"Bamboo Shots"

This are pictures from a 2 day ride we did, which represents the southern leg of our "Tour of the Blue Mountains". We explore it, bit by bit before we do the whole ride. The exploring is made difficult by the relative big distance and accessibility from Kingston.The idea is to be able to do this ride unsupported as much as possible off road and have some cool single tracks in it!
Day1
 We left Kingston 5:30 am and get to the trail head at 10:30 am. Riding through: Guava Ridge, Mavis Bank, Mt. Charles, Hagley Gap, Ness Castle, Bethel Gap, Belle Clare. I research thoroughly the area and get as much information I could, load the single track on the GPS and still when we got there it was very hard to find the trail head. Maybe because just simply it was not there! But with the help of the local farmers we got some directions and still take a wrong turn.Luckily we met a farmer in the bush who gave us some directions:(' climb back to the main road and take the next left turn or follow a track that connects to the main trail") . We asked if there is any other turn we should be aware, he said: "No just follow the track" Cool, I taught! So we follow the track until we saw three trails branching off! Sh..t! Non of them was going close to my GPS track! Just when we thought we will have to push uphill to the main road we found a shack and a Rasta Man, we were happy to see him and he must have been a bit shocked to see two "White Man's" in the middle of nowhere with bicycles! With his help we found the right track which proved to be very nice , with difficult rock gardens and sweet switch backs. As we got close to the Mount Vernon the trail was running in a dry river bed with big stones, was fun , you could choose different lines, through or roll over with some small jumps! It was there that we started to hear "Gun" shots. We thought are hunters, maybe shooting for birds or wild hog. We were coming form the bush, so it was not irrational my friends Tony 's nervousness! He ask me if we should continue, my answer was simple " do you want to climb back up"! So we continued and shortly after we spot the first house!Here we inquired about the "hunting", a smiling face assured us we are safe is just bamboo burning! I always heard stories about burning bamboo and the explosion sound it makes, experiencing it, really sounds like gun shots! People from Mount Vernon were very nice, where very surprise to here we rod down the trail! I think the name choice for the trail was easy: "Bamboo Shots" 3 km long! So we have another single track trail, as most of the trails, is walking trail, no work was ever done to make it more rider friendly.It could be an awesome trail, hopefully one day the "Kingstonian" Mountain Biking community will do more mountain biking than "Road Mountain Biking" and will discover the beauty of the unbeaten tracks, and the huge potential this country has for mountain biking! It takes a group effort and dedication to build single tracks, Andy Giles and SMORBA, proved it already doing a fantastic job in St. Mary! BIG UP!

Day 2

 Our friend Wayne drove down to Whispering Bamboo, and join us for the ride!

Plan was to ride straight through Needdham Pen, Cory Hall ( locals called it "Broxton") Wilmington , Frienship to get to Ginger Hall where a hard 4 mile climb was waiting for us! As  almost always what looks like an easy ride on the map and Google Earth it turn to be a very steep climb, it was only 300 m elevation, but I always seem to forget that we start literally at see level. And the heat, those who been in Jamaica know what I am talking about. The views were fantastic we saw a ruin of an old wind mill, unfortunately to far to get a good picture of it. Than we finally reach the top, well the first top and then the next one and the next one and the......! Very interesting landscape  worth some more exploring , it would be a good area for some cross country mountain biking!

From Willmington a fast downhill to Friendship, cross to Ginger Hall and then climb and climb and when you think you are there you hit the steepest part of the climb. You literally you have to touch the handle bar with your nose to prevent your front wheel from lifting of the ground! And finally there!
We had a cold beer by Mr. Anthony's shop, have a little rest and talk with our local friends before we headed down!
The downhill was super fast and fun even though it was on a road, partly unpaved! We decided to ride through Airy Castle and Port Morant. We stopped in Airy Castle for one of the best jelly I ever had.
Our friend Rudi provided this delicious treat for us! We and the local crew, were all entertained by Tony's  way of eating the jelly out of the coconut.What can I say: "Tourist"!! After this, a nice downhill into Port Morant than follow the coast road back to the hotel! Drive back to Kingston!

 It was a great weekend!

by Bogdan Simandan (Boogie)