Maymont’s paved paths and rolling hills will be the site of this weekend’s X-Country Festival.

If you like to run, bike or paddle, this is your kind of weekend here in the RVA.

It starts on Friday for the runners with the Sports Backers’ Maymont X-Country Festival. The Open 5K goes off at 6 p.m. and is a really cool opportunity to race in a place where you’d normally stroll and sightsee. As the Sports Backers’ website describes it: Maymont is a cross country runner’s dream. From the lavish 1893 Maymont House to the scenic wildlife areas that house bison, bald eagles, deer, bears and other animals, the estate is the perfect backdrop for a fall race.

The same is true for Saturday morning’s James River Loop 8-miler. This race is also open to the public, and while it starts and ends at Maymont, the course is really a showcase of Richmond’s downtown trails (click here for the map). Trail lovers will navigate Buttermilk and North Bank trails, as well as the singletrack on Belle Isle before they arrive back at the finish line.

Paddlers have two great options on Saturday, but they’ll have to pick one. At 9 a.m. the Friends of the Lower Appomattox River will host their annual 10-mile “Battle or Paddle” event — your opportunity for a fun paddle or a competitive race in your canoe, kayak, or SUP. The event begins at Petersburg’s Pocahontas Island and the full 10-mile length ends at the Hopewell City Marina near the convergence with the James River. There are also several take-out points along the river for those who do not want to paddle the entire route. At the finish a shuttle will return you and your boat to Petersburg. The entire course is flat water in the tidal section of the river. 

River lovers also have the option of paddling the falls of the James on Saturday as part of the Tour de Fall Line. This first-time event is half paddle, half bike (take your pick) and all celebration of the amazing natural resource we have in the middle of our city. For canoeists, kayakers, and SUPers, events begin at 10 a.m. (or earlier, if you prefer) at Mayo Island, where a shuttle provided by the VCU Outdoor Adventure Program will take everyone up to Huguenot Flatwater. At 10:30 a.m. paddlers can choose to run to Reedy Creek or keep going through the downtown rapids back to Mayo Island where beer, food and music await.

Buttermilk Trail will be part of the course for the 50-miler of Saturday’s Tour de Fall Line. Credit: Phil Riggan

James River Outdoor Coalition president Patrick Griffin said he wants paddlers of all abilities to come out and have a good time together, and, he added, “the river is very, very low so we will have sweep people to make sure everyone gets down safely.”

Mountain bikers have three options as part of the Tour de Fall Line: a 50-, 28- and 14-mile ride. All feature the world famous downtown Richmond singletrack, as well as some of the less well known Pirate Trails and, for the 50-milers, Powhite and Larus parks.  The $40 entry fee gets you a supported ride, a pint glass, one Sierra Nevada beer, Lee’s Fried Chicken and a concert on Mayo Island when you get back (the same is true for boaters and their $30 entry fee).

“It’s a hellacious deal,” said city trails manager Mike Burton. And he’s especially right when you consider that any profit goes to JROC and local mountain bike/trail building club Richmond MORE.

So, there you have it folks. Lace ’em up; break out the paddle; pump up the tires. You have options this weekend no matter your outdoors pleasure.

It’s Wednesday afternoon. That means the weekend is on the horizon, and as I mentioned last week, every Wednesday afternoon this fall you can check back here for a preview of what’s coming up between now and Sunday.

Who wouldn’t want to take the kids camping here? Credit: Tim Thompson

Before we even get to the weekend, there’s plenty going on. Take tonight: If you’ve followed the journey of the Terrain360/RichmondOutside mapping boat down the James this summer, come out to The Camel tonight and see the finished product. The James River Association is sponsoring a happy hour event as part of their Amazing Raise efforts. Ryan Abrahamsen and I will be on hand to tell stories from the summer’s adventure and show off what the one-of-a-kind tour will look like when we release it on Terrain360.com later this month. That’s tonight at 5 p.m. at The Camel, and it’s free.

