Sport-Touring.Net - Coastal Trail Ride (October 18/09)

Craig's idea to head down Newfoundland's Burin Peninsula and explore the coastal trail from Garnish to the old resettled outport fishing community of Point Rosie, sure turned out to be a good one. It may end up being our last new trail exploration ride of the year, but what a ride it was! I think this may now be my favorite trail on the island.

We lucked into some beautiful sunny weather today, although it was a little on the cool side, with the temperature hovering around the 5 degree Celsius (41 F) mark along the coast. And speaking of 'coast', you really get a fair share of it on this trail route. You can see the water for 95% of the trip, and you have to ride over four stretches of beach, along the way. Our total return distance on the trail was 52 kms.

The trail is mostly rocky ground and hardpack, with some sandy beaches and rocky beaches thrown into the mix. There's also lots of topography, with a nice little hillclimb around every second bend of this very twisty trail.

Craig has ridden the Baja Peninsula before, so he's had plenty of practice with sand and beaches, but the riding on beach rocks experience was completely foreign to Peter and I. But we both figured it out pretty quickly, without taking a spill. The trick is to stand on the pegs, keep your weight back, the front wheel light, and gas it. I thought I was doing pretty well at it, for a newbie, by holding a nice 50 to 60 kms/hr across the longest stretch of beach, when Craig suddenly flew by me doing about 100 kms/hr.

Craig also managed to perform one of the most interesting motorcycle stunts I have seen in awhile...

While attempting to load his bike into his truck, he popped the clutch and back-flipped the bike while it was in the bed of his truck. He somehow managed to do this without damaging the truck, and only breaking the bike's mirror.

Thanks to Craig for suggesting we explore this fantastic route, once again, and for the truck ride down there, and thanks to Peter for joining us on the run. The three of us seem to enjoy riding at the same pace, so that worked out really nicely.

Here's the sat shot of the route, and a bunch of photos from the ride...