Address: 1966 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Fairfax, CA 94930 - The Museum is open 11am - 5pm, Thursday through Sunday.

Kurt Loheit

Kurt LoheitKurt Loheit has been a leader of the mountain bike community’s efforts to contribute to the design, construction and maintenance of sustainable trail systems. For more than seventeen years, his tireless advocacy has left its mark on clubs, programs and most importantly, riding areas across North America.

Kurt was a founder of the Concerned Off Road Bicyclists Association in Los Angeles in 1987 and still serves as a member of CORBA’s Advisory Board. The following year, Kurt represented CORBA at the meeting where five California clubs came together to create IMBA.

As an engineer, working for Hughes Aircraft (now Boeing), Kurt recognized that policymakers thought in terms of programs and projects and he helped CORBA advance their programs with local land managers. In 1988, he was one of the negotiators and an original member of CORBA’s volunteer Mountain Bike Unit, a partnership with the National Park Service and California State Parks. The MBU became a prototype for patrols across the country. When the Charlie Litsky Memorial Fund was established in 1994, Kurt helped bring Marilyn Price’s Trips for Kids program to the LA area. Now, the CORBA Youth Adventures Program, it still introduces inner city and at risk youth groups to the challenge and pleasures of riding a mountain bike.

Kurt strongest contribution to our sport has been his dedication to trail building. His engineering chops and his long history in the dirt combined to give him a trail builder’s eye and a contractor’s sense of process. His enthusiasm and commitment fueled CORBA’s early involvement in trail projects which nurtured an improving relationship with initially cautious land managers. As his reputation grew, he was invited to supervise trail projects and then trail building schools around the country. IMBA named Kurt their Trail Resources Director and he was instrumental in providing technical assistance to the IMBA Trail Care Crew program. When a mountain bike club had a trail design question or problem, odds were, it went to Kurt.

Kurt’s day job was incredibly demanding, but he used his own time and money to travel to provide technical assistance to trail projects and to run trail building schools. He’s as likely to turn up in New England, Texas, Arizona, Alaska, Utah, West Virginia, British Columbia as near his home ground of Southern California. For several years, he’s run trail schools at the Nantahala Outdoor Center in North Carolina and now land managers come from the entire region to participate. He’s written about trail building issues in a number of mountain bike and land management publications. He has an active partnership with California State Parks to do trail training. He’s presented many times at national, state and local trail conferences.

Kurt has the ability to talk about trail design in a way that’s accessible to the first time, trail work volunteer and to the full time, agency trail construction specialist. He’s worked with NPS, BLM, USFS, a number of state parks, the Nature Conservancy and a variety of regional, county and city parks. His patience, encouragement and commitment to doing things right has put more trails on the ground. His professionalism has helped create the history, trust and respect that continues to opens doors for mountain bikers. Kurt has helped mountain bikers earn big returns on their sweat equity. We’re proud to nominate him for the Hall of Fame.

Nominated by: CORBA, The Concerned Off Road Bicyclists Association.

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Explore Other Inductees

Josh Bender

Josh Bender, aka Bender, quickly made himself a name in the emerging Freeride scene in the late 1990s. His name became synonymous for going big on a mountain bike, hucking off cliffs very few dared, at heights the sport hadn’t ...

Michael Kelley

In the category of advocacy, Michael Kelley’s efforts and accomplishments have risen to counter the constant crusade against off road cycling. Northern California led the way in inventing the mountain bike, but also in the battle for access. Trail closures ...

Susan DeMattei

Susan DeMattei brought happiness to the American cycling community in 1996 when she captured the Bronze Medal in Mountain Biking at the Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. Hopes were high for many American racers, as 1996 saw the inaugural Olympic mountain ...

Tarek Rasouli

A pioneer of freeride, Tarek Rasouli has garnered global influence on the sport of mountain biking akin to 2010 Mountain Bike Hall of Fame inductees “The Froriders”—Richie Schley, Wade Simmons and Brett Tippie. ...

Ot Pi Isern

Considered one the originators of trials bicycle riding, Ot Pi has continued to carry the torch of the sport to others for the last 40 years and counting. ...

The British Columbians

Web Site: www.bikeradar.com/news/article/interview-doug-dr-dew-lafavor-of-kona-mountain-bikes-29637 The first country outside the USA to be exposed to Mountain Biking was Canada. In 1980, John Gadsby a Vancouver, BC based engineer and a lifetime racing and touring cyclist, stopped by Gary Fisher’s shop in Fairfax, ...