As anyone who went last year will testify, the Coed y Brenin Fat Tyre Festival (5-6 April 2003, 01538 703707, entry form here) is a splendid gig. Various lengths of ride on legendarily good trails (Sunday’s 50km/5,000ft climb and descent singletrack monster is quite a ride), free coaching rides from the Gill/Giant team, trade stands, opportunities to try out some shiny new bikage… It’s all good. And it’ll be sunny, we expect, ‘cos Pat Adams is organizing it all and he leaves nothing to chance. He’s expecting over 2,000 riders to show up – it should be a cracker.

And as if all that isn’t enough, there’s also the official debut of the UK wing (or possibly arm) of MTB advocacy and trail building organisation IMBA. IMBA UK now has a board and a mission statement:

IMBA UK promotes environmentally sound and socially
responsible mountain biking.

IMBA UK works to keep trails and public access open
for mountain biking by encouraging responsible riding, supporting volunteer trail work and cop-operating with
trail user groups, land managers and public bodies.

Can’t argue with that. And the membership package has been sorted out, with individual membership costing £12, or £20 if you’d like third party liability insurance (which is a good thing to have). There will be separate membership packages for clubs and commercial organisations.

Sign up at the Festival and you’ll get entered into a prize draw. And it’s a great opportunity to meet the IMBA UK folks and talk trails. You can find out more about IMBA UK at www.imba-uk.com.