NewVA Moves

Bike Virginia Rides the Crooked Road

This year's Bike Virginia tour, scheduled from June 20 through 25, will ride the section of the Crooked Road heritage music trail in the Bristol/Abingdon area.  It's unfortunate that it won't include those sections in Floyd and Franklin counties, though I understand that Abingdon and Bristol see a lot of cyclists come through and should be well-prepared for the additional influx that Bike Virginia will bring in.

On a related note, it turns out (and no doubt avid cyclists already know this) that the NewVa region hosts a section of the cross-country Bikecennential trail, now called U.S. Bike Route 76.  It has been added to our Interactive Bike Map, though there are some gaps in the route.  The section running north of Roanoke through Botetourt and into Catawba is fairly well mapped, but once it enters the New River Valley it gets trickier.  I was able to find some rough directions indicating where the trail entered Christiansburg, but beyond that it was guesswork.  I contacted the NRV bicycle club, and it sounds like maintenance of the route in terms of signage has largely been neglected.  It would be excellent resource for the region if we were to promote this historic route with updated signage and more accurate maps.