Also on short notice: today is the last day to register for Maymont’s Family Camp Out. They’re calling this one “Creatures of the James,” and not only do you get to camp out with your kids at Maymont, but there’ll be a guided hike through the estate in search of native nocturnal creatures, and you can meet a few of Maymont’s own animal ambassadors. Afterwards, you’ll make s’mores and enjoy stories around the campfire. There’s even a Continental Breakfast and another hike the next day. (Ages 4 and older; one adult must register for every four children.)

If you haven’t seen some version of the advertising blitz for the VCU Broad Street Mile, well, you must have been out of town the past six weeks. On Saturday the mile/5K/fun run/festival kicks off at 10 a.m. between Belvidere and Hermitage on Broad Street. As the website says, “Broad Street will be transformed into two areas, a running course and festival. The running course will feature the VCU 5K to kick-off the event, and five themed one-mile races that start at 20 minute intervals. The free festival will feature live music, food trucks, local vendors, kids activities and a new RVA Sports Zone featuring the Richmond Flying Squirrels and other local professional sports teams. Sounds like a cool block party even if you’re not a runner.

Rodney the Ram will definitely be in attendance at the VCU Broad Street Mile.

If you are a runner, however, you could hit the VCU Broad Street Mile and still have time to lace them up at the Virginia Farm Bureau’s Stampede 5K at West Creek Parkway. There’s a kids run first at 4 p.m., then a manually timed 5K immediately following. After that the party begins, with food vendors, a farmer’s market, Center of the Universe Beer and agriculture-themed activities for kids.

Finally, on Sunday, there’s an event that if you haven’t trained for by now, you probably shouldn’t participate in. Or maybe you’re just that beastly of an athlete and you can do a half-iron-distance triathlon (1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, 13.1-mile run) off the couch. If so, or if you want to see some of the region’s top endurance athletes battle it out over a cool urban course, come out to Rocketts Landing for the Richmond Rox Olympic Distance and Endurance Half Iron Triathlons.

Don’t be put off by last week’s heat wave, folks, fall is on its way. And I don’t know about you, but fall is absolutely my favorite time of year. Even after a mild summer like this one, I’m ready for autumn and everything it calls to mind: leaf peepage, apple cider, cool days, cold nights by the outdoor fireplace, football. Call me crazy, but I even kind of enjoy raking leaves.

Volunteers during last year’s ‘Tire-less James’ fill up their batteau with tires. Credit: JRA

Fall is also a busy time of year for outdoor activities in the Richmond area. It seems like as soon as kids head back to school, the calendar explodes with stuff to do. The Events Calendar on our homepage has a comprehensive listing, but starting today, and continuing every Wednesday this fall, we’ll be highlighting the coming weekend’s can’t-miss events for outdoor lovers. (If you’re an event director and your ride, run, triathlon, festival, litter pickup, etc. is on the horizon, let us know so we can feature it.)

Last week, we gave you a heads up the James River Association’s Tire-less James event. Groups of volunteers will comb the river this Saturday in search of old tires and then Bridgestone will haul them away and recycle them (there’s still time to sign up). Ryan and I were up on the James below Iron Gate on Monday taking pictures for our river mapping project and we saw at least four tires between Iron Gate and Gala. So, if you happen to be on that section of the river, keep your eyes peeled.

The Tire-less James is running concurrently with the James River Advisory Council‘s huge James River Cleanup on Saturday. Pre-registration is closed, but you can still join the fun by just showing up to one of the official cleanup sites with close-toed shoes, water and gloves. They’ll provide the bags and take care of the the removal.

If you’re looking to get the heart rate up a little more, drive up to Ashland at 3 p.m. on Saturday for Center of the Universe Brewing Company’s Das Bier Run. There’ll be beer (natch), German food, a 13-piece authentic German band and a team relay fun run. And speaking of beer, yesterday we featured another beer-centric event taking place Saturday — the Spoke and Hop Fest. Head to Hardywood at noon on Saturday and you’ll find 25 Virginia craft breweries pouring two beers each and well as handmade bicycle fabricators from up and down the East Coast (including four from Richmond) showing off their craft bikes. Food trucks and live bands will also be blazing

That’s a busy Saturday folks, but there’s a natural progression in there: Start by cleaning up and giving back, go for a run and a beer then go check out some sweet handmade bikes and imbibe a little more while taking in some live music. Good times.

