Trail development must know

TRAIL building and rights of way were high on the agenda for the CTC - the UK's national cyclist association

The National Mountain Bike Conference was well attended with delegates from across the country. The CTC is the country’s largest group of people on bikes.

Their mission is to make cycling enjoyable, safe and welcoming for all. Their work includes high-profile campaigning on behalf of all cyclists. There were presentations from an inspirational and international line up of speakers including Mike Van Abel and Mike Nelson.

The conference aimed to help everyone involved in mountain biking to learn from successful trails and to get ready for the challenges ahead.

If you were unable to attend the conference you can listen online or download MP3 versions of all the presentations.

Mike Van Abel - Executive Director of IMBA Mike is based in Colorado, USA. In his presentation he examined the latest trends and developments in mountain biking from an international perspective. He also shared IMBA’s thoughts on the future, the threats mountain biking faces and where IMBA stand on a range of topics from trail centre location through to the global footprint of destination mountain biking.

Kevin Mayne - Director CTC Fresh from bringing £19.9 million worth of Big Lottery Funding into the Active Travel Consortium, with just over £5million worth of funding for CTC’s Cycle Champions, Kevin knows a thing or two about attracting funding for cycling. In his presentation he talked through how to make your project attractive to funders and how you can tailor it to fit funding criteria.

Mike Nelson - Founder of Cascade Environmental Mike has worked on two of the mountain bike world’s choice destinations, Whistler and Squamish in Canada. Mike brought to the conference a wealth of knowledge on mountain biking’s environmental footprint, and information on how we can plan, build and manage projects in the future that both complement the environment and meet the needs of mountain bikers.

Duncan Mackay - Policy Specialist at Natural England Drawing on the latest government thinking and policy, Duncan shared his unique insight into the way forward for mountain biking. He looked at how everyone involved in mountain biking can make sure their projects will stand the test of time and ensure a sustainable and prosperous future.