Jay Moglia was an Olympic caliber cyclist. He was an Olympic trials qualifier as an individual rider and, for the Para-Olympics, he piloted in tandem with a blind cyclist. As a longtime member of the National Capitol Velo Club, he was the original member of its elite team and later founded his own team. Whatever team he rode for, he contributed generously to their community events. For his love and dedication to the sport, he was featured as an ambassador for Masi Bikes, and in recognition of his contribution to the sport of cycling, Jay was posthumously honored in 2025 by the US Armed Forces Cycling Classic.
As co-founder of the original Lost River Classics, Jay, his cycling team members, and his life partner Audrey Taucher, brought five US Cycling Federation sanctioned events to Hardy County. The events required strict adherence to all safety regulations and the use of required nationally certified race officials. These events are important because any rider with ambitions to become a professional in the sport must accrue points through officially sanctioned USCF events.
With the outpouring of community enthusiasm, Jay was committed to returning the support. 100% of all profits from these events were donated back to the local community including the Sheriff’s office, Ruritans, and fire and rescue services. Those races brought athletes from across the country and as far away as New Zealand to Hardy County. A noteworthy competitor was Olympian Nima Ebrahimnejad who is now a USA cycling pro team coach.
Jay also created Raw Talent Ranch (RTR), located in Mathias, to provide a comfortable and affordable base for cyclists and triathletes, amateurs and professionals alike. Because of Jay’s recognition within the cycling world, international cycling organization Rapha brought European representatives to West Virginia and to Hardy County as part of their campaign to feature notable cycling destinations.
One of the goals of RTR was to develop talented cyclists by fostering mental, physical discipline and harnessing individual strengths while teaching the skills integral to being part of a successful team. The mountain terrain of Hardy County provided excellent and challenging training grounds.
Raw Talent Ranch brought well-known domestic and international cyclists to West Virginia to train for world-class races including the Tour de France and the Olympics. Among the elite athletes who have trained at RTR are Joe Dombrowski, who came as a junior amateur and was signed to an international pro team racing in the Tour de France. Other athletes of note are Ben King, also a Tour de France rider, and Jeremiah Bishop, a world class international mountain biker who was a gold medalist at the Pan Am games, an 18-time member of the USA National Team and, in addition to other accomplishments, is one of the founders of the Lost River Trails Coalition.
Jay set aside time to train developmental cyclists, including mountain bike riders. Hardy County’s mountain roads provided training routes for racing cyclists, but he needed trails for the mountain bikes. He dreamed of trails at Lost River State Park and with the support of Visit Hardy, brought together a group of regional mountain bikers in 2018 – Ethan Gruber, Jeremiah Bishop, Colby Waller, Audrey Taucher, and Michele Moure-Reeves from Visit Hardy – to meet with the then Superintendent of Lost River State Park, Mike Foster and Assistant Superintendent, Colby Caldwell. From that meeting was born the Lost River Trails Coalition with Jay as the organization’s first president.
Lost River State Park is the single most important recreational asset in Hardy County. Jay recognized this and knew that expanding cycling activity in the park was a way to grow the park’s potential. For years, RTR sent cyclists to stay at the park but aside from a very few trails designated for mountain biking, there were no suitably designed sustainable trails upon which mountain bikers could safely ride. With our proximity to the DC Metro area, improvements to the trail system of Lost River State Park would significantly increase visitors to the park.
To do this, funds are required. Lost River Trails Coalition (LRTC) made it their primary goal to develop a universally engineered trail system that not only provides a range of challenges for experienced mountain bike riders but for riders of all abilities. With the established goal of developing this trail system, LRTC began the task of raising the necessary funds. As part of this effort, the Lost River Classic was re-envisioned as a gravel race open to anyone wishing to register. Entry fees from this event supported the matching funds necessary to begin the design and development of the trail system.
The Hardy County Commission and International Mountain Bicycling Association’s Trails Solutions agreed to be co-sponsors for the Recreational Trails Program (RTP) grants written for LRTC by Visit Hardy. We have been awarded an IMBA Trail Accelerator Grant for planning and two RTP grants with a third RTP grant pending. With the first 3 miles of trails having just been completed and scheduled to open in the spring of 2026, the construction of Phase 2 will bring another 2.5+ miles of trails by 2027. RTP grants require cash matches, with the first one being matched by the John D and Mark C. Lewis Foundation. Lost River Trails Coalition, with the support of community contributions, continues to raise funds to match these grants.
Another of Jay’s dreams was to create a local youth mountain biking team. The “Hardy County Cryptids,” a name chosen by the young riders, was founded by LRTC in 2023. This National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) sanctioned youth group has brought to Hardy County youth the opportunities to learn self-discipline, teamwork, and the joy of being outdoors. An exuberant group, the Cryptids have been enthusiastically participating in NICA sanctioned events with the guidance of community coaches.
Jay passed away in 2021. But his legacy endures and can be seen in the raucous noise of the Cryptids as they race with teams from around the state and in the arms raised in victory as the riders cross the finish line after the Classic. And it will be seen in the exhilaration of the trail riders as they traverse the Jay Moglia Memorial Trail System, on the trails that “Jay built.”