Join us on Memorial Day weekend for an open house event to celebrate the opening of a new trail system in Pendleton County called the Sweetwater Farm Trail Center (SWFTC)
Friday May 26th through Monday May 29th, 2023
The Sweetwater Farm Trail Center is a collaboration between Experience Learning and Trail Labs. Exl is a non-profit organization committed to delivering high-quality outdoor programming as a tool to develop competence, confidence, and community for all people of all ages as a mechanism for positive change. TL is a group focused on creating and enabling quality outdoor recreation. Together they bring you the SWFTC, a new fee-for use trail system in Pendleton County. These new trails that have been professionally designed and built by Appalachian Dirt will provide new opportunities for quality mountain biking, hiking, and trail running. Proceeds from pass sales, memberships, bike rental, camping, and retail sales all go towards the creation, expansion, and maintenance of this trail system.
All that’s left to do is show up and enjoy! We’ve got a place and time to convene with a schedule of events ripe for the picking. We’ve got you covered with free bike demos, clinics, and group rides.
Schedule of Events
Friday May 26th, 2023
– 11am : Arrival and Check- in opens (Community Center)
– 12 noon: Ribbon Cutting
– 2pm : Group MTB Ride (On-site)
– 8pm : Opening Camp Fire p/b Appalachian Dirt
Saturday May 27th, 2023
– 9 am : Shop Opens for Check-in and Service
– 10am : Demo Area Opens
– 10:30 am : Group MTB Ride (On-site)
– 11am : Group Kids Ride (On-Site)
– 11 am : Departure Huckleberry/Seneca Creek Shuttle (Spruce Knob) (Pre-Register)
– 12 Noon : MTB Skills Clinics
– Intermediate Clinic with Harry Geyer
– Intermediate Clinic with Kathi Krause
– MTB 101 Introductory Class
– 1 pm : Group Gravel Ride
– 2 pm : Demo Area Closes
– 6 pm : Huffy Toss
– 8 pm : Opening Camp Fire p/b Swilled Dog Cidery
Sunday May 28th, 2023
– 9 am : Shop Opens for Check-in and Service
– 10am : Demo Area Opens
– 10:30 am : Group MTB Ride (On-site)
– 11am : Group Kids Ride (On-Site)
– 11 am : Departure Huckleberry/Seneca Creek Shuttle (Spruce Knob) (Pre-Register)
– 12 Noon : MTB Skills Clinics
– Intermediate Clinic with Harry Geyer
– Intermediate Clinic with Kathi Krause
– MTB 101 Introductory Class
– 1 pm : Group Gravel Ride
– 2 pm : Demo Area Closes
– 6 pm : Slow Race
– 8 pm : Opening Camp Fire p/b ______
Monday May 29th, 2023
– 9 am : Shop Opens for Check-in and Service
– 10 am : Fly Fishing 101 (Pre-Register)
– 10:30 am : Group MTB Ride
– 2pm :
– 3pm : Campsite Break-down
Registration
Help us out and Sign up ahead of time (It’s FREE) so we can plan ahead. If you are interested in the clinics or classes with limited space, be sure to sign up for those early.
REGISTER HERE @ BIKEREG
Trail Info
SWFTC will be opening with approximately 8 miles of purpose built single track trail, in a variety of styles and different ability levels. In addition, approximately 3 miles of farm access road (double track) is blazed and maintained to criss-cross the property.
Additional local trail options……well, there’s an awful lot close by. We recommend these 3 all-day adventures: the Timber/Wolf Shuttle from Reddish Knob in the George Washington NF, the Huckleberry/Seneca Creek Shuttle from Spruce Knob in the Monongahela NF, and the North Fork Mountain Trail.
There are also abundant awesome backroads, gravel roads, and ways to explore the mountains via gravel bike!
