The Roaring Fork Mountain Bike Association (RFMBA), Roaring Fork Outdoor Volunteers (RFOV) & our sponsor Ute City Cycles / CIMA Cycles are proud to announce the winner of our 4th annual Bike Giveaway! This volunteer incentive program was run in collaboration by RFOV and RFMBA to encourage local trail users and mountain bikers to spend their time maintaining and building great trails for our communities.

Charlynn Maxwell Porter is our big winner for 2018 thanks to her time maintaining the Thomas Lakes Trail this past August!. By signing an RFOV waiver at the start of a public project, she became eligible, and is now the lucky owner of a sweet CIMA Highlands!

While this winter’s heavy snows have delayed pressure to finish the custom build up of her new bike, she’s already dreaming of spring desert trips and time riding with friends on our local trails when they open for the season!

336 total unique volunteers with 2+ volunteer efforts, qualified for bike giveaway.

995 total entries into the bike giveaway for those 336 volunteers.  Some had a 2 in 995 chance of winning.  The most ‘super’ volunteer had a 20 in 995 chance of winning.   (RFMBA & RFOV staff and board members did not qualify of course!) 

For more info about the bike and for volunteer opportunities to be the next winner check out Scott Condon’s article in today’s Aspen Times.

2019 TRAIL PROJECTS

Roaring Fork Outdoor Volunteers will hold volunteer workdays throughout the valley in 2019. The lineup of projects is:

• Mitchel Creek, Glenwood Springs, May 18. Volunteers will clear dense brush and stabilize stepping-stones at creek crossings.

• Mountain View Connector, Snowmass Village, June 1. Final phase will be built to connect the Mountain View and South Rim Trails.

• Skyline Ridge Trail reroute, Sky Mountain Park, Tuesday evenings, June 11, 18 & 25. Ongoing reroute of the Skyline Ridge Trail.

• Lake Christine Fire restoration, Basalt, June 15. Project will be part of the first steps to stabilize soils to prevent soil erosion and spread of invasive weeds.

• Basalt Trail project, Basalt, Tuesday evenings throughout July. A designated route will be established along the Roaring Fork River.

• Marble Basecamp, Marble, July 12-15, car-camping optional. Volunteers will build short access trails, level camping surfaces and removed deadfall.

• Hay Park to Buzzard Basin, lower slopes of Mount Sopris, Aug. 16-18. A one-half mile trail will be rerouted out of the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness.

• Cathedral Lake, off Castle Creek Valley, Sept. 7. Heavily traveled and eroded one-half mile section of the trail past trailhead will be rehabbed.

• Hanging Lake, Glenwood Canyon, Sept. 21. General maintenance on the heavily visited route.

• Highlands Trail, Rifle, Oct. 5. A new singletrack hiking and biking trail will be added to the trail system in Rifle.

For more information or to volunteer, go to www.rfov.org/2019-projects/

Experts say the sport encourages strength, confidence and more!

Two years ago, Nola and Brent Peacock of Jackson, Wyo., weren’t sure their daughter, Annika, then 13, was ready to take on the Cache Creek Mountain Bike Race.
“It’s really hard, it’s not a kid’s race. It’s not that long, but there’s a lot of elevation gain,” said Mrs. Peacock, whose husband decided he’d ride behind his daughter in case she needed extra motivation. She didn’t. “She had her own grit and eye of the tiger inside her, and I had not seen that before that race,” Mrs. Peacock said.
Like many of today’s parents striving to raise strong daughters, the Peacocks had heard no shortage of advice on how to grow gritty girls: Take them to a march. Let them fail. Make bossy a virtue.

Read the full article by A.C. Shilton in the New York Times

Article courtesy of Kate Miyamoto at BLM.gov

If time is money, volunteers are priceless.

Adam Cornely is a prime example of the value of volunteers. This year, BLM Colorado selected Cornely as the 2018 Colorado Volunteer of the Year. Cornely received the award on February 15, 2019 at the New Castle Trails Winter Conference Movie Night.

Cornely has donated thousands of hours to help transform recreation in his town of New Castle, Colorado – a small town on the Colorado River, a few miles west of Glenwood Springs. As chairman of New Castle Trails, a subcommittee of the Roaring Fork Mountain Bike Association, Cornely led the development of more than 16 miles of trails in New Castle, open to mountain biking, horseback riding, and hiking. Twelve of the 16 miles of trails are on BLM lands in the New Castle Extensive Recreation Management Area

Cornely has been hard at work to improve recreation in New Castle since 2016—fundraising, coordinating volunteer work, working closely with the community and BLM, and improving the trail system for users. Cornely successfully worked with the BLM on Colorow Flow Trails, a new trails area that provides a skills-building trails progression for young and beginner riders.

“Adam has shown a firm commitment to improving his community through trail-based recreation and a remarkable energy in overcoming hurdles to make that happen. It is a pleasure to work with such passionate people,” says Miles Gurtler, Recreation Planner in the Colorado River Valley Field Office. 

Volunteers are vital to the BLM and public lands. Every year, thousands of volunteers donate their time, skills, and services to help BLM Colorado sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of public lands. They keep campers safe, find homes for wild horses and burros, care for cultural artifacts, provide environmental education and interpretation, and perform countless other tasks. 

RFMBA 2019 Employment Opportunity
RFMBA – Seasonal Trail Crew Member – Summer 2019
Roaring Fork Mountain Bike Association – RF Valley, Colorado

Love trails? Have a passion for mountain biking? Join RFMBA’s  Seasonal Trail Crew, this spring and summer, May 1 through September 30, 2019. (Lesser availability is OK for college students.)

Ideal candidates will have volunteer or professional experience with singletrack trail maintenance and will be passionate about mountain biking and trail culture.

