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Bike Packing NL Trailway 2022Bike Packing NL Trailway 2022
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A 15-day adventure by Kevin Read more
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  • Kevin RedmondBike Packing NL Trailway 2022
    Day 15

    Day 14 Cleanup & Reflection

    June 24, 2022 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    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 Trails    Read more

  • Kevin RedmondBike Packing NL Trailway 2022
    3
    Day 14

    Bike Day 13 part 2.

    June 23, 2022 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C
  • Kevin RedmondBike Packing NL Trailway 2022
    Day 14

    Bike Day 13

    June 23, 2022 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Whitborne to St John’s
    Total distance- 90 km
    Elevation gained- ~ 600 meters
    Mixture of challenging and great riding
    One highlight is the “pump runs” (new term to me, ty Dan) where you travel over dips & valley’s (ex large craters) but they are long enough that you can maintain your speed. That was a lot of the terrain in the morning, and that would just be “yes mams “ on 4 wheeler. These sections were often interspersed with the unavoidable rough or soft mounds of loose stone that often brought the bike to a halt!

    Great finish downhill from the overpass to the Railway Station museum😊    Read more

  • Kevin RedmondBike Packing NL Trailway 2022
    Day 13

    Bike Day 12 part 2

    June 22, 2022 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    Note for future bicyclists
    Between Come by Chance (approximately) and Fairhaven road/trailway intersect is very poor for bicycle- as per conditions we experienced June 21-22, 2022.

    If sections between Whitborne and Holyrood are reasonable we should reach St John’s tomorrow?Read more

  • Kevin RedmondBike Packing NL Trailway 2022
    1
    Day 13

    Bike Day 12 Jacks Pond Park to Whitborne

    June 22, 2022 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    Bike Day 12 Jacks Pond to Whitborne
    Distance travelled ~ 72 km
    Elevation gained ~ 650 meters

    Up 5:15 am, on road 6 am. With the open country, trying to minimize peddling against wind.
    A lot of difficult sections with stone buildup to the point where downhill is little advantage. In places the bike stalls. The first 3 hours this was common and slow going.
    Some great sections such as east of Fairhaven, wide, unencumbered sides and hard packed top, great rolling.
    Last section between Placentia junction to Whitborne was far less than perfect but an awesome ride. Many obstacles: aldersle encroaching the trail, Center ridge of loose stone, large and many pools of water, and mistletoe slight downgrade. We could peddle with speed in top 3 gears most of the time and run obstacles like a slalom course.
    No flies all day

    Got bikes stored/ locked at building supply store in Whitborne- in a shed that is for sale 😊 Thank you Byron & Tracy
    Hearts Desire neighbor Terry picked us up in Whitborne and will drop us off in the morning. His wife Pauline was kind enough to bake fresh raisin tea buns. Thank you Pauline and Terry!    Read more

  • Kevin RedmondBike Packing NL Trailway 2022
    Day 11

    Bike Day 11

    June 20, 2022 in Canada ⋅ 🌧 14 °C

    Bike Day 11
    Clarenville to Jacks Pond Park east of Arnold’s Cove
    Total distance 56 km
    Total elevation gained ~ 550 meters••
    •• have to check out the AllTrails app as the elevation gained showed ~550 m before I finished the route and after I closed/saved the route it lists 2679m gained?
    - Clarenville needs better signage and connections with local businesses, including options ex downtown, hotel access etc. As noted in the photos first climb was a challenge with us walking steep grades

    Once on top out of Clarenville peddling was ok but loose stone and softened underside from recent rain created a govnor effect as it was not safe to accelerate or downgrade. Similar conditions between Come by Chance and Jacks Pond where the volume of loose stone stalled any progress and destabilized the bike. At one point with encroaching alders, double track and large Center ridge of loose stone, with speed I tried to cross the Center ridge to the other side but somehow as I curled the handlebars back to the desired track, the bike swung back to where I started with the rear tire stalling in the Center stone- not sure how I stayed upright 😉

    Had some great runs where trail top was packed and lacked loose stone, awesome spinning there as with light or no wind and lower grades than past days we could accelerate upgrade and hold affirmative speed. In this section the dips (potholes/craters) were long enough that riding them was like a sea swell, your bum stayed in the seat, just beautiful fun riding!

    Happy Indigenous Peoples Day
    Today is also the solstice, longest day of the year 😊    Read more

  • Kevin RedmondBike Packing NL Trailway 2022
    Day 10

    Bike Day 9

    June 19, 2022 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Bike Day 9
    Happy Father’s Day to all the dad’s😊
    Benton to Community of Terra Nova
    Total Distance 65 km
    Elevation Gained 550 meters
    Norway like hills, you see the top, then when you get there there is a switchback going up again- sometimes 6-9 times/

    Great ride Benton to Gambo
    Trail in great condition
    Would be nice if the whole route was like between Gander and Gambo. It’s not perfect but there is good ground you can move to- like skiing ⛷

    Gambo to Terra Nova
    Trail improved to a 12 foot wide road after about 5-7 km then things changed 🥲 you would think for the better but alas long uphills, one about 5 - 6 km long with many false summits/switchbacks. On top of that this afternoon the wind seemed to be in our face 90% of the time, really hard work for the 41 km this afternoon    Read more

  • Kevin RedmondBike Packing NL Trailway 2022
    Day 9

    Bike Day 8

    June 18, 2022 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Bike Day 8 - 65 km, 1530 M elevation gained
    Notre Dame jct/park to Benton

    Generally, each successive leg got better with the finish, last 15 km into Benton being a dream ride. Once east of the Gander plateau it was mostly a slight to moderate downhill grade. Peddling in the highest two gears, our speed ranged 15-23 kmh and that only feels safe when the trail is good. It was awesome.

    Gander had maybe the best trail signage of any town yet. In most towns signage consists of asking the local experts.

    We had lunch at the “Moosehead” in Badger and the timing was perfect the light rain for the day was when we were inside. I put my rain jacket on for the first time of the trip and then the rain was gone, if only that worked in St John’s🥲

    As we left Gander a sign on the back of a building said “Rosie’s Restaurant”, Dan suggested going in so we wouldn’t have to cook later. It was great and Sophia text to say it is in the top 10 places to eat in nl 😉

    The winds today were wild! After crossing a dirt road I looked back to see where Dan was and the dust drifted like blizzard snow obscuring the view. We were fortunate that in most places where the trail is trees on both sides the wind is partially broken and baffles. In exposed areas it was wicked and if on the open road would likely have limited our progress.

    Temperature today was great ~ 20 ish? For me it was shorts and long sleeve 250 weight merino wool top.
    Prolonged exposure in open areas would likely require another layer.

    In tent 8 pm, light rain outside. For the first time I put rain gear in tent for the night in the event it continues to morning. Also took book “North to the night: A spiritual odyssey in the Arctic” out of the panier and into the tent. Book is highly recommended by paddling friend Dwayne Smith and is based in northern Baffin & Bylot Islands where we know well after spending a year there 2016/17. A privilege it was, being there!    Read more

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