By Patrick Hurston
Among the crowd gathered Sun., May 31, at Lost River State Park for the grand opening of the Jay Moglia Memorial Trail System was a man who, decades earlier, wasn’t sure Jay Moglia would ever walk again, let alone cycle.
While competing in a cycling race in Miss., Moglia was involved in a devastating accident that sent him through a car windshield. The orthopedic surgeon who treated him managed to save his leg, but the prognosis was uncertain. Walking again would be difficult. Competitive cycling was almost certainly over.
Two years later, Moglia was competing in Olympic Trials.
On Sunday, that same surgeon stood among family members, friends, cyclists, volunteers and community leaders as the community celebrated the official opening of the new trail.
The moment felt fitting.
The story of the trail system itself is, in many ways, the story of Moglia: a vision that refused to quit.
“The only thing that Jay loved more than riding his bike in Lost River was getting other people to ride their bike in Lost River,” his brother, Steve Moglia, told attendees during the ceremony.
What began as one cyclist’s dream has evolved into one of the most significant outdoor recreation projects in recent Hardy County history. It’s a project supporters hope will benefit local residents, inspire future generations, and strengthen the region’s growing outdoor recreation economy.
The first phase of the Jay Moglia Memorial Trail System includes approximately three miles of universally designed purpose-built mountain bike trails at Lost River State Park.
Designed for riders of all ages, abilities and experience levels, the trail network is the first public mountain bike trail system of its kind in Hardy County and includes accommodations for adaptive mountain bikes as well as traditional riders.
For many communities, three miles of trail may not sound especially ambitious.
What makes the project remarkable is how quickly it came together.
Just seven years ago, the Lost River Trails Coalition did not exist.
There were no trail construction plans. No grant awards. No youth mountain biking team. No ribbon-cutting ceremony.
There was simply an idea and a small group of people willing to believe it was possible.
“Today is about vision,” Hardy County Commission President Steve Schetrom told attendees. “Today is about partnership and today is about what can happen when a community comes together around an idea and refuses to let it remain just an idea.”
That idea traces back to Moglia, a nationally respected cyclist who helped establish Lost River as a destination within the Mid-Atlantic cycling community.
According to Audrey Taucher, Moglia’s longtime partner, cycling was much more than a sport to him.
“For him, cycling was the answer to everything — to depression, to a bad day, to finding joy and friendship and kinship,” she said.
Moglia discovered cycling relatively late in life. Yet within a few years, he had earned a professional cycling license and qualified for Olympic time trials at age 40.
More importantly, Taucher said, he possessed a unique ability to inspire others.
“He was the visionary,” she said. “He was also the motivator.”
Whether mentoring young riders, organizing cycling camps or introducing newcomers to Hardy County’s back roads, Moglia constantly sought ways to bring people together.
“He could see talent in people,” Taucher said. “And he could also zero in on people that wanted it but were struggling, and he would help them and encourage them.”
Years before the trail project began, Moglia and Taucher spent two years transforming an old Lost River barn into a gathering place for cyclists visiting the area. The project wasn’t designed to make money. Instead, it was intended to create and build community by offering a place where riders could train, share stories, and build friendships.
Taucher said Moglia would be thrilled to see the progress. “Jay was so committed to the community here. For him, the payoff was always seeing the community happy.”
That same spirit ultimately found its way into the trail system.
“Jay connected people with places,” said professional mountain bike racer and two-time USA National Champion and Pan American Games gold medalist Jeremiah Bishop. “I think it’s just so amazing that now we have a place that’s named after Jay, and it’s such a special tribute.”
Bishop described the project as something larger than a recreation facility.
“Having something that gives forward into the next generation … that’s just a powerful thing.”
That vision might have remained only an idea were it not for the volunteers who continued pushing it forward after Moglia’s deadly heart attack in 2021 while leading a ride in Lost River.
The Lost River Trails Coalition was only established two years earlier, but quickly began building partnerships with Lost River State Park, Visit Hardy, the Hardy County Commission, the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA), the Jonathan D. and Mark C. Lewis Foundation, the Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area, the WVU Smith Outdoor Economic Development Collaborative and numerous local donors and volunteers.
The coalition’s first major breakthrough came in 2022 when it received an IMBA Trail Accelerator Grant. The grant brought trail-planning experts to Lost River State Park to evaluate the property and develop a long-term trail concept plan.
Additional funding soon followed.
In early 2024, the project received its first Recreational Trails Program grant, providing $240,000 toward construction along with a required local match that brought total available funding to approximately $300,000. A second grant awarded later that year provided an additional $200,000 in federal funding with a required $50,000 local match to support future trail construction.
The first three miles of trail were completed in late 2025.
The grants and construction milestones tell part of the story. The people behind them tell the rest.
Current Trails Coalition President Pamela Simmonds laughs when describing how she became involved.
Originally, she joined simply because she wanted to know what kind of trails were being planned and whether they would be suitable for beginner riders.
A few months later, she found herself being asked to lead the organization.
“I really kind of had no idea what I was stepping into,” she admitted.
Since then, Simmonds and a dedicated team of volunteers have helped transform the organization from an ambitious concept into a growing community institution.
Among those critical to its success are Visit Hardy Executive Director Michelle Moure-Reeves, whose grant-writing expertise helped secure key funding; Vice President Vicky Sliwa, who helped launch the youth cycling program; Ethan Gruber, who has played critical roles in fundraising, events and organizational operations; and dozens of community members who contributed time, expertise and resources along the way.
For Simmonds, however, one accomplishment stands above the rest.
At the first informational meeting for what would eventually become the Hardy County Cryptids youth mountain biking team, one student showed up.
One rider. One parent. That was it.
“It was really like, ‘All right, we’ve got one kid,’” Simmonds recalled.
That single rider became a team of more than 10 student-athletes during its first season. Today, the program includes roughly 15 riders and multiple coaches.
“You just need one person to spread the word to the right people,” she said.
The Cryptids have become a recurring theme whenever coalition leaders discuss the future.
While tourism and economic development remain important secondary benefits, speakers repeatedly emphasized Sunday that the trails were never built primarily for visitors.
“It is not just about tourism,” Schetrom said. “This is first and foremost a community asset.”
“These trails belong to the people of Hardy County.”
While the trail system will likely strengthen Hardy County’s reputation as a cycling destination, giving visitors another reason to extend their stays and support local lodging providers, restaurants and businesses, Moure-Reeves stressed that the trails are about expanding opportunities for everyday visitor and locals alike, all while creating a dedicated home for the Cryptids.
For Simmonds, that future is what matters most.
When asked where she hopes to see the organization in 10 years, she didn’t talk about additional grant awards or trail mileage.
Instead, she talked about today’s riders.
“I want to see the trails grow,” she told attendees. “But more than that, I want to see the Cryptids grow with them.”
Her hope is that one day former Cryptids riders will become coaches, trail stewards, board members and community leaders themselves.
“The trails are for everyone,” she said. “But really, they’re for the kids of Hardy County.”
For a project born from one cyclist’s vision, it may be the most fitting legacy imaginable.
Not simply a trail through the woods, but a pathway for the next generation to follow.
