River Valley Cycling

Supporting Cycling In and Around Fredericton

RVC Welcomes Dig In to Woolastook

By

Hey Riders,

Last week we released our big master plan for Woolastook park. This week, the plan is being put into action. RVC is proud to share the news that Dig In Trail Building & Design has broken ground on the main connection between what will be Woolastook’s front-country and the new back-country trails that will come next year. RVC’s first professionally built trail is underway!

Ernie and Ian of Dig In bring a very impressive trail resume and we are so psyched to be supporting growth in our local trail industry. They’ve got some impressive skill with both hand-building and using a mini-ex machine and these guys have recently completed projects like the new Fox Trot trail at Poley Mtn., High Tide and Low Tide at Rockwood Park, as well as improvements on the Rockwood Classic MacKay Skyway. You can check out their work on their Instagram channel.

They’ll be working on about 800 m of trail for the remainder of this fall targeting a solid ‘intermediate’ level difficulty and using the IMBA Canadian Guidelines for building. Now – you will see this under construction over the next few weeks as you are out fat biking. Please stay off. This is under construction until we announce that it’s open for riders but that will not be until the ground firms up next spring and Dig In can complete their finishing work. For now – it’s called T-22 because that’s how it was identified in our plan but we’ll come up with a better name. We’ve got all winter to think about it.

More value coming to Woolastook and the surrounding local communities from our Canada Community Building Fund Grant!

Cheers!

Woolastook Gets a Master Plan

By

We are excited today to release a Trails Master Plan for Woolastook that will guide our construction efforts (both professional and volunteer) over the next several years as we develop the area into a top-caliber trailhead.

We wanted to do this right.

We invested some serious time and money into the development of this plan. That’s why we engaged Professional Trailbuilders Association member and local legend Matt Hadley to lead the development of this plan. Matt, and his team members at McElhanney had an impressive depth of experience to bring to the project. They travelled to New Brunswick on several occasions to walk the woods and to understand our goals. They brought ideas and valuable advice on how to develop a trail network sustainably, that’s got a lot to offer to all riders, and will stand the test of time.

Bench cutting uses up a lot of calories – measure twice… cut once.

This plan will:

  • Reshape Woolastook to offer a far better rider experience. We’ll minimize confusing intersections and instead implement hubs where loops can logically stack together to offer enjoyable routes. Spend more time riding and less time checking a map on your phone.
  • Offer a variety of experiences that cater to riders of all levels. Easier trails will be concentrated to the ‘front country’ adjacent to the trailhead and the further you venture into the ‘backcountry’, the more exciting the ride will get.
  • Leverage naturally interesting terrain that we have available to us under our agreement with the Province. We’ll develop a dedicated climbing trail to the height-of-land near the popular look-off, and we’ll give you several interesting options to get back downhill.
  • Provide trails that are enjoyable for our hiking, running, and other non-motorized friends that share our space while minimizing conflict with ATV users who have their own trails in close proximity to us.

We hope you’ll take the time to read through this, and let us know what you think. You can send us messages, email, or engage us on our social channels. We want to hear from you!

We need to make a few acknowledgements. This plan wouldn’t have come together without expertise of Matt Hadley and his team – that is for sure. Locally, we need to also acknowledge folks like Norm Siebrasse, Bev Bunker, and Adam Hadley, who spent many days walking the bush in Woolastook over the last year. We want to thank Sam Bosence, Mountain Bike Atlantic, and local ambassador Scott Debreuil who’ve helped raise the profile of the park. We want to thank Des as great neighbor and partner at the Woolastook Park Campground for all of his support in developing the area. We also have to acknowledge that this plan was funded – in full – through RVC’s grant under the Canada Community Building Fund. Finally, the whole club owes some thanks to Mike Hutchinson. Mike conceived this project from the start, and he’s running it as quickly as he can towards success.

You’ll learn more very soon about the partnerships we’re striking to start the construction, and having this plan puts us in a great place.

Like it – Share it – Join RVC!

Survey Results 2022 – What Riders Told Us

By

Hey Riders,

A few weeks ago we asked you take a few minutes and give us some honest feedback through an anonymous survey. We made the survey as easy as we could and we provided you with space to tell us what you thought about RVC’s programming, trail building, and our efforts at maintaining rider access to our trailheads. We crossed our fingers and hit ‘launch’… hoping that we’d get a few dozen responses.

We got 160. One hundred and sixty!

Riders of all skill levels answered. Members and non-members answered. People had a lot to share with us – and it was constructive. Thank you!

While it will take us a while to process everything we’ve heard there are a lot of golden little nuggets we wanted to share with you now. Read on if you care about biking and you like graphs! (if you’re not into graphs and data maybe you’d like to check out our New Merch!)

Tell us about your riding Ability?

  • A majority of riders feel confident on our trail network and we have a healthy beginner base to build on.  

Tell us about where (and how often) you ride around Fredericton?

What’s most important to you when you go riding?

  • Almost everyone said trail flow was important.

What do you think of RVC’s programming (rides / races / clinics)?

  • Large majority of members see value in this year’s programming and want it to continue. 
  • Advanced and expert riders are looking for clinics, rides and races tailored to their level.
  • Some of the barriers identified were the time of the week, people not being aware of an event until it was too late, and some people just aren’t ready for social events. 
  • Riders want tours, particularly of the lesser used trail systems. 
  • A few suggestions for more social events with coffee / beer.
  • The most common suggestion was to bring back easy format fun races (both xc and enduro).

