One of Ontario’s famous mountain biking trail system that is 30 km long trails is the “Hydrocut Trail system” located in Region of Waterloo. You can experience bridges, board walks and much more aiding to your thrilling ride experience if you’re up for a challenge. While Hydrocut offers a large number of trails, let’s get an insight on a few that offers you the thrill you’d like to experience and enjoy and are in one region of the trail system.
Frankenstein Trail
This is one of the fun and challenging trails to ride, with ride distance of a little over 2 km has an advanced trail difficulty level of (Black diamond), so it requires some good technical handling skills to ace those sharp turns and bends in technical sections of the trail. You’ll love the dirt nature of this trail for sure, that makes the flow of ride so great, once you get going it’ll give you a very nice momentum to gain. Climb and decent is about 80 meters up and down, so be prepared for some paddling and a good grasp on gear shifting technique along the way. Trail itself is single track, hence the better the precision skills you have, the greater it will be to handle it smoothly. Thrilling features include, multiple board walks and giant rocks if you are up for it, if not, you sure have an alternate path to pass by. Passing by other riders can be tricky and due to the narrow trail, you may have to wait it out a bit to find a nicer spot where you can overtake. Be sure to make proper calls as you approach to avoid collision. This trail is a nice loop featuring cross-country biking.
The Bride Trail
The Bride trail is shorter yet a fun trail to ride on, with the intermediate ride difficulty of (Blue level) and total distance of around 650 meters is a good addition to your list. Although difficulty level is intermediate, keep reading to get yourself familiarized with what to expect on this trail.
I have to say, the amount of trees are in abundance, so this dirt trail has some good exposure to roots and twigs along the way, while offering most of the ride in shade that really helps if you show up on a hot day to ride this trail. You’ll find quite a bit of steep jumps due to sudden elevation change, that are going to test you shocks real good and did I say lift yourself off the seat a bit to get through those jumps, definitely helps. Pay close attention to your procession as you pass through a gate of two trees very close by, if you need to slow down a bit, that is very much fine as long as you have your bike in control. Getting hit by the tree is the last thing you want to have on your ride, so diligence is required here. There is some cool bridges to ride on but don’t let the fun get you carried away as they open up to some rough section of the trail immediately after. It’s also a single track trail that is mostly downhill, so much of an effort is on the technical side of things rather than paddling which makes it very interesting and fun to ride. Remember, this is not a loop, so your starting and finish points are different. However, you’ll find a surprise element at the bottom of this article about the finish point.
Stinky Girl Trail
Don’t be fooled by the name, as it may have to do with the landfill site nearby with some whiffs depending on the weather condition may stink a bit, however we are focusing on the trail here which offers a great workout and you have to be in shape for those steep climbs it challenges you with. This is certainly not a trail for a single gear bike or BMX’s for sure, so it would definitely help to have a robust/sturdy bike with great suspension, gears with shifters that you can switch quickly and smoothly to accommodate sudden changes in the terrain as you ride on.
This trail falls somewhere between an intermediate to advanced difficultly level, so be warned of the steep climbs to get your heart rate go real fast. You’ll need to have a real nice suspension on your bike to take you through those bumps and jumps with minimum rattling. Total distance of this trail is around 1.6 km, with around 50 meter climb and 30 meter decent. Whether it’s your first time or another regular visit, the steep climbs will keep your heard pumping, so make sure to have good hydration source, preferably a hydration pack would definitely help you get going. Overall this trail has enough to offer a great amount of thrill to test your skills yet let you enjoy at the same time. You definitely will feel accomplished when you finish this track, will make you a step closer to being a pro, unless you already are.
All of these 3 trails can make your day trip worthwhile, and are located in the same proximity and also offers a loop when you combine the Stinky Girl trail and The Bride trail, while Frankenstein trail itself is a loop. Get some hydration and snacks along to treat yourself after finishing off each trail or for in between breaks. While thrill is good to go for, enjoyment is the key so take it slow if you are starting off.
