Riding in Newfoundland

PB Forum :: Canada - Atlantic
Riding in Newfoundland
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flag citizenlee
Posted: Sep 24, 2012 at 1:24 Quote
We went to Brigus for the annual Blueberry Festival, Dildo, Cape Spear and a few other places that I can't remember!

George St was pretty cool, and I think I could eat my weight in burgers from Yellow Belly!

A few photos here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/citizen_lee/
flag hanchardwoodworking
Posted: Sep 24, 2012 at 21:15 Quote
citizenlee wrote:
We went to Brigus for the annual Blueberry Festival, Dildo, Cape Spear and a few other places that I can't remember!

George St was pretty cool, and I think I could eat my weight in burgers from Yellow Belly!

A few photos here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/citizen_lee/

It's good seeing photo's from home, Thanks!
flag Carlben8
Posted: Nov 8, 2012 at 12:49 Quote
jtr101 wrote:
Anyone out there give me an idea of how to get to the start of the trail on kenmount hill??
Hi, just got my bike built and I was wondering the same thing, anybody?
flag morganlambert
O+
Posted: Nov 9, 2012 at 8:39 Quote
By the water tower on top of farrel drive or by the giant tower next to it.
flag Carlben8
Posted: Nov 9, 2012 at 11:12 Quote
Thanks I'll check that out.

Also try to find some info on Whitehill's online but can't find much.
flag MKR1
Posted: Nov 15, 2012 at 6:31 Quote
Carlben8 wrote:
Thanks I'll check that out.

Also try to find some info on Whitehill's online but can't find much.

You can also get to the Kenmount trails via Redmond's road off Blackmarsh.

What sort of riding are you most interested in? There's definitely a lack of publicly available info on the trails around here. I know where just about everything is on the northeast Avalon so I should be able to help you out via the thread or PM.

I'd avoid riding the DH trails on Kenmount right now, they're super wet and sketchy.
flag morganlambert
O+
Posted: Nov 15, 2012 at 7:56 Quote
Wet and sketchy sounds like my kind of trails though.
flag MKR1
Posted: Nov 15, 2012 at 12:43 Quote
bigfootrider10 wrote:
Wet and sketchy sounds like my kind of trails though.

I can relate to this in most cases (have to around here!) but up there the trail tread isn't bedded in very well yet so it's super soft which isn't much fun to ride on and it's easily damaged by bike traffic. Over at WH or Richmond, where the trails are well bedded with lots of rock, riding them wet doesn't cause much damage and is still fun. Smile
flag Carlben8
Posted: Nov 15, 2012 at 14:22 Quote
MKR1 wrote:
Carlben8 wrote:
Thanks I'll check that out.

Also try to find some info on Whitehill's online but can't find much.

You can also get to the Kenmount trails via Redmond's road off Blackmarsh.

What sort of riding are you most interested in? There's definitely a lack of publicly available info on the trails around here. I know where just about everything is on the northeast Avalon so I should be able to help you out via the thread or PM.

I'd avoid riding the DH trails on Kenmount right now, they're super wet and sketchy.

Right on can't wait for the rain to stop to give them a try before it gets too cold. Mostly looking for what I guess you'd call All mountain or light Freeride trails, But really any "quality" trail will do if you know what I mean, you can go in the woods anywhere here and bike all day but a lot of it isn't worth it (which is what I've always done) Finally decided to try to find out what other people ride here.
flag MKR1
Posted: Nov 16, 2012 at 7:07 Quote
Carlben8 wrote:
MKR1 wrote:
Carlben8 wrote:
Thanks I'll check that out.

Also try to find some info on Whitehill's online but can't find much.

You can also get to the Kenmount trails via Redmond's road off Blackmarsh.

What sort of riding are you most interested in? There's definitely a lack of publicly available info on the trails around here. I know where just about everything is on the northeast Avalon so I should be able to help you out via the thread or PM.

I'd avoid riding the DH trails on Kenmount right now, they're super wet and sketchy.

Right on can't wait for the rain to stop to give them a try before it gets too cold. Mostly looking for what I guess you'd call All mountain or light Freeride trails, But really any "quality" trail will do if you know what I mean, you can go in the woods anywhere here and bike all day but a lot of it isn't worth it (which is what I've always done) Finally decided to try to find out what other people ride here.

There are 3 main areas where there are trails built by mountain bikers for mountain biking. Kenmount, White Hills and Richmond Hill/Southside Hills (Kilbride) plus a few other spots not built by mountain bikers that still offer great riding. These would be trails like the ECT from Shea Heights to Fort Amherst, ECT from Torbay to Flatrock and the trails in Pippy Park.

You already have some info on Kenmount. Don't think there's a real map for it, but in addition to the DH trails, there are some XC-ish loops up there. The DH trails are pretty flowy, the XC is tech but not too bad.

White Hills: Loads of trails out there. For XC/AM the main trail is SubNet. It's a 7km loop with lots of ups and downs. We call it an "XC" trail but there are definitely some tech descents on it. It was built by Chris Jerrett who owns Freeride. Excellent trail. Accessed from the overflow parking lot at the DFO building. Let me see if I can PM you a little map.