How has RVC been doing with acquiring / maintaining trail access?

  • Many members don’t realize that landowner outreach is a big part of what the club does.  
  • Most members recognize that despite challenges, access is getting better overall. 
  • Many members, even those who are satisfied, raised that RVC should be doing more to restore access to trails lost in recent years.

(Note – this question could have been more clear. A few readers interpreted ‘access’ to be finding the trailhead or being able to park near it. We meant ‘access’ as a term meaning securing landowner permission to use the land). Oops!

RVC supports and organizes trail work. How have we been doing?

  • Most members recognize that RVC is doing great work.
  • The most common open-ended feedback to see more brushing and buffing on existing trails.  
  • Trail signage and difficulty in navigation were also a recurring theme. People don’t want to check their phones constantly while they ride. 

How do you want to get info from RVC?

  • Facebook still remains the most popular medium, and more people are getting news directly from RVC rather than reading shares.  
  • Email and website are surprisingly more effective than Insta!

RVC relies on volunteers to get things done. Tell us whether you’re willing to get involved?

  • Many members told us that they are looking to get more involved. 
  • The majority of members would consider opportunities that are a flexible commitment. 

RVC’s current membership fee is $30 or $60 for a family. Tell us how you feel about this?

  • RVC memberships are value-priced!

If RVC could figure out a smooth system, would you be willing to auto-renew your annual membership?

  • Way more people are willing to auto-renew than we expected.
  • Riders want membership reminders!

RVC is going to be considering all of this feedback over the winter months. This isn’t even all of it – so many people took the time to write out thoughtful ideas in the survey. We’ll report back at our annual general meeting what actions that we’re going to take in response. One thing we learned for sure is that you’re willing to give us feedback when we ask… so don’t be surprised if we ask again sometime.

Thanks again,

the RVC exec.

New Merch!

By

If you’re already convinced, click here to go right to the online shop!

Hey riders! River Valley Cycling is excited to bring you a fresh design from a creative process. We worked with Christina Tracy, a local rider and marketing/branding professional, who volunteered to lead us to something with visual impact that reflects who we are. We wanted elements that let you know we’re about bikes, singletrack trails, and the beautiful river valley that we ride in. After considering many options, we’re proud to share this design with you that folds all of these elements together with clean lines and lots of colour.

Bikes, sunset, trail, and the woods of Wolastoq’s valley.

We’ve linked up with a local Fredericton business and we’re offering both men’s (actually unisex) and women’s cut quick-dry tees as well a trucker hat for before/after the ride. The tees are black and the cap is navy so the design pops. We asked for high quality fabric and construction.

Unisex fit -$25
Trucker cap -$20
Women’s fit -$25

We wanted to keep the price reasonable and we’re hoping that club members are as exited to wear this as a we are. The money we make on sales is going to be re-invested in recognizing the hard work of RVC’s many volunteers. We all see them, we appreciate them, and we’d like to give them something. More on that later.

We’re going to keep the order form open until November 13th. The company has given us a 10-day turn around time for orders, and we’re going to offer an option to ship to you in the mail, or to pick up your merch at a few pick-up points once it’s in. Everything will be in your hands well ahead of the holidays.

Place your order online here!

RVC Applauds City Progress Towards Killarney Lake Park Master Plan

By

We’re guessing most of you don’t stalk the agendas of city’s Council-in-Committee meetings. Sounds about as exciting as watching CPAC or reviewing your travel insurance policy. However – last night there was a big win tucked away in a budget table on page 26 of Fredericton’s agenda.

$1.5 Million for Park Plan Implementation.

A part of that money (we hope a big part), will go towards starting to implement the Master Plan for Killarney Lake Park by developing mountain bike trails. This is great progress, and if passed by council, it will enable some real action.

Killarney Lake has some interesting challenges today… but we see so much more potential!

During the development of the plan RVC members and the RVC executive engaged with the city to let them know how important this was to us.

Killarney Lake has a huge potential:

  • Its a big area, 645 hectares – when Alpine Bike Parks looked at the area in 2016, they described potential for 50 km of singletrack.
  • Its got lots of good terrain that is located within a close ride or short drive for many people on the north side.
  • Its got secure access with the stability of a partner like the city.
  • Its got existing facilities like a lodge and parking that make it ideal for events and programs.
  • The potential is there for year-round riding.
A study commissioned by the city several years ago saw huge potential in the Killarney Lake back-country.

Since the park plan was released, RVC has been continuing the discussion with City staff and we expected to see this budget request for 2023. We’ve developed good relationships over the past year walking the ground at Odell together and workshopping new trail development methods. We’re ready to help them move ahead with developing single track at Killarney Lake and they’ve committed to engaging with us.

This isn’t passed the finish line yet but it’s moving in the right direction. We’re going to let City council know that the riders of this city support this move, and the obvious benefits that it will bring. Vibrant outdoor trails create opportunity for a healthy community and a growing economic impact.

Like this. Share it. Talk about it.

Proud Members of: Velo New Brunswick

Canadian Cycling Association

International Mountain Biking Association