Welcome to Steen Wear’s Guide to the 2015 Richmond UCI Cycling World Championships. As the USA gears up to host the first World Road Cycling Championships in 26 years we have put together a comprehensive guide to Richmond 2015. We can’t wait to see everyone there! If you would like to meet up we are hosting a pop-up shop in Richmond from the 20th to the 27th at 201 East Broad Street, just 3 blocks after the Start/Finish line.

We couldn’t think of a better place to host the Richmond 2015 UCI World Championships. Richmond has so much to offer to fans of the world road cycling championships. Photo Credit – Will Fischer (CC License)

Events around the Richmond 2015 World Championships

Part of the core of the 2015 World Road Championships in Richmond is the FanFest located at Greater Richmond Convention Center (403 North 3rd Street). The will be holding the awards ceremony for all of the events in the FanFest zone. It is also the registration and packet pick-up for the Conquer the Cobbles ride on Friday afternoon.

We do plan on holding some events in the evening at the pop-up shop to mingle, share a beer and get to know more people. Click on any date below to find out what is happening, as we find out more events through our FB Group around Richmond 2015 we will update the list below.

Events that will happen all week are:

• Brews and Blues – Free Blues Music at Legend Brewery Monday through Friday of the race at 6pm
• Artcycle – Explore the art of the bicycle in Artcycle, a participatory exhibition in VMFA
• Balance in Motion – The Evolution of Cycling in America exhibition opening
• Richmond Rides Bicycle Tours – Embrace the intersection of biking food and history.
• Bicycle Stories, Illustrations – Professional artists including artspace members and others from the Richmond area are paired with the writers to create a unique work of art to illustrate their stories about bikes and bicycling.
• Bike 2015: Richmond Wheels – Get ready to pop a wheelie as you trace the evolution of the bicycle from its origins to the sleek, modern designs that line the streets around the world today.
• DEAR RICHMOND…A GLOBAL POSTCARD PROJECT – this exhibition is dedicated to the city of Richmond and features postcards with messages for the city from all over the WORLD
• In Gear: Richmond Cycles – a uniquely-Valentine take on the history of cycling in Richmond from the 19th century to the present day.

Race Details For Richmond 2015

Team Time Trial – Teams start from the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, racing through Richmond’s historic Northside neighborhoods before heading into downtown. The course continues east of Richmond paralleling the Virginia Capital Trail. The race re-enters the city through Shockoe Bottom and finish with a slight vertical gain in the final kilometers of the race.

Junior Men and Women & Elite Women’s Time Trial – Racers will head to Monument Avenue, a paver-lined, historic boulevard that’s been named one of the “10 Great Streets in America.” A 180-degree turn at N. Davis Avenue and backtracking on the same course toward downtown before crossing the James River. After another turnaround, the race returns towards downtown and again across the James River and winding through downtown Richmond. The challenging 300-meter-long climb on Governor Street comes in the final kilometers of the race before finishing in downtown.

Elite Women, U23 and Junior Men will each complete two laps of the circuit and Junior Women will complete one lap.

Elite Men’s Time Trial – 53km (32.9m) – The Elite Men will start well to the north at Kings Dominion Amusement Park. Riders will pass through Meadow Event Park and head south on long and open roads toward Richmond. The Elite Men follow the same last kilometers as the Women and Jr Men’s Time Trials, facing the same 300m long Governor Street climb in the closing kilometers

Road Circuit – 16.2km (10m) laps – All categories for the Richmond 2015 World Road Championships will race on the same circuit through downtown Richmond, Virginia. Each group will head west from downtown Richmond toward Monument Avenue (a historic boulevard lined with period homes) before making a 180-degree turn at the Jefferson Davis monument. The race flows through the Uptown district and past Virginia Commonwealth University before heading back toward downtown and turning right on N 2nd Street.

The race heads down into Shockoe Bottom district of Richmond passing the historic Richmond Main Street station and following the Virginia Capitol trail along the James River. A almost 180-degree turn at Rocketts Landing shoots the riders to the twisty & cobbled 200-meter climb up to Libby Hill Park.

A quick descent, followed by three hard turns leads to a 100-meter-long climb up 23rd Street, then returning into Shockoe Bottom. The final 300-meter-long climb up Governor Street comes within the final kilometer of the race with just under 700m of false flat before the finish of the race.

