SDMBA Staff
Executive Director - Peter Hulburt
Born and raised in San Diego, Peter is proud to serve as a steward of the land and of our mountain biking community that makes use of it. He believes that, when rightly aligned, recreation and conservation have a natural tendency to elevate each other.
Riding bikes has been a core fixture of Peter’s life since he was about 15 years old. Back then, he lived in North Park and enjoyed lots of urban riding, a few MTB rides with his first OTB, fixed gear riding with Critical Mass on Thursday nights, and cruising over to the Zoo with his younger sister on weekends. Later, Peter led bike tours in La Jolla, got into eMTB riding in Del Mar Mesa and PQ, and enjoyed working as a bike mechanic at REI. As the bike rentals manager at REI San Diego, Peter spearheaded REI’s partnership in the Ride On Mountain Biking Challenge, an award-winning collaboration with SDMBA and San Diego County Department of Parks and Recreation that expanded access to mountain biking for any San Diegan who signed up. These days he lives in OB with his wife, Molly, and their cat, Shep, mostly rides analogue bikes, and is still trying to learn how to wheelie.
Having ridden and worked on bikes of most genres from most eras since the 70’s, Peter’s journey with bikes has taught him a few lessons:
- You should have at least two bikes. One of them should be rigid.
- Riser bars have more fun.
- Joy doesn’t come from the bike, it comes from the rider... but the bike helps!
- There’s no substitute for riding with friends.
Trails Coordinator - Ben Stone
Ben Stone is a San Diego native, he found his interest in mountain biking later than most, but became involved in Advocacy during the first round of closures in Mission Trails East Elliott. He has brought his experience in working with other non-profit boards and running a small business to his position in the San Diego Mountain Biking Association. Ben originally served on the SDMBA Board of Directors and worked on the Mission Trails Master Plan, lobbying for approval of the 13-acre bike skills park in Deerfield, lobbying Federal, local authorities and private land managers for access to the historic Stowe Trail, worked closely with private developers to provide trails within their developments notably Fanita Ranch and Village 13, helped mediate a compromise in the Tijuana River Valley for access to trails that Mountain Bikers had been excluded from.
As Trails Coordinator, Ben works with land managers throughout the county on short-term and long-range projects. Ben has earned his Contractor's License in order to level up the work SDMBA can accomplish. Ben is the father of three and explores and rides all over San Diego County.
Trail Crew Lead - Michael Uppenkamp
Michael Uppenkamp is a San Diego native and has been a two wheeled enthusiast since his youth. His father introduced him to bicycles after growing up racing BMX and working alongside his family to run Bicycles of Lakeside through the 70's and 80's. Upon receiving his first bicycle at the age of 3, Michael was hooked for life.
In recent years Michael has worked for Rock Solid Trail Contracting, the City of Arcata, and the Redwood Coast Mountain Biking Association to create purpose built mountain biking trails in various locations. He also just graduated from Cal Poly Humboldt with an Environmental Science degree. Now he is excited to return to San Diego to work on improving the sustainability and flow of trails, and access to them, with the San Diego Mountain Bike Association.
In his free time you can find him riding one of his bikes, or riding tandem with his brother Alex on his custom three wheeled adaptive bike. He also enjoys hiking, dirt biking, spearfishing, and surfing.