Terry’s Retirement Statement
September 28, 2022
I will retire as Executive Director of the Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association at the end of 2022. It’s been a long and inspiring journey for the past 18 years with my love of mountain biking. It all started when I accepted an invitation from my future husband, Mike Palmeri on a mountain bike trip to Wales, UK in 2004. I was already an avid road cyclist and I thought “what the heck” how hard can it be to ride a bike in the woods? Three months later, with many cuts, scrapes, and bruises, we joined a group of fellow mountain bikers on a guided mountain bike tour of Wales. I had a wonderful time and was inspired by the local trail systems that our guide commented had changed the fabric of communities and local economies for the better.
This inspiration started me on the path of advocating for better trails in my local community. I became the president of the Ellijay Mountain Bike Association, known now as the North Georgia Mountain Bike Association, which was a great training ground for the next step in my career. In 2014, I applied for and was accepted as the Associate Director of SORBA and upon Tom Sauret’s retirement, the Executive Director in 2020. I know many of you value the opportunity to ride your bikes on trails and have similar stories on why you have stepped up to be a member or taken on a leadership role with your local SORBA chapter or the Executive Committee. To all of you, I say; thank you!
And now it is time for me to step back and enjoy my retirement years while I still can. While working with IMBA and SORBA chapters, I have heard about all the great mountain trails that have been built in the past 8 years both here in the southeast and nationwide and I want to travel and ride the new trails and the old iconic trails.
