Kingston is Cool!

Kingston is Cool!

"Kingston is Cool" is my friend David's idea! Is something he is dreaming about for sometime now. His vision is to have some kind of mountain biking event in the mountains above Kingston that would show how much more Kingston can offer for those who love riding and the mountains! Is an idea I liked and supported from the beginning! The fact is that there are so many trails in this area that it would really make sense. First we were thinking of some kind of XC race (cross country) we haven't completely trashed this idea , but lets just say , is not easy to find a completely off-road route especially uphill! Second we thought of a mountain bike marathon, with races of different lengths ("beginner" 15 km, "race" 30 km and "marathon" 50 km) this is something that can work however most of the riding would have to be on paved roads, which doesn't fit in the definition of mountain biking!

What if is not a race, does it have to be a race? What if is a day of fun, of riding together with friends, and what if we skip those long climbs to just enjoy the trails going down?

Oh, I know what my good friend Keith would say: " where is the exercise, I need  the miles to get a good exercise "

Well, when you ride down hill you are standing on the pedals, continuously flexing your knees  absorbing lots of the shocks ( similarly to a skier)  and doing this for hours is guaranteed a good exercise!

So, just before I left Jamaica for vacation I decided I'll do a weekend of downhills and test the idea! Was not the first time we did this but perhaps was the first time to do it for two days in a roll! And let me tell it was a blast!
We started 6:30 am and we went all the way till about 4:30 pm! On the way up we passed the "World Explorers" and " Fun and Thrill" if I am not mistaken, remembering all the effort it takes to go uphill, but "not today"! Today was just for fun!

So Andy, David, Marcus and I  drove up to Woodcutters Gap, and descend into Clifton Mount Coffee Farm! What a great place! A beautiful house with a magnificent view over the Blue Mountains , and Catherine's Peak in the background! From here there is a fast and steep descent into St. Peters. We enter the main road right in a deep corner were a few locals seemed happy and at the same time astonished to see us coming from there! One of the man told us he is a rider too and show us his wounds from a bicycle crash, he admitted that some white rum was involved in the story!

From here we ride to Mt Lebanon and Wallenford Coffee factory, here with take our second trail that will carry us across the Yallahs river four times before reaching Roberts Field and the famous "nobody canna cross it" bridge!

Here the vehicle is waiting for us to shuttle us up to Bellevue Great House! ! From here we ride on the Mount Rosanna trail then, Governors Bench trail and Tower Hill trail! The Governors Bench trail is not for the fainted hearted, is very narrow with huge drops on both sides!

  You can see all the way to Cinchona and Blue Mountain Peak on one side and  Bloxburgh, Mount Dispute and Bull Bay, Yallahs on the other! The Tower Hill trail is super fast and fun, it ends in the main road just below Tower Hill!
From here a steep and fast descent into Mavis Bank Coffee Factory for another shuttle up to Flamstead Hill! Here we meet our friend Bradford, a very reliable young man who helps us cleaning and maintaining the trails! We get a short briefing about the condition of the trail after which we dive into Roses Valley. A beautiful trail that passes some lovely pools and waterfalls then a ruin of unknown origin! The trail eventually joins the Money or Boots trail and descends into Dallas and Union Bar. We quickly finish the stock of cold beers, all two of them, so we head down on the road finishing our ride just below Cane River falls. The vehicle is waiting for us with a cooler better stocked than the last bar we visited!
By now we felt really tired after all we did : 7 trails, 17.4 miles of single track with 7614 ft of descent, 10 hrs total time! Great day!




Day 2:
Andy, Marcus and myself,

started in Holywell riding down on the Cascade Trail. I somehow was not sure about the turn off at the end of the trail, so I chose the one that looked the best walked.It turned out to be a trail we haven't rode yet, never the less interesting but chalenging, runing in a deep gully cut by the rain! The trail eventually  disappeared when we found ourselves on a  farm. The main road was not far below, so we decided to "freeride" down the mountain side  down to the main just below Green Hill Post Office! Our friend Buju, welcomed us, he is our local trail builder! We figured out that this was a third version of the Cascade Trail!

We shuttled up to Pads House for the next trail! This is a trail we just cleaned up with Buju a few days before the ride. Nobody rode it yet, so I was really looking forward to try it especially because I knew there were some challenging parts! The top part runs down through the houses, a very fast section. After the last house a nearly invisible right turn takes you on to the real trail! Steep on parts, with steep and impossible switchbacks, certainly with a lot of potential. Everything goes well until I dive into a little step down  and under a fallen tree so I let roll free and hit a stone hidden in the grass! This brings me to a sudden halt, better say my bike! That great feeling of rolling down a steep section ended promptly, I continue through the air, first up, then that feeling of weightlessness that lasted a few milliseconds before crashing down to the ground! Luckily nothing happened so we had a good laugh and continue more precariously!The trail then joins the river and eventually we reach the ruins of the Cedar Valley Factory!  Our driver picked-us up and we head back to Holywell!
 This route is known more as the "Back Road to Holywell! A double dirt track that takes you to Woodford, very fast, and potentially dangerous if you are unlucky to meet with enduro or quad riders flying up the track! It was a lot of fun going down some of the corners have some great berms!
From Woodford a short climb to Happy Gate than down on the trail to Maryland. This is one of my favorites. I use to ride this a lot on weekdays before work. If you ride from Liguanea is about one and a half hours uphill and 30 min back  downhill!  The trail run through an area called Johnny Ridge, a little community that stretches up from Maryland almost all the way to Happy Gate! Is great to ride, you can learn a lot! Every time you ride it you get to do more and better ! This was the case with Marcus who a week before skipped a technical passage, but not today! Well done!

 Next we shuttle up to Strawberry Hill. This is a challenging trail, there is no place for hesitation or mistake on this trail! Is super steep and dusty thus slippery! You literally skidding 50%  of the way down through some steep switch backs. You are controlling the bike through continuously shifting your weight . I hesitated in one corner and went down very quickly, the bike stopped somewhere above me and I rolled down the hill! No serious injury, just shake off the dust and continue down the hill! This is clearly the shortest way to come down from Strawberry Hill (on a trail)!

A climb up Dustry Road  at the hottest time of the day takes us to the next trail! A short climb towards Bamboo Lodge then a left turn on a climbing trail. The end of the trail is a two step drop off in a narrow gully with barb wire on both sides! Andy went down  fairly smooth. My first two or three attempts failed, because I couldn't position myself well and came to a halt almost riding into the barb wire! I eventually managed to tackle it, starting right from the edge! Is a perfectly rideable passage just needs some cleaning, somebody dropped some rubble on it, making it more difficult and slippery!
 After this, Down Pipe Gully 1, 2 and 3! Always fun! Next we meet David at Crystal Edge, we have lunch then decide to do the last trail for the day, Bermuda Mount Trail. I think we all felt tired and had a few crashes by now so we decided to take it easy. There is nothing easy about this trail, rock gardens, steep parts, tight switch backs. We stopped on the way  down, some of the rock gardens were impassable, so we moved a few rocks packed some holes, next time will be much easier and ridable! We ended in Gordon Town and reward ourselves with a cold beer! Totals : 7 trails, 7950ft descent, 15.8 miles, 10 hrs.
Two great days of fantastic riding. Did we do all the trails in Kingston area? Not even from far, I chose, the best and some of the most technical trails in Kingston area, the "crème de la crème"!

 Kingston  has so much to offer for mountain biking, I am glad more and more people start to see this!

Thank you Andy, David, Marcus for sharing this adventure with me!