Last week, on our Monday trail-related post, I wrote about the fundraising efforts underway to pay for the new mountain bike trails to be put in at Pocahontas State Park. The project, with 30 new miles of singletrack and a trailhead facility, could cost close to $1.5 million. The state put $50,000 toward the project last April and the Dominion Foundation added $50,000 of their own soon after. Much of the money will have to be raised from corporate donors and foundations, but there is a grassroots fundraising and get-the-word-out effort underway as well.

This Saturday, in the Carillon at Byrd Park, local mountain biking and trail building group Richmond MORE is hosting Trailicious 2 — “a celebration to benefit the Richmond Regional Ride Center.” (The “Richmond Regional Ride Center” is a designation the International Mountain Bicycling Association will bestow upon our area trails — the combination of the downtown trails and Pocahontas — once the new singletrack is in down in Chesterfield.)

Who doesn’t want more sweet singletrack like this? Credit: Jesse Peters

Brandy Adams, a driving force behind the event, said the original Trailicious was held back in 2010 when the North American Handmade Bicycle Show was in town and raised money for the trail work at Forest Hill Park. The goal of Trailicious 2 is partly to raise money but also to educate local trail users about the upcoming work at Pocahontas SP.

“I wasn’t sure what the ride center was myself,” she said. “I thought it was a building. I needed to be educated. That’s where we’re going to take care of some misperceptions.”

IMBA representative Rich Edwards will be on hand to help explain the ride center and the scoring system used to evaluate an area’s ride center status. And Harrisonburg MTB pro Jeremiah Bishop will be there to sign autographs and take questions before riding in Monster Cross the following day.

And, of course, there will be beer. Sierra Nevada is one of the sponsors, after all.

“Think of a carnival, like a festival kind of thing, ” Adams said.

The $20 entry fee gets you access to a raffle, two beer tickets, a live band, videos, games and more. That’s all inside the Carillon. Outside in the parking lot, there’ll also be a number of food truck options.

It’s all this Saturday, and you can’t buy tickets at the door. So, if you love Richmond’s trails, click here to attend Trailicious 2 ands support their continued excellence.