River Valley Cycling

Supporting Cycling In and Around Fredericton

Skills Development Sessions this Month

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We’re psyched to be offering two skills development sessions starting in mid-May. These are back by overwhelming demand and we’re moving them early on in the season so you have lots of time to put your new skills to work. Our coaches have designed a program that has opportunities for all levels of riders. Read on below and get registered quick in the sessions that suit you. There’s no better value being offered anywhere so this will fill up faster than Nino Schurter on an e-bike.

MTB Fundamentals for Beginners

If you are already comfortable navigating various terrain on your mountain bike and are
looking for skills training to become more proficient on technical terrain, this program is
for you! This four-part series will focus on body position, line choice, braking (and when not
to), cornering and building confidence with descents and natural obstacles.

  • Session 1: Wed., May 15
  • Session 2: Mon., May 20
  • Session 3: Mon., May 27
  • Session 4: Wed., June 5

Required Gear List

  • Mountain bike in good working order – (bikes deemed unsafe won’t be able to participate)
  • Well-fitting helmet
  • Knee and elbow pads are optional (but recommended)
  • Bring snacks and water!

All sessions will be held at MVP and will run from 6:30 – 8:00 pm. Registration is only $50 and is only open to 2024 RVC members… so join! There are only 16 spaces available! Must be 16 years old and over. To register, contact RVC’s volunteer Director of Skills Development – heatherongo@gmail.com.

Read on below to meet our coaching team!

Spring Into Enduro

RVC is pumped for Enduro again this year and to get us started we are offering a three-part skills series to get you ready for the 2024 Enduro season. If you are already riding blue-rated (intermediate) descent trails comfortably and are looking to add confidence and progress your speed on descents, this program is for you! Each week we will work on skills to build rider confidence to tackle steeper/rougher terrain, carrying more speed over trail obstacles, navigating line choices and braking control.

  • Session 1: Tues., May 21
  • Session 2: Tues., May 28
  • Session 3: Tues., June 4

Required Gear List

  • Mountain or Enduro bike in good working order – (bikes deemed unsafe won’t be able to participate)
  • Well-fitting helmet
  • Knee and elbow pads are highly recommended
  • Bring snacks and water!

All sessions will be held at MVP and will run from 6:30 – 8:30 pm. Registration is only $50 and is only open to 2024 RVC members… so join! There are only 12 spaces available! Must be 16 years old and over. To register, contact RVC’s volunteer Director of Skills Development – heatherongo@gmail.com.

Chris and Jason will be coaching ‘Spring into Enduro’. Read their bios below.

RVC’s Coaching Team

Chris Furlotte has been mountain biking for over 25 years. He began racing downhill at age 17 and has competed in Canada Cup and Atlantic Cup races. Chris loves to pass on his knowledge and help riders push through their own personal limits. He’s been a driving force over the development of the MVP enduro zone.

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Jason Fitzpatrick is a certified, PMBIA instructor. He has a passion for coaching, teaching, and helping riders push their skills to the next level, all while having fun and feeling safe! Jason understands the importance of building fundamental skills and progressing at a safe and steady pace. Jason rides and builds enduro and jump trails around the local networks.

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Max Guerette started mountain biking at 11 years old.  He raced XC but gravitated towards jumps/drops, then freeride, and now trail riding. “I love exploring different lines on a trail. A feature alone might be very cool; however, a series of sections that make up a trail segment is what is amazing to me.  To share that with others and watch how they see/ride different lines is what makes this sport interesting and fun”. 

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Rachel Garland is a registered nurse and cycling enthusiast. She is a roadie turned mountain biker and has been riding single track since 2016. Rachel loves to race XC Olympic and marathon distances. She has NCCP community coach certification. She has coached Sprockids as well as women’s specific intro-to-mountain-bike courses.

Trails Opening for 2024

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Hey riders!

We’ve benefitted from an early spring and we’re happy to say that RVC’s hand-built singletrack is now ready to go! It’s still early in the season so you are going to encounter some wet spots, some debris from the winter, and the occasional downed tree. Ride responsibly, and if you are obviously creating a rut it’s time to carry your bike and turn around!

If you’re able to help, every little bit counts. That can be as simple as pulling over to drag a log off into the woods or if you are up for a little more commitment we can loan out our leaf blowers (which are strong enough to blast most sticks and winter debris off). Even just letting us know where the issues are is helpful.

Any machine-built flow trails within our network are still closed as they are not yet firm enough to ride and we haven’t completed our annual inspections yet. This includes “Learning To Fly” in Penniac, the “Flight Deck” trails in MVP, and the new yet-to-be-named Kodiak climber and descent trails in Woolastook. Please continue to stay off of these trails until we announce they’re open.

Remember, RVC is a volunteer propelled club and your membership is important. Joining RVC contributes to trail maintenance, and necessary costs like our liability insurance that keeps our access open. Join RVC for 2024 if you haven’t already… and enjoy your next ride!

RVC’s 2024 Membership Launch

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We are in the shoulder season. The trails are trying to dry up but they’re not quite ready to ride. The big spring thaw can feel like it takes forever! We just wrapped up our Annual Members Meeting and we got some terrific feedback that we’ve been using to help plan our 2024 season. Here’s what we’re thinking.

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

Join RVC Now!

Trails

  • There will be new trails opening at Woolastook that were built by Kodiak last year. Please be patient. We’ll open them as soon as we can without risking early season damage.
  • Professional build efforts as well as volunteer trail days posted through our social channels will continue to happen at Woolastook. Get involved!
  • We’re waiting to hear about our application to the Canada Summer Jobs program. Fingers crossed we can have a trail crew again that will focus on maintenance throughout our trail network.
  • We’re planning a significant tune-up at MVP including the flight-deck.
  • 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. RVC has recently made some big progress at Penniac that we’ll be sharing with our members soon.

Riding & Events

  • We’ll continue the super popular Getting-Ready-To-Ride series, social group rides, and skills-development sessions.
  • Riders loved both the Enduro Series and the Short-Track races. Both are in the works for 2024.
  • We are aiming to offer rides and skills sessions specifically for Womens+ riders – new!!
  • The Woolastook 4 should be fantastic. New terrain will totally change this experience.

RVC Membership

  • Club membership is important. Your support keeps our singletrack in top shape.
  • For 2024 we’re keeping our rates the same (unlike everything else in life these days)
    • 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 made this change last year to help support single-rider parents.
  • Many of you took out an auto-renewing membership last year. That option is still available and we encourage riders to use it. It really helps the club plan knowing we’ll have your support. If you can’t remember when your auto-renewing membership will roll over, we posted a list for you!
  • The experiment with plastic tags in 2023 was cool. But support wasn’t strong enough to keep that going in 2024 – so we’re going back to stickers! They’ll be available at local bike shops soon.
  • 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!

Notice of 2024 Annual Meeting

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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.

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!

Proud Members of: Velo New Brunswick

Canadian Cycling Association

International Mountain Biking Association