There’s a lot going on in the fall for RVA outdoors lovers, and tomorrow we’ll be unveiling a new weekly feature: a preview of the coming weekend in outdoor recreation. But I wanted to highlight an upcoming event today because it marries two of my favorite things — bikes and beer. This Saturday (Sept. 13), from noon to 9 p.m., Hardywood will host the first annual Spoke and Hop Fest.

Handmade bicycles, like this one by Stijl, will be featured at the first Spoke and Hop Fest this Saturday. Credit: Stijl Cycles

“The overarching idea of this event is craft bikes and craft beer,” said Hinmaton Hisler, the event’s creator and a local handmade bike builder. “Cyclists and beer drinkers tend to many times be the same person.”

Hisler, owner of Stijl Cycles, said he originally imagined the event as a way to capitalize on the 2015 UCI World Cycling Championships that’ll be here in Richmond a year from now.

“The cycling community…needs to get ready for it and figure out how to embrace it and how to capitalize on it,” he remembers thinking around this time last year. “It all of a sudden dawned on me that I am that person. I think what I’m going to do is have a handmade bike show.

“It makes sense to figure out the kinks,” he added, “and then have the second annual event (be before the bike races) next year.”

The handmade bike show idea soon morphed into bikes and beer, and earlier this year Hardywood came on board as the host location. With their involvement in the Virginia Craft Brewers Guild, Hisler said, they were able to attract 25 different Virginia craft brewers.

“It will be the first of its kind in Richmond…having so many different breweries at one event,” Hisler said.

This is a common scene at Hardywood Park Craft Brewery. Credit: Hardywood

Each brewer will pour two different beers, and some will bring something different, “something from the archive,” as Hisler described it, as well. There will be food trucks, live bands, seven different handmade bike builders — locals Stijl, CED, EndPoint, Bing and out-of-staters Sarif, Bilenky and Vicious — and a number of different local bike advocacy groups.

$35 in advance and $40 at the door will get festival goers a sample glass and as much beer as they can drink. The proceeds will be split between the Virginia Craft Brewers Guild and the Richmond Regional Ride Center.

Next year, Hisler said, they hope the Spoke and Hop Fest, then over two days at an even larger location, will take place on the Saturday before the world championship races begin.

“We want to provide an opportunity for people from out of town, out of country to sample what the city has to offer,” Hisler said.

Kayakers navigate Taskinas Creek in York River State Park. Credit: Virginia State Parks

Last time our Summer Roadtrip Series took us to The Falls of the Nottoway River, a sweet natural rock slide and swimming hole destination about an hour southwest of Richmond. This Saturday we’ll be taking a roadtrip to York River State Park for their annual Estuaries Day.

If you’ve never been to the 2,500-acre York River SP, you’re missing out. It sits in a beautiful spot at the confluence of Taskinas Creek and the York River. It has well-built beginner/intermediate mountain biking trails; a fun fishing pond for kids; a nature center and a couple of great put-ins for flatwater kayaking. And, like the Falls of the Nottoway, it’s less than an hour from Richmond — an easy drive down I-64 toward Williamsburg. You don’t even need directions; you’ll see the signs on the interstate.

On Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Estuaries Day will draw attention to the park’s Taskinas Creek area with a day of water-based activities including canoeing, kayaking, fossil hikes, fishing programs and more. There will be special displays and activities from partner organizations, such as the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, the Mattaponi-Pamunkey Rivers Association and Master Naturalists. A 5K run sponsored by the Colonial Road Runners will benefit the Lafayette High School Cross Country Team and Friends of York River State Park.

Horse back riding is also popular on the wide trails at York River State Park. Credit: Virginia State Parks

“(The) event is a fun way to get kids immersed in the outdoors, environmental science and history before the school year begins,” said Jon Tustin, York River State Park Manager.

Estuaries Day is free and parking is $4 per car. There is no charge for the kayak and canoe trips, but registration on the day of the event is first come, first served.

