Credit: RVANews

Nathan Cushing of RVANews has a cool feature on the new and improved Carytown Bicycle Co. shop. Just two doors down from venerable Agees, the shop attempts to be not just a bike shop, but a space that’s “‘almost like Cheers,’ according to co-owner Tim Mullins, ‘”where people can come in, ‘have a beer and talk,’ and watch an international cycling race…”

Whoa, did he say beer? Is that BYOB? That’s pretty cool, as far as I’m concerned. I heard Spike Toler say a similar thing about her new bike shop, Coqui Cyclery, at the intersection of Forest Hill and Semmes avenues, except without the beer. They both want to offer more than just transactions — a new bike, parts, repairs. The guiding philosophy, Cushing writes, quoting Mullins, is, “Let’s create an experience.”

Hopefully, it works for both of them. In the meantime, check out the RVANews piece on Carytown Bikes.

I rode out to Belle Isle yesterday to see how the new bike skills park was coming. Nathan Burrell and his trail crew were out there, as was Ben Blitch, the independent bike park designer who works on projects like this all over the country. Blitch go into town on Sunday for what Burrell said would be 12-straight days of moving dirt, pushing rocks and general bike park crafting. When I was there, they had two skid steers, a backhoe loader and an excavator all going at the same time (I only know the names of those machines because my two-year-old son was screaming them out as we watched).

Burrell said the goal is to be done by Memorial Day, and considering the pace they’re moving at, it looks like they might just pull it off. The below pics are taken by RichmondOutside.com contributor Dave Kern.

Credit: Phil Riggan

Over at Richmond.com, Phil Riggan has a report on the giant number of Altria volunteers (over 200) that descended on Belle Isle and other riverfront locales Wednesday: As part of the Great American Cleanup, Altria committed more than $26,000 in man hours for a variety of volunteer tasks. That figure does not include the cost of the equipment and materials, according to Ken Garcia of Altria. Here’s what they accomplished:

• 750 feet of split rail fencing for the new Belle Isle Bike Skills course
• 30 duck houses, 50 sprout kits, 30 birdhouses, 50 bat boxes, 6,200 seedlings
• 4 recycle bins, 6 picnic tables
• 12 benches, 12 stools for James River Association ecology school at Presquile Island
• Matt Lively mural for Richmond Folk Festival & Ann Walsh mural for ecology school
• Fence painting along 5 city blocks (double coat)
• Cleaned and painted metal shed on Belle Isle (future part of bike skills course)
• 4 bags of trash
• Thousands of cigarette butts, including 1,931 on Dead Rock on Belle Isle

Considering the week before the James River Association had a bunch of volunteers picking up litter on Belle Isle, I’d say the island is about as clean as it’s going to get. And if you haven’t been over there recently, it’s worth a trip to see the progress on the bike skills park. I wish I had some pictures from when I biked over there yesterday, but I completely forgot my camera and phone. City trails manager Nathan Burrell told me that Ben Blitch, who builds trails and facilities like the one on Belle Isle for a living, will be coming into town tomorrow for 12 straight days of skills park building. The place is already coming together. I can’t wait to see what it’ll look like in a couple of weeks.

Back in September I speculated in my T-D column about Lance Armstrong competing regularly on the XTERRA off-road triathlon tour. He had just come in fifth at XTERRA nationals in his first triathlon is 22 years. He went on to compete in XTERRA worls later that fall and did well again. Suddenly the thought of Lance racing Richmond didn’t seem very far fetched. As Trey Garman, XTERRA VP and media director told me at the time: “Rumor has it that if he enjoys himself (at nationals), XTERRA could be one of his regular gigs…and “Richmond is top-dog as far as courses go.”

Well, that was then. Now? Not so much. In February, Armstrong announced that he’d be entering a number of Iron and Half-Iron distance races in the Ironman series of road triathlons. Still, I held out hope that maybe he’d race XTERRA as well. In a recent email, though, Garman broke the bad news: “We think he’ll be back to XTERRA at some point, unfinished business, but 2012 looks focused on Ironman Worlds…”

Too bad. Would have been cool to see Lance flying through Forest Hill Park on his mountain bike or navigating the James’ famously random June water level. Maybe next year.

