Board Members

Chairman & Secretary

patrick@neelan.com

Patrick has been  SkiBiking since 2006. He is currently promoting SkiBikes along the west coast,  when he is not working as a Senior Manager for Capital Program Management, a  company modernizing California Schools.  He has been involved with the ASA  helping with our resort outreach and public relations with ski resorts  nationwide.  He is involved with furthering our adaptive program efforts.

He has the  distinction of being trained by the International Skibob academy as an  Instructor.  He has National and International experience in Slalom, Giant  Slalom, and Super G.  Patrick was honored to be a competitor in Austria’s Skibob  World Cup representing the USA and is hoping to help the ASA revive our racing  program here in the states.  

ASA Database and Website Manager

Co-owner/Research & Development of Koski SnowSports

snowbiker@sbcglobal.net

I ran across Skibikes at Homewood Ski Resort in Lake Tahoe in 1971. I rented one, had the time of my life and never looked back!  What a rush!  It's so much fun!  I had found my new Passion! 1973 Video

Homewood in Tahoe rented Brenter Snowbikes.  The bikes were black and silver, no shocks, plastic boot skis with steel claws in the back of the skis to help slow you down.  A few years later Homewood decided to sell off their fleet of Brenter Snowbikes.  I ended up buying 2 for around $200. Skibiking really hadn't taken off yet.  It was rare I ran across other skibikers. Years later Homewood decided not to allow the bikes there anymore.  I was crushed!  No place in California would allow me to ride.  I had to revert to getting a lift from a friend on a snowmobile to get me up the mountain or just take short 100 yard rides near the cabin in Tahoe.

It was around 1997, Sierra-at-Tahoe had advertised on RSN network they rented Vertex Skibikes and allowed people to bring their own.  YES!  I was so excited!  I called Sierra-at-Tahoe and they got me in touch with Don Koski of Koski SnowSports.  I met Don that year at Boreal where I was first introduced to the Koski Montrac Skibike.  Turns out back in 1971 Don Koski rode at Homewood Ski Resort during the weekdays and I rode during the weekends, so we never crossed paths.  Don and I became friends and have shared the same passion for the sport ever since. The Koski Monotrac had amazing suspension and rides like a dream.  A very comfortable ride.  I have been riding a Koski Skibike ever since.

It seems there are two groups of riders.  Riders who wear foot skis and riders who use only foot pegs.  I ride using Sleddog boots (a ski boot with a built-in ski on the bottom now known as ODR) from Norway that the Boreal Mountain Manager turned me on to the year I met Don Koski.  The marriage of Sleddog boots and a Koski Skibike was perfect for me!  It's the way I ride.  You can always put on some footskis and carve it up or do powder. Or just ride the pegs and get some air, powder or speed.  It's a very versatile skibike.  I ride as often as possible and I am dedicated to promoting the sport of skibikes anyway I can.  I’ve attended a few Skibike Festivals at Purgatory in Colorado and HooDoo Mountain in Oregon taking home a few medals and trophies and making a lot of friends. I’m very happy that most ski resorts here in California allow Skibikers.  The sport of Skibiking is getting more and more popular every year! 

I would love to see Skibikes at the Winter X Games.  It would be awesome to watch a skibike cross!  I know the spectators would think so too!  I sometimes ride with Don Koski’s crew of younger more fearless aerial crazies. Koski’s bikes are designed for the Moto style riders.  These guys do superman's, etc… They are awesome to watch!  I prefer groomed runs, sloping hills, half pipes, trails, and some terrain parks.

Skibiking is an awesome sport! Trust me, you'll love it!  If you like biking, motocross, Harley's or any style of bike riding you will love this!  The feeling is one you have to experience for yourself.  Try it!  You’ll like it! I mostly ride at Sierra-at-Tahoe in California.

Looking sooooo forward to this season of Skibiking!

Have a Great Ride.

