Femme Riders, Big Dreams, and the Journey to Coaching with VNTRbirds

When I started mountain biking in 2018, I was fortunate to be surrounded by some rad female riders who took me under their wings. I improved over the next couple years but it wasn’t until taking a 2-day VIDA MTB Series clinic in Snowmass in 2022 when things really started clicking for me. Spending 2 full days with certified coaches giving individualized attention helped not only my downhill mountain bike skills but also my confidence. After those two days, I was riding features that I never dreamed of riding the previous season. 

As my skills progressed, so did my desire to share my passion for mountain biking with other femme riders. I got involved with the local mountain bike group, leading rides and volunteering at local events. Shortly thereafter, I learned about VNTRbirds. 

Supporting a femme-owned outdoor adventure company was a no-brainer. I volunteered at events and eventually got to shadow some coaches, all the while yearning to become a certified coach myself. But it wasn't as easy as just signing up. First of all, mountain bike coach certifications are expensive! Secondly, I was still questioning my own mountain bike skills and whether or not I was good enough to coach. Another season went by, my wife became a certified coach and we continued our involvement with VNTRbirds, all the while I continued to work on progressing my own skills so I would feel comfortable supporting newer riders and demonstrating skills. So this past spring when the VNTRbirds mentorship scholarship opened, I knew I was finally ready to apply. The application process was straight forwards and simple, just fill out a form on how I give back to my community, how mountain biking has contributed to my life and how a VNTRbirds sponsored scholarship would impact my mountain bike goals.

I was honored to be selected as the 2025 VNTRbirds Mentee Scholarship recipient and immediately started looking for certification courses to take. There were some local options but they were later in the summer and I was extremely eager to take the course, so I traveled to Santa Fe, NM to take a BICP Level 1 course, taught by a female instructor. 

I cannot say enough good things about this course. It helped solidify some of my technical riding skills -- we spent three days learning, teaching, and practicing all the level 1 skills so that we'd be prepared to teach them to each other. A significant component of the course is practice teaching and being critiqued by the instructor and by our peers. While it was intimidating, it also made me a much better instructor. It helped me figure out how to describe certain skills, how to demonstrate, and how to help individual riders do the skill correctly. 

After passing the course, I spent much of the five hour drive home reflecting on my mountain bike journey. I am so grateful for the opportunity to give back to a sport that has taught me so much. Climbing up hills on two wheels has never been easy for me; mountain biking takes grit and determination and there have been tons of times when I wanted to cry (or actually cried) during a ride, and even more times when I wanted to give up. But even when I have to push my bike up the steepest section of a trail, or carefully walk around a downhill feature, I'm still proud of myself for getting out there and pushing myself to become a stronger rider. 

I have always loved teaching and coaching and I couldn't be more excited to now be a certified mountain bike instructor with VNTRbirds. I would not be here without their scholarship program and I can't wait to be an assistant coach at the 2-day clinic in Crested Butte coming up August 16 &17!  

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Mara Berde (she/her) is a passionate outdoor recreationalist -- she’ll never be first to the top of the mountain, but she always has a smile on her face and snacks in her pocket. Mara loves mountain biking, backcountry skiiing, and has recently started getting into trail running and packrafting. She started mountain biking in 2018 just before she moved to Colorado and has been exploring Colorado's trails ever since.