SLOVENIA IS CALLING – GEAR UP FOR THE IMBA SUMMIT IN KRANJSKA GORA

April is getting closer so let’s gear up for IMBA Europe’s 2018 Summit. We’re excited to travel to Kranjska Gora in Slovenia, surrounded by the breathtaking Julian Alps, and meet with mountain bike enthusiast from all over Europe. It looks like this year’s event will be our most international one with  20 different nationalities signed up so far. What to expect? Here’s the outline of our 3 day program (20-22 April) with the opportunity to extend your stay with another day in Ljubliana to ride the Golovec trails.  Friday Friday is scheduled with several project and stakeholder meetings in the morning and early afternoon before we kick off our public program. Arriving early in Kranjska Gora? Feel free to join our afternoon program and listen to Andreas Holzer of Villach Tourismus, Adrian Greiner of BikePlan and Veikko Virkkunen of Parks & Wildlife Finland and learn about what they consider as a sustainable approach towards MTB development. We finish the afternoon program with a panel discussion. Friday evening, we’re moving towards the Planica Nordic Center for our official opening ceremony. Here is where the Slovenian MTB community presents itself and show why they won the title ‘Best European MTB community 2017’. This is also your chance to have a drink with the other attendees and to meet the first tutors of the European MTB guide-instructor program. Saturday  We’re going green, active an healthy on Saturday morning as Jana Apih, managing director of GoodPlace explains why and how Slovenia was named the very first Certified Green destination in the world. And what does this mean for mountain biking? Will adaption of current legislation help to reach the full potential of mountain biking in Slovenia? Prof. Lisa Roberts of Leeds Beckett University introduces us to another policy field closely related to mountain biking. Health. In her latest research, she investigated and described the motivational orientation of mountain bikers. Mountain biking incorporates many dimensions which have the potential to positively affect and proactively maintain mental health and wellbeing. We’re discussing the potential policy implications of the health factor of mountain biking. After the break, it’s about mountain bike entrepreneurship. Valamar Hotel & Resorts, based in Croatia, invested in mountain bike infrastructure and several sport events to develop and promote sports and active lifestyles. During this presentation, we learn more about the background of this strategic choice and explore the economic sustainability of Valamars biking destinations along the Croatian Adriatic. The morning program finishes with a panel discussion in which we explore how the different policy fields related to mountain biking can be brought together into a cross sectoral approach. AFTERNOON After lunch in the Ramada Resort, it’s time to choose from the various breakout sessions in different rounds. Or make sure you bring a colleague of friend. Are you interested in the impacts of mountain biking and want to learn more about the latest research in this field? Two new studies are presented, one about the impact of signposted MTB trails on nesting birds and the midterm results of a general impact study in the French Alps. Community building is covered in two separate sessions. Learn about volunteer management and the development of local MTB communities from IMBA Europe president and formal consultant of the Danish Outdoor council Thomas Larsen Schmidt. Also from Denmark is Morten Kamp Schubert, developer of the Singletracker app, who will show you how technology can support the development of a sustainable mountain bike sport. The importance of trails in the proximity of where people live is undeniably. In the breakout session ‘bring trails to the people’ Tomas Kvasnicka, owner and trail designer of Singltrek sro, explains the value of (sub) urban trail systems and how to develop them. In the same session, Velosolutions will highlight the role of urban bike facilities like pumptracks to engage and build MTB communities. MTB tourism versus trail access. When a designated (tourism) oriented trail network results in restricted access for the local MTB community, tension is quickly created. During this session, Heiko Mittelstädt of DIMB will share his vision why progressive access rights are good for MTB participation and tourism. Riva del Garda, which has been popular for many years by German mountain bikers, will tell about the access challenges they had and have to overcome to retain their status as a renowned MTB region and how their MTB offer has changed over the years. Trail Grading systems in mountain biking – evolution and proposed changes Chip Rafferty is the founder and Chief Executive of MBCUK, a nationally recognized awarding body in the UK for mountain bike coach-leader awards. Trail grading systems in mountain biking often lack consistency and local variations exist in all aspects of physical, technical, environmental and exposure to the elements. In this session, proposed changes related to physical and technical grading are presented and discussed with the audience.  For trail builders and trail designers, the afternoon program provides in a trail builders meeting. The meeting will be introduced by IMBA Europe. Aim of the meeting is to gain feedback from trail builders and designers regarding the development of a European Trail Development Framework which includes trail classification, standards and training. Saturday evening program includes dinner with all participants and a social activity.  Sunday The Sunday morning sessions will take place a various locations in and around Kranjska Gora. Bikepark Kranjska Gora will facilitate a session for cycling federations, travel associations and tour operators interested in the European MTB guide-instructor project. The European standard for professional MTB guide-instructors will be explained, as well as recently developed training options for countries without existing training schemes. The session is led by EO-MTBing, the European Organisation of Mountain Bike Instructor-Guides. EO-MTBingcame into existence from the first ever collective pooling of skills, knowledge and experience from leading MTB training organisations across Europe, creating Europe’s foremost source of expertise on the subject of MTB instructor-guiding. Goals of the association are to help define, develop and represent  the profession of mountain bike instructor-guide on a national and international level. The Robe Twist Trail is a purpose built trail which has been developed as a community and tourism project. The total loop length is around 20km and takes about 2 and a half hours of ‘work’. The RobeTwist descent is 3.6 km long with some 600 vertical meters of drop. This will be a technical site visits in which a part of the trail will be visited and sections for improvement will be identified and discussed among the participants.  (one more site visit to be announced) Epic Ride The IMBA Europe ends with the traditional guided group ride on Sunday afternoon. There’s a ride for each skill & fitness level available Not to many altitude meters and not to technical, mostly gravel roads. 1,5 – 2u. Easy peasy! A bit more altitude meters and a few technical sections. 1,5-2u. You will break some sweat, but you will not be soaked to the bone More altitude! More meters! More technical sections! More sweat! 2-2,5u See you in Kranjska Gora! Register HERE