Spend the summer outdoors, improving local trails from Aspen to New Castle. Maintain trail tread and drainage structures, trim corridor vegetation, clear fallen trees, and generally improve bike trails in both high-use and remote backcountry areas.

During 2019, three+ Trail Crew Members will serve as ambassadors for public lands and RFMBA. Personal vehicle required for remote trailhead access; mileage reimbursement provided for all work related travel. Equipment stipend and mobile phone reimbursement offered.

Training opportunities included to improve your trail, tool, safety, and backcountry knowledge. $15-$18/hour, 40 hours/week, based on experience.

Learn more at RFMBA.org or call 970-948-3486.

To Apply: If interested, please submit a PDF resume to info@rfmba.org. Resumes & Email introduction statement of interest should be submitted by Friday, April 5 (earlier is better), with availability to work starting early to late May through late August or end of September.

Position Summary: Maintain and improve existing public trails open to mountain biking. Report on accomplishments and identify future maintenance needs on a daily basis. Serve as an ambassador for public lands and RFMBA.

• Essential Duties & Responsibilities
  • Promote public trails and RFMBA’s mission as a friendly ambassador.
  • Responsible for the assigned maintenance of specific trail corridors, treads, drainage
  structures, turn structures, and other trail features.
  • Clearly communicate with RFMBA supervisors regarding scheduled and assigned work.
  • Learn and utilize online system for daily descriptive reporting of accomplished work and trail issues identified for potential future work.
  • Work with RFMBA staff and volunteers on trail maintenance, trail system improvement, or
  trail construction projects when assigned and scheduled to do so.
  • Responsible for all tools provided for the use within the Seasonal Trail Crew Program.
  • Additional duties as assigned by RFMBA supervisors.

• Education, Experience & Skills
  • High school diploma or equivalent.
  • Passion for mountain biking and trail culture (strong understanding of trail experiences desired by all types of mountain bikers on various trail types).
  • Trail maintenance or trail construction experience with traditional hand tools (volunteer or professional).
  • Experience using a chainsaw or brush cutter (safety training to be provided).
  • Ability to handle high stress situations.
  • Ability to work both independently and in small groups, while remaining motivated without on-site supervision.
  • High intermediate to expert mountain biking skills with the physical dexterity to carry heavy loads while moving downhill.
  • Strong communication skills, both written and verbal.

• License and Certifications
  • Must have a valid, current, and unrestricted Driver’s license.
  • Must maintain standard auto insurance coverage.

• Working Conditions
  • Candidates must be willing and able to work in all conditions relative to outdoor weather up to 8 hours per day.
  • Must be able to lift and move up to 80 pounds.
  • Must be able to lift reasonable weight and will be expected to shovel/chainsaw considerable amounts for all of each work day.

In 2018, the Crown got a big make-over that benefited mountain biking and recreation as a whole in the Roaring Fork Valley.  New trails and a parking lot were built, existing trails received much needed maintenance, and bandit camping areas were cleaned up to be replaced by fresh campgrounds.

Much of the improvements made in Prince Creek was due to super volunteer efforts from individuals and the community as a whole.  One of the volunteers behind the recent improvements is RFMBA’s own board member Todd Fugate whose efforts were highlighted in this great article by Genevieve Joëlle Villamizar in the Bonedale Amplified blog. 

Villamizar notes in the article that volunteering to work on trails is infectious.  Even for people who don’t ride bikes.  Last season, volunteers helped build new sections of trail below the popular Father of Ginormous trail, a major re-route of the lower Jens trail and the new Dinkle Link Trail.

This year, more opportunities for local volunteers will be available so anyone can reap the benefits of joining in the community efforts to improve the community asset of The Crown.

But for a trail network such as the Crown’s MTB system to become a reality. It takes more than just super volunteers like Todd.  Villamizar notes that there is plenty going on behind the scenes:

Thanks to a bunch of governmental agencies, nonprofits and local businesses, almost a decade of effort finally hit pay dirt last year, with the Crown’s official designation as a Special Recreation Management Area (SMRA).

As Darren Broome of Aloha Mountain Cyclery explains it, “Unlike Mushroom Rock, which has the Red Hill Council, Prince Creek and the Crown area are primarily BLM lands with a little bit of private mixed in. But there was no ‘local’ organization looking out for Prince Creek. It’s kinda been like the wild west up there for years. Anything went– mountain biking; there were motorcycles, ATVs, Jeeps, horseback riders and hikers. With the SMRA, there was an environmental impact study. It cataloged approved, existing and renegade trails that were then either ‘legalized’ or closed; made it more ‘official’. It also looked at flow issues and approved building more trails, directional trails, for safety and flow.”

As a local bike shop directly benefiting from Prince Creek, Aloha Mountain Cyclery has somewhat unofficially adopted the Prince Creek area over the years. (In general, Aloha has been involved in community in so many ways for years.)

“It’s our community and our trail system. We feel like it’s our obligation to step in too, to help maintain and  grow the trail systems,” Darren says. “So Aloha sponsors trail maintenance days. We provide the food and drink to get volunteers out there. We work with Roaring Fork Outdoor Volunteers (RFOV) and RFMBA. Between the two of them, they provide tools, leadership and guidance.”

But as most people who do come out and volunteer know, digging  dirt with a bunch of fun locals isn’t the only perk one gets from volunteering.  The group sessions usually finish with a good on-site pizza and adult beverage party.  Pizza and suds delivered to you while gazing at the sun sets on Mt Sopris.  What could be better?

Keep an eye out for volunteer opportunities throughout the summer of 2019 at RFMBA.org

Read the article by Genevieve Joëlle Villamizar published last summer for a good look at what its like inside the mind of Todd Fugate and the trail elves of the Prince Creek and Crown MTB Trail system.