Programs
Bike Match
In May of 2021, the RCR Bike Match began as a vision to get bikes that are collecting dust in garages into use by cyclists in our community. This includes riders that might otherwise not have access to a bicycle, adults looking to begin or grow as riders, and families in need of affordable biking options for young riders. Potential bicycle recipients fill out an online request form, and then RCR attempts to match riders with donated bicycles. If you have a (working) bicycle you would like to donate or would like more information on the program, please contact [email protected]
Volunteer Trail Work Days
From June to October, we mobilize volunteers weekly to complete priority projects across all riding areas in the Yampa Valley. Work days focus on new trail construction, maintenance and corridor trimming, trailhead improvements, removal of deadfall, and much more. We work alongside our partners at the U.S. Forest Service, the City of Steamboat, the Bureau of Land Management, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife to accomplish these goals. In 2020, we hit the landmark of 1,000 volunteer person-hours on work projects. To learn more about volunteer work day opportunities, visit our Event Calendar or our Volunteer page!
Trail Ambassadors
In 2020, RCR took over management of the Trail Ambassador program – a contingent of 40+ volunteers who take to the trails throughout the summer in a friendly Ambassador jersey. They form a ground-level interface between recreational tourists (or anyone in need of assistance) and the well-versed local trail use community. The type of assistance they give varies greatly – they point folks in the right direction, help changing a flat tire, assist in the rare medical scenario if necessary, share their electrolytes, and do it all with a smile. To learn more or volunteer as a Trail Ambassador, email [email protected]
Adopt-a-Highway
Routt County Riders has adopted a 2-mile stretch of Highway 131 between Steamboat Springs and Oak Creek, which we serve with small groups of volunteers by picking up roadside trash twice per season – once in the spring, and once in the fall. We know that road riders make up a good number of our supporting members – and this is one way we can lend a helping hand in keeping a popular road riding corridor clean. To lend a hand, find our next highway cleanup day on the Event Calendar!
Road Rider Initiatives + Multi-Modal Advisory
We meet monthly with our Routt County partners as part of the Routt County Multi-Modal Advisory Committee, where we discuss road and gravel riding issues, develop Share the Road outreach and signage to be placed around the county, and more. Most years (2020 being an exception due to COVID restrictions) RCR places a network of porta-johns around popular road and gravel riding spots in the Valley to allow cyclists a bit of relief while out on a long ride!
Bicycle Friendly Driver + Learning Opportunities
RCR works with our partners at Bicycle Colorado to provide Bicycle Friendly Driver – a one-hour course in proactive public road safety between drivers and cyclists aimed at eliminating accidents of this nature. Several RCR Board Members and staff are certified to teach this course – please reach out to [email protected] to schedule a FREE course in your location of choice! This, along with many other learning opportunities such as “Intro to Bike Mechanics”, have been shifted to virtual in 2020 through Bicycle Colorado. Follow us and Bicycle Colorado on social media to learn when courses are coming up.
Trail Counters
Each summer, RCR works with the City of Steamboat Springs to place and monitor 20+ TrafX trail counters on popular ingress + egress routes from trail network areas around town – currently Emerald Mountain (front and ‘back’ side), Buffalo Pass, and the Core Trail. Counters process data on the quantity of users throughout the season and provide valuable information to our land management partners, helping make decisions related to focus areas and priorities.
Winter Fat Bike Grooming
We use a pull-behind groomer on a snowmobile to groom 10+ miles of singletrack fat biking trails on Emerald Mountain throughout the winter. This expands upon the network of cross-country groomed trails that are closer to the Howelsen base, and provides fat bikers with a way of getting up higher on the hill and accessing more miles of winter riding. Follow RCR on social media to get daily and weekly grooming reports during the winter, and click to the Fat Biking section of our “Ride” tab to learn more about winter riding in the Boat!
Emerald Mountain Epic + Race Events
RCR is proud to work alongside Partners in Routt County and a hired Race Director to continue the organization and planning of the Emerald Mountain Epic (formerly known as the Steamboat Stinger) race series. The race happens in August and has categories for trail runners and mountain bikers (solo or duo) – a full out-and-back on Emerald is 26 miles and close to 3,000 feet of climbing – no easy feat! Visit www.emeraldmtnepic.org to learn more.
Nationwide, State, and Local Advocacy
We partner and network with a few state- and nationwide advocacy groups who are working hard at a policy level to affect positive (sometimes legislative) change for cyclists of all sorts. We are an IMBA (International Mountain Biking Association) Local Chapter, a supporting member of Bicycle Colorado, and a key voice in discussions with CMBC, the Colorado Mountain Bike Coalition, as it begins to take form. Beyond this, we participate and listen in on local discussions with the City of Steamboat Parks + Recreation Commission, the Routt Recreation Roundtable, the 2A Trails Committee, and more.