News

The annual Arizona Out-of-School Time Awards of Excellence recognizes innovative out-of-school time programs and staff members for their exemplary work in providing and promoting quality youth development programs for Arizona’s children. Wheel Fun received this prestigious award yesterday at the Arizona Center for After School Excellence’s 30^th Annual School’s Out, Make It Count Conference at the Phoenix Convention Center. Included with the award was a Commendation signed by Arizona Governor Doug Ducey and $500.00.

This youth program was originally founded by then VVCC Director, Rich Leever in early 2018 and was run by the VVCC until it was spun off to Wheel Fun in January 2020.

Volunteers are needed on 12/11/22 to assemble bikes and do fittings for kids for Toys for Tots in Sedona.

VVCC members have partnered with Toys for Tots for the last 6 years.

The event is held at the West Sedona Elementary School at 570 Posse Ground Road, Sedona 85336. Donuts and refreshments are provided.

9:30 - 11:30 AM--tightening and adjustments --4-5 volunteers needed

We need individuals with their own tools to do bike assembly and/or tightening bolts (if you have a bike tire pump please bring it). If you can come at 9 AM, you can help move the bikes from storage to the gym. Most bikes will come pre-assembled from Walmart, but they will need final safety checks to make sure all parts fit and are tight. There may be a few bikes that come in a box and need more assembly.

Noon to 3 PM --Safety adjustments/check 1 volunteer needed

We need at least a person that can stay until the end of the program to custom fit the bikes to the height of the kids. This involves making sure seats, handlebars, brakes are all correct for each child. Parents will bring their kids at assigned times to pick up and get fitted for their new Christmas bike.

Contact Rich Leever at rlleever@gmail.com by 11/18 if you want to volunteer and how you can help. 

The following summary is from the Coconino National Forest’s Red Rock Ranger District Trails Accomplishment Report, 2022 Field Season.

The VVCC is proud to be a part of this impressive effort!

Summary of Accomplishments:

During the Fall 2021-Spring 2022 trail season, a combination of workers from the Forest Service, Conservation Legacy (Ancestral Lands Conservation Corps), Friends of the Forest, Verde Valley Cyclists Coalition, Beaver Creek Trails Coalition, Summit to Sea Trails Specialist LLC, and many other individual volunteers completed extensive maintenance improvements of non-motorized trails in the Red Rock Ranger District.

411 total miles of trail on the Red Rock Ranger District and 284 miles in the Sedona/Village of Oak Creek

• 275 miles of trail maintenance completed during the 2022 field season.
• 3440 ft. of retaining walls built and armoring.
• 122 rock stairs installed.
• 3.7 miles of social trail naturalized.
• 1788 drainage structures newly constructed and/or maintained.
• 115 trail signs and junction maps installed.
• 2 kiosks installed.
• 36 new kiosk maps, section maps, and Trail Keepers signs posted at trailheads.
• 37 new cairns constructed.
• 74 old style cairns removed.
• 2000 feet of fencing constructed.
• 550 volunteers (Friends of the Forest and public).
• 3,400 total volunteer hours donated to district trail work.
• 3,100 volunteer hours in the Sedona/VOC area dedicated to trail maintenance and construction.
• $98,600 total value of labor provided by volunteers during the trail season.
• 49 public trail work events with an average of 10-15 volunteers attending each event. 

Hello VVCC Members,

Let me introduce myself, having been elected VVCC President by the Board of Directors at the September Annual meeting. I’ve been on the VVCC Board since September, 2014, not long after moving to Sedona; and I’ve held the position of Vice President Since 2017. In addition, I have chaired the Fundraising Committee since 2018. Preserving the unique and rich cycling opportunities in the Verde Valley is a passion of mine. To this end, I also served on the Board of the Sedona Red Rock Trail Fund since 2015, where I was also Vice President and chair of the Grants Committee. I completed my Director term on SRRTF in September. This will allow me time to focus on carrying out the VVCC mission and business plan (more on this will follow in subsequent Member newsletters). 

At the annual meeting in September, the Board elects the Executive Committee members to one year terms.

The 2022-2023 Executive Committee is:

              President - Dan Blaettler

              Vice President - Tracy Randall

              Secretary - Marty Glinsky

              Treasurer - Kevin Adams 

One of the things I want to mention is a shift in priorities by the Board. 2022 was a record-setting year as we raised almost $600,000 for trails in the Verde Valley. We also initiated a Five Year Business Plan which places a top priority on events and support for Members. This means that you can expect to see more and enjoyable events and benefits and less emphasis on trails. To this end, the Board also adopted an official VVCC Mission Statement.

