Jason Williams and Rich Wilson became fast friends when they started riding in the same areas and found one another on a fitness app, which fueled their competitive spirits to break one another’s records.
Both had been riding at Andrew Leitch for years and separately thought of ways to expand and clean up the trail. As volunteers with Mid-Atlantic Off-Road Enthusiasts (MORE) — a nonprofit of local DMV mountain bikers that aims to increase access to natural surface trails — the two realized they could get this project off the ground.
Williams and Wilson helped clean up and build the trail at Locust Shade Park in Triangle. It took a few years to get the Andrew Leitch project started, but after an event with Keep Prince William Beautiful, the project really started.
“While we were walking through the woods, we discovered so much trash that we were shocked,” Wilson said. “Apparently, residents had just been dumping back there instead of taking things to the dump.”
According to Wilson, work is never done on the trail, but it is already being enjoyed by residents and neighbors alike.