Bike Virginia recently came out with an exciting press release. If you’re a cyclist who’s traveled Virginia’s byways, you know this is long overdue. The statewide bicycling advocacy group, announced that it is “in the development stages for a comprehensive cycling resource website that will provide cycling-related information and activities from across the state of Virginia. The website will serve to support both new and experienced cyclists of all ages and skill levels, helping connect people with places to ride and encourage cycling and bicycle tourism across the state.”

The joint announcement was made today by Tom Bowden, Chairman of the Bike Virginia Board of Directors, and the organization’s Executive Director Dr. Kim Perry. The non-profit works to improve the state of active living in Virginia through bicycling initiatives. Funding for the project is provided by proceeds from the annual Bike Virginia Tour and a generous donation from Primal Custom Cycling Apparel. The Bike Virginia organization’s mission is to help Virginia benefit from and grow bicycling, to positively influence health and the environment, and enjoy the associated economic benefits. The site will include a ‘places to ride’ section, a calendar of activities, cycling news, information on commuting by bike and riding for fun and fitness, cycling club information, tourism centers, bike shops, links to cycling-related businesses, trail maps and more. Communities from across the state will be invited to participate by providing information regarding their cycling-related activities and places to ride via an online submittal form. The site is expected to go-live this fall.

For more information, contact Dr. Kim Perry at at kim@bikeva.org.

XTERRA racing fans that like to go long will have a series’ all their own this year, as four epic-distance off-road triathlons have joined together to form the inaugural XTERRA Epic Series. None of them will take place in Richmond, at least not this year, but if you’re a local off-road tri enthusiast, this could be a series worth traveling for.

Credit: Caansports.com

The races include the XTERRA Epic – Rustman on May 4 (Ruston, LA), the XTERRA Epic – Marquette on Sept. 7 (Marquette, MI), the XTERRA Epic – ASP on Sept. 28 (Salamanca, NY), and the XTERRA Epic – Iron Mountain on October 19 (Arkadelphia, AR).

All four races will feature a one-mile swim, 30-to-35 mile mountain bike, and 9-to-11 mile trail run.  The Series will be scored in 10-year age groups starting from 18-29, where racers count their best two scores to vie for the 2013 XTERRA Epic Series Championship. The four events will also award XTERRA Points Series level points into the XTERRA America Tour, with the Rustman counting for the 2013 season while the other three will count towards the 2014 season.

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I ran into Chad Rathbone, bike messenger and mountain biker extraordinaire, the other day at Crossroads Coffee and Ice Cream. He was telling me about a somewhat underground, somewhat aboveboard mountain bike race — the Richmond Baja 100 — he’s organizing to “help pay a couple months’ rent.”

I meant to look up the website he told me about, but I forgot. Then a friend sent me a link to the site randomly the next day. I guess word is getting out. This has the potential to be very cool. It sounds like it could be a ride or a race and riders/racers can do as much of it as they like. Start/finish is at Crossroads with a $40 fee for catered barbecue and beer.

From the site: The RB100 course consists of a 50 mile on/off-road loop around Richmond that riders will complete twice. Crossroads Coffee & Ice Cream will be the main headquarters for the RB100. The course route will be posted and described on our website before the race. The course will be live! The RB100 will have many secret checkpoints along the course to keep the racers honest.

In March of last year, a group called Adventure Fit brought the urban bike race/scavenger hunt series — the “Urban Assault Ride” — to Richmond. It was a lot of fun, an event over 300 people participated in on a foggy, rainy day. The RichmondOutside.com-sponsored team placed an impressive third, but it looks like they won’t have a chance to improve on that finish, at least not until 2014.

From a recent Adventure Fit email:

Big plans for the UAR…

2012 was the 10th anniversary of the Urban Assault Ride. During these years, we grew from a tiny Austin race into one of the biggest cycling event series in the country. We shared countless beers and big wheel power slides with Urban Athletes while accomplishing the goal of getting more people to ride bikes for transportation.

Now that we look to the future, we see that the Urban Assault Ride is poised for a rebirth. Our goal is for the UAR to be known as ‘THE obstacle race on BIKES’ and grow much bigger in scale. This will take some time and we will use 2013 as a planning and development year. Accordingly, we will be hitting the pause button and taking the year off.

Thank you for 10 years of support and we hope you will toast us when we return for 10 more!

Here’s the most recent e-newsletter from Virginia Capital Trail Foundation Executive Director Beth Weisbrod. I’ll be writing about the Richmond trailhead she mentions in the coming weeks.

