the IMBA mission and to programs like Dig In. The IMBA team thanks you.
 

IMBA Singletrack Society members and IMBA staff ride Corner Canyon in Draper City, Utah – August, 2021

Revenue and Expenses:

Trails Are In Demand

IMBA achieved even more financial stability in 2021, despite national economic conditions. Demand for communities to partner with IMBA Trail Solutions on professional trail planning and high-quality, sustainable construction resulted in strong income to support advocacy efforts. Philanthropists, foundations, and companies expressed their confidence in IMBA’s strategies and efficacy. 

Organizational investments were made in community engagement, educational support for trail champions, rider education for better trail experiences, and IMBA Local Partners. IMBA sent $1.2 million back to IMBA Local Partners via membership revenue alone. Strong and stable local membership and two successful membership drives are supporting more trail development and trail advocacy for more trails and counting close to home.  

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Cheers to more trails and counting!