James River Trail System

Two buddies and I (More Beers Than Gears crew) finally got to ride the James River Park System in Richmond a couple of weeks ago. This is a combination of trails (Forest Hill Park, Buttermilk, North Bank & Belle Island) in downtown Richmond along the James river. Probably the best maintained and challenging mtb trails I have ever ridden. We parked just outside of Forest Hill and used that as our entrance and exit point. Forest Hill was a good warm up and really flowed. There were a couple of pretty heavy climbs that really got the heart pumping, especially for three guys on 29er single speeds. We crossed the river on Westover Hills Blvd and rode the trail by Pumphouse Park before heading to Northbank. Northbank is the trail used for the Xtera Challenge every year and it kicked my butt. Lots of technical climbs and descents on tight singletrack. After we finished Northbank, we crossed the river on the pedestrian bridge off of Tredegar St and headed over to Belle Island. The trails and river were packed with people. We did the lap around the island and then headed out onto the rocks to mess around. With so many people laying out on the rocks, it didn't take long before we decided to head across the bridge back to the south side and to Buttermilk. Buttermilk was about 5 miles of hand cut awesomeness. Lots of technical rock gardens and creek crossings, some small climbs and quick downhills. One piece of advice about Buttermilk is that momentum is definitely your friend. There were several times were I hesitated going through a rock garden and paid the price by having to unclip and hike through it... I know, such a freakin nancy. We finished up with Buttermilk and headed back through Forest Hill to our car. Total mileage for the day was 11.7 miles, ride time was right at 2 hours, max speed was 26.7mph with an average speed of 5.4 mph. Elevation and distance chart below.