Thank you for your patience through the soft, spring conditions. We know it’s tough to wait but riding too early during freeze-thaw cycles can really damage all the work volunteers put into our singletrack. Despite a bit of rain this week, we are happy to say that Woolastook is adequately dried up and ready to ride!

There’s more good news. You’ll now be able to ride the new alignment of Shoreline West that avoids what used to be a muddy, flow-killing section. The new alignment stays high and dry and looks beautiful. Check out Norm’s walk-through video and tell us that this doesn’t make you want to go ride right now!

Since this is the first singletrack trail network in the Fredericton area that we think is ready to go (aside from our good friends at Mountain Bike Minto) we’re expecting a good crowd out there this weekend. You may see some volunteers out there doing trail work this weekend removing blow-downs and fine tuning things. In fact, we’re looking for a few volunteers to do some leaf/debris blowing. We’ll have our fleet of blowers all on-site at 10:00 Saturday morning and if you’re willing to volunteer for an hour or two please send us a message (via FB or email) – we’d love to set you up!

Stay connected for more trail updates as other networks dry out and remember to get your 2023 RVC Membership!

Hey Riders,

Last week we released our big master plan for Woolastook park. This week, the plan is being put into action. RVC is proud to share the news that Dig In Trail Building & Design has broken ground on the main connection between what will be Woolastook’s front-country and the new back-country trails that will come next year. RVC’s first professionally built trail is underway!

Ernie and Ian of Dig In bring a very impressive trail resume and we are so psyched to be supporting growth in our local trail industry. They’ve got some impressive skill with both hand-building and using a mini-ex machine and these guys have recently completed projects like the new Fox Trot trail at Poley Mtn., High Tide and Low Tide at Rockwood Park, as well as improvements on the Rockwood Classic MacKay Skyway. You can check out their work on their Instagram channel.

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A post shared by Ernie Campbell 🇨🇦 (@digin_trailbuilding)

They’ll be working on about 800 m of trail for the remainder of this fall targeting a solid ‘intermediate’ level difficulty and using the IMBA Canadian Guidelines for building. Now – you will see this under construction over the next few weeks as you are out fat biking. Please stay off. This is under construction until we announce that it’s open for riders but that will not be until the ground firms up next spring and Dig In can complete their finishing work. For now – it’s called T-22 because that’s how it was identified in our plan but we’ll come up with a better name. We’ve got all winter to think about it.

More value coming to Woolastook and the surrounding local communities from our Canada Community Building Fund Grant!

Cheers!

We are excited today to release a Trails Master Plan for Woolastook that will guide our construction efforts (both professional and volunteer) over the next several years as we develop the area into a top-caliber trailhead.

We wanted to do this right.

We invested some serious time and money into the development of this plan. That’s why we engaged Professional Trailbuilders Association member and local legend Matt Hadley to lead the development of this plan. Matt, and his team members at McElhanney had an impressive depth of experience to bring to the project. They travelled to New Brunswick on several occasions to walk the woods and to understand our goals. They brought ideas and valuable advice on how to develop a trail network sustainably, that’s got a lot to offer to all riders, and will stand the test of time.

This plan will:

• Reshape Woolastook to offer a far better rider experience. We’ll minimize confusing intersections and instead implement hubs where loops can logically stack together to offer enjoyable routes. Spend more time riding and less time checking a map on your phone.
  
• Offer a variety of experiences that cater to riders of all levels. Easier trails will be concentrated to the ‘front country’ adjacent to the trailhead and the further you venture into the ‘backcountry’, the more exciting the ride will get.
  
• Leverage naturally interesting terrain that we have available to us under our agreement with the Province. We’ll develop a dedicated climbing trail to the height-of-land near the popular look-off, and we’ll give you several interesting options to get back downhill.
  
• Provide trails that are enjoyable for our hiking, running, and other non-motorized friends that share our space while minimizing conflict with ATV users who have their own trails in close proximity to us.

We hope you’ll take the time to read through this, and let us know what you think. You can send us messages, email, or engage us on our social channels. We want to hear from you!

We need to make a few acknowledgements. This plan wouldn’t have come together without expertise of Matt Hadley and his team – that is for sure. Locally, we need to also acknowledge folks like Norm Siebrasse, Bev Bunker, and Adam Hadley, who spent many days walking the bush in Woolastook over the last year. We want to thank Sam Bosence, Mountain Bike Atlantic, and local ambassador Scott Debreuil who’ve helped raise the profile of the park. We want to thank Des as great neighbor and partner at the Woolastook Park Campground for all of his support in developing the area. We also have to acknowledge that this plan was funded – in full – through RVC’s grant under the Canada Community Building Fund. Finally, the whole club owes some thanks to Mike Hutchinson. Mike conceived this project from the start, and he’s running it as quickly as he can towards success.

You’ll learn more very soon about the partnerships we’re striking to start the construction, and having this plan puts us in a great place.

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