In 2016, we set out to start organizing Winston-Salem’s mountain bike community in order to provide some continuity in trail building practices and have a larger voice to accomplish some lofty goals. We also wanted to build a team and process for properly maintaining our existing trails. Out of our efforts came FORBA (Forsyth Off Road Bicycle Association)
Our Mission: Collaborate with trail users along with both public and public partners to establish and maintain diverse and sustainable mountain biking trails in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, NC
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Since then we have been partnering with citizens and City/County staff to manage our existing trails. We complete annual trail inventories for Hobby Park, Tanglewood, and Horizons Park to identify issues and opportunities to expand or improve the trail. Through this we determine the projects we work on during our recurring trial work days. Things like trail rerouting for better drainage to combat erosion or improve the flow of the trail, more signage, rebuilding deteriorating bridges and putting in some new technical features.
FORBA hosts regular volunteer trail work days throughout the year and we hope you will come out and help us get this important work done. Everyone is welcome. No experience is necessary. We provide the tools and instruction. In just a few years we've logged over 500 volunteer hours on the trails.
In addition to maintenance, we are also working to develop new trail. We evaluate possible trail locations, gather input from local trail users, and partner with local City/County partners to coordinate planning and funding. We want to build more, diverse trail all across the area and we think we can do it, with your help.
Building new trail and maintaining what we have doesn’t just happen. It takes dedicated effort, skill, and cooperation. We ask that our local mountain bikers get involved with FORBA…. attend our trail workdays, donate some money to help fund a project, share your ideas for improvements, and become a member.
Becoming a member of FORBA is easy and worth it. You will be supporting efforts to build and maintain trails, informed of the latest news, and probably meet some cool people.
FORBA was founded to provide a platform for the MTB community to raise issues and share ideas, and we seek to establish a sustainable organization that can handle routine trail maintenance, build collaborative relationships with public and private partners, and ultimately, expand our trail system. We are well on our way and hope you will join us for the ride.
Please consider making a donation or a becoming a FORBA member today!