Dan Casey

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Out in southern Botetourt County lies Carvins Cove, a 1,100-acre, man-made reservoir that has provided most of the Roanoke Valley's water for decades. Surrounding this impoundment is 12,000 acres of rugged and unspoiled land. This mountainous terrain is criss-crossed with fire roads and narrow trails that make it perfect for mountain biking.

This ride features two types of trails -- broad fire roads and narrow single tracks. Much of the narrower trails feature tricky turns and dicey stream crossings. Although mountain biking isn't officially sanctioned on this city-owned land, nobody patrols it. Closed gates and signs at the beginning of some roads suggest that the land isn't recommended for cycling.

This may change in the future. The city will hire a land use consultant who will make recommendations as to whether the property can be officially opened to hiking and biking. For now, there is no blanket prohibition, and the city's informal policy is "don't ask, don't tell."

(Since this was written, riding has been declared legal.)

The Carvins Loop ride is a 10-miler that takes you across the many different types of terrain the watershed offers: challenging uphills, speedy descents and tricky single-track cross-country trails with many stream crossings. The ride begins and ends near commercial fish ponds at the watershed's rear entrance. It is moderate to difficult, and should take you about two hours, including breaks.

Getting there

The starting point is about 15 miles from downtown Roanoke. To get there, take Interstate 581 out of the city, head south on Interstate 81, and take the first exit.

It is marked Salem-New Castle. At the end of the ramp, take a left on Route 419, go to the bottom of the hill, and turn right on Route 311. A couple miles down 311, take a right on Bennett Springs Road. At the next intersection, make a right on Carvins Cove Road. Follow it until just before the pavement ends. You can park in the city-run parking lot. You'll need a permit, lest you get ticketed by perodic patrols. Buy your permit at Just the Right Gear, which you passed on 311.

The ride

The ride takes you up Brushy Mountain, then down it, then up a smaller hill adjacent to Brushy. From here, you can get a grand view of most of the reservoir, plus a glimpse right into downtown Roanoke.

There's a bit of backtracking, then a turn off to a lengthy single track that will take you back to the beginning point.

After parking your car, follow the paved road until it ends (there's a barn and a couple commercial fish ponds here). Go around the gate, if it is closed, and enter the gravel road where the Carvins Cove property begins.

Immediately look for a fire road on the right. A little ways up it there's a gate and a sign warning that it is not recommended for cycling.

The fire road is a steady climb up Brushy Mountain. You'll stay on it for the better part of two miles. When you're nearing the peak, the fire road takes a sharp bend to the right.

There's a small clearing here where someone has built a brick fireplace. You turn off to the left about 25 feet BEFORE the fireplace -- a long, steep, sweeping descent on a pretty soft road.

Be careful, there are some sharp turns with loose rock here, and at least one of them is pretty deep in leaves.

When you hit the bottom, the road forks. Bear right, and stay on this double-track. It'll rise and fall, then begin climbing steeply again. (Part of it you may have to walk).

Stay on the trail until it levels off and then stop. Leave your bikes, and climb up the small rise on the left side of the trail. Below you will be the deep green of Carvins Cove (across the reservoir you'll see the boat dock). This is a great place for a picnic.

Turn around and descend that steep climb, then continue back up a gentler rise.

When you've crested the rise, watch the trail closely. You'll come to a point where the trail is marked with some small logs that look like two T's, top-to-top, with the trail passing between them (it looks kind of like this: --| |--). Here, there's a tiny trail off to the right. Regular Carvins Cove riders have nicknamed this Tricky. It is a narrow single-track that descends for a while before bottoming out in a wooded stream valley. This trail takes you all the way back to the unpaved road into Carvins Cove, very close to where the fire road begins up the mountain.

One note about the single track: There are a half-dozen or so stream crossings through here. Most of them are tricky, with steep banks rising quickly off the opposite side. Be careful on these. At least one of them has a steep hole that'll bounce you off the bike and into the water if you hit it the wrong way.

The same bike riders have found, cleaned up and named dozens of old trails that crisscross the cove's 11,000 mountainous acres. They also fought to open the eyes of Roanoke politicians and bureaucrats to the watershed's potential as a mountain-biking Mecca. Last year, they won grudging acceptance from Roanoke City Council, which agreed to an outdoor management plan that includes biking.

Inman, an ad peddler for a Roanoke television station, was one of the leaders in that effort. Despite his pasty complexion, he's the region's mountain-biking Don King, a shameless promoter who hypes the joys of wheels in woods with the fervor of a TV preacher and the wordplay of a hard-core rapper.

Dan Casey | The Roanoke Times

This ride features two types of trails -- broad fire roads and narrow single tracks. Much of the narrower trails feature tricky turns and dicey stream crossings.

Related

Map

• Map of Carvins Cove

Inman organized the very first Carvins Cove FROTNY in 1990, with a small notice in the Outdoors section of The Roanoke Times. Only 10 bikers joined him that New Year's Day, but the number has been growing ever since. At least 50 showed up for the 2000 FROTNY, when temperatures hovered in the low 60s.

The fact that that many turned out on 2001's first cold and breezy day to test their tires on snowy trails, frozen mud and iced-over streams is evidence of the event's growing popularity.

So is the distance they traveled to get here. Among them were Kim Kokko, an instructor at Virginia Military Institute, who drove down from Lexington to check out Carvins for the first time; Mike Seymour, who came from Abingdon, almost three hours southwest of Roanoke; Doug Hines, from Independence; and Rick Brecht, from Fort Chiswell. The New River Valley's cycling community was also well represented.

Beyond the time, day and meeting spot (the boat ramp parking lot at the end of Reservoir Road), the ride is wholly unorganized. We started down the gravel road on the cove's eastern side, and from there, fanned out along multiple single-track trails like Kit & Caboodle, the Enchanted Forest and Mad Cow. Trails are detailed on a kiosk in the parking lot.