Get ready you costumed MTB freaks! The Paranormal is coming! 6 Hour race at the Tevendale Farm… most laps wins. Lots of food to discourage that next lap.
This is our 14th year in a row putting on a fun grass-roots, family event . One and Two person teams will attack the 8 mile lap of wooded, tight, fast and fun singletrack while dodging rocks, roots, bats and beasts!
Show up in costume and get a time bonus for your solo or duo open team! The course and setup are all new for 2015!
Trek Demos:
Starting at 10AM, come hit the trails and test out Trek’s latest mountain bikes
Free Kids Race:
This is the fifth year we will be doing the Paranormal Kids Race. It’s open for all of the little cyclists 12 and under. They can sign up with their parents between 1:00 and 2:45 on race day. The kids will go off at 3:00 and they should be done in time for the adults to show up for the pre-race meeting at 3:30.
Volunteer Information:It takes a lot of hands to keep the Paranormal running smoothly throughout the evening. If you or someone representing you volunteers with setup, breakdown or race day activites, you race for free. If you are interested in helping out use the event contact link above.Directions:
This is our eight year at the Tevendale Farm, North of Charlottesville. The trails get better and better every year and this year we have an expanded and all new course and setup. There will be plenty of parking and some “primitive” race night camping available. Please no pets and no open fires. Click Here for a Google Map Detailed driving directions: From Rt 29 and 250 in Charlottesville, Head North on 29. Make a Left onto Hydraulic Road.
Follow this through three lights and make a Left onto Earlysville Road
at the fourth light (Summers market, formerly The Rock Store). Take Earlysville Road through Earlysville and at the Earlysville General Store stay left onto Buck Mountain Road. Follow this for a few miles until a Right onto Markwood Road. Follow
Markwood for three-quarters of amile and make a left into a large field across from the Claymont Subdivison.
In November of 2014, the City of Charlottesville held an open forum to discuss the trails at Ragged Mountain. Ragged Mountain was in the process of changing hands and coming under City management, and the issue of trail use was on the table. Roughly 100 citizens representing multiple public land use interests showed up. The overwhelming response was a resounding push for multi-use trails at Ragged.
Since then, CAMBC has begun working with the city of Charlottesville to begin planning and laying out trail. The club also hosted a two day engagement with professional trail builders to teach local trail builders how to install brand new trail at Ragged Mountain. Many people who have been involved in the public hearing and trail building events have asked why the “no biking” signs have remained onsite.
It is up to the community of trail users to push this over the goal line. City Council is set to take up this issue on Oct. 5th at 7:00PM and will consider some language designating these trails as multi-use.
12 speakers will be allowed to sign up at the beginning of the meeting and each has 3 minutes. Then there may be time at the end of the meeting for more comments. This is the first of two “readings” to allow City Council to gauge public support. If the support outweighs opposition, then the Ragged Mt “shared use” rules tentatively may be approved at the next City Council meeting on October 19th.
Please come show your support for bicycling, trail running, and dog walking at Ragged Mountain. Opening these trails to all trail users helps keep up with the growing demand for outdoor experiences in Charlottesville. Shared use trails will also encourage numerous user groups to volunteer in trail building efforts. Moreover, designating these trails as multi-use brings the rules at Ragged Mountain in line with other city and county parks, which have proven popular among all trail users.
We thank everyone for their patience waiting for news at Ragged Mountain. We are pleased to say that our time has come, and we need to show City Council that CAMBC and our partner organizations are dedicated to public trail access. Join us Monday October 5th at 7PM and tell them we want Ragged Mountain.
Lockn’ is coming up, and CAMBC is back at the Wheel[house]. We’ll be onsite doing free bike repairs, leading rides on the farm trails, and giving out free high fives. Last year we helped people keep rolling from camp to stage and back day after day, replacing tubes, chains, and performing tuneups. It was a great time, with great music and friends.
Date: August 24, 2015, 7:00PM, David Stackhouse’s house
Attendees:
Shawn Tevendale, Dave Stackhouse, Will Sanford, Sam Lindblom, Matt Jones, Kristi Lombard, John Lewis, Ken Crawford (secretary)
(3) Motions voted on
$2000 Preddy Creek Trail maintenance Funds
$1000 Tool Purchase
$500 High School Racing Team Funding
Topics:
Discussed CAMBC blogger/newsletter/
Dan Testa prospective candidate. We need to start getting him information to write about.
