Supporting Cycling In and Around Fredericton
Riders – please mark your calendars and plan to join us for our 2024 annual meeting. This is your chance to learn about exciting new club developments, give feedback to the executive, and enjoy an evening with fellow riders. Grimross Brewing Co. has again offered us space in their taproom for the evening. Excited to see you there!
The RVC Exec.
Hey riders. By now you’ve seen ‘Super Tundra‘ – the newest addition to our winter grooming fleet. Isn’t she a beauty!
Buying a brand new snow machine off the lot with a warranty is a game changer. Our master volunteer groomer Dan Breau has already reported that it’s changing the way he’ll groom, given its pulling power. Having this machine is going to lower our gas costs, and most importantly it will mean that Dan has to spend far less time maintaining the machine for each hour he spends shaping snow for us. We’re super psyched. We want to send a huge thanks to the City of Fredericton who awarded us a community grant that covered half of the purchase cost which we matched with funds raised from you – our club supporters and members! Thanks so much!
And here’s what we plan on doing with it…
This winter RVC plans to keep 14 km of trial open with the sled. In addition to this we are hoping that the ‘shoe-to-ride’ effort will keep the Greg’s Way loops open – which are an amazing winter ride once you find yourself at the end of the Back 40.
MVP mountain biking trailsUnfortunately, it won’t be an option to groom the flight deck this winter. The landowner is allowing his road to be used to support a nearby logging operation which we understand will start anytime in the next week with frequent trucking expected throughout the month of March. Out of a concern for rider safety and a need to respect the landowner’s arrangements trails from #Blazing Destruction to V-Fib will remain closed until spring. There’s still plenty to ride though!
So, we hope you’re as psyched as we are now that the snow is here and the weather is consistently cold. We hope you love the winter trails and remember to support RVC Winterbike with your 2024 membership!
Riders!
It will snow… eventually… it has to! Your Winterbike membership supports trail grooming at several locations in the Fredericton area. Here’s our plan for Woolastook.
This year RVC groomers will keep a little more than 11km of trail open at Woolastook. The layout here will let riders plan out routes using stacked loops so lots of distance options will be available. You’ll want to build up to a full distance ride though because the winter lookout is worth it. We won’t tell anyone if we see you pushing your bike up the last bit of that steep hill up to the lookoff – we promise.
Mike Hutchinson, RVC’s vice president and Tim Dine, volunteer groomer will both do some heavy lifting this winter and plan to groom regularly. From time to time he may get a little help from Andy. Give these guys a huge thanks if you are out and you run into them. Grooming snow for fatbike is a tough job and volunteering is how it all happens!
This grooming plan is what you can expect RVC will keep open for the duration but from time to time we’ll probably be able to enjoy a few other pieces of singletrack opened up by volunteer snowshoers. If you want to update your Trailforks app the winter mode map is now up to date.
Remember, you can join RVC Winterbike right now for 2024! We hope you enjoy and we appreciate your support.
While this post is about Woolastook that’s only because it was the hardest hit trail system. We know that volunteers have been out cleaning up at MVP and Penniac and we want to send a huge thanks for that! We see you!
We now know that this unnamed storm from December 18th caused a bigger impact than 2014’s Arthur; making the worst storm in RVC’s history. Over the last two days the crew of rider/volunteers have logged 123 person hours (we’re trying to keep track) of extremely hard work in difficult conditions. It’s been heroic!
After such devastation it’s amazing to see what the cycling community can do! The pics speak for themselves.
Woolastook is on it’s way to being reborn in a lot of places. Things are going to feel different. However, some things have thankfully weathered the storm pretty well.
There is still plenty of work left. Above all else we want everyone to be safe. Wear protective gear. Have a plan. Don’t work alone. The eastern end of Woolastook still hasn’t been explored and we expect a lot of impact to our new climber and flow trails to the look-out that still haven’t opened. The map shows what has already been cleared at the point of this update. Thanks to every last man, woman, and dog who has put sweat into giving this place a second life.
Update: Ticket sales are now closed. Tune into our social media on Dec 20th for the draw and good luck!
Our friends at Back Trails have put together a big Yeti package to raffle off prior to Christmas in support of our winterbike grooming efforts. Tickets are on sale now ($15) and we plan to have a live-streamed draw on our social channels on Wednesday the 20th.
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