Superbowl Sunday…The oldest group ride in the Shenandoah Valley

Climbing up to Falgpole on a Forest Service Road

February 3rd was the twenty something annual Superbowl Sunday Ride. While we can’t pin down the first year of the Superbowl ride we know it started sometime in the 1980s and has had a cult following ever since. In fact old Mountain Bike Virginia guidebooks always mentioned Harrisonburg and the Superbowl ride in the same breath. Around the state mountain bikers knew that the hearty Harrisonburg riders tackled the highest point in Rockingham County, Flagpole Knob, the morning of the big game.

For the 2013 edition we saw over one hundred riders on top of Flagpole, although not everyone made the group picture, everyone did make it safely off the mountain. Who knew there were so many ways to descend off of Flagpole? “Red Diamond,” Union Springs road, Pond Knob, Oak Knob, Mud Pond, Hone Quarry Ridge, Heartbreak, Mine’s Run, Big Hollow. Which one would you choose? In our little world of seemingly endless backcountry trails you always have options.

2013 Group Photo on Flagpole