RVA MORE, Richmond’s mountain bike/trail building club, is looking for volunteers this Saturday (March 31st) to do some work at the Belle Isle Bike Skills Park at 9 a.m.

From RVA MORE: Both of the main lines can use some TLC, there are some berms that could use some shaping, and a few muddy spots that need attention.  Come out out and help us get the park ready for spring! Parking is available at the Tredegar lot (300 Tredegar St, Richmond, VA).  The skills park is just a short walk across the pedestrian bridge onto the island.  Bring sturdy shoes, gloves, eye protection, and water.

Sports Backers, in partnership with Ragnar Relay, announced a new event today — the ‘Run Bike Relay presented by Ragnar‘ to be held on June 22-23, 2018.

The overnight relay event will go from Richmond to Jamestown and back, utilizing trails in the James River Park System, the Virginia Capital Trail, the T. Tyler Potterfield Memorial Bridge, and the Greensprings Greenway Trail in James City County, among others, as participants aim to complete this new relay event on foot and by bike.

Registration is now open for the event at www.sportsbackers.org, and the course map can be found at the following link: http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/fullscreen/1969794191/. During the relay, teams of four, two, or even solo racers will bike and run a 120-mile route from Virginia’s capital city to Jamestown and then trek back to Richmond. There are a total of 12 segments made up of six running and six biking legs<https://www.sportsbackers.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/run-bike-relay-format.jpg>. The running segments range in length from four to six miles and consist mostly of dirt trails, while the biking segments range from 13 to 20 miles and will occur on paved trails. Each participant will complete at least three sections of the course, with the specific order determined by each team.

Ragnar offers the largest overnight relay series in the United States, and the Run Bike Relay marks the second time that Sports Backers and Ragnar are partnering for an event, after the Ragnar Trail RVA event, now in its third year at Pocahontas State Park. Sports Backers and Ragnar share a goal of visiting inspiring and scenic destinations, and the James River Park trail system and Virginia Capital Trail, among other course highlights, will provide a challenging backdrop for Run Bike Relay participants.

The Virginia Capital Trail will feature prominently in the new race.

“The Run Bike Relay provides a unique opportunity for participants to experience great active living amenities in an exciting relay format,” said Jon Lugbill, Executive Director of Sports Backers. “We continue to evolve and keep innovation at the forefront of our events, and this is a great opportunity to work with a fellow industry leader in Ragnar to bring new events to the region.”

The Virginia Capital Trail Foundation is the official event charity of the Run Bike Relay presented by Ragnar. Their mission is to enhance, promote, and advocate for the continued development of the Virginia Capital Trail, a 52-mile dedicated multi-use trail connecting Richmond and Williamsburg along the historic and scenic Route 5 corridor. Registration for regular (four-person), ultra (two person), and solo (one person) teams is now available at www.sportsbackers.org, with a June 15 entry deadline.

A section of about-to-be-improved Buttermilk Trail. Credit: RVA MORE

… we salute you!

Full credit to the newsletter writers at RVA MORE, Richmond’s mountain bike/trail-building club, for that sweet headline. What’s it about? It’s about the epic new re-route of an eroded section of Buttermilk Trail. Those same headline writers are also rock luggers, and they need your help.

This Saturday we’ll start the process of building the rock features that will make up the advanced line option for the Buttermilk re-route.  We’ve got a lot of BIG rock staged along the trail, now it’s time to put it all into place.  There will be plenty of work to go around so we need your help on this one.  Don’t miss the opportunity to put your mark on the JRPS’ newest trail feature.  

We will be meeting at 9 am at the parking lot at Riverside drive and 22nd street, right across from canoe run park (https://goo.gl/maps/pND9snKWFLk) and will walk to the work site from there.   Please bring water, sturdy work shoes, and gloves.

Even kids this age can participate in the Forest Hill Park Spring Classic.

Tip of the cap to Richard Hayes of Hills and Heights for having this announcement from the Friends of Forest Hill Park first. If you’ve got a kid that loves to ride bikes — or you think, with a little nudge, would love to ride bikes — check out the below. I’m signing up my 4-year-old today.