Conrad Stoltz navigated the Belle Isle “Dryway” back in 2007. Credit: Conradstoltz.com

In a few minutes I’ll be heading down to Brown’s Island to watch a group of XTERRA pros face-off in a pre-race shoot-out — a kind of mini version of Sunday’s main event, only as a relay. This “shootout” is in lieu of the standard press conference.

It’s a first-of-its-kind event, where fifteen of the fastest professional XTERRA triathletes in the world will split into five, three-person relay teams to take each other on in a short swim in the James River, a mountain bike ride over the footbridge and through the pump track on Belle Isle, and a run past the murals along the Canal Walk before finishing on Brown’s Island.  The fastest team should conquer the challenge in about 15 minutes.

It should be a lot of fun, and you can follow along at home, because presenting sponsor Luck Stone will outfit each racer with GPS trackers and cameras that will live stream all the action for the mini-tri. It should be a lot of fun.

Among the racers participating today will be last year’s Richmond champ Dan Hugo and Conrad Stoltz, the greatest off-road triathlete of all time. There’s a great story by South African journalist Angus Powers in Red Bull’s Magazine The Red Bulletin on the burgeoning rivalry between the prodigy (Hugo) and the “Caveman” (Stoltz). It’s a must-read for XTERRA fans and anyone who’s followed these races over their 15 years in Richmond. Great writing. Great story.

All 36 Virginia State Parks will mark National Trails Day, June 7, with programs or volunteer opportunities to promote and celebrate the more than 200,000 miles of trails in the United States. The 21 Virginia State Parks in the Chesapeake Bay watershed — including Powhatan and Pocahontas, the Richmond-area parks — will also host volunteer efforts for Clean the Bay Day on the same date.

Swift Creek Lake at Pocahontas SP would be a picturesque place to spend National Trails Day /Clean the Bay Day (June 7).

There are more than 450 miles of trails in Virginia’s state parks, including hiking, biking, equestrian and multi-use trails. National Trails Day, created by the American Hiking Society, also helps draw attention to the work of thousands of volunteers who construct and maintain trails. Clean the Bay Day is the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s annual stream and shoreline cleanup.

Among the National Trails Day or Clean the Bay Day events offered not too far from Richmond:

At Powhatan State Park for Clean the Bay Day, participants will join park staff and the Friends of Powhatan State Park in a guided clean-up by kayak on the James River. The program is free of charge, and there are no parking fees for this program. Children age 6 and up only. For National Trails Day, it’ll be a trail clean up in the park. Click here for more info.

Pocahontas State Park invites all visitors to participate in a self-guided park-wide clean up for both National Trails Day and Clean the Bay Day. This is a good opportunity to enjoy the time outdoors with family and friends while beautifying the state’s second-most trafficked state park. Click here for more info.

The National Trails Day Run for Your Life 5K Race is an annual event at High Bridge Trail State Park in Farmville. The park also hosts a river cleanup along the Appomattox River below the trail.

National bike month continues through May, but that doesn’t mean June deserves no bike love. Luckily the Sports Backers have June’s back.

Bike Walk RVA and members of the Richmond bicycling community are thrilled to present Dinner & Bikes, an evening with Elly Blue (author of Bikenomics) and her team of filmmakers and chefs on Monday, June 16, from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Robinson Theater in Church Hill.

“We are very excited that Elly will be coming to Richmond for the first time this June,” said Max Hepp-Buchanan, Director of Bike Walk RVA for the Sports Backers. “Her book, Bikenomics, is a very insightful and well-researched look at the real transportation costs of families and individuals, and how investing in bicycling can help people, businesses, organizations, and cities thrive economically. We are looking at significant dollars in the City’s 2014-2015 budget to start building family-friendly bike infrastructure, and Elly knows better than almost anyone what a difference this can make.”

City Council and the Mayor’s office have introduced amendments to the City’s budget that include $4.5 million to build new bike lanes on Richmond’s streets and bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly infrastructure along the riverfront, pending approval next week by City Council. The City is also finalizing its first Bicycle Master Plan, which plots out a full network of lanes and paved trails to be built in the coming years.

“Momentum is building in Richmond,” Hepp-Buchanan said. “Building bike infrastructure is one clear way cities are making progress on issues of economic opportunity, competitiveness, and neighborhood revitalization. Elly’s research in Bikenomics showcases how this can work for Richmond.”