Ride Richmond and VCU have come together again for the second annual Richmond Bike Week, and this year promises to be a lot of fun. All of the events can be found in the RichmondOutside.com Slate of Events, but as a little teaser there’ll be an Earth Day ride, a bike swap, a film festival, a pizza crawl, a cycling symposium, races at Southside Speedway, a defensive cycling course and night rides. Check out the flyer by clicking here. Richmond Bike Week starts April 21st — next Saturday — and runs through April 27th.

Get out and volunteer, Richmond! According to Richmond MORE, work continues Saturday morning on the Belle Isle Bike Skills Area.Read More

Some of you may remember a column I wrote around this time two years ago about a local kid named Kirk Williams. Kirk was an avid mountain and road biker who lived in Ashland, went to Patrick Henry HS and then took off to Boulder, Co. for college. In the fall of 2009, on a mountain bike ride with friends, Kirk slowed to moved out of the way of a hiker, hit a rock he didn’t see and went over his handlebars. He was paralyzed from the chest down. After over two years of intensive rehab, he’s regained the use of some of the muscles in his arms and hands. But he remains wheel chair-bound.

It’s an expensive world Kirk and his family now inhabit, so I’m writing this post to let RichmondOutside.com readers know about a great event that benefits one of their own — a fellow outdoors lover, who, despite facing many challenges, remains an adventurer and explorer at heart.

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There will be a grand opening later, says owner Anne “Spike” Toler (above), but Coqui Cyclery, the new bike shop at the intersection of Semmes and Forest Hill avenues, will open for business this Saturday, April 14th. (Originally, the opening was scheduled for Monday, April 9th but some unforseen delays have forced the change.)

The shop has been in the works since November 2011. Since then, Toler has sunk about $100,000 into making the vacant retail space across the street from Crossroads Coffe and Ice Cream the kind of “neighborhood bike shop” she always thought the area needed, complete with a lounge with TVs and a kids table and a dog drinking station outside.

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Team RichmondOutside.com accepts the spoils of a third-place finish

A low fog hung over downtown Richmond, and temperatures hovered in the 60s. It looked like it might rain at any moment. But about 400 Central Virginians decided those conditions were perfect for bike ride this morning. When the starting gun went off, the 200 teams of two took to their bikes and pedaled in all directions. Participants in the New Belgium Urban Assault Ride, they covered ground in search of checkpoints all over the city. At each checkpoint they had to complete an kind of obstacle course to move on to the next one. At Pibby’s bike shop, it was a big wheel race. At the YMCA it was a dip in the pool in search of rubber duckies. At Forest Hill Park it was a kind of ring toss game.

When the dust settled, it was clear there were first and second place teams. More importanly, the valiant duo of Jeff Jennings and a mystery rider carried the RichmondOutside.com banner to third-place glory. It was an epic showing for the fledging team sponsored by Richmond’s favorite outdoors-focused website. Way to go guys!

 Check out the coverage of the race by Jeremy Slayton and Mark Gormus in today’s Times-Dispatch.

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In my column in today’s T-D, I wrote about the New Belgium Urban Assault Ride, “the biggest Bicycle Obstacle Event series in the nation,” according to a press release from Adventure Fit, the company that created the race.

Starting at 9 a.m. Sunday, teams of two cyclists will scatter across town “on a city-wide quest for ‘checkpoints’ on your favorite two-wheeled steeds. At each checkpoint, you’ll drop your bikes and complete a funky/adventurous obstacle course, then remount your bikes and hit the streets for more. The goal is to complete all the checkpoints in the shortest amount of time. You choose your own route and checkpoint order. This means that the most clever are often the victors. Of course, it may also help if you can pull a mean big-wheel powerslide and fly across an inflatable slip-n-slide.”

“After your pedal-powered adventure, your team will cross the finish line and enter a massive celebration of New Belgium Brewing Co’s whimsical ways, bikes, and big wheels. The after party is just as much fun as the ride itself, thanks to the craziest raffle prize contest you’ll ever experience.”

As of yesterday, about 200 teams — 400 cyclists — had signed up. And online registration continues through today. No matter the weather, this event promises to be a lot of fun.