VBF is at the Bike Summit every year, and this year will be no exception. So far, I’ve heard that Champe, Bud, Barbara, Sheryl, and Allen will be present, though maybe not all of them for the whole thing.

The Summit’s “main event” is meeting with Virginia’s senators and congressmen, and VBF arranges these visits. So if you’re coming to the Summit from Virginia, please Active Community Transportation Act, just introduced by Earl Blumenaur, along with other bike legislation on the League’s list. Stay tuned for more.

Of particular interest to me is the social media session at 2:30 pm on Wednesday. As bike advocates, communication is the essence of what we do. But we can all do better in getter our message out. Join the folks behind StreetsBlog.org, BikePortland.org, social media consultant Paul Miser and others to learn how.

See the agenda for more of what’s going on.

Bring your bike, ride to the days’ events, ride with all the rides that will crop up, and ride with the Congressional Bike Caucus, Friday March 12, 8:30-11:00 am.

We hope to see you there!

Don’t miss the party at the NAHBS!

RABA, Richmond MORE, the Virginia Bicycling Federation, and several other groups will be co-hosting a benefit event called “Trailicious,” this Saturday evening, 7-11pm at the Capital Ale House, 623 East Main Street (6th and Main St.) Proceeds will go toward building trails in Forest Hill Park. There will be door prizes, a band, a raffle for great swag and plenty of fun. It’s $10 at the door. Admission is limited to the first 300 folks to arrive!

If you’re in Richmond this weekend for the North American Handmade Bicycle Show, let local cyclists show you around! Join VBF and RABA at 4pm Saturday for a Tour du Richmond fun ride — a 12mi loop to see some of Richmond’s historic sites, and enjoy the city’s atmosphere. We’ll visit Belle Isle, Rockett’s Landing, the Virginia Capital Trail, the state Capitol building, and more. 

Meet downtown at the convention center, at the corner of 5th and Marshall for a 4 p.m. departure.  All are welcome. Just show up, or contact Champe Burnley for more information:   champe_burnley@vabike.org,  (540) 358-5801.

Richmond MORE will also be hosting tours of James River Park singletrack trails, leaving from the Tredegar Parking Lot at 10am and 1pm. See www.richmond-more.org for details.

Afterward, don’t miss the Trailicious benefit party at the Capital Ale House.

Two bike safety classes from the League of American Bicyclists’ Smart Cycling program are being offered in Virginia in March.

Traffic skills 101 is a nine-hour course designed to develop your ability to ride with confidence and competence for pleasure, utility and sport, under various road, traffic, climate and terrain conditions. Classroom discussion and bike handling skills exercises are combined with on-road practice in the principles of vehicular bicycling. This course is a prerequisite for the LCI Training course below.

Where: Roanoke, VA

When: Thursday, March 4, 6-9pm; and Saturday, March 6, 9am-noon

Instructors: Barbara Duerk, LCI #480; and James Rosar, LCI #2203

Cost: $30

Registration: name and contact information mailed to 2607 Rosalind Ave., S.W. Roanoke, VA 24014 along with check for $30 payable to CONNECT NOW.

LCI Training

Also being offered is a League Cycling Instructor (LCI) training course. The LCI certification is the most widely recognized bike safety instructor credential in the US. Become certified to teach the Bikeleague’s Smart Cycling courses: Traffic Skills 101 & 201, Commuting, Motorist Education, and Kids I & II.

Where: Charlottesville, VA

When: March 19-21

Instructor: Preston Tyree, preston@bikeleague.org, 202-621-5446

Cost: $200

Prerequisites: Bikeleague membership, satisfactory completion of Traffic Skills 101, pass written test (at least 1 week in advance), acceptance by instructor.

There is a tight timeline between the above TS101 course and the seminar, so please set aside time to complete all the prerequisites.

We’re always happy to promote League safety classes, so please let us know about yours.

Join the Virginia Bicycling Federation on Monday, Jan. 18, at the Virginia Conservation Network’s Lobby Day, 9am-2pm at the Virginia State Capitol.  Meet your legislators and tell them what you expect from them, as they head into this year’s General Assembly.  This is one of the best opportunities for bike advocates to make headway with statewide issues.

We’ll be having a legislative meeting on Sunday, Jan 17, to prepare for Lobby Day.  All bike advocates and trail advocates are welcome, and encouraged to join us at 3pm at Maria’s Italian Restaurant, 9570 Woodman Road, Richmond, VA 23228-1324.

RSVP to Champe Burnley (804-358-5801, champe_burnley@hotmail.com).

Be sure to check our Calendar page regularly for advocacy happenings such as this. Not all of them make it into our blog.

Arlington Holiday Lights Ride

Last weekend’s ride was rained out so we are trying again this weekend. Join BikeArlington and Conte’s Bike Shop on Sunday, December 20th for a leisurely ride that will go on a tour of Arlington County houses that go all out with impressive holiday lighting displays. The ride starts at 5:30pm and ends 7:00pm.

