About the Event

The Philadelphia/South Jersey mountain bike community and the Fairmount Park are coming together to host a mountain bike ride event on September 17 in the Wissahickon Valley Park to raise money for trail maintenance and trail building. The Annual Wissahickon Mountain Bike Poker Run is not a race, but a fun self-pace ride on marked trails through the beautiful and challenging Wissahickon Valley Park Five checkpoints along the trail allow riders to draw and build a poker hand. The best poker hands win prizes. The proceeds from the $20 registration fees (children 12 and under only $5) will be donated to the Friends of the Wissahickon to support their ongoing effort to repair and rebuild trails devastated by the significant rain events last summer and fall, as well as to benefit the long-term goal to redesign many existing unsustainable trails and bring them up to IMBA standards.

The Wissahickon Valley Park has long been a popular recreation destination and mountain biking is one of the best ways to experience the park. This event will serve as an opportunity to educate cyclists of park rules, trail conditions and how they can volunteer throughout the entire year to support the park. The event also demonstrates the mountain bike community’s commitment and dedication to the park’s long term welfare.

The Delaware Valley Mountain Bike Patrol (DVMBP) and the Jersey Action Riders Mountain Bike Club (JAR), both members of the International Mountain Bicycling Association, have been supporting the park since 2000 by sponsoring a monthly trail maintenance session and hosting several IMBA Trailbuilding Schools. The DVMBP, volunteer patrol, is a certified National Mountain Bike Patrol who works along with Fairmount Park rangers and staff to assist, educate and inform park visitors. The Poker Run will be a joint effort of these groups to rally support for mountain biking and the Wissahickon.

Event organizers are pleased to have REI onboard as the lead corporate sponsor, in addition to a growing number of sponsors. REI is no stranger to supporting outdoor recreation programs and the Wissahickon and the Poker Run is another opportunity for REI to exhibit their outstanding support of mountain biking.

Registration for the event will open at 8:00 a.m. and close at 10:00 a.m. The registration fee is $20 and $5 for children 12 and under. Prizes will be awarded at 1:00 p.m., so riders must finish before the finale. The Wissahickon MTB Poker Run will offer two alternate courses: a short, easy course for beginners and a long, more difficult for intermediate and advanced cyclists. Helmets are required for all participants.