News

Having a large returning crew and favorable weather have been a huge boost to this season’s program of work. This has been further complimented by the addition of Holly Cliché the new permanent Trails Foreman. She is a returning employee serving on the Red Rock Trail Crew last winter season and brings over 20 years of trail work experience to our program and community! The energy of this year’s crew has been amplified at our well attended volunteer events around the district during this first half of the season.

As the North Zone was tied up with the Soldiers Pass Reconstruction Project, South Zone took on all of the Volunteer events during that six-week period. The work their crew and volunteers completed was incredibly successful due to the time taken by volunteers to scout those events with the FS staff and provide different perspectives from long time users of our world class trail system. This intimate knowledge of use and changing conditions due to our dynamic ecosystem help us bridge the gap between effective trail management and maintenance and what the desired experience is for multiple types of users.

The North Zone Crew had an incredible time on the Soldiers Pass Reconstruction Project due to the great training they had, the phenomenal ACE crew support, and leadership from FS Crew Leader Meghan and Trails Foreman Holly. The construction of the rock check steps added up to 400 ft of linear rock work, with five drainage features constructed. The project was also successful in closing off a highly erosive area adjacent to the trailhead that had been denuded due to accidental off trail use due to poor trailhead infrastructure. Six hundred feet of fencing was installed to add in the restoration of 9,000 square feet reducing the sedimentation into Soldiers was. Seed balls and hydro mulching of this area will help to reestablish the native seed bank and further reduce soil loss.

Maintenance accomplished this season:

• Drains Maintained or Constructed- 1375
• Miles Brushed/Lopped- 120
• Linear Feet of Rock Work Constructed or Maintained- 1723
• Signs/Cairns Installed- 18
• Trees Logged Out- 98 
• Tread work (ft)- 5000
• Square feet of Rehab/Restoration- 17,630
• Social Trail Closed (ft)- 882
• Volunteer Events - 32
• Volunteers- 333
• Volunteer Hours- 1156

UPDATES:

• The Red Rock District is still working on the initial conceptual design for the Verde Valley Circle Trail. This is being assisted by funding and project support from the Verde Valley Cycling Coalition and the Verde Front Trails Working Group. Summit to Sea contractors will be back in the Verde Valley assessing the final connection from Rimrock to Camp Verde and then present this recommendation to the group. Once our current Red Rock Trails Access Plan NEPA package receives a signed Decision Memo we plan to introduce the project to our Red Rock RD Staff.
• Public Scoping closed for the Red Rock Trails Access Plan in late December with over 500 comments. The majority of these comments were related to the Turkey Creek project area. Due to the nature of the comments District and Forest leadership have committed to breaking the project into two separate projects and to an additional round of scoping a later date once some of the initial concerns can be mitigated related to Turkey Creek project area. This public scoping process was fairly favorable regarding the rest of the proposed projects and will look to make decision on this portion of the project in Spring 2024.

A pending bill before the AZ Assembly, SB1184, proposes to eliminate access to bicyclists on Rural area “controlled access highways” (i.e., Freeways in rural AZ areas) . SB1184 would normally be a routine bill re-authorizing the function of ADOT for another four years. Unfortunately, part 28-733A has been tacked onto it to prohibit bicyclists from using rural freeways. For more info about the proposed bill go to https://www.azleg.gov/ars/28/00733.htm and  https://azbikelaw.org/freeway/ 

Bicycles are (already) currently prohibited on all freeways (the colloquial term for a ‘controlled access highway’) in metro areas; but are allowed on the shoulder in most rural areas — otherwise travel by bicycle would become impractical or impossible in these areas. Safety has not historically been a particular problem, with fewer than ONE incident per year statewide over the course of 11 years.  In comparison, there are 28 bicycling FATALITIES alone on State, County, and urban roads (one of the highest state per capita rates in the nation.) 

Letters, phone calls, and meeting from riders to elected officials in Sedona and Cottonwood to voice opposition is helpful in getting ACZ Legislators and senators to withhold support for this bill.  The VVCC Board of Directors will discuss this issue at the March Board meeting to determine the most appropriate course of action. For long distance bicycle tourists trying to traverse the State and also to connect with other Western US there are areas where to get from point A to point B requires traveling on a freeway. 

The Coalition of AZ Bicyclists has concerns about this pending legislature and you may read about it at https://www.cazbike.org/bill-to-prohibit-bicycling-on-rural-freeways-moves-forward/

Complete Streets is a descriptor for the concept of designing and operating streets in a manner that makes them safe for ALL users, including bicyclists. The concept is implemented at the local, state and regional levels. Implementation is addressed with a wide range of elements including sidewalks, signage, street markings, bike lanes, marked shoulders, medians, pedestrians signals, modified vehicle travel lanes among others. 

