Summer 2021 Trailhead News

MORE - Mid-Atlantic Off-Road Enthusiasts
Riding Bikes and Building Trails since 1992

Message from the President

I hope you're enjoying some of our 782 miles of sweet single track now that the COVID 19 pandemic is coming into control. Many of you have already attended trail work days, attended or participated in races and events, and now the MORE Calendar is filling up. Keep reading for important dates for our Fall Camping Trip, MoCo Epic and Patapsco Trails Festival. We're off to a great year expanding our trail systems and coordinating trail maintenance. Enjoy the summer and get out on your bike and if you are looking for MORE places to ride, check out MORE's website section on Where/When to Ride for trail maps, trail descriptions, and MORE information.

And check out MORE's 2020 Annual Report, which can be viewed here.

- Ernie Rodriguez

MORE Grants for MORE Trails

Thanks to your membership funds, donations, and participation in our MoCo Epic ride and fundraiser, MORE is pleased to announce that we have transferred $50,000 to the General Trails Fund (GTF), for a significant and direct investment in MORE trail projects. This investment in trails will encourage trail liaison-driven projects by making MORE money available from the GTF. The funds are available to any park or trail liaison for use in a qualified and approved trail/park project. We are excited to make these funds available and look forward to working with our awesome trail liaisons and volunteers and to see new trail projects unfold across the DC-MD-VA area. Trail liaison vision and projects are the lifeblood of MORE, and liaison vision has driven our amazing trail network and volunteer community.

So far the following projects have received funding commitments:

Patapsco - $10,000 toward the Schools Out Loop – a NICA race loop the in Daniels area
Locust Shade - $10,000 toward a new ¾ mile advanced trail
Lake Fairfax - $10,000 toward new trails in the northwest end of the park
Frederick Watershed - $1,000 toward a signage program in the woods (it’s too easy to get lost out there!)

MORE projects are in the works! Feel free to discuss ideas for your park with your liaison. If you would like to make a donation to the General Trail Fund, click here.

REI Grant - MORE is thrilled to announce that REI Co-op has provided a $10,000 grant to MORE in support of MORE's work toward sustainable, natural surface, multi-use, public trails in DC, MD and VA! These funds will be used to augment both the General Trail Fund for liaison trail building and maintenance initiatives, and also for administrative overhead. REI invests deeply in the outdoor community, supporting efforts that steward and maintain local trails and public lands and connect underrepresented groups to the outdoors. The majority of these funds to MORE will go directly to trail support and maintenance within our amazing network of local trails. Thank you, REI Co-op, for your continued support and partnership!

Waterworks, Annapolis, MD

Just to prove that MORE's trail supporters are awesome, check out the new kiosk, bike workstation, and pump at Waterworks Housely Road trailhead (photo above). Thanks to all the volunteers that made this happen and a shout out to BikeAAA for donating the workstation and pump!

Greenbriar State Park, Boonsboro, MD

Greenbrier State Park has had a few productive volunteer trail work days over the spring and summer, from cleaning up thick leaf coverage to reconstructing water bars. While the daylight hours are still long, additional trail work days will be scheduled for Tuesday evenings. Stay tuned on MORE’s calendar for the next one, likely in August.

Greenbrier was also recently awarded an SHA Recreation Trail grant! The grant will include contractor work along with staff and volunteer matches, and will construct two reroutes totaling approximately 1,000 feet in length, including a red trail reroute on the northwest end as well as two new bridges. Staff and volunteer match work could start as early as this fall, while the contractor work will likely not start until 2023.

Finally, users of the Greenbrier trails should note that there is currently work in progress on the fire roads that lead to the dam, and work on the dam itself will follow. The work is creating temporary closures on a few trails while construction is taking place. Please use caution in those areas until this work is complete.

Patapsco State Park, MD

Your Patapsco Team is proud to add the Catalyst Sports Adaptive Mountain Bike Tour to the Patapsco Trail Fest on October 16-17. We just wrapped up our latest trail project - The School's Out Event Loop at Pickall. This is one of the first MORE General Trail Fund project to be completed! And the Patapsco FUN Series is spinning back up into the force we've come to know and love. Our first FUN day since March 2020 will be in Rockhaven to help reset the south end of the trail system and build a new tech line thru some of the rockiest bits in Patapsco!

Emmitsburg, MD

The team at Emmittsburg trails has purchased new trail maintenance tools and is ordering new "Awesome Volunteer" t-shirts and new trail signage. If you want your name or logo on this collectible tee, contact Emmitsburg Trails HQ at [email protected].

Though the Red Trail remains closed due to forestry work, Purple, Green, Yellow and Orange have seen extensive volunteer and
professional clean-up in the past thirty days. A mid-June weather event dropped whole groves of trees that have now been cleared.
Lower Orange is a true showcase again, with virtually all of the challenge lines clear and accessible for your mad skills.

