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 In most cases, their opposition was based on inaccurate or outdated information.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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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.

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.

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.

Pedal Power, an advocacy and outreach group formed by Ethan Seltzer to promote energy sustainability education, is hosting its annual Pedal Power riding event this Saturday, March 17. (http://pedalpower2012.eventbrite.com/). Richmond Cycling Corps will hose the event in its Scott’s Addition facilities.  They’ll hook your bike up to trainers which are capable of producing electricity. The effort (i) illustrates how hard it is to generate power and (ii) generates electricity that powers the event, including music and cook-tops. The event includes competitions to see who can crank the most watts, tons of cool swag, plus beer and grilled-cheese sandwiches.

Making power

Seltzer said that, as of yesterday afternoon, there were still 17 of 40 spots remaining. Last year the race/ride/festival of power generation sold out. One of the cool features is that the power generated is measured in watts/kilogram, so a 35-year-old dude with 4-percent body fat and quads of steel can race against someone far less fit — someone like me.

Last year, Seltzer said, with 40 people riding for one hour, they generated just enough electricity to power the cooktops that cooked lunch. He hopes people make the connection between how hard they’ve worked to produce that energy and how easy it is to spend it — and get fit in the meantime!

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.