For MTBM’s very first organized trip, we go back no less than 16 years.In 2009, together with the owner, I took a leap of faith and signed an agreement to lease the picturesque mountain chalet *Bois Gentil*. Situated in Morgins, Switzerland, at 1,400 meters above sea level and right next to the chairlift of Bike Park Morgins (part of the legendary Portes du Soleil), I had the chance to open the 14-room chalet for the very first time that summer.From the very beginning, everything just felt right: the weekly programs, the incredible atmosphere, the world-class riding in the region, and the warm, welcoming feel of the chalet itself. Those elements became the foundation of something truly special. What followed is hard to put into words, but thanks to two amazing team photographers, many of those unforgettable moments have been beautifully captured and preserved.

The incredibly beautiful moments on the bike and in the chalet, shared with so many enthusiastic riders, left us wanting more. Alongside the summer weeks in Morgins, MTBM quickly evolved into an uplift specialist. With a former British Army Land Rover Defender and a custom-built bike trailer, the first uplift weekends to the Belgian downhill tracks were born. Legendary short but demanding tracks in Malmedy (rumored to be one of the first tracks designed by Nico Vink), Huy, Namur, La Roche, and Chaudfontaine became our playground. Back then, it was all still about 26” downhill bikes, full-face helmets, hot-dogs, and 'good times only'!

In response to the demanding and somewhat repetitive Uplift Weekends, we started organizing MTB trips to the Harz mountains in Germany. During these 5-day trips, we visited four local bike parks in the Harz region and took our first steps as a travel organizer without having our own base of operations. The Go-Harz trips were a great success and became a major boost for the organization to continue developing and organizing MTB trips.

The adrenaline of descending has always been what attracted me most within mountain biking, and it has played a leading role in the direction of MTBM from the start.My MTB experience mainly consisted of rides in the Netherlands as a kid on my 1992 Scott Team Issue, followed later by 26” downhill bikes built to handle the terrain of the Portes du Soleil. With the knowledge we gained from our Uplift Weekends and the riding possibilities closer to home we followed the rise of what became known as “Enduro” very closely. Fueled by the MTBM community, Enduro quickly became our main mode of riding, for the simple reason that it allowed us to ride more, and more often.Looking back through today’s lens, we were pioneers of shuttle-assisted Enduro trips when I launched the Enduro Challenges in two legendary spots that still hold that status today: Les Hautes-Rivières and the Vosges. They were highly complex trips to organize, with a steep learning curve, but everyone knew one thing: The stage was set!

With the passing of the chalet owner in Morgins, the summer weeks there sadly came to an end from that beautiful fixed base where so many memories had been made.Looking ahead, the years that followed saw around two week-long trips organized each year. These brought valuable experience as a travel organization and took us to countless incredible trails. Alongside these trips, a huge amount of scouting was done: searching for a possible new fixed base, as well as new routes and spots for both our existing and future concepts. Trips to destinations such as the Algarve, Málaga, South Wales, Les Deux Alpes, Les Arcs, Finale Ligure, the Vosges, the Queyras and Verbier followed. With the massive shift within the MTB scene towards Enduro, and the growth of mountain biking in general, this naturally became our focus, and the future of MTBM was set.

Together with my girlfriend, we decided in mid-2018 that it was finally happening: our long-held dream of a camper trip through North America (no fixed end date) was officially on the calendar. What followed was 18 months of pure freedom. With one full winter and two summers, we truly got to know the Rocky Mountains inside out, on skis and snowboards in winter, but above all on mountain bikes when the snow melted. Endless trails, big days out, and that constant feeling of being exactly where you’re supposed to be.After the ride of a lifetime, we rolled back into the Netherlands in mid-December 2020, just in time for the start of the two-year COVID era.

During the strange transition period that followed, bikes somehow found their way back into my life by “coincidence.” Riding through my city as a bike courier and getting paid for it felt like the perfect combo and it was a fun way to test the bikes I was building.This lifelong hobby, wrenching on 90's mountain bikes, started to take real shape when I rented the first MTBM workspace in The Hague. Together with a new name, we were ready for the future: Mountain Biking Morgins became Mountain Bike Minded!

During the North America trip, the new MTBMinded concept also began to take shape. I wanted to return to organizing trips from a fixed base, while at the same time not having to emigrate. After scouting countless locations, one spot kept popping up on the radar time and time again: Les Hautes-Rivières. With extensive experience in the region, its short distance from the Netherlands, and the official mandate in 2019 that fully recognized the trails in the area by the authorities, the decision was finally made: the French Ardennes it shall be! You can read all about our Bike Retreat on the dedicated page. Under the motto “Share the Stoke”, we continue to serve gravity-oriented riders from the Low Countries and beyond, aiming to deliver the ultimate MTB weekend from our very own Bike Retreat.

In 2026, we launched our Enduro trips: special and exclusive point-to-point adventures called the TRANS ENDURO SERIES, hut-to-hut adventures, our HUT2HUT SERIES, and our 'regular' holidays to top riding destinations: the MTBM CLASSICS. They’re all online now!