Credit: Jesse Peters/Backlight

In today’s T-D I offer my take on what it could mean for Richmond to win Outside Magazine’s “Best Town Ever” contest. This year the focus of the contest is on cities with a strong relationship with the river (or rivers) running through them. Outside teamed up with the non-profit advocacy group American Rivers to whittle a list of 80 or so cities/towns down to the 10 finalists. In addition to Richmond, the other finalists are Nevada City, Calif., Hood River, Ore., Nashville, Tenn., Asheville, N.C., Ithaca, N.Y., Milwaukee, Boise, Idaho, Missoula, Mont., and Durango, Colo.

Voting is being conducted on Facebook through July 10. You can vote once a day, every day. You can also post comments and upload your favorite pictures, which is just as important as voting since “enthusiasm” is a component of the final decision. The winning city will be featured on the front of the October issue of Outside — the magazine’s 35th anniversary issue.

As of this writing, Richmond was way out in the lead in both votes (close to 2,000) and enthusiasm (363 comments, dozens upon dozens of pics). Nevada City, Calif. is currently in second with 450 votes. It would be pretty cool to see the River City get some credit for being the incredible outdoor recreation destination it already is.

Credit: VDOT

It hasn’t always been smooth sailing for the Virginia Capital Trail, and right now is one of the tougher times. The section east of the city through Varina has drawn vocal protest from a small number of residents. If you’re among the many of Central Virginians and Tidewater residents who think the greenway should be a separate trail the whole way, it’s time to make your voice heard. The below is an email from Beth Weisbrod, the Executive Director of the Virginia Capital Trail Foundation.

As you may have heard, VDOT held a public input meeting last week regarding the 10-mile Varina section of the Virginia Capital Trail. Trail supporters easily outnumbered opponents, but the opponents had the floor for the bulk of the meeting. In most cases, their opposition was based on inaccurate or outdated information. But their voices were heard.

At the meeting, people were encouraged to fill out comment forms so their input would be counted. The public comment period is open until June 16.

Please take the time to write an email supporting the trail, its proposed alignment as a separate trail on the north side of Rt. 5, and its completion by mid-2014. Also, please circulate this message to all of the people you know who would be willing to send in an email and be counted. Henrico County zip codes are important, but not necessary.

Here are two samples of emails, but feel free to create your own. Otherwise cut and paste, edit as you wish, and send to the email address below by midnight Saturday, June 16.

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Thanks to presenting sponsor, Luck Stone, this year’s Xterra East Championship in Richmond will offer fans a whole new way to experience the race. I lay it all out in my race advance in today’s T-D, but here it is in a nutshell: 1) GPS-enabled athlete tracking for the pros; 2) streaming video at eight points along the course; 3) a “social media map” that allows anyone who tweets with the hashtag #xterraRVA to have their tweet show up on the map.

Let’s say you can’t make it out to Brown’s Island or to somewhere along the course to take in the off-road thrills in person. If you have access to a computer and the internet, go to luckstone.xterra.com on Sunday morning. There you can choose from the above options. You can watch where six-time winner Conrad Stoltz is as he starts his bike leg. Where will he make his move? Who will challenge him? And as you watch the athlete tracker, you can click on the streaming video to watch your athlete of choice as they pass a certain point. With the social media map, you’ll be able to see what spectators out on the course are tweeting about.

It’s all new this year, and, frankly, I’m not sure I know of another sporting event that offers this kind of multimedia access. Very cool stuff.

Xterra weekend approaches. There are still spots available for Saturday’s 10K and 21K trail races. On Sunday, pros and amateurs will toe the line to swim, bike and run all over the James River Park System and Brown’s Island in the Xterra East Championship. Spectators will get to experience the race in a whole new way this year thanks to Luck Stone. And speaking of Luck Stone, if you go by their tent during the race you can enter to win a mountain bike — a Specialized RockHopper Comp 29er. Raffle tix are $5 each or 5 for $20. The bike, donated by 3Sports, retails for $1,100. The money raised will go to the Friends of the James River Park System.

