We're all FAMBly here...

​Flathead Area Mountain Bikers is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Our mission is to preserve and advance mountain bike activities in the Flathead Valley of northwest Montana.

FAMB is a membership organization, which means YOU are FAMB too. FAMB is a collective voice for all mountain bikers of the Flathead Valley. Whatever your flavor of mountain biking is, FAMB is here to keep trails accessible and maintained, educate, and advocate.

FAMB's Priorities

Trail Work

  • FAMB funds and manages the Flathead Trail Crew, a professional trail maintenance and construction crew that we dispatch to work on high-value trails valley wide.
  • Over 600 hours of volunteer trail building and trail maintenance occur annually
  • Management & maintenance of Spencer Mountain Trails

Membership & Community Activities

Advocacy

  • Represent mountain biking interests with federal, state and local agencies
  • Keep members informed of developments impacting trail access

Staff

Ron Brandt
Executive Director

After moving from Minnesota to Montana 24 years ago Ron spent 10 years in Bozeman, galvanizing his love for mountain biking in Montana’s backcountry. He and his wife Marti spent time 4 years in Bellingham, WA  before choosing to return to Montana and Marti’s hometown of Whitefish.

Within days of moving to our new home, Ron was already hooked into the local mountain biking community and looking to what the future could hold. He got to know the Flathead mountain bike community intimately while working at Great Northern Cycle and Ski for 3 years and eventually explored another side of the mountain bike industry with a career shift and work with Esker Cycles. He joined the FAMB board in 2015 and spent five years focusing on trails and advocacy within the organization. 
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Ron is truly excited about FAMB's future and the fantastic relationships the organization has built with the local land managers and all of the local partners. He looks forward to building on this momentum with our future work on the Taylor Hellroaring Project and is excited to help create and maintain these great resources we are so fortunate to have here in the Flathead.

Stephen Keimach
Trail Crew leader

Stephen made the move from Washington to Whitefish in 2019 in pursuit of snow, but it was the trails that really captured his heart. That first summer, while working bike patrol and on trail crew at Whitefish Mountain Resort, he discovered a passion for mountain biking—and never looked back. He joined the FAMB crew at the end of that year, and stepped into the role of Trail Crew Lead in 2021.

Stephen is fired up about FAMB’s direction and is all-in on building more bike-friendly trails. For him, being part of FAMB and the broader mountain biking community brings a real sense of ownership and pride. When someone reports downed trees, brake bumps, or sketchy features, Stephen is quick to rally the crew and tackle the issue head-on. With his sharp eye for both safety and flow, every trail he touches gets a little bit better.

Ben Johnson
Coordinator

​Ben has been a passionate mountain biker ever since he put a suspension fork on his 21-speed Scott Arapaho when he was in fifth grade, pedaling the streets and trails around his hometown in the Bitterroot Valley. Ben moved to the Flathead Valley in 2018 where he the development director at a youth nonprofit. He Joined the FAMB board in 2021, and made the transition to a part-time staff role in 2025. He likes singlespeed bikes and weird alpine singletrack (and yes, at the same time).

Board of Directors

Stella Hobbs
President; Board member since 2019

Stella grew up exploring the trails of the Flathead Valley by foot and later found her love of traveling on two wheels when she started working at Great Northern Cycle & Ski in 2013. In 2016 she and her now husband, Willie bought the shop and have since kept their finger on the pulse of the local mountain biking community. Stella loves technical trails that require physical strength and mental focus and thinks that any day spent in the mountains is the best day ever. She comes to the FAMB board with a passion for organized lists and the development of new trails.

Lindsay Fansler
Vice President; Board member since 2020

Lindsay is a local realtor at PureWest/Christie's Real Estate and is dedicated to maintaining existing trail networks, and also sees great possibilities for future trail development in the Flathead. As an avid user of our trails, Lindsay believes he has a responsibility to ensure that future generations will be able to get the same enjoyment from our local trails as he does. As a father of two, Lindsay intends to pass on a legacy of trail stewardship to his children and the next generation of riders more generally.

Chase DeHan
​​Treasurer; Board member since 2021

Chase currently leads Data Science and Machine Learning at Step Mobile - where he helps to empower Gen-Z in achieving their financial goals - and holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Utah. Chase is passionate about mountain biking (especially the gravity disciplines) and sharing his love of the outdoors with his wife and three daughters. Prior to attending graduate school, Chase competed in the 2010 Winter Olympic Trials in Bobsled and served two combat tours to Iraq in the US Marine Corps.

Martin Emmot
Board member since 2019

Martin has spent the last six years keeping the bikes of the Flathead running smoothly at Glacier Cyclery and now at Great Northern Cycle & Ski. When he's not turning wrenches or placing parts orders, you would likely find him on the best natural single-track the area has to offer. Martin values the access to amazing trails and scenery available to riders of all abilities here in Montana, but at the end of the day, sometimes it's just bikes. ​

Tyler Hoppes
Board member since 2020

Originally from Ohio, Tyler and his wife both feel very happy and fortunate to live in the Flathead with their two children. Tyler is an emergency physician at Kalispell Regional. Aside from his passion for mountain biking, Tyler enjoys our wonderful winters through downhill skiing, Nordic skiing and occasional fatbiking. He also enjoys learning new musical instruments (though he humbly claims to play none of them well), cooking, and sampling some of the valleys finest breweries. Tyler is excited to serve on the FAMB board because he is passionate about preserving and enhancing our mountain​ biking opportunities in the Flathead.

Tom Kosmalski
Board member since 2021

Tom is an avid mountain biker and skier with a fair bit of experience with volunteer organizations, having served on the board for the Columbia Gorge Wind and Water Association (CGW2) for quite a while and being very active with the Hood River Area Trail Stewards (HRATS) over the years. There used to be some mountain bike endurance racing in Tom's life, but now he just rides for fun and mostly prefers rough cross country such as the Pig Farms trail system. Tom recently moved with his wife back to her home stomping grounds of Montana and is stoked to be involved with a grassroots organization like FAMB!

Justin Johnston
​Board member since 2022

Justin Johnston was a founding member of the Kittitas County Bike Alliance in Ellensburg, WA. He helped facilitate the group's assimilation into the state wide Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance. This helped the group gain financial stability and advocacy power. As a member he spent numerous hours building trails and working with landowners to secure access for additional trails. Justin moved from Washington to the Flathead Valley in 2015. He has been impressed by the enthusiasm of our local mountain bike community and wants to play a more active role in supporting our local trails, advocacy and education.​

Nicole Fairclough
Board member since 2025

Nicole has an eclectic background in Education and coaching; she currently works at FVCC in the Continuing Education office. Previously, she spent two years as a Program Coordinator for Dream Adaptive managing the Adaptive Mountain Bike Program where she taught private lessons, organized and led group rides, and helped advocate for accessible trails in the valley. Additionally, Nicole has coached with the local NICA Youth Mountain bike team for five years. She is very passionate about getting people of all ages and abilities on bikes and is excited to continue sharing that passion during her time on the FAMB board.

Chris Crismon
Board member since 2025

Chris grew up in SW Washington and spent his childhood launching his BMX bike on jumps in the empty lots across the street. After his cyclocross bike got stolen, he pivoted to mountain biking and hasn’t looked back in the 12 years since. A proud Washington State University alum, Chris now works as a Senior Product Manager at Vevo, while still chasing outdoor adventures. Whether it’s skiing, fly fishing, or sending it on MTB features he probably shouldn't at his age, he's all about spending time outside. Recently married and always on the move, Chris is passionate about getting more people into mountain biking, trail work, and fundraising to keep the stoke alive for future riders.