River Valley Cycling

Supporting Cycling In and Around Fredericton

River Valley Cycling’s 2023 Membership Launch

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If you’re like us, you’ve been staring at your mountain bike for weeks now, just itching for the word that the trails are dried up and ready to ride. The big spring thaw can feel like it takes forever even though this year we were lucky enough to have excellent winter conditions right into the first week of April. We’ve been taking the last few weeks to get ready to launch RVC’s 2023 season… and this post is about what we’ve got in mind.

If you don’t feel like reading you can just skip right to our registration page:

Join RVC Now!

Trails

  • We’re hoping for a big year of trail building. We shared some exciting plans for Woolastook at our AGM and we’re looking forward to getting Dig-In back to finish a new trail early this spring.
  • We have a lot of trail maintenance/improvement projects in mind all over the network including Odell and Penniac. Volunteer trail days posted through our social channels. Get involved!
  • RVC will continue to advocate for access with landowners. We’ll champion responsible trail use, etiquette, and we’ll work hard to maintain relationships we’ve built.

Riding & Events

RVC Membership

  • Club membership is important. Your support keeps our singletrack in top shape.
  • For 2023 we’re offering a simplified structure
    • Individual membership – $45 / person
    • Gold membership – $125
    • Platinum supporters / sponsors – $200+
  • All youth riders under 18 years are free with a guardian/parent membership of any level.
  • We’ve built a slick new check-out with an option to auto-renew your membership!
  • For 2023 we’ll make it easy to show you support RVC with bike tags. Show ’em off proudly!
  • The price is up… but consider the value. For <$7/month you access 5 supported trail networks!
  • Gold and Platinum options are there to offer ways for individuals, families, and businesses to really give back and invest in our cycling community! These options allow you to add all the riders in your household. Last year we had dozens of riders choose these options. Incredible support!
Join RVC Now!

2023 Winterbike

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Hey riders – registration for the 2023 Winterbike season is now live. Join!

If you’re new to riding singletrack in the winter here’s the scoop:

  • RVC runs Winterbike on a totally separate membership and budget.
  • Your membership supports our grooming effort at MVP and Woolastook. Gas is pretty expensive and the grooming sleds need regular maintenance.
  • Membership also lets you join our regular group rides. We hit the trails every week. Follow the conversation on RVC’s Facebook and Insta.

Keep following us over the next few weeks as we share our 2023 grooming plans, winter-biking tips, and more news.

Join RVC Winterbike for 2023!

Winterbike 2022 Launch

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RVC Winterbike 2022 is on!


Our registration for Winterbike is now open and we want you to sign up. Your membership goes towards grooming at 3 great trail systems: MVP, Woolastook, and Deer Park. Stay connected to us on Facebook and Instagram to get regular updates on snow conditions throughout the season. We’ll be posting our grooming plans for each area in the next few days.

This year RVC is also launching a GoFundMe campaign with the goal of raising $5,000 by January 15th to get our groomers some more reliable equipment. We’ll be posting updates regularly throughout the campaign. We’re asking for your support – whether you fatbike every day or just enjoy getting out on your snowshoes in the areas that we groom. You’ll notice this year that we’re redirecting all of our donations to this campaign – so there’s not going to be a ‘gold’ or ‘platinum’ level membership option. If you want to give us some extra love – please head towards the GoFundMe.

We are really excited about this upcoming season. RVC will be supporting a beginner level group fatbike ride starting in January and we’ve heard some rumours about new winterbike trailheads being added in Fredericton later this year. Very interesting! We’ll also be posting advice and tips throughout the season about how to get the most out of your ride and how to practice good winter riding etiquette.

So please support us and join RVC Winterbike!

Join RVC in 2021

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It’s time to support your local trails. Join RVC!

As of today we are opening our registration for the 2021 season and launching our membership drive. To celebrate this, RVC is releasing a video that introduces the club, describes our mission, and features our riders. (Huge thanks to Joel at East Lens Media for such a great product)

We are hoping for our largest ridership yet as the summer of 2021 is going to be the season that we stay close to home – rediscover what we have in our own back yard – and support local!

As always, we’re making it affordable to join RVC with an individual membership costing only $30. Check out our membership structure to find out ways you can scale your support and/or add the whole family at a discount.

Where does your membership money go? Answer – into shaping beautiful trails and creating opportunities for riders to access them.

So what are you waiting for? Join RVC

2021 Annual General Meeting Highlights

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On March 2, 2021 RVC held its first ever virtual AGM using the MS Teams platform. The club exec was set up at the Signature Sound studio allowing us to have great sound and light, the ability to physically distance, and the appearance of being a pro-outfit! So before we get to the news – huge thanks to Max Guerette for securing this donation and for providing tech support. Also thanks to NB Power… because this whole thing was a minute away from being cancelled before their crews restored the juice to the studio on a stormy night.

The Signature Sound studio.

No on to business:

  • Membership in 2020 was stable despite the pandemic. RVC grew steadily over the last decade and has 550 current members. We also note that many of you supported the club by upgrading to ‘bronze’ and ‘gold’ status in 2020.
  • Money in 2020 was lean but RVC is financially stable. Not being able to host large races and other events had its challenges but RVC benefitted from 2 sizeable grants: $6,600 from the NB Trail Infrastructure Fund and $5,000 from Velo NB.
  • Winterbike in 2021 continues with 150 members as of the meeting. The Tour de Beer (Bubble Edition) was a success bringing nearly $1,000 to the club. We now groom 2 trail systems through the winterbike program: MVP and Woolastook and this would not be possible without the heroic volunteer efforts of our grooming team! Thank you guys!
  • 2020 had its successes and challenges. While we saw a variety of great new trails built and improvements made at Penniac, MVP, and Woolastook; we also had significant closures occur at the request of landowners. It is a good reminder that a ridership of our size requires organization for success and ongoing land access.
  • 2021 Priorities:
    • Woolastook – build several km of new trail east of the existing network through our agreement with the Province.
    • Mactaquac – build several km of new trail in partnership with the Provincial Park management.
    • Islandview – work with the MCFT to reroute small sections of 2 existing trails in order to avoid private lands.
    • Odell & Killarney Lake – approach the City of Fredericton with a willingness to begin implementing park master plans.
    • Grant Harvey Bike Park – host a trail day to improve and revitalize the RVC perimeter trail and make better use of the space for kids.
    • Penniac – establish a landowner outreach approach to build relationships along the ridge. Host big opening of 2 new trails!
    • Brookside – grow the north-side trail network by working with a willing landowner who’s contacted RVC.
       
  • Elections – your new 2021 executive is:
    • President – Chris Norfolk
    • Past-president – Nick Russon
    • Vice-president – Mike Hutchinson
    • Treasurer – Ian Groen
    • Secretary – Norm Siebrasse
    • Risk Manager – Chris Furlotte
    • Trail Manager – Bev Bunker
    • Sponsorship Manager – Melissa Bordage
    • Director-at-large – Adam Hadley

Meeting presentation available here.

Full meeting minutes available here.

Proud Members of: Velo New Brunswick

Canadian Cycling Association

International Mountain Biking Association