News

When you attended a SRRTF/REI/VVCC sponsored Western Gateway volunteer trail work day this season, the delicious pizza you're scarfing down at the après is in large part due to the generosity of Steve Buysse, owner of Famous Pizza & Beer in West Sedona and the VOC.

Thank you Steve!

VVCC Member Emma Young

How long have you lived in the Verde Valley?

I have lived in the Verde Valley since 2015 and moved from Frankfort, Michigan. 

Are you married and, if so, to whom and for how long?

I am married to Randy Young from the Verde Valley Bicycle Company.  We got married just over a year ago at a bicycle themed ceremony!  

What do you do for a living?

I am a teacher. 

How long have you been a teacher?

Four years 

Where do you teach/what grades/subjects?

I teach 5th and 6th grade ancient world history at Cottonwood Community Elementary School.  

What do you like most about being a teacher?

I love teaching because I get to work with youth, I have so much fun with them.  The other part I love about the job is that it challenges my creative side while allowing me to use scientific based practices.  

What do you like least about being a teacher? 

Does your school participate in the Bikes4Kids Program? 

Yes, we just started a club this year and the students are thrilled!  

How often does the program meet in your school?

We meet twice a week for an hour and a half or two hours.  

How many students participate?  

We have seven members. 

What have we missed?

When I moved to Arizona I wanted to begin riding a mountain bike because it was so popular here.  I did not want to miss out!  I fell in love with riding because of the exercise, being out in nature and most of all the community.  

On May 31, 2018, RRRD Ranger, Nicole Branton, approved the Red Rocks Trails Enhancement Decision Memo authorizing the addition of more than 34 miles of non-motorized trails to enhance recreational opportunities in the RRRD.

The planned trail enhancement is to occur in three separate areas: the Western Gateway in West Sedona, Village of Oak Creek (VOC) and Camp Verde. Here's what's been happening.

Western Gateway Update

On November 8th, ground broke on the Girdner realignment that is part of the Western Gateway, with the first of 12 REI/SRRTF/VVCC sponsored trail workdays. Photos courtesy of Joe Hazel.

VOC Update

The Transept trail in the VOC has been closed to cross-country travel to mountain bikes since early 2013 so it was great to see the Decision Memo approving its improvement and adoption into the system. 

On November 10th, the RRRD conducted a volunteer workday on Transept that was followed by seasonal FS crew work. When the seasonal crew finished the rest of the trail to Hiline, temporary signs were installed and on November 19th, the RRRD officially opened Transept to cyclists!

According to VVCC Director Pam Milavec "We rode it yesterday.  They definitely did not “sanitize” the trail!  It’s quite a program.  Al did well on it, while I struggled a bit.  Oh well, it’s a beautiful trail!"

Camp Verde Update

Also on November 19th, Patrick Kell, IMBA Grants Manager, notified the VVCC that IMBA secured funding to begin the conceptual planning of approximately 5 miles of new trails in Camp Verde. These trail plans will be completed for an area near the planned Sports Complex Park in Camp Verde. IMBA plans to meet with the town of Camp Verde staff in January to discuss the project and expects to have Trail Specialists from their Trail Solutions Department on the ground in late spring 2019 reviewing the terrain/potential trail corridors and will then develop a map and report of their findings. 

A huge thank you to the RRRD for making it happen!

This article will be updated as events occur.

July 1st began the VVCC's 16th year as a bicycle advocacy organization. In recognition of 15 years of improving the bicycling environment and quality of life in the region, we have been scouring the archives - thank you Daniel Paduchowski - to bring our past to the present. 

Now that Sedona is in the stage of bringing its Transportation Master Plan to life, an effort known as Sedona in Motion, the VVCC is advocating the need to create a dedicated Bike and Ped Master Plan for Sedona. This plan must address what the highest priorities for pathways are, the needs of the community, and what pathways should connect to what places.

The below Op-Ed and article from a January 2007 Red Rock News edition remind us that there is still much more to be accomplished.

This morning, Randy Ortiz, Managing Director at Arabella Sedona Hotel cut the ribbon officially opening a Bike Pavilion to their property for guests and the public.

The pavilion is equipped with a bike repair station...

...as well as a bike wash station!

Arabella Sedona Hotel is located on the east side of the SR 179 Bike Path at 725 Highway 179 Sedona, Sedona, Arizona 86336. 

More bike repair stations are coming to various Sedona locations, but Arabella's is the only one offering a bike wash station. 

When you're at the pavilion, check out the chandelier!

A huge thank you to Randy and the entire Arabella staff for helping to make Sedona more bike friendly and opening the pavilion to the public!

The VVCC is pleased to announce that our good friends at Lagunitas Brewing Company have been upgraded to Gold Level Sponsor status. Lagunitas has provided the beer for the VVCC's 2017 Holiday Party, 2018 Spring and Fall Picnics, Friday FUNdraiser MTB Rides and just recently donated 24 cases to support 12 Western Gateway Trail Work Days.

