New partnership with Professional Mountain Bike Instructor Association

June 30, 2016 — IMBA Canada is proud to announce the establishment of an integral partnership with the Professional Mountain Bike Instructor Association (PMBIA) as its recognized Instructor, Guide and Ride Leader training partner, through 2019.

Officially formed in 2013, the PMBIA provides certifications for aspiring and current mountain bike instructors, guides and ride leaders, and aims to establish a unified and globally accepted standard for mountain bike instructor certification.

The groundwork for the association was laid by Canadian co-founders, Paul and Shannon Howard (Zep Techniques) and Darren Butler and Kelli Sherbinin (Endless Biking), and comes from over a decade of collaboration with instructors, guides, and training providers from the mountain bike, ski, and snowboard industries.

“The door is always open at the PMBIA,” said Darren Butler, PMBIA Technical Director. “We continue to work with other providers in the industry, and hope to have more come into the fold, to make an even better, more standardized training product.”

Governed by a Board of Directors, an Advisory Board of global industry professionals, and a team of Technical Directors, the PMBIA is very committed to collaboration with other providers in hopes of unifying training on a global scale, and to have industry approved and insurable training standards. Ongoing engagement with commercial operators, resorts, bike parks, universities, colleges, advocacy groups, clubs, and cycling associations from all over the world ensures that this is the case, providing the most current, up-to-date training methodologies available.

The initial focus of the partnership will be on the promotion and delivery of the PMBIA Ride Guide course; a one-day training designed for club volunteers and local riders who wish to lead organized, group rides. The course will provide the necessary training to organize a ride, assess rider skills, perform bike checks and warm-ups, and execute a safe, fun event.

“This is a great day for the sport of mountain biking in Canada,” said Lora Woolner, IMBA Canada executive director. “Together with the PMBIA, we look forward to providing high quality resources, courses and training to communities all across Canada, and getting more people riding bikes safely, efficiently, and with more fun!”

PMBI training is currently available in Canada, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Chile, South Africa, Costa Rica with more locations in development.
About IMBA Canada

The International Mountain Bicycling Association (Canada) is a non‐profit association whose mission is to ensure Canada is home to a strong and vibrant mountain bike community, riding a world-class network of mountain bike trails. Affiliated with like-minded IMBA organizations around the world, IMBA Canada strives to bring out the best in mountain biking by encouraging low-impact riding, volunteer trail work participation, cooperation among different trail user groups, grassroots advocacy and innovative trail management solutions. Our core values: Speak, Build, Respect, and Ride represent the call to action for IMBA Canada affiliated clubs nationwide.

About PMBI Association

The PMBI Association trains and certifies mountain bike Instructors & Guides to effectively teach mountain bike riding skills in both cross country and downhill environments, while guiding students safely on varying degrees of technical terrain. The PMBI Association is the not-for-profit governing body for mountain bike Instructor certification courses within the mountain bike industry. It was established through a partnership between two industry-leading providers of mountain bike Instructor courses; ZEPtechniques and Endless Biking. These two companies have a combined experience of over twenty years of training and certifying mountain bike Instructors & Guides. Using the internationally recognized PMBI Certifications (the most widely available courses in the industry) from ZEP Techniques and bringing in many core concepts and elements from the highly successful MBIT curriculum from Endless Biking, the PMBI Association has developed a single, stronger, streamlined Instructor & Guides Certification System.

PMBI Association Mission Statement: “To deliver one united and globally accepted, professional Instructor & Guides certification standard to the mountain bike industry, while promoting the profession of mountain bike instruction & guiding, and the sport of mountain biking overall. Ultimately, our goal is to get more people on mountain bikes by improving the standards of Instruction & Guiding within mountain biking, making the sport safer and easier to teach and to learn for new and current riders alike”.

Contact:
Lora Woolner
IMBA Canada executive director
1-855-255-4095