As some of you know a little weekend of riding in Richmond, VA has been in the works for while.
The weekend will mostly be trials and muni riding, but even if you are into other stuff you should consider coming. You can come both days of the event, or pick just one day if you have to.
Because of my schedule, it will be held on a Saturday and Sunday. For all the spots mentioned below you can see where they are and how to get to them on this map.
Saturday-
Around 10:00am we will meet out on the rocks of Belle Isle for natural trials. Riding can be found for all skill levels. It’s a really fun place to ride. Around 12:30pm (or whenever we get hungry) we will head into town for lunch. After lunch, we will go either to Buttermilk trail, or Belle Isle if we are up for it for muni. We will muni until we feel like stopping.
Sunday-
Around 10:00am we will meet at whatever trail we didn’t do on Saturday. If we end up doing Belle Ilse trails on Sunday we meet at the parking lot next to the footbridge to Belle (called Belle Ilse Parking Lot on the map). If we do Buttermilk then we will meet at the Buttermilk parking lot (called Buttermilk Trail Parking Lot on the map). After muni we can go into town or something to find lunch. For anyone that doesn’t need to leave to get back home after this we can do either street/urban trials near Kanawha Plaza, or more natural on the rocks.
Possible Dates- April 19th and 20th, 2008
May 24th and 25th, 2008
May 31st and June 1st, 2008
Post if you are interested in coming, and what dates you would prefer. I will try to set the date so that the most people can make it.
I am not sure about my schedule but I know April 19th is no good for me b/c of the 13 hour mountain bike race I am doing in Leesburg on my 29er.
One of the May dates could work for me, but that is getting closer to Ride The Lobster, so I might not be able to make it since I will be concentrating on my road speed.
Yeah, as I was typing I forgot that you have the race on the 19th, and there is a ride in Fredricksburg on that day that I will hopefully be at.
April 19th and 20th is no longer a possible date.
As for the dates being close to RTL, I would understand if you would rather spend that time training. You could possibly do one day in Richmond and train the other? It’s up to you. If you do come at least on day, come to the day we do Buttermilk, it’s very cokerable, especially after seeing you do fountainhead on coker.
I just may be able to make one of the May weekends.
Kind of depends on whether I can afford to travel all the way from PA to Richmond, but I love Belle Isle. Since I first went there, I’ve been thinking it would be awesome for a lil muni.
Not sure if I would use my 24" or new 29", though.
I don’t think I’ll know for sure until I get home in early May and figure out my job situation for the summer, but I’d definitely like to come.
Either of the May dates will work for me. My vote is for the 24-25, as it’s close to my birthday. We could also put it off a few more weeks to have in conjunction with the trials comp.
I’m kinda leaning towards the 24-25, and having the trials comp as a seperate event. That way for anyone going to the comp this can be kind of a warm up and for newcomers to the comp, it will be a way to see what kind of riding to expect.
To make it a full weekend, I’ll need a few more riders to say they’re coming. Once I know that we’ll at least have a small group I’ll announce some more final plans as for what rides we’ll do.
To everyone who is coming (and even if you’re not coming) the best way you can help is to get more people to come. Any riders either on the forums, not on the forums, just anyone you know that unicycles, tell them about the event. It will be good if we can get more people coming.
Here’s a little outline for the weekend (keep in mind all the times are approximate, they will change a little)
Saturday- 9:30am we will meet out on the rocks of Belle Isle for natural trials. I’ll be out there around 9, but you can show up pretty much any time in the morning, just be there before we go get lunch 12:30pm we will head into town for lunch. Afterwards we’ll drive down to the Belle Ilse parking lot. 2:00pm Muni around Belle Isle
Sunday- 10:00am we will meet at Buttermilk trail. After muni we can go into town or something to find lunch. It’s about a 2-3 hour trail with some stops if I remember right. ~1:00pm we’ll go get some lunch 2:30pm people will probably start leaving, but I’m sure there will be a few people who want to go over to the Kanawha plaza area for some urban trials/street with me.
Parking for the Saturday morning ride on the Belle Isle rocks (quoted from another thread from Hell-on-wheel) -
The ride will be on the south side of the island, marked “Natural Trials” on the map. So, when driving in, I recommend crossing the river on the Robert E. Lee Bridge, take the first exit onto Riverside Dr., then making your first left onto W 20th St., where there’s plenty of street parking, and only about a 3 min. walk off the rocks.
To get to the rocks from W 20th St.- The “Back Door to Belle Isle” (switch to satellite view) is a footbridge that connects to the Isle’s trail system. After parking at 20th Street, look across Riverside Drive for the entrance. I don’t think it’s marked, but there should be a noticeable recess in the trees, it’s a concrete structure set in about 30 feet from the road. After crossing, you’ll want to keep the railroad tracks on your right (heading east) and follow the trail until you can start hopping over onto the river rocks.
You can click the little blue markers to find out where everything else is like the parking lot for Buttermilk trail, the parking lot where we will meet for muning on Belle Isle, and Kanawha plaza.