The International Mountain Bicycling Association just contributed $500.00 to the VVCC for Western Gateway Construction and were named a VVCC Silver Level Sponsor. Thank you IMBA for helping us build "more trails close to home!"

In 1998, the revised Forest Plan for the red rock area first identified a "trail access hub" to access a robust non-motorized trail system in the Western Gateway area. On November 8, 2018 ground broke on this trail access hub now commonly referred to as the Western Gateway - a 29 mile non-motorized trail system in West Sedona.

Approximately 30 volunteers and Forest Service trail crew members attended the first of 12 Western Gateway volunteer workdays.

These workdays are sponsored by the Sedona Red Rock Trail Fund "SRRTF" through a generous grant by REI. Justin Ingles of REI Flagstaff was on hand with raffle prizes for the volunteers. On January 9th, two four person American Conservation Experience "ACE" crews from Flagstaff will begin 8 weeks of construction of the Western Gateway. The ACE crews are funded by a National Forest Foundation grant awarded to the SRRTF with the matching funds provided by the VVCC.

The work day goal was to construct a re-route of a portion of the Girdner Trail to eliminate a fall line section and have the trail hug the hillside above the Dry Creek flood plain.

When the volunteers returned to the trail head after the work day concluded, they were greeted with delicious pizza courtesy of Famous Pizza, cold water/gatorade, and a cooler stocked with an an assortment of beers from Lagunitas Brewery provided by the VVCC. One lucky volunteer won a back pack and water bottle courtesy of REI.

The next Western Gateway volunteer work day is November 17th at 8:30AM. Volunteers will meet at the Girdner Trailhead just off Cultural Park way in West Sedona.

 

VERDE VALLEY BICYCLE COMPANY GRAND OPENING!!

EVERYTHING 20% OFF INCLUDING CUSTOM ORDERS AND BIKES!

Raffles, prizes and gear! Good times with local cyclists and the bike shop crew!

FESTIVITIES BEGIN FRIDAY NOVEMBER 16TH WITH THE VERDE VALLEY CYCLISTS COALITION AND THE FRIDAY FUNDRAISER RIDE @ 11:15 FOLLOWED BY BEER AND THEN APPETIZERS AT 4 PM PROVIDED BY 3 KINGS KASBAR.

JOIN US SATURDAY NOVEMBER 17TH FOR A ROAD AND MOUNTAIN BIKE RIDE @ 2 PM, FOLLOWED BY BARBECUE PROVIDED BY HOG WILD AND A BEER OR BEVERAGE OF YOUR CHOICE.

All items in shop, including custom order and bicycles are 20% off standard prices! Come in and take advantage of this incredible deal as a thank you to your customer loyalty. 20% discount takes place November 16th - 24th.

743 N. Main St. Cottonwood, AZ 86326

Store Phone - 928.202.4941

On November 1st, VVCC members Rich Leever, Kevin Adams, Randy Young and Mark Evans delivered 28 Trek Roscoe 24s and Bontrager helmets to four Verde Valley Elementary School Bikes4Kids Program participants.

The Trek Roscoe 24s are equipped with disc brakes for excellent stopping power and simple 1X drivetrains with multiple rear gears which make shifting simpler. Rolling on 24x2.8" wide tires, the bikes are super stable and provide an incredible introduction to mountain biking. All bikes are proved at no charge to the schools.

Over 65% of the students in Verde Valley elementary schools receive either free or reduced price lunches under the National School Lunch Program and do not have access to a bicycle. We're working to change that!

Each of these four schools have a mountain bike club of students in grades 5-8 coached by VVCC members. We teach the students bike safety, basic maintenance, and more importantly, we ride with them after school several times a week.

The Verde Valley Bicycle Company (VVBC) in Cottonwood, AZ provided the bikes/helmet/tubes to our program at their cost and donated the time required to assemble the bikes. Trek gave them special pricing for these bikes which further stretched the Program's dollars.

Participating Schools

Oak Creek Elementary School in Cornville, AZ  received 8 bikes

Beaver Creek Elementary School in Rimrock, AZ received 9 bikes

Cottonwood Community School in Cottonwood, AZ received 7 bikes

Dr. Daniel Bright Elementary School in Cottonwood, AZ received 7 bikes

Generous grants from the Arizona Community Foundation Yavapai County and the Sports Fund of Arizona made Thursday's deliveries possible.

Help Support the Verde Valley Cyclists by using Amazon Smile. This is a program where Amazon donates a percentage of your purchases to the charity of your choice, at no cost to you.

Today and Tomorrow, Amazon will donate 5% of Amazon Black Friday purchases to charity, supporting great VVCC programs such as “Western Gateway Trail Project” and “Bikes for Kids”

You can also use Amazon Smile for your regular Amazon purchases and Amazon will donate 0.5% of your purchase to the charity of your choice

Using Amazon Smile is very easy (specify VVCC as your selected charity). Instructions here.

The Amazon Black Friday 5% to charity specials listed here.