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Summary: 2023-2026

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The Avalon Mountain Bike Association’s progress has been significant over the last three years, marking the first full execution of a three-year strategic plan. While we did not achieve some of the goals of that plan, major call-outs on progress made include:

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• Through a strong partnership with the Canada Games Council, the establishment of the Volkswagen | Audi St. John’s Mountain Bike Skills Park and “Canada Games trail”, the ~5km manicured cross-country trail loop in Pippy Park

• The development of strong business partnerships that fund many of our core activities

• The establishment and growth of AMBA’s membership program

• Maturation of the board of directors, including the development of committees and a highly-productive team

• Funding of seven new skills coaches in the region

• Growth in events participation by all ages and genders

• Growth in female ridership

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Vision

 

Our vision is to be the driving force behind the growth and development of mountain biking on the Avalon Peninsula. We envision a future where mountain biking is an inclusive, popular, accessible, and sustainable sport that promotes mental and physical well-being, environmental stewardship, and community engagement. 

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Mission

 

Note: AMBA revised its mission to encompass its evolution from a trail-centric organization to one that focuses on the full mountain biking community and their experiences here on the Avalon Peninsula. Here it is!

 

Our mission is to grow mountain biking by building and maintaining high-quality, sustainable mountain bike infrastructure and by fostering an inclusive, engaged community in eastern Newfoundland.

 

We strive to bring landowners, trail users, private organizations, trail builders, and all levels of government together to progress the common goal of expanding the quantity of high-quality mountain bike infrastructure available to the public.

 

Through programming, events, and partnerships, we aim to create opportunities where riders of all ages and abilities learn, connect, and belong; thereby strengthening participation, stewardship, and the sport’s positive impact on our communities.

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Pillars

 

In early 2026, our Board of Directors completed a strategic planning exercise where the focus was to build on our previous strategic plan and help establish a clear path forward for the next three years. We use this strategic plan as a way to prioritize the right things; say no to things that are distractions; drive proper ownership and completion of objectives; and maintain transparency with our stakeholders on what we are doing and how our money is spent.

 

In our last strategic plan, we had seven Guiding Principles. While we were successful at accomplishing some, we wanted to focus on our core priorities given the opportunities and challenges we see ahead of us. This time, we are focusing more succinctly on four pillars. They are:​​

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1. Trail & Infrastructure Development

(Planning, building, maintaining, expanding trail assets)

 

• Explore opportunities for formalized trail networks in communities on the Avalon Peninsula.

• Continue maintenance operations for the East White Hills Trail Network. 

• Manage the operations of the Volkswagen | Audi St. John's Mountain Bike Skills Park.

• Engage with Parks Canada with the goal of achieving National Urban Park designation for the East White Hills Trail Network by Q4 2028. Assess the viability of a license to occupy in the meantime.

• Reduce barriers to entry to the sport by seeking opportunities to build exciting beginner and intermediate trail infrastructure through partnerships with regional organizations.

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2. Membership and Programming

(Growing participation, delivering rides/events/programs, expanding reach)

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• Continue to increase the participation of women, youth and families in the sport of mountain biking on the Avalon through programming and events that attract new and/or younger riders, and promote progression in the sport.

• Grow representation and participation in mountain biking from underrepresented communities on the Avalon Peninsula.

• Build capacity for and focus on advanced mountain bike skills training.

• Organize group mountain bike rides with varying levels of difficulty, varying trail networks and other off-road options like gravel riding.

• Organize community events such as fundraising or community building efforts that encourage the wider community to become involved.

• Seek alternate channels where mountain bike programming can be delivered, such as in schools or in the development of mountain bike clubs.

• Grow membership to 500 members​

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3. Partnerships

 

• Commercial sponsors and community partners

  • Formalize a sponsorship framework that defines partnership tiers, benefits, and renewal timelines.

  • Actively pursue new commercial sponsors aligned with AMBA's community and recreation mandate. Recognize and celebrate those partner contributions publicly and consistently.
     

• Land and infrastructure relationships

  • Maintain active engagement with Parks Canada on the East White Hills National Urban Park file, and advance a license to occupy as an interim step.

  • Sustain and deepen our working relationship with the Pippy Park Commission to protect and expand access to existing infrastructure.
     

• Recreation and advocacy alignment

  • Seek opportunities to engage with municipal, provincial and federal governments and other organizations and agencies to advocate for mountain biking infrastructure.

  • Build relationships with other trail user groups on the Avalon to advance shared interests in sustainable multi-use trail access.

 

 

4. Leadership

(Capacity building, volunteers, communications, organizational sustainability)

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• Execute clear and transparent communication with all of our stakeholders to promote:

  • Engagement on activities and strategic priorities.

  • Safe and cohesive trail use.

• Build a certified ride leader pool.

• Increase volunteer and local trail building expertise through training and certifications.

• Increase the number of volunteers who attend trail building days through promotion, rewards and removing barriers to entry for new participants.

• Define and execute a funding strategy to support secure employment for roles like an Executive Director or student employees

• Create a strategic funding approach that pursues all possible avenues for funding, which can include memberships, sponsorships, government grants, event revenue, labour market development, and more.

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RISKS

 

AMBA operates in a context where several factors outside our direct control could significantly affect our progress. We name these honestly, alongside the steps we are taking to manage them.

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Land access uncertainty. The absence of sanctioned land or formal land use agreements remains the single biggest constraint on AMBA's growth. We are actively advancing multiple files in parallel: Parks Canada, Pippy Park, and other projects that are early in their development phases. The mitigation is not to solve this in one cycle, but to maintain an active process on every available front.

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Volunteer and organizational capacity. AMBA runs almost entirely on volunteer effort. Our ability to deliver on this plan depends on sustaining that effort across a committed core. We will continue to reduce individual load by recruiting and onboarding new volunteers into defined roles with clear responsibilities, broadening resources outside of the board like skills coaches or ride leaders, and pursuing funding to support paid positions. 

 

Funding uncertainty. Beyond the Volkswagen St. John’s | Audi St. John’s naming rights partnership, most of AMBA's funding relationships are renewed annually. A loss of one or more sponsors, or an unsuccessful grant cycle, would constrain programming and operations. We will manage this by actively maintaining sponsor relationships, diversifying our funding sources, and pursuing multi-year funding agreements where possible.

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Next Steps

 

As we work to action the goals and initiatives outlined in our strategic plan, we will periodically revisit and re-evaluate our progress. We will update our stakeholders if amendments are made.

 

We are always open to the suggestions from our local mountain biking community. If you have ideas or thoughts around how to help grow our community or are interested in helping us achieve the initiatives laid out here, please contact us at info@ambanl.ca.

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