Crested Butte Emerges as MTB Boom Town | Sports Destination Management

Crested Butte Emerges as MTB Boom Town

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With New Director of Mountain Bike Association, Town Sees a Niche in Trail Riding and Competition Tourism
Apr 18, 2016 | By: Mary Helen Sprecher

The Crested Butte Mountain Bike Association (CBMBA) has named Dave Ochs as its first-ever executive director to help it keep up with rapid growth in mountain biking tourism in the region.

Founded in 1983, CBMBA claims it is the oldest mountain bike club in the world. The organization, which has an annual budget of $20,000, relies on an army of volunteers to build and maintain more than 450 miles of mountain biking trails within a 20-mile radius of Crested Butte. 

The club reports that mountain bike tourism is growing 10 to 20 percent a year in the town and the surrounding Gunnison Valley,  which Singletracks.com recently named as the mountain bike capital of Colorado.  The region which boasts more than 750+ miles of singletrack and 150 trails, has begun branding itself as the Home of Mountain Biking.

Ochs is the former director of the Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce. He headed up the first-ever Fat Bike World Championships (FBW) as well as an industry summit in January. In his new role, Ochs will  promote more events to bring in much needed revenue for the CBMBA, which has plans to expand and improve the area's trail network.

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