2022 Annual Report

Fellow Cyclists,
I hope you all enjoyed an excellent year of riding bikes in 2022. Mother Nature was very kind to us. Favorable weather patterns brought us rain, which kept the forest fires at bay, and the trails in great shape. We also enjoyed an extended fall riding season with gorgeous colors. I have fond memories of riding through golden aspen groves on Buff Pass last fall, and thinking how fortunate we are to be in such a special place.

We had a very busy year at RCR. We launched the Street Smarts program for 6th graders, our Bike Match program successfully matched over 150 bikes to deserving riders, Adopt-a-Highway volunteers kept our section of highway 131 looking beautiful, 45 Trail Ambassadors assisted and educated trail users, the Emerald Mountain Epic race went off without a hitch, we again deployed several port-a-potties for rural road and gravel riders, we had fantastic turnouts for our trail work days on Emerald, Buff Pass, and other locations, and our fat bike trail grooming on Emerald rolled right along in spite of the massive amount of snow we got this winter. We also continue to tirelessly advocate for the Mad Rabbit trails – currently we are awaiting the final project plan. Lastly,we worked with the City of Steamboat Springs to gain approval for a new downhill trail on Emerald, which could see groundbreaking as early as summer 2023. Our staff and board work hard to facilitate these programs and advocacy efforts, but ultimately we rely on our many community partners and a small army of volunteers to make them successful. Thanks so much to everyone who showed up for us. We are amazed by the generosity and involvement of our biking community.

Speaking of generosity, RCR has enjoyed unprecedented financial support during 2021 and 2022. Thanks to everyone who has made contributions to our organization! As a non-profit group with a volunteer Board of Directors, your money goes directly to fund our programming and pay our amazing staff. With your
continued support we hope to expand the Street Smarts and Bike Match programs. We will also be continuing our other programs, so come on out and join us for a trail work day or a highway cleanup. Meet some new people, give back to your community, and have some fun.

Finally, I would like to offer a special thanks to all of our members. RCR membership is at an all-time high, and we are indebted to all of you who appreciate our efforts enough to join us as members. You give us strength when we stand up in public forums to advocate for cyclists, you give us support to expand and improve our programming, and best of all, you make us feel great about the wonderful community of cyclists we serve.

– Craig Frithsen, RCR Board President