The mountain bike community is awesome.

We are reminded of this every week, with every new community that we stop in. But getting to attend an event like the BC Mountain Bike Tourism Symposium is extra special!

Hosted by the Western Mountain Bike Tourism Association, the 2-day event was attended by riders, club representatives, bike industry, and tourism officials all looking to "to unify the voice of the BC Mountain Biking tourism industry, and discuss the opportunities we have to drive more tourism to the province."

In addition to rides, great social events, and an IMBA trail building school at Sooke’s Harbourview, the event had two full days of engaging speakers presenting topics all relevant to growing the bike industry, and tourism in the province.

It was a great opportunity to learn more about best practices, policy, and research – all very relevent to mountain biking in BC, and across Canada. (Check out coverage on twitter with the #mtbtourism hashtag).

We’d like to personally thank everyone at the conference who pledged support to IMBA Canada, in light of the . The past few months have been tough for our close knit family of passionate advocates, but it was very heartening to hear the outpouring of support.

Thanks also to the wicked volunteers who came out to our trail building school at Harbourview, which took place as part of the pre-conference festivities on the weekend. We had a fantastic group, and built some premium benchcut!

View the photos from the weekend here

Check out Dave Silver’s photos from the event, including our trail build: https://www.davesilverphotography.com/events/2013-mbta-symposium