On the Trail with IMBA

For at least 3 years I’ve been hearing about how cool Ray’s Indoor Mountain Bike Park is and how I need to get to Cleveland and check it out. It’s a definite commitment and a haul for anyone west of Illinois. As I suspected, however, it was easily worth the trip.

I timed my trip to coincide with the Women’s Weekend event at Ray’s. Karen Brooks of Dirt Rag and Ray’s own Mindy Kuth pulled the event together. Combined with some awesome local ladies and a few bike sponsors we were primed for an amazing session.

It was a treat to have the indoor playground all to ourselves on Friday — plus there was no cover charge for participants! Everyone improved their riding throughout the weekend, thanks to tips from pro riders on skills like jumping, dropping, etc.

Many thanks to the sponsors for all the great schwag, to Ray’s for the great hosting and free snacks, and to everyone for showing up ready to ride! We even got to check out Uncle Scratch’s Gospel Revival and enjoy a few PBRs on ice … nice!

– Tammy Donahugh, IMBA Operations Coordinator

This Valentine’s Day was already primed to be a solid improvement over last year. Mainly because I actually had a date this time around. Even better, we were going to a Colorado Avalanche game. Little did I know that it would turn out to be even more amazing than I could have ever imagined.
As Kate and I walked up the escalator inside the Pepsi Center, an official looking guy approached us. I thought he was trying to sell something so I was all set to ignore him, but before I knew it, he asked us if we wanted to participate in a contest at intermission… Heck yes! It turns out that we were going to be doing a trike race on the ice during the second intermission. Sweet! It was going to be a relay and we were competing against two other couples (of course, it is Valentines Day).
So, after anxiously sitting through the first and second periods, we headed down to get set up for the race. The trikes were pretty sweet. Quite big and bury with large tires. I imagine that nothing else would do on the ice. We put on some hockey helmets and Avs jerseys and went out on the ice.
It’s quite surprising how rough the ice gets during 20 minutes of play — really easy to walk on in fact. It was also really impressive seeing the players at that level. Those dudes are huge!
Back to the race. Kate was doing the first leg. She had a pretty good start but got stuck behind the girl in first. The transition area behind the goal was really tight so we were still behind when I set out to chase down first. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make up the gap and we ended up second. We thought we could win, given our collective training and experience, but that just proves that you can’t take anything for granted! It was so sweet to be down on the ice that I watch my favorite team play on every week. The only bummer was that we couldn’t keep the jerseys!

On the ice at the Pepsi Center… Sorry all I had was a camera phone.

Kate and I with the Trike

You know it! It’s almost shmoopy woopy cupid and pink stuff day so we thought we’d make it easy on you. Skip the jewlery, the flowers, the heart shaped items, the chocolates, wait… don’t skip the chocolates and instead admire the look of delight when you’re favorite person rips open a box of jersey (and maybe some socks). Just think of how hot she would look in this sassy blue (also comes in yellow) Pearl Izumi women’s jersey with a little IMBA ride emblem nicely embroidered on the sleeve. Not to mention the fact that it fits great and the fabric is super soft!

If that’s not her style there is always this festive DH jersey made by Mace complete with flys and a small shoulder pocket that you could fill with chocolate.

Oh yes and there are some lovely fashions for the men too. Scrap the idea of buying him those darling cuff links and snag one of these love tickets. Also made by Mace, no flys but still has the shoulder pocket for the chocolate and that’s pretty important.

See, you can even ride in it!

There you have it, no more heming and hawing and these ideas are so much less painful than those matching tatoos. We’ve got some rocking deals at the IMBA store right now so check it out! Make your person happy, comfortable and smokin hot! For your entertainment we have also included these bloopers from our fabulous fashion shoot in Las Cruces New Mexico this afternoon. It’s shocking but none of us are professionally trained models although Kelly dabbled in socks for Sears in 1980.

Check out that logo!

“Which way did they go?”

Have fun!

-Anna and Kelly

It may have taken me a couple of weeks (I manage to stay pretty busy here in the office this time of year), but I finally have found the time to post my pics from our annual IMBA Staff Week this past January. Once again, we had a very successful (and fun, as evidenced by the pics) week at our home base in Boulder, CO. The entire IMBA staff of 30 from the field and in the office migrated to Colorado to discuss the accomplishments and short-fallings of 2007, the goals for 2008, and IMBA’s long-term mission to better the mountain biking experience. What a week it was…

Keeping on finger on the pulse of the mountain biking world -

Tom Ward updating us on the issues facing California -

Ryan and Pete waxing philosophically during a break at the foosball table -

Anna making a weird face -

Ryan is sooooo cute -

Climbing at the Boulder Rock Club -

Gordon tearing up the wall -

Partaking in libations -

The office meeting table -

The off-site meeting table -

Drew killed the rest of us at the bowling alley with a 214!!! -

Though the rest of us suck at bowling, we manage to have a great time -

Pickles is currently in a three way tie for “Best Office Dog”. The other two will remain unnamed -

He fits right in your bag! -

Looking forward to next year, Stefan