The mountain bike tour of the Palo Alto Mountain Bike Club - California in Rila has come to its end. Short before the group's departure from Bulgaria, its members made a presentation of their evaluation of the trails and gave recommendations for ecotourism development in the region. The meeting was organized in cooperation with the Rila Ecotourism Association and took place at Radisson SAS hotel - Sofia. Journalists from national, local and international media, sponsors, representatives of the National Trust Eco Fund, the United States Agency for International Development and Rila National Park Directorate, friends and supporters of the wild nature from the country attended the meeting.

The Palo Alto club is a member of the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA) - a network of 32,000 mountain bikers, 450 clubs, and 100 corporate partners. The group of 16 arrived on the 2nd of August to get acquainted with the wild nature and picturesque beauties of Rila Mountain. Till the 9th of August the group covered a distance of 288 km in the highest and with the richest in water Bulgarian mountain with approximately 900 m difference of the altitude. The group tested trails in the Rila National Park and prepared its expert evaluation for development and maintenance of new mountain biking trails in accordance with the IMBA requirements. One of the objectives of the tour was to publicize Bulgaria as an eco-tourism and mountain biking destination and that is why the tour will be covered through the IMBA publication and website as well as through U.S. magazines.

The mountain bike tour had also the important objective to promote and gather funds for the new Protected Areas Fund in Bulgaria. The Fund is going to finance wild nature conservation in the country by granting funds for developing park infrastructure, nature conservation and tourism projects. Sponsors of the tour and thus - of the Fund were: hotel Radisson SAS - Sofia, the Bulgarian National Radio, Coca Cola, BAS and Clif Bar - California. The Palo Alto Mountain Bike Club donated 10 000 USD for the new Fund by matching every dollar provided in services and products by these firms and organizations. This is the first donation for the Fund. The Bulgarian Government is also going to make a respective financial contribution. The funds will be managed by the National Trust Eco Fund that administrates over 20 million BGL from the swap deal Debt for Environment between the governments of Bulgaria and Switzerland.

The Rila Ecotourism Association is the Bulgarian organizer of the tour. Its objectives are to develop ecotourism, to preserve, maintain and restore the natural resources as well as to create employment opportunities for the local population. Over the past two-three years, the valleys of Iskar and Beli Iskar rivers have become popular destinations for mountain bikers. This inspired the Association members to develop a project for specialized mountain biking trail network of more than 148.93 km. The expert evaluation of the Palo Alto Club will help the Association to find financial support for the implementation of the Ecological Biking Trail Project.

The Biodiversity Conservation and Economic Growth Project II sponsored by the US Agency for International Development organizes wide media campaign for the tour of Palo Alto Club as part of its work in the ecotourism area and towards the establishment of the Protected Areas Fund.