Where to Watch the Richmond 2015 World Championships

You really can’t go wrong for any of the circuits with downtown Richmond. All the races finish at the intersection of N 5th Street and E Broad Street right in front of the downtown Richmond Marriott Hotel. The intersection of N 2nd Street and E Broad Street will give you two viewings per lap during the road races and in the downtime between viewings you can come and visit us at our pop-up shop located at 201 East Broad Street.

For the Road Races at Richmond 2015 Worlds the main fan area will defiantly be the cobblestone hill at Libby Park. While not as steep and long as many of the famous cobbled climbs in Belgium it will provide a very good viewing location of the races and there should be a large Jumbotron screen for everyone to enjoy watching the races unfold. The Start/Finish area will also feature a Jumbotron screen and restrooms will be nearby.

What to see – eat – visit during the Richmond World Championships?

Below is our comprehensive list of places in and around Richmond that we felt were worthy of a mention. Put together from “Best of” lists, some googling and help from the RVA sub-reddit we have put together over 135 different points of interest for Richmond 2015. Below is our interactive google map where you can turn off different layers to find exactly what you are looking for during the world road championships. We suggest turning on only the set you want to look at as there is a lot to see and do in the area!

Steen Wear’s owner, Gregg Germer, gives his opinions on where he will be visiting during his stay in Richmond running our Pop-up Shop. You can use the map above to search and see where any of his suggestions are located.

Breweries

I am a sucker for barrel aged beers these days and for the best in this category I’m going to put Legend Brewing Company and Strangeways Brewing on my list of breweries to visit. Isley Brewing has a good variety of beers that look appealing and worth the trip.

Bars

Mekong is going to be one of my nightly meals, as it’s a Vietnamese restaurant, but also has a massive selection of beers available. Don’t let the strip mall exterior confuse you. The Capitol Ale House was suggested by several for both beer selection and food, so it’s going to be one of the nights for me. Station 2 has been tipped off as 1/2 price VA beers from 3 to 6 for Happy Hour. I might have to close the shop up early for that one day! The Answer Brewpub comes highly rated, has a huge tap list and lots of select and hard to find beers. It’s going to be one to try!

For those who are looking for cocktails The Rouge Gentleman has the best reputation in town according to Reddit.

Food

I grew up in New Orleans, so for me Lady N’awlins Cajun Cafe is a must stop. I’m not sure how authentic the food will be, but it’s going to be better than anything I can get in Belgium for Cajun! Just three blocks from our pop-up shop is Saison Market, which is both a really nice food shop, but also a great daily cafe (who have a good beer selection). BBQ will be on the menu at least one night, so it’s going to be a toss up between Alamo BBQ and Extra Billy’s Smokehouse and Brewery, both come highly recommended and I might have to make BBQ happen two nights so I can try and compare. If you need a meal delivered there is a local bike delivery service called Quickness RVA that can help deliver restaurant food to you.

For some fine dinning L’Opossum is fine French dinning. They were ranked in the top 100 of Opentable’s “Foodies” list and also the only Virginia restaurant to make the top-30 Best of list for Southern Living magazine.

Coffee Shops

Sefton Coffee is located very close to the course and was seconded as a great place to visit by several people.

Bike Shops in Richmond

Carytown Bicycle Company is located in the trendy Carytown section of Richmond and is one of the largest shops in the area. It has a reputation for a large selection of goods, friendly staff and even has the Goatocado cafe located inside the bike shop.

Dessert

My morning stop is probably going to be Dixieland Donuts as it will be on my route from my B&B to the pop-up shop. If you are coming from the East side of Richmond Country Style Donuts are apparently the best in the area. I’m not sure if I’ll make it, but I’m going to try to maybe make a ride happen there at some point in the week.

 

 

Attractions

There is a list of places you can look into visiting during the Richmond World Cycling Championships.

• Libby Hill Park – The location of the VIP Fan Zone, but also really nice views of the city
• Canal Walk/Pipeline Trail/Brown’s Island – a little bit of adventure and history
• VMFA (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts)
• Saint Benedict’s Oktoberfest
• Coalition Theater – Live Comedy
• Lakeside Farmers’ Market – Year Round Farmers’ Market OPEN Saturday MORNINGS and Wednesday ALL DAY
• Science Museum of Virginia
• Children’s Museum of Richmond
• Eerie Nights Ghost Tours
• Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden
• Thunderbolt Indoor Carting
• Kings Dominon

Other

• RVA Trolley – Chartered Driving service – Special UCI rates and services
• Quickness RVA – Food Delivery by bike
• Amtrack Richmond 2015 Worlds Page – special service and conditions for taking your bike by train to the race.