Old personal website with various links you might find interesting Snowbiker.net

Ski Area Outreach Director

Owner/Operator Utah Ski Bikes 

jimcameronpc@msn.com

Jim Cameron  has been in the Snowsports business for over 30 years. He brings to the ASA his  experience working with ski resorts, winter sports retailers and consumers. He  has been working in product and sales management guiding brands such as Fischer  & Head Skis, Tyrolia Bindings, and Toko Wax. Jim  was introduced to SkiBiking in high school in the Midwest, but became passionate  about the sport’s potential several years ago. He operates a skibike rental  operation called Ski Bike USA out of Park City, Utah while his primary job is  the Import / Export Manager for Wintersteiger North America.

Since joining  the ASA Board Jim has been involved organizing events and helping draft new  guidelines and recommendations to help ski areas accept our programs at their  resorts. “Ski Biking is a game changer at ski resorts for us Baby Boomers.   Exciting times are ahead as this sport grows and the secret gets out to anybody  who enjoys a mountain lifestyle. I remember when their was another colorful  debate with this other crazy new sport...snowboarding." 

Owner/Manufacturer of Skibyk SkiBikes

chris@skibyk.com

As a long-time winter sports enthusiast Chris Schuler has a keen understanding of snow sports equipment developed through years of Skiing, Snowboarding and SkiBiking. Skiing since he was 12 and Snowboarding since  1984, Chris has ridden through the changes that both industries have seen. Chris started his winter career as an 18 year old kid fresh out of Hawaii…moving to a Ski Area in Washington State. He worked his way up to management, eventually opened the first Snowboarding  only Rental Shop in 1987. 

Working closely with his local Ski Area, Snowboard Shops and Manufacturers, Chris helped to develop the Northwest Snowboarding Series, which produced many of the world’s top snowboarding riders through the early ‘90’s.  As an active Hardbooter in the world of Snowboarding Chris was focused on snowboards that could truly carve and continues to ride hardboots today. In 2009 Chris was introduced to a SkiBob at Steamboat, Colorado…this experience led him to purchase his first  SkiBike in the spring of 2010 a Geary SkiBike. Over the next 5 winters Chris rode his Geary, making changes to the SkiBike that would help make this bike become more of a carver.  In the fall of 2016, Chris was introduced to a newly designed SkiBike and his  eventual business partner at SKIBYK USA Alfie Fernandez. As the CEO of SKIBYK, LLC Chris’s understanding of turn dynamics and his focus on building a SkiByk from the snow up and not the frame down combined with Alfie’s knowledge of frame geometry and design  capabilities culminated in the SB100 All-Mountain SkiByk, through prototyping, on the hill testing and constant feedback we at SkiByk are confident that we have produced a SkiBike for the masses. The SB100 is lightweight, yet durable…nimble, yet solid underfoot…rippy,  yet carves like a Ginzu knife…the perfect ride. The SB100 All-Mountain. 

I am very excited to be on the board of the American Ski Bike Association and look forward to working with a group of fellow devotees to help promote awareness and acceptance of SkiBiking.

Owner/Manufacturer of LenzSport Skibikes

lenzsport@msn.com

My first real interest into bikes was in the early 70s when I took my broken down banana seat 20" bike and striped it down and built it into a MX style bike.  Then converted it into a BMX style bike that later got stolen.  At that point I built another bike and rode, and BMX raced up until high school.  During high school I became interested in shop class and the art of designing and building cool things to ride or drive and I took metals classes and vocational welding classes all through high school.   

Once out of high school I began to acquire tools and machinery to fabricate with metals and got into drag racing with my dad and built several drag race cars and raced for about 10 years.  At the same time I got into ski racing and moved up to qualify for my first FIS race which I didn't get to race because I blew out my knee before the race and wound up quitting after 4 years of racing.

I built my first MTB frame in 1989, and then my first full suspension bike in 1996.  In 1997, I began selling my first full suspension XC mountain bikes under the name Lenz Sport.  From then I moved toward long travel DH style bikes and sponsored a race team and traveled to many of the national NORBA races promoting my brand. 