Be a part of the first Forest Hill Spring Classic, a series of bicycle races and activities for ages 2 to 18, to be held in Forest Hill Park, 4021 Forest Hill Avenue, Sunday, April 8th from 1-5 p.m. The rain date is April 15th.  Come out to the races and enjoy music, face painting, balloons, bicycle maintenance instruction and local food trucks. Prizes will be awarded for each race.
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Race categories are age 18 and under, 14 and under, 6 and under.

Prior to race day, Coqui Cyclery will sponsor training sessions in Forest Hill Park every Tuesday, 5:30-7 p.m., for three weeks to help participants prepare for the races. The training dates are March 20, March 27, and April 3.  Rain dates will be held on Thursdays: March 22, March 29, and April 5. 

Registration to participate in the Forest Hill Spring Classic is $25 which includes the training sessions and a t-shirt. Register with form below and pay entry fee by using Paypal below and pick up your registration package, including a t-shirt, at the Stone House on April 7, 1-3 p.m.  Send an email to us at info@friendsofforesthillpark.org and let us know your category and t-shirt size. If you prefer to pay by check, please download and print this form to send in by mail.

Race-day registration (April 8, 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m.) will be $28.

The trail section being re-routed is right in the middle of this screenshot.

Last Saturday, the city’s trail crew, like by Mike Burton, began a long-anticipated re-route of a section of Richmond’s most famous trail — Buttermilk, which runs below Riverside Drive from the Nickel Bridge to 21st St. (Buttermilk East then runs on to below the SunTrust building.)

Burton said 25 volunteers braved chilly weather to help rough in the new trail sections below Riverside near where 26th St. comes in in Woodland Heights. If you’ve walked, jogged or biked Buttermilk, you know it as the steep, rutted section with old disintegrating railroad tie stairs next to it.

“It was a horrible erosion problem,” Burton said. “But also a safety issue.”

Because the trail there featured a steep drop, bikers had to take significant speed to get up it, and also were going fast down it. And because it also occurred where the understory is lush, it was a completely blind curve.

The trail crew hard at work. Credit: Mike Burton

“There was so much potential for user conflict,” Burton said.

Last weekend’s crew was able to rough-in all of the new re-route, which, when it’s done, will stay higher on the slope and come down more gradually. Burton also added that the current “low line” alternative to the steep section will remain, but will become “rockier and more technical.” So there will still be two trail options in that area, but they’ll both be more sustainable, erosion-resistant and safe.

Another volunteer work day is scheduled for this Saturday at 9 a.m., but Burton said the weather isn’t looking promising. If it’s cancelled, it will likely be rescheduled for the following Saturday, but check RVA MORE’s Facebook page for more information and updates.

Today we released our third “Views from the Treehouse” podcast, recorded in RO’s secret treehouse headquarters. Our first two featured Ralph White (one podcast cannot contain the greatness that is the former James River Park manager). In this one, Matt Perry and I sat down with Catherine “Cat” Anthony. The VCU grad hasn’t been out of college for a decade, but just last fall she was installed as the the new executive director of the Virginia Capital Trail Foundation. She’s charged with shaping the future of one of the Central Virginia’s most popular outdoor recreation resources — the 52-mile ribbon of asphalt that runs from Richmond to Jamestown and drew over 1 million visits last year. What’s her vision for the trail? What will it’s economic impact be? How safe is it? How will we fund its continued maintenance? All these questions — and our usual James Lipton-esque rapid fire session at the end — are a click away!

Check it out!

Credit: Sports Backers

Last week, the Sports Backers were looking for input on the new RVA Bike Share program and where new stations should go as part of Phase 2. Now Bike Walk RVA, the SBs’ advocacy arm, is sounding the alarm on bike lanes, pedestrian safety and James River Park infrastructure, issues that should matter to a whole host of outdoors-minded Richmonders. From Bike Walk RVA director Max Hepp-Buchanan:

Like you, we were excited for 20+ miles of new bike lanes in 2017 in the city of Richmond. Unfortunately, there was less than one mile of new bike lanes built for the entire year. Like you, we are tired of waiting. And with 12 combined bicycle and pedestrian fatalities in Richmond last year alone, we can’t wait for safe streets. We need to start 2018 off strong, and we need your help.
 
