By Jered Bogli, NWTA Board President
The NWTA Board of Directors and staff carved out some time to spend the weekend of September 15-17 planning for the next year. We’ve been running full gas all year and it was great to spend some quality time together as a team. We found a cost effective out of town option at Cooper Spur Mountain Resort — far enough away to feel like we were out of town, close enough to make travel easy!
Most of the team ducked out of our daily duties early on Friday and met at 44 Trails for a ride. While we all spend a fair amount of time riding, we rarely ride together. It was great to get out and ride as a group and share the stoke of being out on bikes with each other. We had perfect skies, cool temps and epic views of Mt. Hood. It was also great to get out and ride some trails that we don’t normally ride. After our ride we headed down to Cooper Spur Mountain Resort, a great place with rooms, cabins and condos that are exactly what you’d expect from an old school ski lodge — rustic, charming and pretty darn affordable. You’ve got quick access to all the 44 Trails, Post Canyon is close by, and you’ve got all the fruit farms and vineyards to check out, too. It makes for a great weekend getaway. The team headed to Solara in Parkdale to get a quick bite and watch the sunset on Mt. Hood.
Saturday morning came too soon and we had a packed agenda. We had a ton to cover, lots of updates about new projects, and A LOT to plan for in the coming year. The organization has grown tremendously in the past few years, and we’re trying to get in place all the structure needed to sustain and continue that growth. While being in a meeting room all day isn’t always the best of times, we managed to have fun together as a group even when tackling big issues. We laughed a lot and managed to end a whopping 15 minutes early. Enough time to grab a hard earned beverage before dinner. After dinner and a full day of sitting, the group tried to walk up to the Cooper Spur Ski area at dusk. We didn’t make it, and stumbled back down the hill in the dark.
Sunday morning we had another couple hours of meetings and got packed up to head down to Post Canyon for another ride. We started at 7 Streams and rode up to Family Man to sample the excellent work the HRATS team has done rebuilding that area — SUPER FUN. Then it was up, up, up to get a lap in on Bad Motor Scooter and Grand Prix back down to 7 Streams. Everyone was in a great mood despite climbing for longer than we wanted to, but we earned the turns and the group laughed, giggled and had a blast riding together. I was sore from laughing by the end of the ride.
It was an amazing weekend: we worked through a full day of meetings and we were able to enjoy some quality time getting to know each other better. We were also able to shake off some of the stress and pressure we all feel as we’re trying to keep NWTA growing on the right path. It isn’t always easy, but it is times like this where we get to spend time together as a group charting a course for the future of the NWTA that makes me incredibly proud to be a part of this organization. It isn’t always perfect, it is sometimes messy, but this team is amazing and that was maybe the most important thing I took from the weekend. We’re looking forward to 2024 and beyond!
