The International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) is a non-profit educational association whose stated mission is to create and preserve trails for mountain bikers worldwide.
The IMBA promotes mountain biking, trail building, and trail maintenance. The IMBA has developed a set of principles known as the "Rules of the Trail", which promote responsibility on shared-use and single track trails.[1]
History
The IMBA was formed in 1988. The founding clubs were the Concerned Off Road Bicyclists Association, Bicycle Trails Council of the East Bay, Bicycle Trails Council of Marin, Sacramento Rough Riders and Responsible Organized Mountain Pedalers. Gibson Anderson, of Sacramento, was elected IMBA's first executive director.
In 1993, IMBA hired Tim Blumenthal, a former IMBA board member and cycling journalist, as its executive director. When Blumenthal began, the organization had roughly 1,200 individual members and about 60 affiliated clubs. The headquarters moved to Boulder, Colorado, in 1994.[citation needed]
In the late 1990s, an international summit was held in Switzerland in 1997. It has an educational outreach programs, such as the Trail Care Crews, which was sponsored by Subaru Corporation. At the end of 1999, IMBA had more than 28,000 individual members, 14 staffers and a budget of $1.2 million.
In 2006, IMBA's membership grew to 32,000 members, with more than 600 affiliated clubs and patrols and a staff of 26.
IMBA has created a "Ride Center" designation whereby IMBA recognizes and rates sites that feature "extensive trail networks".[3] IMBA staff selects candidates for "IMBA Ride Center" recognition on an invitation-only basis.[4] As of December 2013, the following is a list of IMBA Ride Centers:[5]
On July 9, 2013, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell announced that a Richmond Region Ride Center would open in 2014 in the Richmond, Virginia metro region, as the first legacy project of the Richmond 2015 bike race.
