Our 752 miles of Sustainable, Natural Surface, Multi-use, Public Trails are more popular than ever. Outdoor activities help keep us healthy physically, mentally and provide for socially distanced FUN experiences. Peggy and the board continue to work on outreach to our newest mountain bike community to let them know MORE volunteers like YOU have been building our trail network and social riding programs since 1992. We are starting to see changes in guidelines for group activities and some rides and trailwork activities have begun to start-up again. Please be patient with us as we work through the process for group activities. MORE is not pushing ride leaders or liaisons to organize activities beyond their own comfort levels, so you may see isolated groups or teams doing maintenance on trails or RSVP only rides or skills clinics. The best way to connect with trail work leaders is to email the trail liaison directly from the park email forwarder. You can find the address on MORE's website under the Where to Ride tab and clicking on the specific park, the format is "(park name)@more-mtb.org" and will be forwarded to the trail liaison. You'll notice great progress at Locust Shade, Patapsco, Frederick Watershed, Bacon Ridge, Waterworks and Rivers Edge. We are excited to have begun the "MORE Trails" fundraising and trail discovery experiences to substitute for our cancelled Spring Fling, Summer Festival and MoCo Epic this year. We've taken a unique approach to our Fall Camping Trip as we are not organizing rides, food or activities, however we have negotiated with Big Bear Camplands to reserve the campground for anyone who would like to camp on their own. We've been busy organizing a Youth Advisory Council to help MORE continue engaging youth and meet the needs of youth in our communities. This effort grew out of our relationship with Maryland Interscholastic Cycling League and their Teen Trail Corp program to Speak, Serve, Ride, Respect and Captain cycling in our communities.

If you haven't heard of our "MORE Trails" campaign or registered yet please visit the registration page to register or purchase additional raffle tickets for cool swag from Kuat, REI and other sponsors.

Please use the link to review MORE's Annual Report or request a copy from president@more-mtb.org.

2020 Board of Directors elections are upon us. Activities Director, VA Advocacy Director and Communications Director will open for election to the 2021 to 2022 terms. Please contact any board member if you have interest or questions about serving on MORE's board of
directors.

Despite quarantine our Liaisons are still hard at work getting funding and grants for new trails as professional trail building continues. Check out the new trail updates below.

Patapsco trail building continues

Greenstone Trailcraft has completed our first machine hand-finished trail construction near Ellicott City. The 1-mile section of the Old Ellicott City Connector trail on the Southside of US Route 40 is absolutely amazing! The rest of the OEC connector will be hand-built as part of the Patapsco FUN Series, though we're still restricted from holding our big events - more on that in a second. The Dogwood Trail Fundraiser organized with our Friends of PVSP partners was a huge success in helping us fund another 1-mile machine built hand-finished trail on the Northside of I-70 between Dogwood Road and Shelter 701 in the Pickall Area. Greenstone has completed the trail and it is now open! It will be integral to Patapsco Trail Fest (virtual this year, Sept 18 - Oct 18, 2020 ), finally getting users off of a dangerous road section and removing the killer climb up the Pickall Access Road. Looking ahead MICL's NICA Teen Trail Corps program has created a set of strict protocols to enable us to spin up in Pickall with small groups of league members building a loop that will meet NICA requirements for future training and racing grounds. We're working toward putting together small groups to tackle some of the unabated love the park has seen this season - we're on track for more than 2 million visitors for the year, more than double our normal numbers. Assuming things continue to progress well, we're looking forward to holding a modified National Trails Day celebration on National Public Lands day near Ellicott City on September 26 and Cocktails for Trails on October 22. Last thing, night rides started August 17, charge your lights!

Rivers Edge

Greenstone Trailcraft has just finished Phase 2 of trail building at River's Edge Trails in Brunswick. Continuing the "bike park with no chair lift" theme, Greenstone added a short but fun single track trail, a new jump line called "You've Got to be Skidding Me", re-worked the entrance and exit of an existing jump line and rerouted the inner yellow loop giving the builder space to build a beginner pump track with a medium size table top at the end and an optional short single track to detour the table top. All were built with the goal of keeping the trail a NICA approved race course.  All of this work was funded by the City of Brunswick who continues to support this build by adding funding to their annual budget.  The mixture of bike park trail and single track has made this trail system a destination for trail users from West Virginia, Loudoun County, Frederick and beyond who are looking for something a little different from what you'd find at the Watershed or Schaeffer.  Phase 3 will finish out the build on City property as funding becomes available.  Follow River's Edge Trails on Facebook and Instagram.  Support our build here.

Loudoun County

Parks, Recreation and Community Services (PRCS) is developing a Strategic Master Plan and we need your input! You are invited to a Virtual Community Meeting Tuesday, September 29, 2020, at 7:00 p.m.
We will review the master planning process and provide an opportunity for input on the utilization of PRCS resources and where opportunities for improvement should be focused over the next 10 years.
The meeting will last approximately 90 minutes. You can register in advance using the following link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/ WN_ji5uAPzOSFiiOhKMxbrvVw
You will receive a confirmation email with details about how to join the meeting.
We appreciate your support and value your input
regarding the future of Loudoun County Parks, Recreation and Community Services!

Anne Rundel County

The Bacon Ridge team received approval from the AACo Parks and Rec Advisory Committee for a skills/pump/jump/flow/feature project at Bacon. Site TBD. We'll be launching new trailbuild efforts this fall adding 7more miles of trails. Skills stuff will take longer but design will start this fall as well.