Please join us for the first #WeCantWait campaign meet-up where we will work together on a strategy to hit the ground running (and rolling) in the New Year. That means actually building bike lanes that are already funded and designed, finishing and acting on a strong Vision Zero plan, and dedicating funding to future transformational projects like the Missing Link Trail.
 
RSVP HERE FOR THE #WECANTWAIT CAMPAIGN MEET-UP
 
When: Wednesday, January 24, 2018 / 6:30 to 8:30 PM
Where: Capital Alehouse Richmond, 623 E. Main Street

Have you seen Phase 1 of Richmond’s bike share program? The 220 bikes are all over downtown Richmond at 17 different stations, waiting to be checked out with the swipe of a credit card. Now the city is preparing yo rollout Phase 2, and the Sports Backers are soliciting inout on where the stations should go. The below is from an email by Brantley Tyndall, the SBs community engagement manager.

Click here to take our bike share expansion survey – with a deadline of Feb. 28. It has questions about your experience with bike share (if any), where you might want to see new stations, and if you have any suggestions for specific sites of the expansion (with public access and close to electricity).

Our reach is limited and this information is important, so please share this link with your friends, neighbors, and coworkers: www.surveymonkey.com/r/richmondbikesharesurvey  We will also provide hard-copy information about the survey at local libraries and community meetings.

rvaMORE, Central Virginia’s mountain biking and trail building club, plans to raise the trail tread on about a half a mile of the Huguenot Flatwater Trail upstream of Pony Pasture in the James River Park, in the hopes of making it usable year round.  This trail is very heavily-used by both cyclists and hikers, although for increasing amounts of time the trail is a muddy mess (see picture).

The Flatwater Trail in Huguenot Flatwater Park, part of the James River Park System. Credit: rvaMORE

The plan is to raise the entire trail tread and to improve the drainage, so that the trail remains accessible for a much longer part of the year. It is a multi-step process anticipated to cost $10,000 in materials.

To make all this happen, rvaMORE is asking for donations to the IMBA Dig In campaign before December 31st.  The group has committed $2,000 to this project and we plan on starting in the spring.

Editor’s note: The fall and winter are the lower usage times for trails in Central Virginia, and thus are when most of the trail building and rebuilding take place. This is the first in a seasonal series on the trail work projects taking place in the region.

If you’ve run, biked, walked your dog, or otherwise traversed Richmond’s North bank Trail in the past few days, you’ve probably noticed a gleaming new wooden bridge spanning the small gulley near the trail’s eastern end. (The area in question is where the flat gravel trail meets a steep, rocky section behind the Dominion headquarters. It’s the first bridge heading west from downtown.)

The entrance to the new North Bank Trail bridge heading east toward downtown.

City trails manager Mike Burton said he and his crew had originally hoped to keep some of the structure intact and repurpose other pieces. They realized that wasn’t possible once they removed a few boards and stringers.

“We were able to just push the entire frame over,” he said.

The bridge was as old as the North Bank Trail itself — more than a decade — and was built entirely by volunteers. It saw tons of traffic, as the James River Park System trail usage has exploded in recent years, but it was becoming a danger.

Burton said they spent about $1,800 on materials to rebuild the structure. Some of that money came from mountain bike/trail building club RVA MORE, and some came from the Sports Backers’ James River Park Fund, which racers are prompted to give to when they sign up for some Riverrock events and the SB’s Trails and Ales.

The new bridge looking west.

Burton said the bridge is “real similar” to the old one in terms of how users enter and exit it. The line hasn’t really changed, just the structural integrity.

North Bank was closed for a few days while the work was completed, but it’s back open now. Next up for Burton, Andrew Alli and the rest of the trail crew: completing the already-in-progress jump park in Gillies Creek Park next to the BMX racecourse.