The annual Dinner and Bikes Tour, a multimedia roadshow of food and bicycle enthusiasm, will be putting on events in 28 cities in twelve states from Portland to Miami. June 16 will be the first time the Dinner & Bikes tour has come to Richmond.

This event will come on the heels of the Better Block project in Church Hill North the weekend before (June 13-14), which will temporarily transform a two-block stretch of N. 25^th Street into a walkable, bikeable, and economically healthy place to live, work, and play for the weekend. The Dinner & Bikes event just a couple of days later will tie in those themes and explore how other cities have made the temporary improvements of the Better Block permanent.

For just $10, attendees of Dinner & Bikes will enjoy a gourmet healthy buffet while participating in an interactive presentation about how to effectively make a compelling case for bicycling, equity, and transportation activism. The tour is traveling with a food- and bicycle-themed pop-up bookstore. Authors will be available to chat and sign books after the event.

Tickets can be purchased in advance by clicking here: http://bit.ly/dinnerandbikesRVA. The $10 entry fee includes dinner, and seating is limited to the first 75 people who purchase tickets. The event is expected to sell out, so people are encouraged to purchase tickets in advance.

You know how I know that Richmond is one of the best outdoor towns in the U.S.? It’s not being on the cover of magazines — though that is pretty sweet. It’s the strong and still growing sense of community among the outdoors-minded in RVA. Every year there seem to be more and more opportunities, not just to go do the things we like — hike, run, bike, paddle, fish, bird, etc. — but also to spend time with others who like to do the same things. Meetup groups, clubs, volunteer days, impromptu meetings at bars and coffee shops that turn into full fledged conflagrations of post-ride, post-run, post-paddle revelers sharing stories and generally letting off steam. There’s always something going on.

Those communities are a huge reason why the rest of the country is now finding out what many of us have known for years about Richmond’s outdoors scene.

Take this week. Tonight at 7:30 p.m. our friends at Home on the James kick off an outdoor films double header with Bike-In-Theater night at Crossroads Coffee and Ice Cream. The first Bike-In-Theater night in March was so well attended, organizer Hunter Davis and Crossroads owner Will Herring decided to do it again.

Then tomorrow night (May 22) the James River Outdoor Coalition, Legend Brewing, Appomattox River Company, Home on the James and VCU’s Outdoor Adventure Program are sponsoring the film premiere of DAMNATION at 8:30 p.m. The movie will be shown on the Floodwall at Diversity Park (at the south end of the Mayo Bridge in Manchester where Hull Street goes through the Floodwall). 

Check one or both out and feel the strength in like-minded numbers.

The RichmondOutside.com team went down to Brown’s Island to check out the Riverrock festivities yesterday evening. The place was packed, especially as it got closer to the Infamous Stringdusters taking the stage. The river was beginning to rage — it should get up above moderate flood stage today — which makes us extremely excited about today’s kayak and SUP events. They will go on as planned, though participants are going to have to obtain permits from the city to be on the river.

The Infamous Stringdusters in action. Credit: Steve Astrop

We strolled through the sponsors booths and talked to Justin Doyle with the James River Association and Max Hepp-Buchanan with Bike Walk RVA. They’re both over in the Historic Tredegar parking lot. If you find yourself in that area, check out the huge poster he has detailing the city’s mostly-complete bike master plan. There’s a lot of good information there for how a Richmond might look with more bike friendly city streets.

We also had a chat with our friends at the Blue Sky Fund and First Descents, both really cool non-profits — the first local, the second national —  focusing on kids and the outdoors. Stop by their booths to find out more, if you get the chance. Another place to check out a few booths over from Blue Sky is Green Life Adventure Sports. The Norfolk-based outdoor gear and apparel retailer is opening a Richmond branch in the West End in August. Look for their advertisement here at RichmondOutside.com starting in July.

And, of course, if you’re heading out to take in the sights and sounds on Brown’s Island today, download the RichmondOutside.com-produced Riverrock app on your smartphone. iPhone users click here to download. Android users click here.