Website has the ability to package up all content into a quarterly newsletter
Financial summary
Best/healthiest year to date
Great CAMBC brand
$25,356.99
Top of the Hops – Sept 29
A few Jerseys are left at Sam’s house
Need Chimney Chase check – all proceeds due CAMBC.
Discussed Preddy Creek trail maintenance
Propose $2K of advanced trail trailwork
Motion to spend money on Preddy to do lap around outter loop –
Cap at $2K – Brock (Ironwood Outdoor), request county to stage a machine and have Matt assist.
Vote: 8 yay, 0 nay.
Events:
SM100, September 6
Shawn to provide some canopy
Aid Station 6-> Challenge – No wrench support,
Lockn’, September 10-13
New Belgium Clips, September 17
We get $1000 to $1200
Paranormal, October 17
8-9 miles.
Expanded acreage
Expanded camping
Team Funding -> CAMBC will solicit local bike teams to earn funds
Ken takes Point on Paranormal
Scope is food, cooking, tent, beverages, set ups, money box, volunteers from general membership to participate
IMBA Trail Care Crew, October 17
Show up on Thursday, flags trail, group ride,
Friday they teach land manager training
CAMBC provides breakfast
Saturday classroom session up to 60 peeps
IMBA has registration site
CAMBC provides morning snacks, lunch
Trail ends at 5:00, paranormal starts at 4:00.
Ken to include Tim Moubray from Orange County Parks and Rec
Need volunteers to get food for the weekend, tools, trailer,
TAKMB – October 3.
West side of McIntire
Owner TBD, CAMBC jr. possibilities, Colleen? Chris Hoy?
Capital:
Shed acquisition
RTF shed needs to move
Maybe we move trailer next to RTF shed
Gentrification of site lends itself to a safe place for trailer
tool purchases
Approach Fifth Season for possible tools
Motion – Jon approaches 5th seasons for discount for tools
Ben Meadows.com
Motion: Cap new tool purchase at $1000 – Voted. 6 Yays.
Accessibility is key to make tools available to the location that will be using them.
Trail projects
Ragged Mountain
“No Bikes” signs are gone.
Albemarle County has code that dictates only walking permitted at Ragged. Chris G. needs to have that code rescinded.
Land is owned by the city, county land use code specifies hiking only.
Preddy grade reversal clean outs – Voted for trail work funds
Should CAMBC entertain trail grant writing. Define what grant, when to write and who to write.
Action Items: Form a grant writing committee (David, John, Sam). We need a political advocacy committee (Shawn, Sam) to push for trail change.
Ohill summer work summary
5-7 work days happened. Hiser great participant. University has shown enthusiasm.
Jon C has been going to RTF board meetings. Gave report. City has new park land from 20S, Corey Park/Morris Creek. Desperate need for brush cutter. Meadowcreek Park wants bridges built. RTF workdays have many people show up for trail days.
Summer Epic Ride Series – SERS. Drew Duke, Hiser, Matt Jones owns facebook page.
Who is going to champion weekday rides.
Matt Jones to sponsor Wednesday nite rides (Preddy Creek/Tevendale Farms)
Tech Support Issues
Watch/observe/report to Matt to feed him write ups to post
Should we hire a professional photographer to capture moments. End game is to get a photo archive for mailings and newsletters. $250 to $400.
Should CAMBC financially support the local Mountain Bike Teams (Cutaway, CRC/BRC, Monticello High School)? If so, what are the constraints
Sam is Monticello coach.
(4) Teams including Miller. Monticello HS, CRC/BRC Jr Team and Cutaway (for profit)
Joe Hoskins. Will be a team at CHS
Can CAMBC contribute to success of sponsoring local student clubs
Shawn explained NICA (www.nationalmtb.org) – A set of rules how teams will conduct, training, insurance, officials. Takes MTB from grassroots to something more official. Not cheap. Where does the money come from to make this happen.
