The Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association will be host to the board of directors of the International Mountain Bicycling Association at its Nov. 10 meeting at Elachee Nature Science Center in Gainesville.

More than 100 mountain bicycling advocates will attend the Gainesville meeting, and enjoy the bicycle trails at Chicopee Woods Park. Over the three-day session, social events are scheduled to take place in Flowery Branch and downtown Gainesville.

A not-for-profit advocacy and education organization for mountain bicyclists, SORBA is headquartered in Gainesville, where it has held annual meetings since 2000. In 2008, SORBA merged its membership with that of IMBA, based in Colorado, and has functioned as IMBA’s southeastern division since.

“It is an exciting moment in the development of mountain bike advocacy,” says Tom Sauret, SORBA’s executive director and IMBA’s regional director. “Our coming together like this illustrates how closely the two organizations are in mission, and how important the southeast is to IMBA.”

This is the first time the SORBA board of directors will meet jointly with the IMBA board.

SORBA includes 5,200 members in seven states. With its 35 chapters, SORBA is the largest IMBA Region.

To learn more, visit www.sorba.org or www.imba.com.