IMBA State Representatives, local trail experts and IMBA staff pooled their experience and perspectives to issue grades and comments for the 2000 Report Card. Leading the class of 2000 is Idaho - which received a solid A. Miles of outstanding trails, virtually no user conflict, abundant public land and friendly land management attitudes have made Idaho a mountain biking nirvana. A number of other states graded just slightly lower than Idaho. A handful of states graded very poorly. Ohio, Louisiana and Kansas all received D's, but for different reasons.
Legal trails are hard to find in Ohio - a reflection of conservative state park management.
Louisiana is still developing effective mountain bike leadership, while Kansas off-road cyclists must contend with a strong farm lobby that has been reluctant to give up land for public use. The Report Card is a new program designed by IMBA to give an overview of mountain bike access across the United States. In addition to a grade, each state received comments addressing access problems. While the report card, in sum, is unquestionably subjective, we're confident that it will help mountain bike advocates measure improvement in their state. For the next report card, IMBA will orchestrate an open poll on its website, where local mountain bikers can assign a letter grade and comments to their state.