The CTC have kindly produced recordings of each of the speakers presentations from the National Mountain Bike Conference held on the 9th of October.
If you have even the slightest interest in mountain biking development at trail level then these are a great listen:
"The CTC & IMBA-UK joint conference looked at the current state of mountain biking across the UK and beyond. The conference aimed to help everyone involved in mountain biking to learn from successful trails and to get ready for the challenges ahead."
You can listen to them now (left click on a one of the links) or download them and listen later (right click on a link and select 'save link as')
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.
Chris Ford - Director CycleActive
Chris outlined how important it is to create the right mountain bike experience and match the trails to the riders and the riders to the trail. He examined what mountain bikers are looking for and how we can make sure that we meet their expectations. Plus how we can create trails to bring new people to mountain biking and keep them coming back.
John Ireland - Forestry Commission Visitor Safety Expert
Although to many Health and Safety (H&S) might not be the sexiest of subjects, H&S’s legal and practical implications are far reaching for mountain biking. John has been working on improving visitor safety in the Forestry Commission’s forests and has developed a range of practical guidance for the MTB sector. John looked at how H&S can have a positive effect on mountain biking and how it’s in everyone’s interest to adopt a professional approach.
Julie Cartner - Mountain Bike Development Specialist
Julie examined the effect millions of pounds of investment has had on mountain biking. She discussed how successful public money has been at broadening the market and how that investment is reflected in the trails that have already been designed and built. Furthermore, she shared her experiences from across the globe.
Dafydd Davis MBE - Trails By Dafydd Davis
Drawing on his work on trail development projects around the world, Dafydd focused on where his approach to trail design and building has really made a difference. He shared the lessons learnt from key case studies and gave a unique insight into the many mountain bike projects he has worked on.
Vince Bartlett - London Development Agency and Ian Warby - CTC
As the capital prepares for the London 2012 Olympics, Vince and Ian explain how one of the first legacy projects was delivered – the Redbridge Cycling Centre. Their presentation focuses on the off-road trail and how the LDA, its partners and CTC put together the pieces of a complex jigsaw to create an exciting urban trail project.
