I did it!! (James River Park loop in Richmond Virginia)

[ButchA]

Hey there…

I feel very good, even though my legs are killing me! I drove down to the James River Park system in Richmond, Virginia and SUCCESSFULLY rode:

Buttermilk (west from the Reedy Creek entrance)
Over the Westover Hills/Boulevard Bridge (i.e. the nickle bridge)
Northbank
Belle Isle
…and back on Buttermilk.

I will confess: There were some seriously, nasty, sections where I said (in my best Will Smith voice): “Oh HELL No!!!!” ???? and got off and walked my bike over the rough section. If i tried to ride through it, I’d probably end up in the hospital, or I’d twist my cheap Schwinn Alum Comp bike into a pretzel!!! Most younger guys I saw on the trails, had real nice FS bikes and were flying along without any worry.

[url:o1idp34r]http://originmedia.gatewayva.com/photos/rtd/special/JamesRiver/river.htm[/url:o1idp34r]
Click on the map and scroll all the way over and down. That is the James River Park system in Richmond, VA. I parked at the lot where the main park HQ is on that map (Reedy Creek).

[Greg Heil ✓ supporter]

I’ve been there before! Way fun and refreshingly rocky!

[ButchA]

Thanks… Yeah, some of those nasty rock garden sections were unbelievable! If I had a FS bike I would have gone through them. But I chose to walk over/through them.

Doing that whole loop around the James River really gave me a boost of confidence. But at the same time, made me realize that I have to seriously upgrade my current bike!

[Greg Heil ✓ supporter]

"ButchA" wrote

Thanks… Yeah, some of those nasty rock garden sections were unbelievable! If I had a FS bike I would have gone through them. But I chose to walk over/through them.

Doing that whole loop around the James River really gave me a boost of confidence. But at the same time, made me realize that I have to seriously upgrade my current bike!

I rode most all of it on my hardtail, first time… sometimes an upgraded bike can help, but upgrading your skills is free 😃

….unless you take a skills camp, then I guess it’s not free 😆

[JT Orlando]

Good work my man. That ride is tough. Last time I rode there I took home a sprained rotator cuff as a consolation prize.

Did you happen to check out the skills park? There’s some fun stuff there too.

[ButchA]

"jtorlando25" wrote

Good work my man. That ride is tough. Last time I rode there I took home a sprained rotator cuff as a consolation prize.

Did you happen to check out the skills park? There’s some fun stuff there too.

Thanks… Yeah, when I was on Belle Isle I looked over at the skills park. There were two sets of parents over there (on MTB’s) with a bunch of young kids on BMX bikes. It looked like fun though!

[fleetwood]

Nice work, man. JRPS is definitely a skill-building trail system. mtbgreg1 is right though. Building up your skills and confidence is every bit as important, if not more, than the bike you ride. Keep in mind, there are folks running fully rigid single speeds around that same network. If your bike is in sound mechanical order, you’ll be fine. Just keep working on it.

[ButchA]

Thanks…

Yeah, I’m riding a Schwinn Alum Comp (Wally World bike) that my brother-in-law gave me, after he bought a nice Trek police bike. One thing he did with the Schwinn after he bought it, was take it to a LBS and get some components swapped out/upgraded. So, now it’s a really sweet bike!

It rides nice and does what is expected of it. I’m just a little hesitant of really riding it hard over some of the rock gardens and going airborne with it (being that I’m 51 and 6′ 0" and 208 lbs.)

I watch some of the younger guys out there and just have to ask: How do you [i:3s0ekg50]DO[/i:3s0ekg50] that ?!?! 😎

[Author]

Posts