If you don’t want to wait until Saturday or Sunday, you can buy raffle tickets now at Riverside Outfitters or 3Sports.

The crowds were huge; the competitions were epic; the weather was perfect. If you didn’t make it down to Dominion Riverrock this past weekend. You missed one heck of a celebration of music and outdoor sports. I was down there for the Times-Dispatch covering Saturday’s and Sunday’s events. I also participated in the Urban Assault mountain bike race on Saturday. Good times were had all around. I think it’s fair to say Riverrock is, like the Folk Festival and the Monument Avenue 10,K becoming a circled date on many Richmonders’ calendars.

Here’s the recap from Sports Backers, who organize Riverrock:

The 4^th annual Dominion Riverrock presented by Subaru, the East Coast’s premier outdoor sports and river life festival, concluded this afternoon after drawing more than 65,000 spectators and 4,000 participants to Brown’s Island and Historic Tredegar in Richmond, VA, for the weekend’s festivities. This year Dominion Riverrock expanded its footprint and added a third day of competition. Dominion Riverrock is now the largest outdoor sports and music festival in the United States.

“The growth of this event has been tremendous,” said Megan Schultz, Dominion Riverrock event director. “To have more than 65,000 people come together to celebrate the riverfront is just amazing.”

Athletes and spectators alike crowded Brown’s Island and Historic Tredegar for an incredible combination of sporting events and music. New to Dominion Riverrock in 2012 were Slacklining, Bouldering Dyno Comp, a short course Dirt Crit mountain bike event, as well as demo areas for mountain biking, bouldering, and slacklining.

Other crowd favorites at Dominion Riverrock included the Subaru Ultimate Air Dogs, Boulder Bash and Native Freestyle Bikes. The Miller Lite Filthy 5k took place on Friday evening with more than 2,200 participants, a new registration record for Dominion Riverrock. The James River Scramble 10k presented by Goal Zero, drew about 1,000 participants and the Thule Urban Assault Mountain Bike race had nearly 300 riders.

Kayaks, stand up paddleboards, mountain bikes, slacklining and bouldering were available throughout the duration of the event for festival attendees to demo. More than 3,500 people took advantage of this opportunity.

On the music front, Keller Williams with the Travelin’ McCourys got the crowd on its feet on Friday. On Saturday, the much anticipated JJ Grey & Mofro took the stage at 7:30 p.m. followed by the New Orleans-based GALACTIC at 9 p.m.

Saturday was the last volunteer day at the Belle Isle bike skills park. The work remaining is mostly finishing touches to be done by Nathan Burrell and the trail crew. I’ve already talked to two different dads who’ve had their kids on bikes at the park, and they both raved. Here are some pics taken Saturday by RichmondOutside.com contributor Dave Kern.

Here’s a good way to kick of Riverrock weekend a little early: On Thursday at 7:30 p.m, Red Bull and Trek Bicycle will premier their new mountain biking movie, Strength in Numbers, at the Byrd Theater. The screening is free and open to the public. Doors open at 7 p.m.

 A new action sport documentary, Strength in Numbers is a rally call to connect all mountain bikers, regardless of location or language or discipline. The film captures a true way of life, from the world’s best pros to those who are just learning to love the sport. Shot over two years in some of mountain biking’s most iconic locations, Anthill’s signature style combines compelling stories with core action to create a shared experience that unites all riders.

 “After almost two straight years of work, all the positive comments we have gotten here have made it all worthwhile”, said the Anthill Crew.

If you’re a local trail lover, you need — and I really do mean need — to check out Terrain360.com, the subject of my column in today’s T-D. The site was just launched on May 1st by three Richmonders — Ryan Abrahamsen, Ryan Emmons and Ross Milby. It’s unlike anything else out there for exploring trails (and soon waterways, too) on a computer. If you’ve used Google Street View, Terrain360.com will have a familiar feel — only the pictures are clearer.

The T360 team is an ambitious lot. Their goal is to have every major Virginia trail mapped by the end of the summer, so keep checking back for more updates. This first pic is a screenshot from the site. It and the others offer a sense of what the trail tours look like.

Entering Belle Isle from the south

Buttermilk Trail