Our annual Community Day beer garden fundraiser was sponsored by Smoketown Brewery and other local partners.
Live music, food trucks, dancing and fireworks rounded out the day. Many thanks to everyone who travelled for our event!
(Sadly two kegs died for this cause).

July 17- The Monocacy Composite Youth Mountain Bike Team hosted a trail work day. This is their fourth work day here and is a testimonial to their commitment to local trail stewardship.

July 24 - The MCYMTB Team will return as part of their Summer Enduro Series. A team picnic will follow. Last year saw 60 riders participated. This year we anticipate even more. We love our two NICA partners!

More winter access has been made possible through the efforts of Emmitsburg Town Commissioner Tim O'Donnell. Look for this winter's new access schedule on the Emmitsburg Trails Facebook page in August.
Sundays Only access will remain during hunting seasons, but more cold weather access is now legal.

And how does Cotton Candy relate to Mountain Biking? The answer is that Emmitsburg's new comic book shop and emporium of all things cool, Wookie Walkers, celebrated its grand opening on 7.17.21, and they fired up a cotton candy stand, the proceeds of which will be donated to the Emmitsburg Trails! Thanks Wookie Walkers!

Kent Island, Stevensville, MD

Kent Island is (still) waiting to obtain MDE permits, which are anticipated at the end of August. Once approved, the trail will receive 2 sections of boardwalk and be officially opened to the public!

Fountainhead, Fairfax Station, VA

Fountainhead Regional Park will be starting scheduled night rides soon. We did a practice one recently and it was a good time. We hope to get these rides scheduled about once a month. The park will use their ticketing system (free, but limited slots).

Wakefield, Annandale, VA

The Wakefield Park crew had a couple productive trail work days in the spring focusing on Phase II rehab work. Approximately 15+ volunteers showed up each day to do lots of digging and material moving. Volunteers have also continued with some solid mowing and trimming throughout the park to keep the trails clear. Lastly, we have been awarded the opportunity to match funds for some projects through the Fairfax County Park Authority's Mastenbrook Grant Program. We now have the potential to be reimbursed for up to $17,000 of work on our upcoming projects, including: phase II rehab work, three new trail kiosks, and downhill berms improvements. Planning is underway to implement more of this work in the fall, with some Eagle Scouts to assist.

MoCo Epic Funds and Volunteers at Work!

Thanks to another dedicated MORE trail crew, and funds directly from the MoCo Epic event, this rotting 20-foot long bridge along the Seneca Ridge Trail was cut up, removed, and replaced with a beautiful new span in late June 2021. Volunteers shown include Dave Magill, Charles Tonken, Scott Kinkle, Frank Comer, Mark Burkett, and Maricio Carvalho, and not shown include Todd Handlemann and master bridge builder Bob Caverly, who led the complex and precise parts of the construction. Thanks to dedicated folks like these, and support through MORE, we have miles of fun to ride!

Brookfield Skills Park,Springfield, VA

The Brookfield Park bike skills area was officially opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in June 2021! The park was recently expanded and rebuilt with professionally-built, low maintenance wood and steel features from Progressive Bike Ramps. This new bicycle skills area is suitable for all ages and expands the existing pump track opportunities to the Springfield community.

TrailsforYouth.Org secured local funding from the Springfield Civic Association, MORE, TYO sponsors The Bike Lane and Advanced Auto Tech, the Fairfax County Park Authority (FCPA), and countless local family donations. In addition, TYO received national funding support from Specialize Bicycles' Outride Foundation and MORE secured funds thru an International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA) Dig-In grant. We are incredibly grateful and humbled by the outpouring of support and so excited to be able to provide the additional biking opportunities to the youth and families of the John Lewis High School pyramid and the local mountain bike community.

MORE EVENTS

Summer Picnic 2021

It had been a long COVID-time coming, but MORE's Summer Picnic finally happened on July 10th at Seneca Creek State Park, in Gaithersburg, MD. A host of fun activities were enjoyed by about 300 attendees, including rides for all skill levels, adult and kids skills clinics, an obstacle course, lunch, a bike maintenance clinic, and the belated 2020 Awards presentation. Thank you to Clay Deming, MORE's Activities Director, and Peggy Flaxman, MORE's Exective Director, for pulling together this great event and to our sponsors and supporters, including The Bike Lane, Terrapin Bicycles, Fine Earth Landscape, REI, EX2 Adventures, and Trails for Youth!

Fountainhead Reverse Ride

In celebration of National Trails Day, MORE supported the reverse ride at Fountainhead Regional Park. Fountainhead is MORE's only directional trail system, and to switch things up, the park was open for riding the loops in reverse, to provide fourteen miles of never-before-ridden miles of challenging single track! Nearly 400 riders participated and the popularity of the event guarantees this won't be the last reverse ride at this fun trail system!

Mark Your Calendar - Upcoming Events!

