Harrisonburg, VA: Crews Visit Mountain Bike Festival, Scout Lunar Landscape for Trail Options

Volunteers work hard to build a filter for the challenging Red Trail in Hillendale Park.
Jason helps a participant at the IMBA TCC Skills Clinic get balanced on the log ride.
MOUNTAIN BIKING IS SOOOO FUN!
A young rider shows the group how it's done during the IMBA TCC Skills Clinic.
IMBA staffers Jason, Spencer, Rich and Anna head out for a post-festival ride.

The Virginia Mountain Bike Festival in Stokesville, VA, provided a weekend of amazing rides, friends, fireflies and freakishly big thunderstorms. The event was an enormous success for the Mid-Atlantic Off-Road Enthusiasts (MORE), with more than 300 attendees bringing in more than $7000 for mountain bike advocacy in Virginia. Additional details provided by MORE's master of ceremonies Scott Scudamore can be found below.

The Subaru IMBA Trail Care Crew was excited to get to work with their coordinator, Spencer Powlison -- as well as Rich Edwards and Dan Hudson of IMBA Trail Solutions -- in building technical trail features on the Hillendale Trail network and a skill-building area on site at the festival.

The festival was focused on getting folks out and riding in the George Washington National Forest on some of the most beautiful, secluded trails around. There were group rides for every ability level, and on return to the campground riders were greeted with cold beverages and delicious food. The evening events included a presentation done by Rich Edwards of IMBA and the Sierra Club's Pete Bsumek, on hand to discuss land preservation strategies. Powlison provided updates from IMBA, and an Around The World presentation from Anna and Jason of the Trail Care Crew kept the crowd on the edge of their seats.

The newly constructed skill-building park, designed by Trail Solutions, offered the perfect venue for a clinic put on by the Trail Care Crew. While Jason demonstrated the technical skills needed to navigate the features, Anna supported the riders with educational tips. Everyone had a great time learning how to ride the skinny stunts, teeter-totters and log rides.

To compliment a wonderful weekend of biking, a nearby observatory opened its doors to the festival goers. The folks from IMBA got a chance to begin the design and planning for the first mountain bike trail on the moon. The festival wasn't complete without one last ride: Rich Edwards lead the IMBA crew through the beautiful mountains of Virginia to Brailey's trail. It was the perfect fast, flowing, fun finish to an amazing weekend.

Special Report from MORE: The 2007 2nd Annual VA IMBA MTB Fest broke all records for last year and even some long standing records for the area. Over 300 people enjoyed mostly sunny skies and seasonal temps for the 2nd annual VA IMBA MTB Fest. Over 51 people were shuttled to the top of Reddish Knob for 3 descents to the campground. Over 80 people went on the IMBA Epic Southern Traverse on Sunday, and everyone came back to talk about it before 7pm. A thunder boomer for about 20 minutes made things a little interesting during the IMBA Trail Care Crew talk but no worries we just just put more people holding the screen. A few Scud Fries (100+ lbs), close to 1,500 pancakes, over 1,000 peices of bacon and Chris's famous Burritos (350) were served along with a 100+ dish potluck dinner on Saturday. Rich Edwards and Dan Hudson from IMBA Trail Solutions built a MTB Skills Park complete with 40-ft long log skinny and a 3-ft drop ramp, among many other training aids. The big news is we raised in excess of $7000 for MTB advocacy in Virginia. Thanks to everyone from MORE that participated!