Bring your bike and a friend and meet in the Conte’s parking lot (N. Quincy and Wilson Blvd.) a little bit before 5:30 for hot chocolate, warm apple cider, and cookies! Helmets and lights are required for the ride, and lights can be purchased at a discount before the ride if needed.

BikeArlington is an initiative of Arlington County, Virginia to encourage and enable more people to go by bike more often. Stay up to date on biking in Arlington, follow BikeArlington on Twitter.

Virginia Capital Trail in downtown Richmond

Join Governor Tim Kaine, Secretary of Transportation Pierce Homer, and other dignitaries, citizens, and cyclists from across Virginia at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Richmond Phase of the Virginia Capital Trail — this Thursday, December 17, 11:45 AM, at Great Shiplock Park in downtown Richmond (Dock and Pear streets, click here to download a printable map, with directions).  

This is the western terminus of the new multi-use trail running from Jamestown through Williamsburg to Richmond. When completed, the Virginia Capital Trail will total 54 miles, parallel to Scenic Route 5, one of the most historic transportation corridors in Virginia.

Don’t miss the mid-Atlantic’s largest indoor bike swap and consumer expo, at the Chesterfield County Fairgrounds (near Richmond) on Sunday, March 7, 9am-2pm. Sell your old bikes and parts, and take advantage of unbelievable deals. Buy, sell, browse, shop, trade, or just hang out with industry reps, individual vendors, bike shops, manufacturers, and like-minded cyclists! For more information, or to register as a vendor, see the Stop, Swap, and Save website. Join their email list for the latest updates and developments.

Each year VBF sponsors the Cross-State Ride to raise awareness of US Bike Routes 1 and 76, and to promote bicycle-oriented tourism in Virginia. This year we’ll be riding Bike 76, from Breaks Interstate Park on the Kentucky border, to Chickahominy Riverfront Park in Yorktown. It will be a 2-week tour with sagged camping.

As always, you’re encouraged to join us for any portion of the tour. We especially like day riders to join us as we ride through your area. So check your bike club calendars, and try to schedule a ride-along ride for your club. Note the weekend side trip planned for the Virginia Creeper Trail, a great chance for you to join us.

We haven’t finalized everything but here’s the itinerary as of Feb. 10:

Contact Information: jnmorgan@megahits.com, (804) 441-1646; or Barbara Duerk, barbgary@cox.net, (540) 343-1616.

Terrain: “mountains to the sea” terrain includes significant climbs and some smooth trail or gravel surfaces, so triple chain ring and multi-surface tires are advisable.

Total Mileage: 570+ along Bike 76 TransAmerica Bicycle Trail route.

Daily mileage planned at about 50 miles with options for side routes of scenic and historical interest estimated to total 800+ miles

Daily Activities: tours of scenic / historic attractions; promotional visits to local tourism, recreation organizations; and “See and Smell the Virginia Blossoms”

Participation Options: complete ride, weekly, daily

Accommodations: camping / hostels / home stays

SAG: Support vehicle for luggage and gear, with shared rides from Hampton Roads, driving and route patrolling to 5 PM daily

Shared costs of fuel, camp / hostel rentals, meals in Richmond, Charlottesville, and Roanoke

Download a copy of this page to print out and pass around.

We’ll update this page as more information becomes available, so keep checking back here.

Recently we reported on another crowdsourced mapping project in Blacksburg, but now some Virginia Tech students, and free culture enthusiasts, have a mapping project of their own — putting all the campus bike routes into Open Street Map. To make it more of a party, there will be a raffle with some nice prizes, including an Android G1 phone. Here are the details, from Christopher Covington:

In order to improve and publicize untethered community infrastructure, an OpenStreetMap mapping day is being held tomorrow (Saturday) from 11:00am to 4:00pm with 1020 Torgersen Hall as a base camp. We would love to see you there. An Android G1 phone and several *nix books will be raffled off amongst interested participants.

See http://vtluug.org/osm for details. Longer descriptions of OSM and
the event goals follow.

OpenStreetMap is the Wikipedia of maps. Everyone can freely use, copy^, add to, and edit OpenStreetMap. Furthermore, while OpenStreetMap began with just streets, it has grown to include almost everything map feature imaginable.

Specific goals for Saturday’s event include:

• Complete coverage of campus paths
• Complete coverage of University Mall
• Parking and addresses in major apartment complexes
• Additional bicycle and pedestrian ways and points of interest
• Additional street updates (new roads, closed roads)

If you cannot make the event but are still interested, we encourage you to make additions and edits to OpenStreetMap independently. It is an open project that anyone can edit at any time.

OpenStreetMap is “copyleft” meaning copies and derivative works (such as OpenCycleMap) must allow others to copy and make derivative works of them, too, under the same terms.

This event is hosted by Free Culture at Virginia Tech and the Linux and
Unix Users Group at Virginia Tech.