To sum it up, it’s an approach to make streets more friendly to ALL users, including bicyclists. Now, to take it further, The Active Transportation Infrastructure Investment Program is part of the Infrastruture Investment and Jobs Act that was passed by the US Congress. It grants funds to state Departments of Transportation. When a state DOT is granted these funds they are mandated to use 2.5% of them to create a Complete Streets grant program and Complete Streets design standards. If you followed the recent attempt in the Arizona legislature to prevent the AZ DOT from using highway funds to construct bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure you can understand why, if this were to become law, these federal funds may not then be available to the AZ DOT. Outwardly, an apparent foolish move. Apparently others thought so as well and it appears at this point that this legislative attempt has been defeated for the time being. Unfortunately, there is another legislative attempt affecting bicyclists. Which would outlaw the use of AZ rural freeways by bicyclists. The Adventure Cycling Association, which publishes long distance bicycle touring routes nationwide, has three routes in Arizona that use our rural freeways. This legislative effort has failed in the AZ senate.

Please join us for 2 days of family and community-oriented bike fun! Both days will have live music, food trucks, kids' events (provided by Sedona MTB Academy/WheelFun), local farmer and artist market, wine and beer garden provided by Pillsbury Wine and Smelter Town Brewery. For more info and registration go to https://www.verdevalleyrally.com/

Volunteers are in need for both days! If you are interested, please reach to Greg Miranda and he will connect you with one of two Volunteer Coordinators (depending on day and your interest)!

Safe Place to Park - VVCC letter - 020424.pdf

RRTAP_December2023-VVCC-signed.pdf

About a year ago we focused our efforts on membership growth for a couple reasons: 1) to build a stronger & bigger local cycling community thus 2) creating more capacity to support all the great work the club does.

So, how have we done?

With this increased capacity, we’ve accomplished quite a bit:

• Bike Patrol: Funded/kicked off “Chime in Bell” program distributing 20k bells in the Verde Valley
• MTB Committee
• • Worked with Red Rock Trail Crew to outline the volunteer Trail work plans
  • Drawing out large numbers of volunteers to Trail work days
  • Rolling out Caltopo to assist in identifying trail maintenance needs
  • New trails in progress: Circle Trail, Red Rock Trails Access Plan and some new things at Mingus all active
• Road Committee:
• • Got Yavapai Co. to add a paved shoulder and rumble strips along parts of Cornville road
  • Got Hwy 89A between Cottonwood and Sedona swept
  • Partnered with the BAC Committee to add bike lanes & wider shoulders along 89A in parts of Cottonwood and Clarkdale

ROAD RIDING ROUTES ONLINE.

IF going for a ride and want to use one of the road routes from the website you can open the link on your phone and it will bring up the route. However, in order to “navigate” from the opened route you will have to have a subscription with RidewGPS. By “navigate”  I mean voice turn by turn guidance and written turn by turn instructions. If you do not have a subscription (at least at the “Basic” leve) you can still navigate using the map but you will have to zoom into it to get the road names at the various intersections where you will be turning to stay on route. This can obviously complicate your ability to stay on route.

RidewGPS has a “club membership” that would allow recognized members to be able to use all the “navigation” benefits of these RidewGPS created maps. The Road Riding Committee is exploring if this might be something the VVCC might want to look into if the road riding membership thinks it would be of use. 

ROAD RIDING  SAFETY & ETIQUETTE GUIDELINES.

The Road Committee has created a laminated card to hand out to participants at our various rides. 

The biking guidelines are as follows: 

• Go with the traffic flow and stay as far to the right as safety allows
• Ride single file when cars are behind or can ride two abreast when no traffic
• Obey all traffic laws-a bicycle is vehicle and you are a driver
• Yield to traffic when appropriate. No earbuds or aerobats
• Be predictable - Call out your intentions and use hand signals. Pass on the left-not on the right
• Call out objects/obstructions and when passing, slowing or stopping
• Call out cars ahead, behind. 
• Watch those car doors 
• Wear a helmet and use front and rear lights 
• Expect other riders to call you out IF you don’t follow these safety guidelines

Wide debris free shoulders and tailwinds- Jim Graham, Road Riding Committee

The Gravel Committee is looking for volunteers to help develop new opportunities for gravel riding in the Verde Valley. Gravel riding is the fastest growing segment of cycling in the country, and the multiple forest roads in the Valley offer exciting new ways to develop riding. We’re looking for volunteers who want to get involved with growing Gravel. Time commitment is a few hours each month; if you want to do more, that is up to you.

Help is needed with any/all of the following: Be a ride leader or sweep at group social rides; host gravel social rides on MeetUp; scout out new gravel roads for future group rides; and/or assist at the bigger gravel social rides associated with the Spring and Fall VVCC picnics.

VVCC continues to advocate for gravel cycling safety and riding opportunities. If you want to get involved in these efforts, we need you! No experience needed.