In 2004, I changed my focus from the gravity-type bikes and 26" XC bikes and made my first full suspension 29er bike The Leviathan.  That was an untapped niche area which I was able to develop many sorts of the new big wheel format bikes and lead the way in designs and technology for 29" mountain bikes. In 2004, Matt Hansen contacted me about one of my DH bike models being a good design to work with his skibike conversion kits.  He got me interested in skibikes and I traded him an old frame for 2 kits.  I built up 2 bikes with my Alpine Brawler mountain bike frames I had hanging around.  I took my apprentice at the time, Masa Hiromoto from Japan, to Copper Mountain and there we tried to skibike for the very first time.  Not having anyone to show us how to ride we made our way down the hill any which way we could to keep in control though there was almost constantly thrills and being scared to death as we didn't have the knowledge we have today about bike control, skidding turns, and making hockey stops.  From that first day I was hooked on skibiking and wanted to push it to the level of riding and terrain that I was accustom to with ordinary skiing.  Matt assured me over the phone in our many calls about skibiking that he knew guys that were riding all the bumps and steep stuff that alpine skiers were hitting, so I went out to try and master that stuff myself.  So first chance I had to try a steeper run with deep powder I learned that there were some limitations to the conversion kits related to how much control they had to the pivoting of the skis and also ski design for powder.  It was at that point that I worked on a system to control the ski pivoting so I could have the control I needed to skibike the more advanced terrain.  A few years later I was running out of my mountain bike frames to make into skibikes so I built my first prototype skibike.  That was not a good design at all and I took what I learned and built the Brawler Skibike which was revolutionary to performance skibike designs and riding.  Looking to make a bike that wasn't so difficult to make, I designed the Launch which is more like a bicycle-style bike without the moto seat.  I wasn't expecting it to be as good of a handling bike as the Brawler, but it turned out to be a better handling bike and quicker handling bike as well.  

After about 4 years of developing and tooling up for our own ski manufacturing, spring of 2012 we were able to test some of the first skis we made.  Ever since we started into skibiking we have relied on what the ski/board industry was making to run on our skibikes.  We could not find a ski with the proper shape or size to work just the way we needed, though testing dozens and dozens of skis I had a very good idea of what we needed to make these skibikes be able to go to the next level.  Our first skis pressed are just a basic all-mountain with the main aspects I wanted designed in and you can ask anyone who has ridden them they are hugely an improvement to the sport.  We'll be making speed specific skis and all sorts of powder boards as well to test and sell this year to finally round out all the main aspects to make our product as good as it can be and ready for prime time.

Another link to what I have been able to contribute the development of our sport of skibiking along with the manufacturing capabilities in the MTB industry is my background as a skier.  I have been a ski racer and in 2002, I hired on as a part-time instructor at Vail Ski Resort.  I had the opportunity to go through their training program and learn the methods of one of the premier ski school programs in the world. That along with certifying as a ski instructor through PSIA enabled me to develop a teaching method using the same principals for snow sliding and controlling speed and teaching bike handling skills.  I have now been working with Winter Park Resort to develop their skibike instruction program and instructing clients and instructors since 2007.

Now as a director of the ASA, I will be working to advance our sport in the area of teaching / training programs, race and event organizing, and resort rental program growth and education about skibikes. 

Treasurer - Social Media 

rawlsbryce@comcast.net

I grew up in the coastal plains of North Carolina and did not learn to ski until adulthood, and though I loved being on the slopes, I was always awkward and slow on downhill skis. 

A knee injury in college, and subsequent surgeries, also presented issues with pain and limited mobility. One fine sunny day in 2013 at Purgatory Resort in Durango, Colorado I noticed these cheerful yellow “banana-bike-looking” skibikes. I immediately thought…”I think I can do that!” and signed up for a lesson.

It was that day that I discovered the great joy and delight of skibiking. I found the sport easy to learn and gentle on my injured knee. My troublesome knee led me to a total knee replacement in the summer of 2016 and I was happy to be skibiking that very next season. The sport also allows me to keep up with my husband and son who are excellent skiers/snowboarders. 

Although I ride a basic skibike, and I don’t (intentionally) get fancy with jumps and other air born maneuvers, I am in love with the sport! As all skibikers know, we are frequently asked about our bikes. I’m an enthusiastic advocate for skibiking and eagerly share my knowledge of the sport and encourage the curious to try it. I also enjoy teaching and hope to be a skibike instructor one day. 

I’m delighted to serve as an ASA skibike representative. If you see a middle-aged woman coming down the mountain loudly laughing, and hooting and hollering…That would be me! Please stop and say hi.