There's Biking in Saint John?

Author: Mike Lawrence

With Rage Against the Machine playing, I nod my head as the songs from "Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium" go on. Biking for me started when I was young. For as long as I can remember, I've had a bike. Nothing fancy, just something to ride on trails, or to school. I wish I had gotten into biking more seriously at a younger age.

Grade 12, I started looking at getting a "real" bike. I must have looked at about 50 different bikes. I then came across the bike I have now, my Norco Atomik.  I saved and bought it. Rode for a summer, learned some stuff, and decided I wanted a hardtail. Enter the P2. This bike opened my eyes to so much more then just jumping stairs, or drops or anything.

I started riding with a few guys I met that live in Quispamsis, about a 15-minute drive from Saint John. We started riding, and immediately started to learn things from each other. There are many hidden talented young riders that live in Quispam/KV.  This I learned after travelling out there to ride with these guys on the stuff that they learned to ride on.

Riding in Saint John seems to be divided into 2 groups. I personally don't like that, but there isn't really much anyone can do. The west side group is huge. I grew up on the west side, and still live there, but, I didn't know they existed until after I started hanging out with the east side guys.

This summer I realized that biking in Saint John has exploded. The scene is rising and with the new skate park being built, it will hit heights previously unseen. I think the most memorable riding day, was Remembrance Day - Nov.11, 2003. This day of grieving, unusually above zero and incredibly sunny, turned into a great day. All riders hit uptown Saint John. When the guys and I hit King Street, we were amazed to see a huge group of riders at the bottom of the hill. There must have been at least 40 people out that day. That doesn't sound like a lot of people compared to the Halifax riding scene, but this was an amazing day. We watched them for a bit, then they took their turn watching us. There were a few attempts for everyone to ride together, but for some reason, it just doesn't happen. To crowded maybe? I really don't know.

But it did become obvious that riding in Saint John is getting bigger, and I hope that it will be someday compare to riding in Halifax. This will obviously take time - Halifax is bigger with awesome street riding and a crazy number of riders, but with all the new talent in Saint John, we might be able to pull it off.

When I first came to Ecmtb.com, there might have been a handful of local riders on the forum. This past season, the number of people on the forum from Saint John has doubled. Which proves my point, biking in Saint John is rising.

The summer of 2004 is going to kick a$$! With the new park, and more and more people getting involved, things are only going to get better. Personally, I can't wait for summer. Hit your goals, learn what you want, and always wear a lid.

E-mail Mike & let him know what's happening in New Brunswick.

Posted by bikergrl at January 18, 2004 04:51 PM

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