Roanoke Mountain Bike Association and Backslope Tools: What Trail Work Looks Like in Virginia

The Roanoke Region of Virginia has become one of the most respected mountain bike destinations in the country. That doesn't happen by accident. It happens because trail crews show up, season after season, and do the work.

The Roanoke Mountain Bike Association is one of those crews. RMBA builds and maintains trails across the Roanoke Region, putting in the kind of sustained effort that turns a good trail system into a great one. We're proud to have our tools in their hands.

A Tool Partnership Built Around Real Trail Days

Earlier in 2026, Backslope Tools and RMBA formalized a partnership. We sent them a full kit of professional trail building tools, including the Clyde Pro, Bert, and Blaze. Not demo units. Not tools sent for a photoshoot. Working tools for working trail days.

In exchange, RMBA and photographer Devin Cutter are documenting what those tools look like in action. Real trail crew conditions, real terrain, real work. The kind of documentation that doesn't happen in a studio.

The first images from Devin are already in. They're exactly what we hoped for.

Why the Roanoke Region

Roanoke has been building trail credibility for years. The region has invested seriously in mountain bike infrastructure, and the trail system reflects it. When you're trying to show what professional trail building tools look like in a real-world context, you want them in the hands of a crew that knows what they're doing in terrain that matters.

RMBA fits that description. Their volunteers and crew members aren't weekend warriors swinging a tool for the first time. They're experienced trail builders who know the difference between equipment that holds up and equipment that doesn't.

That's the audience our tools were built for.

The Tools RMBA Is Using

The Clyde Pro is our flagship McLeod-style trail building tool. Steel head, fiberglass handle, bolt construction. No epoxy. Designed to handle the repetitive load of serious trail work without loosening, cracking, or failing at the joint. The Fuse handle system means a damaged handle is a five-minute field repair, not a reason to stop working.

The Bert is a full-size professional trail building tool built for the same conditions. The Blaze is a fire and trail tool that crosses over well between trail maintenance work and wildland fire applications.

Together they cover most of what a trail crew needs on a working day. That's the kit we sent to Roanoke.

What Professional Trail Building Tools Actually Need to Do

There's a version of a trail building tool that looks good on a website and falls apart on a trail day. The handle loosens after a season. The epoxy joint gives out. The hardware strips. You replace it the next year.

That's not what we build.

Backslope Tools are assembled in Colorado with bolt construction and a handle system designed to be repaired, not replaced. The steel head is the part of the tool that never fails. The handle is designed to be the fuse. When it goes, you replace the handle. Not the whole tool.

That matters for a trail crew that's doing this work for years, not just for a season. It matters even more when you're a volunteer organization trying to stretch every dollar as far as it goes.

More from RMBA Coming in 2026

This is the first look at what the RMBA partnership produces. Over the rest of 2026, we'll be sharing more from Devin Cutter's documentation of RMBA trail days in the Roanoke Region. Real photos, real terrain, real crew.

If you're building or maintaining trails in your region and you're looking for professional trail building tools that hold up to the work, take a look at what we make. The Clyde, Clyde Pro, Bert, and Blaze are all available at backslopetools.com.

And if you're in the Roanoke area, go ride those trails. The RMBA crew has earned it.

Assembled in Colorado. Built for the people doing the work.