30 April 2026
With the recently launched Adaptive Mountain Bike Initiative (AMBI), there was a good reason to give a-MTB center stage at this year’s program of the Dutch MTB Summit.
During the Summit, AMBI presented its vision of making mountain biking accessible for everyone and demonstrated how small trail adjustments and clear route classifications can greatly improve inclusion without changing the riding experience for others.
AMBI was founded by Ydwer van der Heide and Patrick Jansen. After a surfing accident in 2021 left Ydwer paralyzed from the chest down, he discovered adaptive mountain biking—using specially designed three-wheeled off-road handbikes, often with electric assistance. What began as part of his rehabilitation grew into a mission to improve access to the sport in the Netherlands.
Together with Patrick, a well-known Dutch trail builder, Ydwer started identifying barriers on existing MTB routes, such as gates, narrow passages, and small bridges, that can block adaptive riders. Their goal is not to make routes easier, but to remove unnecessary obstacles while keeping the technical challenge intact.
Photo credits: Storm Jansen
With support of two great ambassadors, multi Olympic paralympic champion Jetze Plat and Marc van den Tweel, executive director of NOC-NSF, the Dutch Olympic Committee and National Sports Federation, who emphasized that while the Netherlands sees itself as a cycling nation, there is still much to gain in accessibility and inclusion. He even pointed toward a bold long-term ambition: working toward adaptive mountain biking at the 2032 Paralympic Games.
AMBI has developed guidelines and a classification system to assess how suitable mountain bike trails are for adaptive riders, which differentiates between technical difficulty and accessibility (including the role of a buddy).
The project is already being implemented in various Dutch regions with other regions joining. Besides improving access, AMBI also wants to raise awareness, since many people do not know adaptive mountain biking exists.
Adapted mountain biking has also been addressed at the European level at the IMBA Summits in 2024 and 2025. A new a-MTB working group is in the making after two exploratory and knowledge sharing online meetings with international stakeholders. The group is currently led by honorary IMBA Europe board member Thomas Larsen Schmidt.
Interested in learning more? Please contact us at info@imba-europe.com
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