The temptations have finally won and I made my way to Devon for a late morning ride into Devon. I had flirted with the idea many times but Edmonton, or Fort Saskatchewan always won. After a trip to Devon last Summer with a broken ankle for a picture run I knew I was coming here early in the new season.
The verdict: This is a great place if you love dirt jumping, skills parks, or flying down the trail on a cross bike. I took the Altitude and it thirsted for technical trails saturated with rocks and rooty climbs which sadly it did not get**. A good majority of trails are multi use doubletrack which is better than paved but I was hoping for more.
I made it to the campground and rode around there looking for an entrance up onto the hills and was amazed at the amount of people out in their monstrosity camping trailers parked eight feet away from each other. I lost count of the satellite dishes and threw up in my mouth a bit. Luckily at that moment I found an entrance into the woods and was happy to find some singletrack switchbacks climbing up and away from the noisy campground. The trail took me back to the golf course and the doubletrack which lead back to the Jeep. There was a very tempting climb from the parking lot of the bike park alongside the road to the top but I weaseled out.
If Fort Saskatchewan and Devon had some sort of "bike off" rally Fort Saskatchewan would win in the singletrack category hands down. Can't say Ft. Sask. would have a chance in any other category, and with the huge bike culture in Devon. Here's hoping it won't be long until there is lots of singletrack to be had. Although it will be tough to beat my favourite.
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| in the middle of endless doubletrack, a steep technical downhill that takes you to the river, giggidy! |
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| washed out sections of trail low and close to the river |