What is our return for our dollars. Our investment. How does this benefit local mountain biking in Charlottesville. Trail advocacy, trail maintenance, volunteerism, helping out with race events.
CAMBC can help them fund raise. How much money do the teams need? CAMBC can teach how to build trails. Help in organizing, help in training.
Will voices $500/team for trail building and trail building contract.
$231/kid/season registration cost
Getting a boys/girl club team is in best interest from CAMBC.
Shawn has taken the position that if you put the BRC logo on your jersey for the MTB team he will give $500/team.
Should we pursue jr membership level of fee for jr mtb members like $5.00
Motion: $500 per team for one year in any area we have an MOU with, 3 hours/team member of trailwork broken into two sessions and CAMBC logo needs to go on jersey. – 100% Yay.
Board Vacancies
Jon Ciambotti and Kristi Lombard are resigning.
Send out email to CAMBC membership soliciting replacements. Can board members stay on until replacements found? Kristi – Yes. Jon – Yes.
Potential board member: Morgan Cuthirds – Fortuna founder.
Sam says we are too old and we need younger hipsters as board members but doesn’t know any young people.
John brought up park repair stations
Should we purchase $1000 repair station and place at local parks.
Tabling.
John brought up idea of collecting strava segments to put together a map.
Is there interest. Matt interest. We should put together a strava heat map.
On March 28th, Devil’s Backbone and Travis Book threw CAMBC a party. Travis is a member of the Infamous Stringdusters and a fellow mountain biker. In an effort to help further CAMBC’s trail advocacy, Travis and his hometown brewery, Devil’s Backbone offered up beer and music for over 100 people. Devil’s Backbone gave us 2 kegs of beer, which we served in sweet CAMBC pint glasses.
Travis, Dave Stackhouse, John Lewis and others led beginner, intermediate, and advanced rides on and around the Devil’s Backbone property both Saturday and Sunday. Rides included Sherando and Whetstone Ridge. After riding and partying, camping and bonfires were available near the brewery.
We sold 100 pint glasses, had 60+ riders on 7 different rides, camped with 50 brave souls, and ate an unconscionable amount of bacon and eggs. We made some new friends from outside the Charlottesville Area, and furthered our advocacy message. Thanks to Travis, Devil’s Backbone, all of our volunteers, and of course all the attendees, we raised $1350 for the trails.
A core focus of CAMBC is to provide education to volunteers and other trail stewards in order to promote sustainable multi-use trail building principles. On March 25th and 26th, we hosted a two-day, hands-on training event for our partners in Albemarle County Parks and Recreation, the City of Charlottesville, and the Miller School. Albemarle County and the Miller School both recently purchased narrow gauge equipment specifically to help build and maintain area trails.
A Solid Foundation
In January, we invited the trail crews from Albemarle County and the City of Charlottesville to join us in a trip to Richmond, where Nathan Burrell of Richmond City parks showed the teams around Bell Isle, a machine-built cross-country trail. Nathan described trail building as a three-dimensional planning process, illustrated by Bell Isle’s undulating flow, and noted the Richmond pump track as another possibility machines open to trailbuilders.
The visit provided some fresh ideas and reinforced the value of a close partnership between municipal teams and local trail use volunteers, who in Richmond dedicate thousands of hours per year toward building trails. Richmond City Parks and residents have come to rely on one another to create trails everyone wants to use.
Breaking Ground
On March 25th and 26th, CAMBC invited Professional Trail Builder Association (PTBA) member Brock Lowery of Ironwood Outdoors to come share his extensive experience in trail design and construction. He was joined by colleague Geoff Allen of Bergrad Trails, and a pair of Ditch Witch machines. Crews from Charlottesville City and Albemarle County parks departments, led by Chris Gensic and Tucker Rollins, met up at the Ragged Mountain Reservoir trails. Andy Guptill brought along the Miller School’s Mini-Excavator, and Tucker brought the county’s Ditch Witch.
