As we enter the new year, we’re hitting the ground running. We’re opening our Founder’s round of funding between now and February 29, 2020.

Founding Contributions by passionate mountain bikers and advocates like you will be used to: 

• Increase the capacity of a statewide trail advocacy organization
• Create awareness of the issues which limit trail access for local clubs across the state
• Develop messaging that will foster a positive image of mountain biking to emphasize education, diversity, and healthy lifestyle choices
• Support lobbying efforts in Sacramento
• Build an effective and collaborative resource hub for trail advocacy best practices

Please give generously and help us keep rolling forward for More Trails, Better Trails in California:  

• $50 or greater donation will receive a CAMTB sticker, a letter from the CAMTB Board and listing on Founders Wall at CAMTB.org
• $100 or greater donation will receive the above and one CAMTB Founders Tshirt*
• $500 or greater donation will receive the above and an invitation to the CAMTB inaugural Summit  (TBA, targeting FALL2020/WINTER2021)
• $1000 or greater will receive the above and an invitation to the CAMTB MTB Legislative Strategy Session in Sacramento (late Feb, TBA)
• $2500 or greater donation will receive the above and a personal visit by one or more of the CAMTB Board and/or Executive Director for a bike ride and private meal.
• $5000 or greater donation will receive the above and an invitation to the CAMTB Board retreat (June 2019, Lake Tahoe).

CAMTB was voted  “Trailforks Advocate of the Year” by PinkBike. The CAMTB Board of Directors is comprised exclusively of experienced, non-profit Mountain Bike Club Leaders from across the state with more than 60 years of combined advocacy experience.  In addition to your financial support, CAMTB is driven by trail & MTB volunteers from across the state. You are also invited to get involved.

2022 update: Please visit our home page to donate using our current donation system. Thank you for your support!

While we were a little surprised to see Pinkbike’s Trailforks name the California Mountain Biking Coalition among its Advocates of the Year for 2019, we are deeply honored. There are many organizations, including the other Trailforks Advocacy awards recipients, who are making great things happen for mountain biking.

The honor from Trailforks came as a surprise to us, considering we are still getting organized. It’s been a two-year journey with many dedicated volunteers to get here. Perhaps Pinkbike recognizes that mountain biking has never had a 501c4 organization poised and ready to speak up for mountain biking in the California State Capitol. Perhaps they realize how daunting a challenge California advocacy is, and the fact that we (the board and the advocacy community) have stepped up and launched this organization is in itself a noteworthy accomplishment.

Regardless, we appreciate the recognition. With your support, we’re committed to fulfilling our mission so we can all have more trails, better trails.

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We’re proud to announce that CAMTB received our nonprofit EIN on October 29. We are official! Save the date for our next statewide conference call, December 3, 2019 at 6 pm. Details will be posted on our CAMTB Slack channel emailed to our organizational contacts. We’re accepting applications for an Interim Executive Director, and nominations to our board of directors and several committees. There’s lots to discuss! Here is our CAMTB November press release:

As the California Mountain Biking Coalition develops its policies, positions, and other programming, we reached out to organizations around the state to gauge their needs.

All California cycling and trail based organizations, regardless of ability to help fund or actively participate in CAMTB, are encouraged to reach out, and to engage in the discussions at our active CAMTB Slack channel.

We surveyed trail advocacy organizations around the state and here is a summary of the responses.

As we’ve promised you from day #1, in order for CAMTB to truly represent you and your organization’s interests, we’re going to be depending on your feedback. If you missed the survey at it’s release, here is the link:  https://forms.gle/3gAdbvqaK6QY7oaB8     

Representatives from the newly established California Mountain Biking Coalition participated with over 120 other outdoor recreation leaders in the state on August 19 in Sacramento to voice support for Assembly Bill 1111 which would establish the California Office of Outdoor Recreation.

The establishment of this office is good for the State and for mountain bikers. It would improve access to outdoor activities while ensuring land conservation. It’s also good news for local businesses, as a dedicated government office would help drive revenues from tourism. While thirteen other states across America have already created similar offices, California is falling behind.

Update: On August 30, 2019, AB1111 was Held Under Submission. This is an action taken by a committee when a bill is heard in committee and there is an indication that the author and the committee members want to work on or discuss the bill further, but there is no motion for the bill to progress out of committee. This does not preclude the bill from being set for another hearing. We will continue to monitor any progress for bringing this effort forward in the next session.

In 2019 at the California Trails and Greenways Conference, the CAMTB steering committee did a presentation and panel discussion about California Mountain Biking advocacy efforts. Out of that initial meeting the steering committee was formalized and with the information they needed from advocates around the state, began forming the organization.

The meeting was live-streamed on Facebook and archived for reference.

The California Mountain Biking Coalition sees itself as representative of its membership and those we aim to represent. To that end, to develop our mission statement we engaged advocates from around the State to weigh in on how our collective mission should be crafted to best serve the needs of all off-road cyclists in California.

We conducted the following poll:

After the poll was conducted, the steering committee sifted through the responses to come up with our mission statement and goals for the organization:

To improve and increase trail access for mountain biking throughout California by providing a unified statewide voice for organizations and individuals. 

February 2019, CAMTB posted its first call to action, asking California mountain bike advocacy groups to log on and get involved.

Big news everyone! We are excited to announce that we’re publicly launching CAMTB.org today in anticipation of the collective formation of a formal California Mountain Bike and Trail Advocacy organization. This is an invitation to all California bike and trail organizations to hop in and join forces. Does your group have representation on-board yet? Send them to check out http://CAMTB.org/ today!

We’re having a conference call on February 22, 2019 at 12:30pm. Please email us for the call-in info. We look forward to talking to you and the many California advocates who understand the need for a statewide effort.