Greater Boston NEMBA

NEMBA was born in October of 1987 when Heidi Davis and Mark Abrams attended a public hearing at the old Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) regarding mountain bike use on MDC land. During the course of that meeting, Heidi announced that she represented the New England Mountain Bike Association. It is amazing how easily things start. Since then NEMBA has grown to 17 regional chapters and nearly 5000 members. The Greater Boston Chapter is proud to be the place where it all began.

Our chapter has a mission of promoting and preserving mountain bike access to the trails in the Greater Boston area. We do this by hosting fun riding events, helping to maintain the trails, training new riders and acting as advocates for the mountain bike community with local land managers and government authorities.

Where we ride:

The geographic boundaries between NEMBA chapters are intentionally fuzzy. Each chapter is responsible for preserving access to, maintaining and promoting events in, the parks in their area. Chapters often collaborate on programs and events. Greater Boston NEMBA is responsible for:

Middlesex Fells - Stoneham, Medford, Winchester, Melrose, Malden
Various Town Conservation Lands - Belmont, Waltham, Lexington, Bedford, Burlington,  Melrose, Weston.

What we do:

Greater Boston NEMBA provides many ways to get involved:

Our Trek Bicycles Trail Maintenance Series consists of 12 or so events scheduled early spring to late fall each year. This is the best way to get involved and meet people while giving back to the parks we love to visit: Lynn Woods, the Middlesex Fells, Great Brook Farm and various conservation lands.

Trail Crew Leaders are people who receive special training that allows them to help out at trail maintenance days. Greater Boston NEMBA provides Trail Care training once a year in the spring and also supports Trail Crew Leaders who wish to partake of Trail Crew Training from other organizations.

Park Coordinators are the members responsible for staying in touch with land managers in each park. Their work helps us be responsive to land managers' needs, which goes a long way toward maintaining our welcome status in the parks.

RideGuides are people who love to ride, love their home parks, and also love to lead rides. to show their  home parks off. Their guidance to fellow riders helps to teach viable routes around the parks and also provides a communication link between riders and land managers. Follow a RideGuide to great singletrack!

Event Volunteers are always needed to help staff events. Their contribution is to make sure that event attendees are offered a safe and well organized day of fun and education. Often we have a need for people to help with setup, parking, registration, membership or merchandise sales, grilling,  teardown, cleanup, and other duties. These events help with awareness and education of issues at the parks.

We organize many group rides, ranging from ad hoc rides, to ride series for adult and children, to skills rides and clinics, to big events like the Fells Opening Day, or Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day, or  the Mountain Bike Adventure Series.

Skills clinics are provided for riders of almost all abilities. Events are scheduled and  announced via this website and email lists or social media. They are held at various times during the riding season and everybody is welcome to attend free of charge.

Our New England Mountain Bike Patrol, one of the first in the country, patrols the trails at Great Brook Farm State Park, Harold Parker State Park, Lynn Woods, the Middlesex Fells Reservaion, and Bradley Palmer / Willowdale. To fulfill their mission of educating and assisting anybody in need, these trained volunteers provide directions, perform basic first aid, help with simple mechanical issues and generally serve as ambassadors for our sport. The patrol is one of the best and most visible resources we offer to land managers trying to interface with the mountain biking public.

Lastly, all members are welcome to attend our chapter meetings; usually scheduled for the first Monday of each month. For information on the next meeting, check the Meetings page or contact chapter president Adam Glick