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1. Log Water Bar Chronicles and other Misadventures
2. Bike Summit, Orange string, and National Parks

PROFILE
From suburban mountain biker to back country mountain adventurer, I moved to Harrisonburg from Fairfax Virginia in 2003 and quickly fell even deeper in love with all things mountains and bikes. After finishing school at James Madison University, I decided to remain in the “Burg” for the community and the incredible riding opportunities. Working at Shenandoah Bicycle Company since 2005 has provided me with a steady stream of interactions to demonstrate the power of bicycle for the individual and community. Over the past six years our little community in Harrisonburg has made huge strides in trail building and trail maintenance. Participating in the process is invigorating and contagious, watching others fall deeper in love with bicycles and the outdoors only increases my desire to remain involved. Lately I have occupied my free time with the George Washington National Forest Planning in addition to  participating in an innovative Stakeholder group that aims to work collaboratively on cooperative forest management. I currently serve on the board of the Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition and spend my remaining time going on all-day bike rides, exploratory trail runs, and entering in as many fun bike races that I can find.

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Log Water Bar Chronicles and other Misadventures

A mountain bikers' best friend wet or dry, the log water bar holds a special place in the hearts of many. After all, no other single trail feature sends you to the ground as fast or as violently as the log water bar. Sure the gravestone rock may take the speed of your bike from mach 10 to zero in a split second, sending you through the air like a dead sailor. But the log water bar redirects the front wheel quickly and unexpectedly off-trail and into mystery world of the forest gnomes. Hopefully you won’t see mountain bikers building water bars at all these days but if you know of any make sure to publicly humiliate them and fill their seat tubes with ball bearings.

Unfortunately, log water bars are still a recognized and “proven” drainage feature commonly used in many situations and still seen on countless trails today. Fortunately, just as very few of us ride with bar ends or suspension stems anymore, trail builders across the globe have taken a page from IMBA and are building larger, more sustainable drainage features that require far less maintenance and as a bonus are also more fun to ride. These over-sized “rolling grade dips” work better and provide much of that buzzword that seems to saturate trail speak these days, “flow.”

Progression and evolution seem inevitable and in the case of trail building and advocating for trails, change has certainly been for the better. Over the years water bars have been installed on many existing trails as “band-aids” to try and slow erosion. Often the trail is better served by a relocation off the fall-line and moved to a curvilinear alignment utilizing the natural contour of the land. This stuff is old news to most mountain bikers when it comes to trail design and construction, however, the same principles don’t seem to be gaining ground as quickly in the advocacy realm of trails.

Virginia is not only for lovers it is also rife with mountain bike opportunities. While the major population centers in the North and East have an increasingly expanding network of trails the less-populated western mountainous region continues to gain national attention for the quality and caliber of the trails on U.S. Forest Service land. Virginians can have it all with post-work rides on downtown city trail systems, to epic weekend adventures at historic state parks deep in the Allegheny Mountains.

The Log Water Bar Chronicles will address advocacy based trail issues from around the state. Exciting things are happening in Virginia and the Mid-Atlantic region, the stars are aligning  to ensure the sport continues to grow. Momentum is coming from many directions, the proliferation of professional trail building companies, clubs around the state sharpening their grant writing skills to pursue funding from a variety of creative sources and IMBA incorporating more and more clubs into their chapter programs. Energy continues to build around the state and success stories abound, now to keep the movement rolling and take it to the next level while still having fun and riding bikes is the challenge.