River Valley Cycling

Supporting Cycling In and Around Fredericton

Winterbike Plan 2024 – MVP

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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 trails

Unfortunately, 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!

Winterbike Plan 2024 – Woolastook

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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.

Woolastook mountain biking trails

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!

Can’t wait!

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.

Post Storm Clean-up Update: Woolastook

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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.

Before vs after slider!

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.

Orange has been cleared. Red can be left for the forest to regrow.

Yeti draw to support Winterbike 2023/24

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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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Winterbike 2023/24 Launch!

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We are rolling heavy towards another winter season and we are ready. Behind the scenes the club exec and our volunteers have been working away to get prepared for a great season of grooming. What have we been up to?

Preparing

Our volunteer groomers put in a lot of time even before the first snow flies. A lot of time is spent planning the grooming routes, and making sure that our fleet of hard-working sleds are well maintained. Dan Breau and Tim Dine have both spent time replacing old worn parts. There’s time spent setting up our parking lot plows and clearing trails of late fall blow-downs. You may have also seen the slick new winterized RVC logo that Christina Tracy did for us! The exec has worked to flip our membership registration over to winter mode (join for 2023/24), and prepare a budget.

Fundraising

Early this spring we set a goal for ourselves – a new sled for our longest-serving volunteer snow-sculptor: Dan Breau. For those that don’t know Dan, he is our groomer who has been looking after MVP since winterbike first evolved beyond early experiments. We’ve come a long way since Wilson’s Loop was kept open by running a leaf blower through the first few snowfalls. The thing is that our fleet of sleds that pull the grooming gear are old, and the maintenance is high. So – we set out to find the money needed to buy RVC’s first brand new sled. With the help of long-time volunteer Kelly Murray we applied to the City of Fredericton’s Community Grant program and we just got word that we were successful! They’ve agreed to put forward $6,500, about half of our target, if we can find the other half. We think we’re just about there. We had some money left in the piggy bank from previous fund raising and we think we can sell some of our older assets to make up the rest. All without raising membership costs. We’re excited.

How can you help?

  • Trail clearing – if you have time for a shoulder season project we need someone to walk the length of Back 40 and Cakewalk at MVP and clear any downed trees. Same goes for Islandview. If you are going to clear trail please let us know what sections you’ve walked and whether you’ve taken care of everything. Keep in mind the groomers need more room to pass than a bike.
  • Shoe-to-ride – we could really use a few dedicated people to lead up some purposeful snowshoeing. Our top priority is to have people willing to hit Odell park after snowfall. For fatbiking we need at least 3 shoes wide and you need to be able to follow the trail once it’s covered up with snow. We also want someone willing to take on a short section at Islandview (~375m) from the parking lot to the last point where Jeremy is permitted to groom. Jeremy does an amazing job but this first bit needs a dedicated person to beat it down.
  • Join RVC Winterbike – this is how you can all help us. Your membership covers all of the basic necessities that our fundraising doesn’t. Gas, insurance, plowing, parts, etc. For a modest contribution you can enjoy our groomed trails and get access to group rides and events.

Proud Members of: Velo New Brunswick

Canadian Cycling Association

International Mountain Biking Association