September 8/05 7:59 am - IMBA Publishes New Freeride Guide, CAO Coaching the Coaches Series, KONA Global 24 Hour Championships

Posted by Editoress on 09/8/05
 

IMBA Publishes New Freeride Guide with Support From Rocky Mountain Bicycles
Courtesy IMBA

A special issue of IMBA Trail News, the nationally distributed newsletter of the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA), will arrive in mailboxes this September. The 16-page, full-color Freeride Guide is sponsored by Rocky Mountain Bicycles, and contains informative articles, action photography and useful trailbuilding advice geared toward the challenge-oriented style of mountain biking known as freeriding.

This is the third edition of IMBA's annual Freeride Guide, and the second year it has been sponsored by Rocky Mountain Bicycles.

To compliment the Freeride Guide, the Freeriding Resources section of IMBA's website has been updated with new stories and photos. The pages contain more than a dozen how-to articles on building freeride trails. All of the material offered in the 2005 Freeride Guide is available online, and past issues of the Trail News Freeride Guides can be downloaded for free at http://www.imba.com/resources/freeriding/index.html

IMBA's leadership role in freeriding goes well beyond publishing the Freeride Guide. Both Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crews and the fee-based IMBA Trail Solutions program have helped develop new freeriding areas, dirt jump parks, and technical trails. IMBA-affiliated clubs around the world are creating new freeriding areas as well.

"We're proud to support IMBA in its effort to bring valuable, useable, accessible information to the groups and individuals who are growing freeride mountain biking. Sustainable and responsible access is the most important issue in mountain biking - freeride in particular. Supporting IMBA and its Freeride Guide is an important part of our history and connection to freeride," says Rocky Mountain Bicycles' Daina Carmichael.

"Rocky Mountain Bicycles (RMB) has a long history of supporting freeriding. The company was among the first to recognize the style's potential, and crafted some of the first freeride-specific bikes. RMB sponsors ground-breaking athletes and fosters media representation of this amazing expression of riding," adds Carmichael.


Fall Into Action With Paralympic Coach Paul Bowes!
Sportalliance News Service

The Coaches Association of Ontario’s Coaching the Coaches Series is back on the road and this time working in partnership with the London Sports Council to offer another great coach development opportunity as part of the “Coaching the Coaches” Series.

Creating successful athletes and training programs starts with an understanding of the sport development model. Paralympic Coach, Paul Bowes is quite familiar with maximizing practice time, getting the right program resources in place and sees coaching in a business framework with the outcome of performance and maximizing facilities, resources as well as the media.

Paul Bowes has recently been appointed a full time post as the National Team Head Coach for the National Wheelchair Basketball team. For over 10 years, Bowes has been instrumental in building dominant teams at the Sr. and Jr. levels. He played an integral role as Assistant Coach on the men’s team that won Gold medals at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics as well as in Athens 2004.

In this two-hour evening session - Grassroots to Glory, Bowes will discuss his use of the “playground to podium”, his focus on working effectively with athletes, maximizing your own coaching expertise measuring performance and much more! This promises to be a valuable session for coaches at all levels.

The session is being held at the Western Fair Sports Centre in London from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 27th. To reserve your seat please email events@coachesontario.ca or phone (416) 426-7086. The workshop is $5 for CAO members/NCI Students and $10 for non-members.

For more information please visit www.coachesontario.ca.
The London Sports Council is a community partnership dedicated to the betterment of sport in London through:

• promoting the availability and benefits of sport;
• advocating for equitable sport opportunities and facility development;
• developing opportunities for networking and mentoring in the sport community;
• providing leadership and a voice for collective sport initiatives, and;
• celebrating sport achievements and the value of volunteers.

The Coaches Association of Ontario is a non-profit coach-led organization that strengthens development opportunities and provides educational resources for coaches. The CAO promotes coaching ethics and ensures the wider community recognizes the vital role of the coach in the development of sport at all levels.


Tough Guy Productions Brings the European Standard in Endurance Mountain Bike Races to the States

Europe’s most renowned 24 hour endurance race promoter, Patrick Adams with ProVelo, has partnered with Nat Ross of Tough Guy Productions to bring a European standard in endurance mountain bike events to the United States. Kona has embraced endurance racing with massive excitement by sponsoring the first ever 24 hour global mountain bike series. The KONA Global 24 Hour Championships event is the second leg of the three-part Kona 24 Hour Global Championships and will take place September 10-11, 2005 at Snow Mountain Ranch in Granby, Colorado. A $20,000.00 cash purse is up for grabs.

The event is aimed to replicate the same caliber of European endurance mountain bike races to the United States. The success of Patrick Adam’s signature UK endurance events; Sleepless in the Saddle and Mountain Mayhem have been described as festivals, embodying the active, healthy lifestyle of mountain biking. According to Nat Ross, “Every event Patrick has done in Europe and Australia has been to the highest standard. Cycling abroad is synonymous with culture and lifestyle. This event is intended to bring the same ideal of cycling to the United States. In my belief, this is what the America’s cycling events have been missing.” This race includes some simple things like: affordable entries, free camping, parking, spectating, and massage for racers. Also, a unique lodging opportunity provides an option besides camping for participants. Colorado is famous world-wide for its singletrack, and this course is going to set a new standard in 24 hour courses.

By partnering with ProVelo, Tough Guy Productions’ focus for the US portion of KONA Global 24 Hour Championships is to further promote cycling in the states. “The race is geared to be all-inclusive, promoting the lifestyle, joy and culture of cycling to everyone. In this race, amateurs will ride along side some of the biggest professionals in the industry,” states Ross. To emulate the standard of Adam’s “festival” races, entertainment and healthy food will be served in large doses throughout the event.

The Kona 24 Hour Global Series 2005 Schedule includes:
• Event One - August 27-28, 2005 at Catton Park, Burton on Trent, UK.
• Event Two - September 10-11, 2005 at Snow Mountain Ranch, Granby, Colorado.
• Event Three - December 3-4, 2005, in Redesdale, Victoria, Australia.

This year, the Snow Mountain Ranch, USA race will crown the G24 global champion. The G24 championship is awarded to solo riders at one race a year: the USA event in 2005, Australia in 2006, UK in 2007. This is a solo category for men and women. There are also plans to establish a collegiate championship for colleges in the USA as well as shop/mechanics category (an unusual category which will incorporate a mechanical task to be completed by the rider just before the start/ finish area between 1:00am and 2:30am).

Additional information on the races
UK www.konasits.co.uk
USA sleeplessinthesaddleusa.com
AUSTRALIA www.kona24hour