Credit: VDOT

December is coming to an end, so I’m doing my usual backward glance at the year that was.  I’m very proud to say 2012 was our most successful year ever at the VCTF, and you had a lot to do with this.  Besides achieving fundraising goals through your generous contributions, we won approval to build an eye-popping trailhead facility in downtown Richmond, we were able to rally grassroots support and overcome challenges to a separate alignment of the trail, and our record-setting Cap2Cap bike event was listed in Richmond.com Outdoors:  Best of 2012. So, to those who emailed V-DOT or your local officials in support of the trail, or who have made a donation, or volunteered your time or professional services, ridden in the Cap2Cap, or shared something on our Facebook page–you all are a part of our great year.

As we all know, construction of this 52-mile, 10 ft. wide ribbon of asphalt is taking longer than anyone anticipated when this project began back in 2005.  We’ve learned a lot about patience, persistence and staying positive when frustrations mount.  As community support continues to grow, it sends a clear message that this project is an important one.

So, now we’re in the home stretch.  V-DOT says we have two more years before we’ll have our Trail.  We’re going to get there.  In the meantime, thank you to everyone who contributed to the Foundation’s success this year:  sponsors, donors, vendors, supporters, volunteers, board members, staff, and partners.  Hundreds of you made it happen, and it’s why I love my job.  Trail supporters are an energetic and dedicated group, and you prove it year after year.

This Saturday (December 1st) Richmond Cycling Corps will be launching its new youth space, the RCC Youth LAB (Learning Around Bicycles).  The lab will be 2,500 sq feet of unique design connected to Richmond Bicycle Studio. As RCC says in their email announcement, “Youth LAB is yet another step in bringing Richmond the MOST successful and revolutionary cycling-based outreach program ever produced.”

They’ll also be relaunching the Richmond Bicycle Studio, RCC’s full-service bike shop.

“Beer, fresh roasted oysters, and other snacks will be provided.  We’re keeping this event FREE– but are asking for donations in any amount when registering for tickets. Please join us for an exciting night at Richmond Bicycle Studio.”

Click here for event details and to reserve tickets.

Over at Richmond.com, Phil Riggan updates us on the semi-annual conference the East Coast Greenway Alliance held in Richmond last weekend.

A delegation of cycling advocates from all over the East Coast visited Richmond this past weekend all said they were very impressed with the area’s trails and outdoor opportunities and they planned to come back again. 

The Fall Trail Council meeting for the East Coast Greenway met in Richmond this weekend at the Virginia War Memorial and three Richmond area trails (Belle Isle, Cannon Creek Greenway and Ashland Trolley Line) were designated as sections of the trail of networks that runs from Maine to Miami.

I wrote a column about the ECG a couple of weeks ago in the T-D and here at RichmondOutside.com. The ECG’s website has some great resources for bikers and hikers who might want to explore the ECG in Richmond or anywhere along the Canada-to-Key West pathway.

Check out Phil’s piece here.

Pedestrian bridge east of Gunn’s Run on the Virginia Capital Trail

There always seems to be news on the Virginia Capital Trail front, and last week’s newsletter from Executive Director Beth Weisbrod is no exception.

Weisbrod also offers a couple of trail-construction updates: The 13-mile Sherwood Forest section continues to take shape east of the Charles City Courthouse. And soon, we will announce a date for the groundbreaking for the ten mile New Market Heights phase. By this time next year, we should have over 37 miles of paved, dedicated multi-use trail to enjoy between Eastern Henrico County and James City County. That will be something to celebrate. The remaining phases–Varina and Richmond Riverfront–are still on schedule for a 2014 completion.

Great Shiplock Park in Richmond

Richmond.com has a short blurb today on the League of American Bicyclists awarding Richmond their Bronze level distinction as a bike-friendly city. The group comes out with the list every year. They also awarded VCU their silver distinction among bike-friendly colleges and universities. VCU is the only Virginia school on that list.

Scrolling through the list of cities, it looks like there are probably a couple of hundred at the Bronze level. Richmond was the only Virginia city added to the list this year, but places like Roanoke, Harrisonburg and Alexandria were named Bronze recipients in the past. The only Silver Virginia town is Charlottesville. There are no Gold or Platinum Virginia towns (heck, the only Platinum towns, overall, are Boulder, Co.; Davis, Ca.; and Portland).

According to the League website, “the Bicycle Friendly Community Program provides incentives, hands-on assistance, and award recognition for communities that actively support bicycling. A Bicycle Friendly Community welcomes cyclists by providing safe accommodation for cycling and encouraging people to bike for transportation and recreation.”

It would appear Richmond has a ways to go before it reaches the next levels of bike friendliness, but this award is certainly a sign that Richmond is headed in the right direction.

Endorphin Fitness had such a positive response to their first MTB skills clinic in Forest Hill Park that they decided to do another one. This time, though, things get even better. Endorphin will also have Scott Bicycles on site at West Creek doing a demo day for road and mountain bikes. And once again, they are graciously donating all proceeds to Richmond-MORE, the local mountain biking and trail building advocacy group.