Bike Packing NL Trailway 2022

Final thoughts
The following link (copy paste)

bikepacking.com/routes/Newfoundland-trailway/

Has a good description of the route.
We missed the first 80-100 km due to trail being closed because of washouts- hope to do that piece sometime in the future?

Tech specs

Dan’s bike - hard tail, Giant 27.5” wheels, 1.75” wide tires
3 front sprockets, 9 rear for a total of 27 gears
Dan had lots of mountain bike experience

Kevin’s bike - hard tail, 2021 rockhopper specialized 29’er 2.35” wide tires I believe
Kevin, no mountain bike experience but lots of road biking including 1000 km Labrador to St John’s and ~ 3000 km Europe: England, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway (boat back to UK) and pedal back to Heathrow.

Technology and engineering are much improved over the years. The 29’er with single front sprocket and
9 sprockets on rear was ahead of the 27” 27 gear Giant

Much of the riding on the trailway is in the mid range; that said on downhills and some relative flat sections with good surface, visibility and maybe wind aided higher gears allow for great speed. Yet this is not the norm!
Some of the longer uphills/grades especially when compounded by headwinds required lower gears.
Bottom line the 29’er with 9 gears generally outperformed the Giant 27” 27 gears.

On a camping note a couple of items worthy of mention and pictures attached will identify each. We have done a lot of wilderness travel over the years and certainly for bike packing these items fit the bill to a T!

1 collapsible pot - holds a little more than 1 litre
2 collapsible bowl, cup, folding spork. The spork is solid, unlike the cheaper sold spork that are prone to breaking. The bowl when full provided a meal that was filling and just right, not wanting more and not overfull.
3 Primus stove on butane canister boils 1 litre remarkably quick and efficient. For this trip I used ~ less than one small fuel canister. We also have the full Trangia multi-fuel attachment set but the above combination was far more weight and space efficient.

Great trip and if ever the trailway was a more consistent and proper top dressing (without the buildup of loose stone etc) I would do the trip on an annual basis. As it is the four wheeler guy we encountered 30 km before we reached Badger summed it up best: laughing when he saw us and stating-“well I guess it was on the bucket list and you just had to kick it”😉

Anyone that completes this trip deserves lots of credit, especially perseverance and adaptability.

We were fortunate that we could ride every day, had no significant rain (except one overnight), no extreme cold. Bugs most prevalent in wilderness between Deerlake/Howley and approaching Badger. Bugs outside this range but not the same degree.

Thanks to the following for your help and support/generosity and contribution to making this trip all that it was😎
Darren McDonald loan of bike bags and help with bike/rack preparation/install. The insulated cross bar triangle bag was a gem and one I highly recommend as even in 32 C heat chocolate in that bag did not liquify.

Susan Redmond- your suggestion I think a couple years ago to use FindPenguins for our adventures, I think we will use it again. Getting the hang of it but still learning 😉

Outfitters bike shop for going above and beyond in bike service and prep - ty Aaron!

Cycle Solutions in Corner Brook for rack replacement, and couple upgrades. You kept us moving and confident in our gear, ty👏

Byron’s in Deerlake for your speedy and quality repair to Dan’s panier.

Dan Murphy- as usual a wonderful wilderness companion, a fountain of knowledge with the rare ability to connect all the dots.

To all that followed and supported us in any way Thank You 🙏

Happy TrailsLäs mer