Annual Ramps & Rails Festival bike ride event set for Saturday
Trending
ELKINS -- The Highlands Trail Foundation will host its annual Ramps & Rail Festival bike ride along the Allegheny Highlands Trail Saturday.
"We have been doing the bike ride every year since the first Ramp & Rail Festival," Highlands Trail Foundation President Karen Carper told The Inter-Mountain. "We started it because we wanted to try and have something for people to do during the Ramp Festival. And it's such a nice time of the year to do a ride like this."
The event, which is free and open to all skill levels, will get underway at approximately 10 a.m. Registration for the ride will begin at 9:30 a.m. at the Elkins Railroad Depot.
Each participant must wear a helmet and sign a waiver. A parent or guardian must accompany and sign for children under the age of 18.
Riders will depart from the depot and return in time to enjoy everything the festival has to offer, officials said.
Riders will cruise along the paved trail from Elkins to Gilman, which is a total round-trip distance of less than eight miles. A longer ride to the Kerens trailhead is optional.
"Those taking part in the ride will put their heads together and decide how far they want to ride that morning," said Carper. "We always have a couple different groups of riders, as well as some families with kids who show up for the ride. The best thing is that we do it in the morning, that way everyone who rides gets back in time to enjoy the festival."
In order for the Allegheny Highlands Trail to be in peak condition for the Ramps & Rail bike ride, the Highlands Trail Foundation held its annual Spring Cleanup event along the trail last weekend.
"We worked hard to clean up the trail and make it look nice for the ride," Carper said. "We picked up 35 bags of trash and a lot of debris that was on the trail because of the recent flooding in the area. We got all of the trail in Randolph County, and most of it in Tucker County cleaned up. It was a lot of work and we are very grateful for all the volunteers who came out and helped get the trail ready."
Registration will be held at the Highlands Trail Foundation booth, which will be accompanied by a Joey's Bike Shop pop-up tent. Free maps, information, trail T-shirts and other items will be available at the booth.
For more information about the ride, email highlandstrailwv@gmail.com or message HTF via Facebook or highlandstrailwv.org.