Texas Bicycle Coalition staff members had an opportunity in late June to learn more about the mountain bike community and share experiences and resources with other mountain bike trail builders and advocates at the 2006 IMBA World Mountain Bike Conference in Whistler, British Columbia. BikeTexas Trail Doctors Ryan Spates and Susan Stormer, Membership Director Sona Shah and Communications Director Claire England represented Texas Bicycle Coalition at the conference.

The four staff members were able to each attend and take notes at separate breakout sessions so that other Coalition staffers and volunteers may learn more from the conference. Plenary and workshop session topics included Risk Management and Liability; Getting Political: Why Our Worldwide Movement Starts with Your Club; Communities and Trails: Making the Connection; How to Get More Industry Involvement in Cycling Advocacy; Grant Writing: How to Score Well and Get Funded; Marketing Mountain Biking: Trails, Communities and Destinations; Partnering for Conservation; A Complete Trails Community; and much more. To learn more about any of the sessions or get notes from the conference that might help your local bicycle club, please contact This email address is being protected from spam bots, enable JavaScript to view it. .

Sona and Claire also visited fellow bicycle organizations in the region to learn best practices from fellow cycling advocates and share resources. They had the opportunity to visit the Bicycle Alliance of Washington and meet its executive director, Barbara Culp, and her staff. Barbara and her husband, Andy, were also so kind to open their home to Sona and Claire for a home stay in Seattle.

In Portland, Claire visited with representatives of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, including Executive Director Evan Mandel and Development Director Kristie Perry. To learn more about their visit, read Evan’s online blog.