Injury leads to opportunity for new nonprofit leader

Greg Theis has ridden a twisting trail into his new role as executive director of Flathead Area Mountain Bikers.

Theis officially took over the leadership position Friday from outgoing leader Becky Briber. Briber had served as the organization’s executive director since 2016, helping write grants, educate the local mountain biking community and advocate for ways to expand mountain biking opportunities in the Flathead.

The job requires a delicate balance between on-the-trail experience and administrative expertise.

“I have a unique background and experience,” Theis said. “It’s all kind of been culminating and coming together.”

For Theis, the ride began back in his home state of Colorado. He grew up near the famous Red Rocks Amphitheater. He spent his time like many people in his new Montana home: mountain biking, snowboarding, backpacking — and then, to his dismay, observing his hometown transform from massive in-migration.

“I watched Colorado completely change,” Theis recalled.

At the same time, Theis underwent his own sudden change. While working as a mountain bike instructor, he got into a serious wreck off the clock.

“I ended up destroying my wrist and hand,” he said. Ligaments tore, bones snapped and the avid mountain biker wound up in a cast for six months.

Between the culture changing all around him and the reality check from his broken wrist, Theis reluctantly decided it was time to move indoors. He went from the seat of his bike to a desk in downtown Denver, where he started a job as an accountant.

BUT THEIS had a few more jumps to clear before he found his real passion.

In 2014, Theis took a road trip that passed through Glacier National Park. On the trail to Avalanche Lake, he came across Lori Curtis, a longtime fixture of the Flathead nonprofit landscape. Curtis, who retired from the Whitefish Lake Institute this year, gave Theis hope that he could rediscover in Whitefish what he had lost in Colorado.

Inspired by that conversation, Theis pointed his wheels north. In 2016, he left his office job and packed up his Denver apartment, casting off anything that didn’t fit in his car. He applied for jobs at mountain resorts throughout Montana, but he said he held out hope that he’d end up in Whitefish.

At first, it didn’t look like his trail would take him there after all. The first offer he received was in Big Sky, which felt like more of the same to Theis on his exodus from Colorado.

He resolved to settle in Whitefish with or without a job, and then, as he was driving from Big Sky, a call finally came through offering him a position at Whitefish Mountain Resort.

He’s been a snowboard instructor on Big Mountain for the past five years.

“It happened to work out,” Theis said, still marveling at his good fortune five years later.

EVEN THOUGH his hand hasn’t fully recovered from his crash, Theis said he’s grateful, in a way, that his injury eventually led him to the Fish. He believes he might still be stuck in Colorado “If it never would’ve happened.”

“I have a funny relationship with that accident,” Theis said.

Theis plans to continue giving snowboard lessons in the winters, but he wanted to take on a bigger role in the mountain biking community during the summer season.

Theis worked on mountain bike trails for Whitefish Mountain Resort for two summers before transferring to a trail crew with Flathead Area Mountain Bikers this summer. Thanks to funding from the Great American Outdoors Act, FAMB was able to hire its first all-paid trail crew this year.

Theis led a group of five to rehab trails around the valley throughout the summer. On Columbia Mountain alone, they cleared 60 trees and trimmed another 70—all in three 13-hour days.

It was rewarding, but exhausting. When FAMB’s then-director decided to step away from her position, Theis saw a way to continue working in his preferred field, without needing to carry a chain saw in his handicapped hand.

“This was an opportunity to combine my biggest passions with an opportunity to make more of a career than just seasonal work,” Theis said.

The nine-person FAMB board was just as enthusiastic as Theis, since his background lies in both the financial and the physical sides of mountain biking.

AS EXECUTIVE director, he’ll be responsible for writing and managing grants, bookkeeping, fundraising and outreach. Theis is hopeful the organization will continue to expand, with more members and more specialized paid staff. He invited the public to attend the organization’s annual meeting on Oct. 15.

He plans to continue his predecessor’s work in educating mountain bikers about stewarding their trails and advocating for more opportunities to ride a mountain bike in the valley. It’s a crucial time, Briber pointed out, because so many new mountain bikers picked up the activity during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Perhaps his most ambitious goal is to transition from not only maintaining bike trails, but also building new ones.

“That’s a huge decision we’re working on,” Theis said. It’s a logistical challenge and a financial investment, he explained. But Theis and the FAMB board feel confident he’s the right person to take the nonprofit in that new direction.

“Coming from my trails experience, it’s something I’m very positive for,” Theis said.

Reporter Bret Anne Serbin may be reached at 406-758-4459 or bserbin@dailyinterlake.com.