Directions
Sweetwater Farm
990 Lightstone Lane
Sugar Grove, WV 26815
1.5 hours from Canaan Valley, WV | 1.75 hours from Elkins, WV | 1.75 hours from Snowshoe Resort, WV | 2.25 hours from Lewisburg, WV | 3.25 hours from Morgantown, WV | 3.75 hours from Charleston, WV | 2.75 hours from Clarksburg, WV |
1.25 hours from Harrisonburg, VA | 1.75 hours from Charlottesville, VA | 2.2 hours from Winchester, VA | 2.5 hours from Roanoke, VA | 3 hours from Fairfax, VA | 3 hours from Leesburg, VA |
2.5 hours to Cumberland, MD | 3.25 hours to Frederick, MD | 4.25 hours to Baltimore, MD |
4.5 hours from Athens, OH | 5.75 hours to Columbus, OH | 6.25 hours from Cleveland, OH | 7 hours from Cincinatti, OH |
3.25 hours to Chambersburg, PA | 4 hours to Harrisburg, PA | 4.25 hours to Pittsburgh, PA | 6 hours to Philadelphia, PA |
Camping and Food
Primitive field camping is free all weekend! We recommend bringing shade with you. If you bring pop ups, make sure to have a way to securely anchor them to the ground…..those flimsy stakes that come with them will not hold up to the wind!
We would definitely recommend bringing food and cooking gear with you as well.
PACK IT IN. PACK IT OUT. Please follow this guidance and take home everything that you brought along with you. We are not set up to dispose of a truck load of individual garbage bags.
Clinics
Time
Clinics run both Saturday and Sunday afternoon with 3 sessions available. The 101 class will be about 1-2 hours in length and the intermediate clinics will range from 3-4 hours.
Ratio
10:1 Student to Coach
What to Bring
– A working, recently tuned up mountain bike (Or get one from the Demo Area if needed)
– Helmet Required. Gloves and Glasses recommended. (bring your knee and elbow pads too if thats how you roll)
– Your camelback and trail kit with all the cool essentials: tube, hand pump, multi-tool, plug kit, snacks, water, etc.
– Your normal mechanics travel kit for things you need: bike wash, bike lube, spare derailleur hanger, tire sealant, etc.
Topics include, but are not limited to:
– Line Choice
– Riding onto and off of obstacles up to 12 inches off the ground.
– Drops at a variety of speeds
– Riding Logs
– Rock Gardens
– Advanced braking control
Coaches
Kathi Krause: Mountain Creek, NJ
Kathi started racing bikes on the velodrome in 1985, and worked her way through criteriums, road, cyclocross and cross country racing before finding her home on the Pro Downhill circuit in 1998. in 2011, with three Masters World Downhill Championships and 25 years of racing in her pocket, Kathi started Dirt Rock n Root Training. She holds instructor certifications through IMBA and PMBIA, and is a USA Cycling licensed coach. She has coached at various mountain bike parks on the East Coast including Mountain Creek, Snowshoe Mountain, Beech Mountain, Highland Mountain, Windham Mountain, Plattekill Mountain and Whiteface Mountain as well as 8 years coaching at the Sundance Midwest Women’s Mountain Bike Clinic. She also runs a series of technical trail clinics in her home state of NJ. Kathi’s main objective is to help bring more women and kids into mountain biking and to promote mountain biking as a lifetime sport. When not coaching, you can find Kathi shredding the trails at Mountain Creek Bike Park.
Harry Geyer: Pittsburgh, PA
Since opening The Wheel Mill in 2013 I’ve had the opportunity to work on my own mountain bike skills as well as help hundreds of other riders learn that there is actually a method to the madness of trail riding. Seeing that moment when a student realizes that they can be in control of their riding without relying on luck or bravado gives me the greatest sense of accomplishment.
Changes, Errors, and Expectations
Hopefully we’ll see you during the weekend to have some fun, hang out, and ride some bikes. That’s the goal. Specific details may change, we might be wrong about some things….hey, people make mistakes. But if you’re coming for a good time, we’ll be able to figure anything out! We do expect to make changes to the schedule of events as we get closer to the weekend, so stay tuned, and check the schedule posted at the event (Located at the Community Center). The best way to stay up to date ahead of time, is to register and get pre event emails that way.
Trail Labs 