VVCC Mission Statement:

The mission of the VVCC is to advocate for Verde Valley cyclists by providing memorable, safe riding experiences while preserving and expanding biking access through partnerships. 

Our Mission to provide memorable, safe riding experiences is now the #1 Priority in our Five Year Strategic Business Plan.

The Board will be communicating to you about this commitment over the next year. 

Ride safe with fun and passion!

Dan Blaettler

Women of the VVCC, ready to step up your riding with two days of coaching from world class riders here in beautiful Sedona? Come experience a magical two days and progress your mountain biking beyond what you thought was possible.

The VVCC is auctioning off one entry to Liv Ladies Allride Camp Oct 13-14. Proceeds from the auction will go to support the trails in the Verde Valley. This sold out signature camp is valued at $425

Reply to this email with your bid by July 24. Winner will be announced on July 25th.

The camp schedule is (more details the schedule here)

• Oct 12, 5:30PM-7PM Happy Hour & Pre-Registration - meet & greet with coaches,
• Oct 13, 9AM-5:30pm Skills, drills, thrills in the morning, Catered Lunch, trail ride in the afternoon
• Oct 14 9AM-5PM Skills, drills, thrills in the morning, Catered Lunch, trail ride in the afternoon

More details on the the camp here

VVCC would like to thank Thunder Mountain Bike and Liv for donating this camp entry and supporting Verde Valleys trails

VVCC    

The Blowout Wash trail project is not the only trail construction occurring this upcoming field season. The VVCC’s good friends at FUN are in the process of raising funds to construct a bike skills park at Mountain View Preparatory (MVP) School in Cottonwood with construction scheduled to begin in late 2020/early 2021. FUN was able to raise the Outride Fund match requirement in less than 10 days and still needs to raise another $50,000 to make this bike skills park a reality.

Read more HERE.

VVCC Awards Trail Construction Contract

The VVCC has recently awarded a trail construction contract valued at $137,500.00 to the Arizona Conservation Corps (AZCC) to provide 6-person trail crews (“Crews” each crew consisting of 1 crew leader, 1 assistant crew leader, 4 members) for 22 weeks to expedite completion of Phase 2 of the Blowout Wash Community Trail System Project (Project) under Forest Service (FS) supervision. Two Crews will work simultaneously for 10 weeks each followed by one Crew for two weeks.

The Project is a community-driven trails initiative that was conceptualized in 2008 by the City of Cottonwood to provide recreation opportunities to the residents and visitors of Cottonwood, Clarkdale and Jerome. The Project will encourage positive stewardship of FS lands adjacent to these communities that have historically incurred unmanaged recreation, illegal off highway vehicle use, trash dumping and concentrated recreational shooting.

The Project is the first of several community trails envisioned as part of the Verde Trails and Access Plan (VTAP). The FS approved the VTAP environmental study in September 2018. The VTAP includes approximately 120 miles of non-motorized and 5 miles of motorized trails within the Verde Ranger District (VRD) of the Prescott National Forest (PNF).

The Project (~27 miles) is a stacked loop system to facilitate opportunities close in (easiest) and farther out (more challenging).  The Project does not stand alone as it will be connected to the larger Mingus Mountain Trail System and with the Black Canyon National Recreation Trail.  Additionally, the Project connects to the Yavapai College campus and several residential areas in Clarkdale and Cottonwood.

Two public trailheads, Blowout Wash and Yavapai College Verde Valley Campus, provide access to this system. The Yavapai College trailhead will include all weather paved parking, restrooms, signage and interpretive trail safety opportunities.

Phase 2 of the Project will construct ~9 miles of loop trails utilizing AZCC Crews, volunteers and FS personnel. Phase 2 construction activities are summarized as follows:

Trail                                          Length             Constructed by

Higher Learning                      ~3 miles          Hand by AZCC Crews

Blowout                                   3 miles            Mechanized by FS personnel & AZCC Crews

Blowout Butte                         ~1 mile                        Mechanized by FS personnel & AZCC Crews

Lower Trails                            ~2 miles          Hand/Mechanized by FS personnel & volunteers

Phase 2 also includes restoration actions by AZCC Crews to stabilize the ground surface by shortening slope lengths, reducing water flow velocities and trapping sediment through wattle and seeding.

The AZCC contract Project funding is made possible by generous grants to the VVCC from the City of Cottonwood, National Forest and Catena Foundations as well as hundreds of individual donations.