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Virginia Mountain Bike Festival 2011
Stokesville Campground, VA

Memorial Day Weekend 2011 - May 27-30th

From Virginia Mountain Bike Festival 2010

Just wanted to send out a quick reminder that the Virginia Mountain Bike Festival is a few weeks out. We have a great bunch of folks already registered, don't wait to join them! The Virginia Mountain Bike Festival is an event celebrating mountain bicycling in Jefferson and George Washington National Forests. Come out and enjoy the atmosphere, the riding, and social gathering that is the Virginia Mountain Bike Festival. Please encourage your riding friends to participate in this volunteer driven festival. Thank you for attending in the past, we hope you can make it again this year.

Register here - Online registration for $80 per adult and $20 per child closes on Wednesday, May 25th at 5PM- on site registration is $100

Your registration covers camping for 3 nights, and 4 days of great backcountry riding. Friday night the kitchen is open in the pavilion for your use (Grill and Burners). Saturday night we provide pasta and sauce. You provide your favorite side or dessert. Sunday night we provide a deluxe full on burrito dinner. Since this is a fundraiser for Virginia Mountain Biking there are no refunds. If you cannot attend, you will able to deduct the whole amount as a donation on your taxes.

The festival will feature rides for all, fun events, and great company on a glorious weekend at a private campground nestled against the George Washington National Forest. This fun-filled event is brought to you by Shenandoah Mountain Touring, LLC.

Not really into Mountain Biking? GREAT HIKING right from the Campground on the Wild Oak Trail or bring your ROAD BIKE and enjoy the wonderful road riding the Shenandoah Valley has to offer - we will have county road maps for your use. Bring your family for a fun weekend!

Hope to see you there,
Chris, Matt and Tyler


Special thanks to our sponsors for coming out to Stokesville for the weekend! There will be a few 2011 demo bikes from KONA BIKES. Richmond ASR will be in town as well helping run registration so that everyone can get out and RIDE!!
Also, a huge thanks to our local sponsor Shenandoah Bicycle Company and Trek Bikes for provided the weekend's beverages!!

George Washington National Forest - Spring Trail Clearing

Holy cow, there is always an opportunity to get out and clear some trail in the George Washington National Forest. Just don't forget to do all the right things first - volunteer agreement, prior approval of specific projects and use proper safety gear with required certifications.

Some quality work on Shenandoah Mountain - 4 work days in already and I haven't even ridden from Rt. 250 to Scotchtown Draft since last year.

A collaborative project on Carr Mountain - what a cool connector!

Stribbling Springs is not looking soooo good - will add picture link soon

Dowell's Draft is tight - thanks Matt, Katy and Jennifer!

Beards and Little Mare for SDS - thanks Matt, Mike and Tyler!

Lots more to do, Eliotts in the am!

From Elliotts Crawford Chimney Hollow

Yes, it could be this cold up there again!

From Elliotts Crawford Chimney Hollow

It will surely be this sweet up there again, even with some rain!

From Elliotts Crawford Chimney Hollow

Dragon's Tale 2011

Early spring is a great time for bicycling on the dry ridgetops of the George Washington and the Jefferson National Forest's. North Mountain Trail is home to a great network of shared use trail in the Jefferson National Forest west of Roanoke, VA. These trails are cleared in Feb and March for use in the annual Dragon's Tale bicycle event.

Check out some of the amazing video's and photos below of the Dragon's Tale backcountry bicycle event.
Results from 2011 are HERE
A photo gallery is on FACEBOOK - higher res images are in our Picasa gallery below.
Lots of great video clips of the riding below too.

Sue Haywood is a smooth rider. Check out her confident riding along Broad Mountain and down into Ferrier Trail.




Sue gave another nice ride on the final roll in on Ferrier Trail. She is soooo smooth in the corners!



We got to follow Laura Hamm down Deer Trail too. She is fast and smooth. Her front brake stopped working early in the event so she was a little cautious on the switchbacks. She has solid backcountry ethics and wasn't going to skid around the corner just because her brake wasn't working. So she took it easy and walked it around the bend. Thanks Laura!


Doc George covered our backs yet again and made a great video to share with us all. Thanks DOC!



Here is a great slideshow from the event in the SMT Picasa Gallery



Kirby was a huge help with the course and logistics. Sorry about the flats Bro!

From Dragon's Tale 2011

Also huge thanks to Ben and the Brown family with the Moonstompers, the Tilson's, Suzanna, Doctor George, Joe Therrell, Gramham, the USFS and the community of New Castle, VA

SDS 2 Day is on for this weekend! 3-Day coming up next weekend!

Spent the heat of yesterday on Little Mare Mountain with Matt Smith taking care of some of the last bit of winter downfall on the SDS route! Matt and I even sampled the last section of the ride checking out the full Little Mare Trail to the Brushy Ridge Trail and on into Douthat State Park.

The Forest Service has cut a new fire line in on Brushy Ridge. Cuts through the trail in a section or two but didn't really hurt the tread.  Here you can see the fireline just headed right down the mountain just off the first switchback headed downhill on the Brushy Ridge Trail. The trail keeps going to the left here so don't let the fireline fool you!

The weather is looking to be nice this weekend! Highs of 70ish, some clouds on Saturday, and looking at some solid Sun for Sunday! The route should be beautiful for the weekend, and with flowers like this pink lady slipper orchid popping up, there should be plenty of color to look at!

Here is the detail for the 3-Day SDS ride May 15-17! Come and join us for a spectacular ride some of the best singletrack riding around!

Snuck out for a sweet ride in the GW before the snows come!