rvaMORE had so much to be thankful for. First and foremost are our volunteers. We could not have done this without everyone’s hard work!! Thank you!
Here are the top ten things rvaMORE did in 2014.
- Trailicious:
Over 250 attended the event held at the Carillon last February. We had beer, food raffles and a band. It was a great time for the community to get together and talk bikes. We raised over $4,000 at that event.
- Canycom for Friends Pocahontas State Park
A REI Grant of $5,000 went to the $6,000 cost for a new Canycom walk-behind, tracked dump/material carrier. This is force multiplier for the Friends of Pocahontas that make volunteer days much more productive.
- Trail works: Reedy Creek Bridge, Re-route at Scout Camp, Prunapalooza, & Scout Camp trail fest.
This summer we had a big gully washer that finally pushed the bridge over the south end of the park downstream. A big crew removed the old bridge over several weeks, and a new reroute was formed. We also had a great crew (over 30) come out and prune all the sight lines. In January a large re-route was created at the Scout camp taking out a washed out section and the recent Trail Fest reroute.
- IMBA Trail Care Crew
Last spring rvaMORE hosted the IMBA Trail Care Crew. They taught a trail building class at Pocahontas helping to create more trail bosses. They also spoke to community leaders to help them understand the financial impact mountain biking can create for a city. rvaMORE helped make this happen by contributing $2,500 to hold the meetings.
- Tour de Fall Line
This September, rvaMORE held the first annual Tour de Fall Line. We had over 150 riders and boaters ride/paddle along the James and attend the after party. The ride offered 14, 28, and 50 mile loops that connected parks from Chimbarazo all the way to Larus Park. The boaters helped raise money for JROC, as the group paddled the full fall line of the James River. At the finish on Mayo Island waited Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken, Sierra Nevada Beer, and music by Josh Small and Andrew Ali . This event raised $6,000.
- Bell Built Grant
RVA stepped up and gave us the overwhelming win with the most votes of all three regions. The grant brought $33,000 to build trails at Pocahontas. They are out there finishing the work as this is being written. The Bell Built Trail will be ready to ride early December. Stay tuned.
- Ride Center Website
rvaMORE has been on the for front making Richmond the best urban trails in America and part of that is to become an IMBA Ride Center. The project to add 20 miles of mountain bike trails at Pocahontas is the first step in attaining that status. rvaMORE funded the website development along with a matching grant from Virginia Tourism. Check out the proposed trails here: www.rvaridecenter.com
- Tools
We spend over $2,000 to update the tool cache with the latest hard-working tools from Rogue Hoe and new sickle bar trimmers. The current cache can supply a crew over 30 volunteers to build new or repair the existing trail. The sickle bar trimmers will be vital in creating the Hidden Link trail that will connect The tower at the Eastern end of Buttermilk to the floodwall walk.
- IMBA Take A Kid Mountain Biking Day
IMBA Take A Kid Mountain Biking Day held on Belle Isle is best told by this video.
- Ride Center – Donations
rvaMORE has raised this year and placed in the Ride Center fund $8,000
We are looking for help to fill the following open positions. Please send an email to info@rvamore.org to let us know how you are able to help.
- Trail Liaisons
- Ride leaders
- Social leaders
- Volunteer Coordinator
- Online media support