In the AM vein, there's also the Gut, which starts behind DFO. You go up an old double track off the fire road that runs behind the building and the trail runs out to the top of the headland out over Quidi Vidi. It runs parallel to a section of ECT and is signed once you get to the top of the headland. It ends down where the river runs into the gut (which is also where the DH trails end). The descent has some big boy lines on it. Lots of fun.

The DH trails also start behind DFO except you need to follow the pole line to the right when going up the hill from the DFO back parking lot. Once you get on the pole line, the route to the top is obvious. Seriously steep and technical trails over there. Big bike, fullface and other protective gear highly recommended. I miss riding over there, but I have small kids and just don't have the time for riding dedicated DH these days.

Richmond/Southside: Burly XC/AM riding. Ridiculously technical. In fact it can be very frustrating to the uninitiated, even for good riders. I helped build the trails and I still have trouble in places. There are several loops and it can be easy to get lost temporarily if you don't know your way around. I have a map which I can post later on. Access is from the top of Densmore's lane or from the fire road that runs along Pitts Memorial off Huntingdale drive.

The ECT from Shea Heights to Fort A is highly recommended. Very much in the burly XC/AM vein with a couple DH-worthy descents and lots of big boy lines. Lots of slick rock. Bikes are not officially permitted but we haven't had any problems up there. All of the hikers I've ever met up there were friendly. Access is from the fire road that goes to the microwave towers from Blackhead Road in Sheights.

I'd be happy to show you some of the trails if you're interested. I usually ride pretty early in the morning (kids) but I'm sure between the jigs and reels we can connect for a ride.
flag MKR1
Posted: Nov 16, 2012 at 7:16 Quote
Also, if you're a facebook user, you can search for the following groups:

SubNet mountain bike trail
Richmond Hill-Southside Mountain Bike Trails
Mt Blackmarsh / Kenmount X-Country
Avalon Mountain Bike Association (AMBA)

I'm the admin on the Richmond group so I'll add you if you send a request.

AMBA is in it's early stages but it's an IMBA-affiliated advocacy group, lobbying to keep access to existing trails and for permission to build new ones and taking responsibility for building and maintaining local trails. A worthy cause.
flag Carlben8
Posted: Nov 16, 2012 at 13:38 Quote
Wow that's great! This is incredibly helpful for me and anyone else checking out this forum, thanks for taking the time to post it!
Definitely going to be checking some of these out over the next month. I found an map online for the Kenmount area I'm going to try that loop and probably the ECT trail from Torbay to Flatrock because it's near to home and I've been there before. Any maps would be super helpful, great when it's your first time riding somewhere, even better to have a trail guide, it'd be nice to try and work out a ride sometime (kids as well) I can pm you (?) sometime and see what happens. I've been out of riding for a few years so my skills aren't exactly what they were so I won't be doing any "downhill" runs for a little while.
flag MKR1
Posted: Nov 21, 2012 at 6:22 Quote
Carlben8 wrote:
Wow that's great! This is incredibly helpful for me and anyone else checking out this forum, thanks for taking the time to post it!
Definitely going to be checking some of these out over the next month. I found an map online for the Kenmount area I'm going to try that loop and probably the ECT trail from Torbay to Flatrock because it's near to home and I've been there before. Any maps would be super helpful, great when it's your first time riding somewhere, even better to have a trail guide, it'd be nice to try and work out a ride sometime (kids as well) I can pm you (?) sometime and see what happens. I've been out of riding for a few years so my skills aren't exactly what they were so I won't be doing any "downhill" runs for a little while.

No sweat. I added you to the Richmond group and there's a map in the photo section. I see by the photo section you got out to Kenmount. Did you manage to find the XC trails as well as the DH stuff? Torbay-Flatrock is a good one. The section from the highest point on the cliff down to the end of the point in Flatrock is one of my favourite bits of trail anywhere. Good pedal from Gallows Cove up as well.
flag soapysuds
Posted: Jan 20, 2013 at 19:37 Quote
Hey, I'm moving to St John's and will be staying there for the summer (maybe go to college there too) just wondering if theres people who would show me the trails at white hills? And any other DH places would be sweet but I've been reading a lot of this forum and it seems like the only DH place is white hills. Im moving from near collingwood so ive been pretty spoiled with an actual bike park so close and tons of maintained XC trails, havent dug in awhile but I'm more then happy to help maintain/build trails.
flag christhebrit
Posted: Feb 12, 2013 at 11:40 Quote
I moved here last year and took up biking again. I had no idea where to go either, got it mostly figured out now though.
I have mapped all the Trails in Whitehills, Pippy Park and the torbay to flatrock section of the ECT.

I'm in the final stages of building a website with an interactive map and downloadable gps files for your phone. I'm also trying to pull together some GoPro footage of each trail from vimeo/Youtube. If anyone has any of Subnet, please PM me.

This should launch in a month or so depending on how demanding my kids are.... I basically have to add some photos and I'm done. If anyone has any photos they can send of any trails, that would be very helpful.

Cheers,

Chris.

 


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