Nate working a steep section
Brock and Geoff demonstrated taking small layers off the trail in multiple passes using a Ditch Witch. This minimizes damage to the machine, keeping it from spinning its tracks and widening the trail excessively. On many sections, the trail is initially sloped inwards, and left with a large berm on the outside. This is important on very steep slopes, they said, because the insloping leans the machine toward the hill in case of a rollover, and the large berm on the outside acts as a “rumble strip” warning the operator they may be backing too far over the edge. On subsequent passes, the berm grows, but the trail surface flattens and begins to develop a proper outslope. The machine moves on leaving a heavy berm, and a sharp cut in the hillside. After the Ditch Witch has moved on, the mini excavator or workers with hand tools then knock down the remaining berm and topslope to give the trail a finished look, and allow water to sheet off properly.
Completed 4 foot wide corridor with a grade reversal, ready for finishing with hand tools.
Proper grading of the slope was discussed throughout both days, with methods like grade reversals or undulating the trail to control how and where water flows downhill, and to protect trees. Additionally, Brock and Geoff taught techniques for operating the Ditch Witch safely on steep terrain, as well as how to perform maintenance and repairs on the trail using hand tools.
About a quarter-mile of trail was built over two days, with everyone getting a turn training at the controls of the equipment. CAMBC is extremely pleased to have facilitated this event, and look forward to opportunities to work with the city and county putting this training into practice. Thanks to all CAMBC members and volunteers. This is how we put your membership dues, volunteer fund raising efforts, and donations back into the trails. Please join us on trailwork days. There is always something new to learn when you play in the dirt.
Thanks to everyone who came out to suppport CAMBC and the RTF on the recent trail work days. With the new CAMBC/UVA MOU in hand we set out to fix a section of RTF at O-Hill that has needed some love for quite some time. Volunteers put in 130 hours over two days. They laid stone to support the trail and keep riders out of the mud.
Thanks to everyone for supporting our in-town trails!!!
The City of Charlottesville owns approximately 1000 wooded acres a few (bike-able) miles outside of the City proper where the City’s reservoir is located. This terrain is mountainous mature forests with a dam that creates the reservoir. A local foundation (Ivy Creek Foundation) had previously been granted permission to create and maintain a primitive trail system at Ragged Mountain Area, but bikes and other shared uses were prohibited. Ivy Creek Foundation did a great job of managing the site for many years. Last year the City undertook a large construction project to raise the Ragged Mountain dam about 50 feet in order to expand the water reserves. Most of the existing trails were destroyed or submerged with the construction and a new effort was begun to relocate/rebuild the trail system. Ivy Creek Foundation decided to give up their management of the property. CAMBC and other partners including the Rivanna Trails Foundation, Charlottesiville Area Trail Runners, saw this opportunity to open up a dialog with the land manager, the City Department of Parks and Recreation. We collectively advocated that when the trail system was restored it should be designated for shared use, including bicycles. We’ve been in continuous dialog with the City’s Trail Planner for the last year discussing the change in use for the area, and planting seeds for a shared use trail park.
In the fall of 2014 the City held a public meeting to discuss changing use at this area and, thanks to advocacy from the club, there was unanimous consensus recommending the City open the Ragged Mountain Area to shared use. The City’s trail planner now indicates the City is preparing an announcement changing the park trails to shared use. In January CAMBC met with the City Trail Planner to begin a comprehensive trail plan for the park area. Working with the endorsement of the City, CAMBC’s plan for the area would be part of a system of approximately 15 miles of nearby single track trails for beginner, intermediate, and expert use.
The City then slated February 14 for a day to begin putting that plan to ground. Working with the land manager CAMBC members flagged about one mile of new trail in preparation for the February 14 work day. The day of the event CAMBC members provided tools and instruction to approximately 40 volunteers, including a UVA service fraternity. This group cleared and benched approximately one mile of new trail on that day. After the work was completed CAMBC broke out the grill in the parking lot and served food to the volunteers. The land manager was so impressed with the turn out and the amount of new trail that was created in one day that he invited us to store trail working tools in the City-owned utility shed in the new park, and to continue to work with him to design and construct the rest of the trail system!
Thanks to all of our volunteers!
Keep it up CAMBC, together we are building a network of local, shared use trails that rival any place!
Since then, CAMBC has begun working with the city of Charlottesville to begin planning and laying out trail. The club also hosted a
