Ride Free – Superior biking infrastructure, historical sites and eclectic neighborhoods led the International Police Mountain Bike Association to hold their annual convention in Richmond, Virginia

 

 

By Kevin Woo | One+

 

Seven score and six years ago, General Ulysses S. Grant and thousands of Union Army soldiers marched to Richmond, Virginia, on their way to an event that would forever change the course of U.S. history. Grant and his men didn’t journey to the city for a convention, of course. Instead they traveled to Richmond in search of Confederate Commander Robert E. Lee to negotiate an end to the U.S. Civil War.

 

Ultimately, Grant and Lee met at the Appomattox Court House, 100 miles west of Richmond, because Lee fled the city after the Siege of Petersburg. As Confederate soldiers fled the city, they set fire to bridges, the armory and warehouses leaving Richmond in ruins.

 

In the ensuing years, the Richmond metro area has become the third largest in the state with 1.2 million residents. The city is a mixture of modern glass office buildings that blend easily with historic sites dating to the 17th century.

 

But what makes this city special is its accessibility. Pathways wind in and around the city, allowing visitors to easily navigate through lush Virginia countryside as well as quaint neighborhoods by bicycle and on foot.

 

In April, soldiers of a different variety held their annual convention in Richmond. More than 500 delegates attended the International Police Mountain Bike Association (IPMBA) conference. The IPMBA meeting is held each year so mountain bike police from around the country can brush up on cycling skills and train for situations that can take place in the field. The attendees practiced everything from riding a bike through a parking garage stairwell to pursuing and safely apprehending suspects in heavily wooded areas.

 

Richmond’s single-track bike trails, narrow bridge crossings, wooded areas and the compact downtown area provided the ideal combination of urban and rural terrain for the police to practice and hone their patrol techniques.

 

“Our mountain bike trails are special because of stunning views, urban feel and access to downtown attractions. It’s very unusual for world-class trails to be in an urban setting,” said Beth Weisbrod, executive director of the Virginia Capital Trail, a 55-mile bike and pedestrian pathway that runs between Richmond, Jamestown and Williamsburg.

 

The bidding process to bring the IPMBA convention to the city was a bit like working for the International Olympic Committee, according to Derek Andresen, a coordinator with the Metropolitan Medical Response System.

 

“The IPMBA selection committee visited Scottsdale, Arizona, and Reno, Nevada, but they quickly selected Richmond because its combination of bike trails, hotels and historic sites—all within a few miles—are among the best in the country,” he said.

 

IPMBA also chose Richmond because 2011 marks the sesquicentennial anniversary of the beginning of the U.S. Civil War, and the city will play host to several events throughout the year to commemorate the war. IPMBA’s selection committee decided that Richmond’s combination of superior biking infrastructure, historical sites, museums, walking tours and eclectic neighborhoods would give the members a unique opportunity to mix police training with tourism and history.

 

Like the bus driver who rides the bus on his day off, it’s not surprising that a lot of attendees spent their off-hours riding bikes around the city to check out the historic sites. They visited the Virginia State Capitol (designed by Thomas Jefferson); St. John’s Church, where Patrick Henry delivered his famous “Give me liberty or give me death” speech; quaint neighborhoods that have wonderfully restored antebellum homes; and Civil War battlefields that are located a short distance from the city.

 

More sedate experiences

 

Of course, not all meeting planners will want to organize X Games-like activities as part of the event agenda. For those who want a more sedate experience in Richmond, self-guided walking tours are an excellent way to see the city. Two popular historic sights are the Museum of the Confederacy and the American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar.

 

The Museum of the Confederacy is located a mile from the Richmond Convention Center. It is home to a vast collection of Confederate States of America artifacts, manuscripts and photographs. On the grounds of the museum is the White House of the Confederacy, where Jefferson Davis and his family lived during the U.S. Civil War.

 

The American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar is located on the site of the former Tredegar Iron Works, an iron foundry that made armor plates, ammunition and railroad steam locomotives during the U.S. Civil War. The museum is the first of its kind to explore the war’s cause, course and legacies through the Union, Confederate and African-American perspectives.

 

“As a community, Richmond has made a conscious decision to ensure that the narrative of the Civil War is told from the perspectives of each of the groups involved,” said Christy Coleman, the center’s president.

 

In addition, guided walking and Segway tours of the downtown area are available through the Valentine Richmond History Center. The sightseeing tours cover about three miles of the downtown area including Capitol Square, Church Hill and Shocke (Richmond’s entertainment and residential district). Custom tours can also be organized in advance through the center.

 

By far, one of the most unique experiences for Richmond visitors is a walk along the James River that retraces the route that slaves took after they disembarked from ships as they were marched to the Lumpkin Slave Jail, where they were held before being auctioned off. There are slave trail walking tours during both the day and night, but the evening walks are by far the most poignant. At one time, slaves were marched from the docks into the city under the cover of darkness to ensure that the residents weren’t disturbed. Some IPMBA members said that walking the trail at night with little illumination and deafening silence gave a deeper understanding to the horrors of slavery. One+