Outer Edge

Some Of West Virginia’s Sweetest Singletrack Flirts With Disaster.

- Graham Averill

Here’s what I know: If I go too far to my left, I’ll fall off the face of the earth and die. It would be a dramatic turn of events, but having geographical boundaries when you’re lost is comforting. This is what explorers must have felt like back when they thought the earth was flat. That edge of the world on the map was scary, but comforting at the same time. Thousands of years later and it’s still flat, at least for my current situation as I ride the rim of the New River Gorge, a dramatic, 800-foot-deep canyon in West Virginia that’s managed by the National Park Service. The New River is best known for its Class-V whitewater and steep rock climbing, but in recent years the park service has welcomed mountain bikers with (relatively) open arms, and a flurry of trail building on park service land and beyond has begun.

“We’re really pushing partnerships with different land owners,” says Adam Stephens, owner of Marathon Bikes in downtown Fayetteville. “The Boy Scouts have a huge presence, the park service manages most of the gorge, raft companies have huge campuses. The bike potential is huge here. The plan is to get the park service and private landowners to build more trail and then start connecting those systems.”