It’s all over but the riding, running, hiking, bird watching and dog walking. The city trails crew and weekend armies of volunteers have finished two new loops — each about a mile long, one for foot traffic only, the other for fat tires and feet — in the woods behind the Carillon in Dogwood Dell. The best way to access the new trail heads is on Pump House Drive just above the toll for the Nickel Bridge.Read More

Barring rain, volunteers from Richmond-MORE will be out at Dogwood Dell working to finish off the newest trails in Richmond. Want to help?Read More

Richmond-MORE recently sent out an email solicting funds for the new Belle Isle Bike skills park, saying this: “In order to complete the Belle Isle Skills Park, we need to raise $28,000. Some costs have increased and the scope of the park has expanded since it’s original conception – a bonus for us – and we are providing training to volunteers for building the park and maintaining it. This project will be a huge boost for the biking community. Help us make the vision a reality and donate.”

Wondering what the extra funds would go toward, I called Greg Rollins, Richmond-MORE president, and Nathan Burrell, city trails manager, for more information.

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Mark Junkermann has been putting on running, biking and multi-sport races in Central Virginia for years with RunRideRace. His Camp Hilbert series has always been popular with mountain bikers. His Run Like a Girl trails races in Pocahontas State Park have drawn over 1,000 participants in the past. More recently, his “Sorry Honey, I’ve Got to Work Late” series brought short-course mountain bike racing to Forest Hill Park.

Now Junkermann seems to have hit the jackpot with Monstercross, a combination mountain biking and cyclocross race on the fire roads of Pocahontas SP. When I spoke with him last week, Junkermann was more than pleasantly surprised at the response the first-year race has drawn. “I hoped to get 75-100 [participants]. It’s at 400 now. It’s the biggest bike event I’ve done.”

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I recently spoke with Beth Weisbrod, Executive Director of the Virginia Capital Trail Foundation, about the progress being made on the Jamestown-to-Williamsburg-to-Richmond greenway — which section would be completed next, when Richmond would finish its portion, when the whole thing would be done, etc. She said they’re still on schedule for a summer of 2014 completion date, with Richmond likely to be the last section. In March, contractors will break ground on the Sherwood Forest phase, which runs 13.5 miles from Charles City County to the Chickahominy River. When that’s done in the fall of 2013, riders and walkers will be able to traverse 33.5 miles of unbroken green

To offer a sense of what the trail, and a network of others like it, could mean to Central Virginians, she sent me this video about Minneapolis’ Midtown Greenway. Bicycling Magazine named the city the No. 1 bike city in America, and after watching the video, you’ll see why. It’ll get you excited for what could be here in Richmond.

 My favorite quote from the video: “To be able to get around on your bike gives you a connection to the place where you live that is very different than moving around in your car.” Well said.

First of all, there is the North Bank trash clean-up and graffiti removal organized by Phil Riggan (Richmond.com) and Tricia Pearsall, both of whom are members of the Friends of James River Park, JROC, Richmond MORE, and on and on.

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Trail lovers, rejoice! The “Sweco” is at work in Dogwood Dell.

I just went over there to take some pictures of the traildozer at work, which you’ll find below. Talk about a force multiplier. The machine rips  through underbrush, making bench cuts and felling saplings at a quick clip. I remember Nathan Burrell, the city’s trails manager, telling me that the work it did in Forest Hill Park would have taken 2 years if it had to be done by hand. Over in Dogwood Dell, creating 1.75 miles of new trail, it’ll take 2 days.

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I’ve been hearing talk about the building of a bike skills park from city trails manager Nathan Burrell for months. It looks like this really cool concept will soon become reality. The below is a press release from Richmond MORE (Mid Atlantic Off Road Enthusiasts). Click here to see a slide show of the conceptual drawings for the soon-to-be park.

Richmond MORE is announcing today the planned building of an Off Road Bicycle skills area on Belle Isle in the City of Richmond, Virginia’s James River Park. This skills facility will be in addition to the 18 miles of urban single track trails nestled into the James River Park, Forest Hill Park and Byrd Parks located in the city. This entire system of trails has been built by volunteer labor and donated funds side by side with the City of Richmond Trails Division. Like the trails, this skills area will be built in collaboration with the following volunteer groups: The Friends of James River Park, JROC (James River Outdoor Coalition) the City of Richmond Trails Division, the James River Park System, Richmond MORE and IMBA (International Mountain Bike Association). This facility valued at $100,000 will be located under the Lee Bridge on the south east corner of Belle Island. This area is an unused portion of the island that was used for staging of mulch and materials. Construction will begin in April 2012 and the grand opening is scheduled for Memorial Day Weekend.

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The lone forested section of Dogwood Dell will soon have two sets of trails crisscrossing it, a 1-mile loop for hikers only and a 1.75-mile loop designed for mountain bikers but open to hikers as well. Last weekend the work began on clearing the routes for the “Sweco,” the traildozer that is being brought in next week to do the actual trail cutting. More volunteers are needed this Saturday to finish the preparations. The below is from the Richmond MORE website:

The fact that Richmond is capable of supporting more bike shops is a good thing. RichmondBizsense had this article a couple of days ago, and I’ve been meaning to post. The sign on the storefront says “Coming Jan. ’12.” It looks like there’s still a lot of work to do to make that a reality, but whenever it happens the place should be worth checking out.

From the RichmondBizsense piece: Two entrepreneurs are going where the customers are. Or at least where the potential customers meet before going on bike rides.

Ann “Spike” Toler, 50 and Clint Kronenberger, 40, said adjacent to Forest Hill Park was the perfect spot for their new bike shop, Coqui Cyclery, because of the nearby trails and the number of cyclists in the area.

“We all gather at Crossroads after our rides,” Toler said, referring to the coffee shop across from the park.

The shop, set to open late this month, will fix and sell bikes, as well as lead weekly group rides through Forest Hill Park.

Kronenberger said the shop will carry everything from “the high end triathlon bikes to a child’s first bike with training wheels on it.”

He said the shop will carry Pivot Cycles, a brand based in Arizona.