The Charlottesville Area Mountain Bike Club (CAMBC), a local chapter of the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA), is seeking donations to support the construction of new mountain bike trails in Heyward Community Forest. The trail system would be the first of its kind as the only bike-specific trails in the city. Construction is set to begin this fall on slopes of Song Mountain at Heyward next to Ragged Mountain Reservoir.
“Our goal is to promote sustainable multi-use public trail systems within Charlottesville and surrounding counties,” CAMBC states on their website. “We emphasize responsible trail use and bicycle safety…If you see trail closure signs, please obey them, as there may be excavator work happening.”
The group has hired AMPPL Trails LLC, a trail design, construction, and consultant company based in the area, to work on the project with them. According to the club, the build will consist of intermediate flow trails along with advanced downhill and unidirectional trails. As of now, they already have a new contour trail put into a steeper section of Song Mountain.
“CAMBC volunteers turned out in HUGE numbers to get the finishing work done on the new section…There is plenty more to do out at Heyward,” the club states on their donation page. “Between equipment, contractors, and supplies, the total cost of a project like this is $50,000. We have kicked off the campaign with a generous grant donation of $15,000 from Public Lands. This leaves us $35,000 to raise by September 30th from individual donations and corporate sponsorships.”
With over 80 donations, the club has already reached around $23,000, putting them over halfway to their goal of $35,000. People looking to donate can go to CAMBC’s website at https://cambc.org/.
“It’s a lot, we know,” the club wrote in a Facebook post asking for donations. “But it will be worth it.”
All photo by and posted by CAMBC
