2008 nsmbA AGM

The State of the Association

Words by Cam McRae.
Date: 2008-11-21

The nsmbA is our trail association here on the North Shore.  Just to be clear, we are not them and they are not us - despite our very similar names.  We - nsmb.com - are an online magazine while the nsmbA is a not for profit trail maintenance and advocacy organization.  Clear?  I guess the struggle to identify us as distinct from them - and yet closely affiliated - will go on as long as our names remain so similar.  It's the burden we share.  The nsmbA has a long history of maintaining the trails and advocating on behalf of riders here on the Shore.  In fact the model the association has set up here is the envy of riders the world over and it has been emulated often.


 Another good turn out this year.  It's great to see so many riders making an effort to get involved and show their support.

I've just come from this year's annual general meeting - complete with pizza and beer (shhh!) and prizes for vollies who came out to trail days.  Before we got to the good stuff though we had to wade through some old business, talk about the way forward and stir up a little shit along the way.  Just your typical meeting really.


 The back row.  Left to right Matt Juhasz of North Shore Bike Shop, Kim Steed of Steed Cycles, Tony Jofenig from Trident and Noel Buckley of Knolly Bikes.  James Wilson from Obsession Bikes, Darren Butler and Kelly Sherbinin from Endless Biking, Terry Walker and Jeff Bryson from M.E.C and Andrew Major from Orange Sport were just a few of the local industry reps in attendance.

Matt Bond starting things off with a bit of a state of the union address.  Over the past year the association was audited by the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency - an honour indeed.  One of the findings of the audit was that the nsmbA as seen to have acted politically on at least one occasion.  In retrospect this was an error but CCRA didn't see it that way.  In fact when all was said and done the final letter asked for some tightening of procedures; they received the sternest letter you can get without having your non-profit status revoked.  Call it a warning shot across the bow.

The audit got the books cleaned up some and for 2008 revenues totalled $49,000 - from donations, sponsorship as well as $30,000 donated to the Richard Juryn Trail Fund.  Expenditures, on tools, insurance, meeting expenses, grant work, 'other' and North Shore Ripper expenses totalled $16,000.


 Andreas Hestler and Hoots Jay enjoying the festivities.

Last year's board had their hands full.  They started off with 6 directors and then Dan Gronross had to step down after entering the witness protection program (or something like that) which left the remaining five with a significant workload and limited resources.  Dieter Bahr was trail director, Matthew Bond was El Presidente, Robin 'Don't forget the J' Harvey was treasurer, Martin Littlejohn was secretary and I believe Sven Luebke (who was out of town and couldn't make the meeting) was in charge of communications.

Dieter told us that there were a total of 8 trail days as well two organized as corporate events, including one for 18 Vancouver employees Deloitte Inc.  In total that added up to 3600 hours of trail work by volunteers - but over half that number was performed on the day for the Richard Juryn Trail.  On Fromme builders can get permits to maintain trails and 85% of the trails on the mountain have been adopted and are actively worked on.  On Cypress the nsmbA worked with the municipality to improve Pre Reaper and protect the Old Growth Conservancy.  Everyone seemed happy about how that worked out.  It now looks like Family Guy will live to see another winter and Sex Boy will be re-routed to avoid the Rodgers Creek development.  Good news for the moment.


 Jason Wolfe, (who is no relation to Michelle Dumaresq) won this sweet .243 frame.  Eric Fox of .243 has been one of the most consistent and generous supporters of the nsmba over the years.

In terms of membership there were 100 first time members in 2008, 400 active members who attended trail days, events or meetings and 1800 on the mailing list.  I looked for a spot on the nsmbA site where you could add your email address to get on that list but I couldn't find it.  And in fact the site and communication in general was identified as the most significant challenge the association faced in 2008.  I believe Lee Lau used the words 'lamentable' and even 'horrendous.'


 Steve Sheldon imagining how much faster he's going to be with his new Industry Nine wheels donated by Snowcovers.

Once things were brought up to date it was time to accept nominations for directors.  The present directors were inexplicably keen on re-nomination and each laid out a sensible plan for the future.  To function, the organiztion must have five directors so Smiley Nesbitt from Kona Bikes nominated Andreas Hestler of Rocky Mountain Bikes - who accepted.  Since he's the celebrity candidate Dre shall be referred to as the Governator from this day forward.


 Noel Buckley (left) reading out the name of the winner of this sick Knolly Delerium T frame.

Once the floor was opened for questions Lee Lau laid out five queries - each one highly charged and laced with emotion.  Lee was concered about the nsmbA plan for Cypress and wondered if involvement there would lead to the trails being "neutered." He was assured this was not the case.  He also wondered if the association would continue to help out individual builders by purchasing tools and supplies (the answer was yes - send a message to trails@nsmba.bc.ca to make a request), whether a name change to be more all encompassing would be considered (perhaps) and if a part time admin assistant could be hired to take care of some of the communication tasks as well as grant writing (perhaps again).


 There was some debate about whether Dale should win the frame since he wasn't at the meeting but in the end his stellar reputation won out.  Congrats Dale!

After the fireworks it was time to hand out some prizes.  Aussie Dave Croft has been here learning to build trails for 18 months and he was awarded a Steed Cycles donated Dakine Builders' Pack for his efforts. Dave addressed the crowd and he made it clear that riders all over the world envy what we have here and long to come and ride our trails.  It was a nice counterpoint to some of the heated invective from earlier in the evening. Numerous trail day volunteers won prizing from Arc Tery'x and Riders Eyewear and then it was time for some big ticket items.  Vollies who showed up for every trail day were entered to win a pair of Industry Nine wheels as well as a Rock Shox Domain fork donated by Snowcovers and a Knolly Delerium T frame that Knolly generously ponied up.  Noel Buckley - founder of Knolly - has been active in the nsmA from the very beginning and his support is second to none.

That's all I know.  If you were at the meeting and have anyting to add or correct, or if you couldn't make it and you have a question or two please indulge us here...