Greenbrier

Greenbrier has been bustling with activity, from many users enjoying the trails while Maryland is under COVID-19 restrictions, to planned trailwork, including necessary reroutes of existing trails, which will involve volunteer labor, as well as the building of brand new trails. The new trails are possible due to a DNR-awarded contract to Greenstone Trailcraft. The first segment of these new trails was completed in late summer; this new trail is marked Yellow, and is a flowy, beginner-friendly trail that connects the southeast corner of the Red Trail to the southern end of the Water Tank Trail above the campground. The work on the second segment has commenced, and should complete by the beginning of October; this trail will connect the northern end of the Water Tank Trail to the area of the boat ramp, and will include two new bridges and some fun elevation changes. We have also had some of our local volunteers come out in small, socially distanced groups on Tuesday nights to refresh things like water bars on various trails, and they plan to continue trail work on Sunday mornings due to waning daylight hours on weekday evenings. In other news, the annual Rick's Run that is typically held in September has been changed to a virtual event due to COVID-19, which will be held in October this year. See https://www.rickstrailrun.com/ for details. Lastly, we are working on updating the Greenbrier site on the MORE page! Look for updates with a lot more information very soon.

Rosaryville

You've probaly noticed our bridges washing out or drifting away.  Help us raise funds to fix a new issue at Rosaryville that will require a reroute and a bridge. The bridge would probably be 12-14ft and have to be built to spec for horse use.  This is a good example of Sustainable, Natural Surface, Multi-use, Public trails, the more users we engage, the better our volunteer efforts. Visit https://more-mtb.org/collections/maryland-trails/products/rosaryville-state-park to contribute. 

Tom Newton has been active in MORE for over 15 years. He has been a liaison for various trail systems since 2009, including Muddy Branch, Clopper Lake, and Seneca Ridge Trail. Tom lives near Seneca Creek State Park, and he enjoys biking, kayaking, and playing disc golf. A passionate and articulate advocate, Tom helped convince the City of Gaithersburg to create its first official mountain bike trail by extending the Muddy Branch trail another mile north into city property (upgrading the trail behind the Kentlands, extending under Great Seneca Highway, and painting blue blazes from Route 28 all the way to Muddy Branch Road). Tom worked with city staff and local volunteers to build this new trail, and it is now very popular with local residents. It is often used to lead sMORE's rides.

But Tom’s biggest project yet is in Patuxent River State Park, where he is spearheading the complete redesign and rebuilding of a 20-25 mile trail system along the banks of the river near Damascus, MD. In 2014, Tom and Dave Magill (MORE Advocacy Director) met with officials from Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to pitch the project. They loved the idea, but MORE had to go through a lengthy process of planning, flagging, and mapping trails and acquiring permits. Now, over 6 years later, the first 7.5 miles of new trails are being funded through an RTP grant and construction is underway (Pax Phase 1). MORE has already applied for another grant for Phase 2.

“I used to ride the Patuxent trails with friends back in the 90’s, but they fell into disrepair. It’s great to bring mountain biking back to this beautiful park!”.

Tom has built an impressive local coalition that includes hikers, equestrians, and hunters, including the local Izaak Walton League chapter that borders the park. Thanks to Tom’s enthusiasm, all these groups are supporting the trail project and helping out. Almost 70 people showed up on March 1 for a huge trail work day. While Tom is sometimes known for being on “Pebbles time” (i.e. just a little late--even for his own workdays), his smiles and energy put everyone in a good mood.

Tom lives in Gaithersburg and is often out riding or around town with his daughter, Libby.  Come out an join Tom and the rest of the Patuxent River State Park team build trails.

News for Beginners and Newbies! MORE has initiated a program offering a Mountain Bike Skills Clinics and Ride for Beginners at Black Hill Regional Park, in Boyds, MD. The clinics introduce basic skills, proper body position, braking, and trail etiquette for safe and fun single-track riding. After the skills portion, riders go on a socially distant group ride along the beginner-friendly Ten Mile Creek Trail. If you are interested, be sure to participate in MORE’s Meet Up page for clinic announcements as the clinics fill up quickly! For MORE information, contact Kathy Mihm.

We've heard many of you asking when we will be organizing trail work and rides.  We know we've been very slow to start-up again.  This is because we don't want to push our volunteers and respect varing comfort levels with ever changing guideance for groups.  Women's rides sMORE's and skills clinics are using RSVP processes to limit participants.  Continue to check our MORE calendar or Facebook pages for group rides and trail work days. If you want to help out beyond our trails days, volunteer positions are always available and your help goes a long way. 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. Time or dollars do help!

Elections for MORE's Board of Directors; Activities Director, Communications Director and VA Advocacy Director will open up in November for nominations and voting in December.  Please contact any board member with questions or mentoring opportunities.  We also have many opportunities to volunteer for non-board postions like trail liaison, ride leader, bike shop coordinator, membership ambasador, grat coordinator and others.

Pete Beers, a much loved member of our community, one of MORE’s original ride leaders, and an active advocate for improving cycling as a whole in the Washington DC region recently lost his life while riding his bike along one of the many trails we all love to ride. Pete, Bikenetic’s "Chief Pedaling Officer and Director of Biker Things,” was in the midst of raising funds for a cause he cared deeply about, the #BeGood Foundation enriches communities by using bikes as a catalyst for healing, empowerment and evolution. All funds collected in Pete’s name will come back to our community. We encourage you to donate in his honor at https://be-good-rebeccas-private-idaho.causevox.com/pete-beers.

#WSGFABR We Should Go For A Bike Ride