Trail Liaison Annual Meeting - August 15, 2021

Fall Camping Trip at Big Bear Campground - September 24-26, 2021. There will be some changes to the usual dynamics of the weekend as we remain safety conscious of the lingering pandemic. We will not have the group potluck dinner, however we are planning other activities that will unite us as a group safely. Also differently, this year we will be having a silent auction for the chance to rent the cabins instead of the lottery system! Look for the announcement for the event to come out mid-July on BikeReg. It's always a fun time, so block your calendar and we'll see you there!

MoCo Epic - October 9-10, 2021 - see below!

Patapsco Trail Festival - October 15-17, 2021

MoCo Epic - October 9-10, 2021

The MoCo Epic is ON for October 9-10, 2021! A mountain biking weekend of events is planned starting with Family Day on Saturday October 9, with kids/family rides and Gravity Soul Pump & Jump Competitions. Sunday events include rides from 10 to 75 miles through 11 parks in Montgomery County. This is MORE's signature annual event and proceeds are returned to the trails throughout the DMV. For more information, registration, and volunteer opportunities click here. This year, for those volunteers who sign up for the very early volunteer shifts on Sunday, we have special event shirts and swag! See the volunteer positions at BikeReg for details.

Have a Question or Want MORE Information?

Have a question on MORE, Trails, volunteer opportunities, or how things work? Do you have a suggestion for a topic to be included in the next Trailhead News or the website? Share your thoughts and send an email to the Communications Director at [email protected]

We want to hear from you!

MORE Membership

A big thank you to all new members (100+) who joined and all members who renewed during the IMBA Spring Membership Drive. This was our best membership drive yet, and our membership is moving towards 1700, from 1505 where we started the year. Our goal continues to be 2000 members by the end of 2021. And in membership dollars we are up by almost 8K versus the same point last year!

If you're renewing soon, please also consider moving to auto-renewal. About one-quarter of our membership is auto-renewing already. Monthly memberships even for $10 are a huge way to help in moving up from a basic membership.

Join or renew your MORE Membership

Please add your voice to MORE’s advocacy initiatives and join or renew today. Your membership helps:

Create a strong voice for advocacy in DC/MD/VA
Advocate for access to new and existing trails
Design and build new trails
Create a social network for riding bikes

Join/Renew MORE

MORE in the News

MORE Trails and riding in the Annapolis Area was noted in this online article about the Waterworks trail system.

Volunteer Opportunities

Love riding your bike? Want to give back to the great organization who builds and maintains over 780 miles of trails in 60 parks? Check-out the MORE calendar or Facebook page for rides and trail work. If you want to help out beyond our trails days, volunteer positions are always available and your help goes a long way. We’re looking for a Trail Boss, Trail Liaisons and co-liaisons. Contact MORE with questions or interest in helping grow our mountain bike community. Opportunities vary from advertising trail work days to physically building bridges on trails. Any amount of time will help!

MORE Volunteer Opportunities

Board of Directors Elections

Is it ever too early to put out there that the BOD Elections will be here in December? The BOD positions open for election in 2021 are:

President
Vice President
Treasurer
VA Advocacy Director

Your BOD depends on volunteers like YOU! Please contact [email protected] for more information or to nominate someone or yourself!

Trail Boss

MORE is looking for an awesome volunteer to serve as Trail Boss. MORE's Trail Boss is a key position supporting trail liaisons with help navigating posting workdays on social media and MORE calendar, posting trail work hours, helping secure trail building tools for liaisons and working with the MD and VA Advocacy Directors to plan liaison meetings and training. Much of this position involves behind-the-scenes computer work rather than trailside work. If you are interested or would like additional information, please email [email protected].

Assistant Trail Liaisons - Interested in trail support but maybe not ready to take on the full Liaision responsibility - how about volunteering as an Assistant Trail Liaision? Contact the Virginia Advocacy Director ([email protected]) or Maryland Advocacy Director ([email protected]) for more information.

Ride Leaders - Leading a ride is a great way to connect with other riders and promote mountain biking in your community. Contact [email protected] for more information and get involved!

Liaison News

Sue Estes – Sue has agreed to become the liaison for Cosca Regional Park. She will also be a co-liaison at Cedarville. Austin Steo stepped down from Cosca liaison earlier this year as things are heating up for him at the Fairland Skills Park. Thanks to Sue for helping at this gem of a park and many thanks to Austin for being the driving force to create the trail system at Cosca and then maintain it for many years.

Dean Bramell – Please welcome Dean as co-liaison at Cedarville State Forest. Dean has worked with Sue Estes on trail improvements at Cedarville and is planning to take a leadership role going forward there.

Melanie Nystrom – After more than a decade as the liaison at Rockburn and the driving force behind the great skills park there, Melanie will be stepping down as Rockburn liaison. Howard County has decided to take over full responsibility for the skills park maintenance, greatly reducing the work load on MORE volunteers. Melanie will take this opportunity to spend more time with her family and on riding! Please join us in thanking Melanie for her many years of service and advocacy (which are probably not quite done yet!)

Jason Jacobs has joined Steve Pringle as co-liaison at the Kent Island Trail.

Welcome and thank you, Liaisons!

MORE Store