Day 1 Port aux Basques to Codroy Pond 77k

The weather could not have been any better with blue skies and no wind all the way, although the heat slowed us down a little in the last couple of hours. Found a perfect spot to camp on Codroy Pond on a secluded beach, soon enjoying Cathy’s moose chilli and a few laughs as we fine-tuned our camp setup.

Trail Conditions: Excellent
Weather: Superb
Issues: None
Distance Today: 77k

Day 1 Strava map and elevation.

First camp set up on Codroy Pond.

One of the dozens of bridges we will cross, all in excellent condition.

Codroy Pond.

More scenic start (or finish) point at 2k mark in Port aux Basques.

Jim enjoys the first of our many campfires.

Lunch stop at Doyles.

Our portable pottie seat finds its first home.

Ideal camp site on the beach halfway along Codroy Pond.

Off we go from the Marine Atlantic parking lot.

Day 0 Sat Aug 24: Getting To The Start

We leave tomorrow so today was all about getting us and our gear to Port aux Basques. Smitty met the rest of the gang there as he was already on the west coast vacationing with Danielle. For the others though it was a 10 hour trek across the Island arriving to a warm sunny evening.

Fine tuning of gear, checked out our starting spot for Sunday morning, and a big supper at Pizza Delight capped off the day. Early to bed, early rise.

The gang arrives in Port aux Basques after a 10-hour drive.

Pre-Ride Meal

Checking out our departure point for Sunday morning. 

Our Second Sponsor: ACRC

Thanks to the Atlantic Canada Regional Council of Carpenters Millwrights and Allied Workers (ACRC) for coming on board as a major sponsor of our ride with a $1000 donation to the Alzheimer Society of NL.

As noted in an earlier post we welcome and greatly appreciate any donations to our charity of choice, and if any company or organization rustles up $1000 or more we would be happy to recognize them in a post to our news feed and with a logo and link placement in the right sidebar "Sponsors" section of our blog.

CLICK HERE to donate now, and please enter "Trailway Trio+1" in the Additional Comments section on the Alzheimers Society donation page so your donation can be tracked to our ride.

NTV News Coverage Part 1

Thanks to NTV for taking an interest in our ride!

Gear Check

Tonight we assembled our gear and started loading the trailer in preparation for Saturday's Day 0 departure for Port aux Basques and Sunday's Day 1 start of our ride.

Don’t worry you won’t see this big trailer coming at you on the rail bed! This unit will be on the highway behind a pickup truck driven by Cathy's husband Rick, carrying Harry’s quad, a smaller trailer and 3 eager passengers (Smitty will already be there following a west coast mini-vacation with Danielle).

Harry's quad will pull a small trailer (not exactly as shown!!) carrying him and all our gear.

Cathy's 2-room tent will accommodate her and Harry while Smitty and Jim crash in their personal pop-ups.

Our First Sponsor: Granite Management Ltd

We are not accepting any financial support for our trip as it will be entirely self-funded. We are however recognizing companies that make donations of $1000 or more to our charity of choice (Alzheimer Society of NL) either directly or through the efforts of their employees.

First on board is Granite Management Ltd and we thank them for their support!

Follow Us

This blog will be updated daily during our trip with highlights and a few pictures, and ALL our pictures will be in THIS GOOGLE ALBUM.

For notification of blog updates you can SUBSCRIBE TO EMAIL UPDATES or the RSS FEED.

Smitty's FACEBOOK PAGE, TWITTER FEED and INSTAGRAM will also see some action.

        

Our Wheels

With the luxury of  ATV support all the way, we can travel light on our bikes as we’ll see Harry and all our gear every few hours. We plan to camp along the T’Railway most nights with a hotel night every now and then. 

Cathy will ride her brand new Salsa carbon fiber Mukluk. Unfortunately Jake is not coming with us!

Smitty’s 2016 Salsa Mukluk with new 4.8 inch rubber should have no trouble on the rough stuff. 

Jim was considering taking his new Salsa carbon gravel bike but has opted to ride his Salsa Bucksaw. 

Harry will tow this trailer behind his quad with plenty of room for all our stuff. 

Alzheimer's Fundraiser

We will use our trip to raise a few bucks in support of the Alzheimer Society of NL, in memory of Cathy's and Harry's Mom who had the disease, and for Smitty's Dad who has it.

If you would like to make a donation please visit dementianl.ca. In the “Additional Comments” section on the Alzheimer donation page please type “Trailway Trio + 1” so funds raised can be tracked.

Many thanks for your support!

Training Ride Arnold's Cove to St. John's

To test our legs and our gear we did a 2-day 1-night ride from Arnold's Cove to St. John's late June, about 2 months out from the big trip.

Day 1 weather was wicked bad with rain, cold temperatures and high winds all day ... Cathy was blown over at one point! When we arrived in Whitbourne for our overnight Harry was waiting in his big warm pick-up truck with an offer to spend the evening at his summer home in Chapel Arm, so we didn't get a chance to test our camping set-up (well sort of ... see picture below!).

Day 2 however was a banner day with sunshine, no wind, and temperatures in the 20s all day. After some repairs to a busted tailpipe Harry dropped us back to the T'Railway in Whitbourne and we were soon met by several of our biking buddies to share the ride back to St. John's.

Just east of Arnold's Cove ... bracing for the start of a long windy ride.

Harry was a welcomed site upon our arrival in Whitbourne.

Roughing it at Harry's shack in Chapel Arm.

Harry makes a temporary fix to a busted tailpipe.

Avondale and the only remaining section of rails (2-3k) on the Island; joined for the Day 2 ride by our biking buddies Jack, Joanne, Alexis, Kirk and Jean.

Seal Cove marks the start of some 35k of groomed trails back to St. John's.