About 5-6 years ago, I was a BMX racer and on occasion rode mountain bikes too. You’d typically find me at Blue Mountain (r.i.p) riding the smoother, man-made fast trails that spoke to the racer in me. During one particular season, I took a trip to Horseshoe Resort in Barrie, ON, and in short… I hated it. In comparison to Blue at the time, it just didn’t offer the same variety of trails, and for someone who prefers more park-like stuff (freeride), Horseshoe at the time didn’t offer any of that.
Fast-forwarding a few years; my friend Matt Konings had taken on the daunting task of revamping Horseshoe. He started working with them in 2016 and has since then made huge improvements to the bike park. More on that in his words below:
“I started working at Horseshoe in September 2016. In May 2017 Horseshoe wanted to make the downhill mountain bike trails more of an attraction.
In 2016 they installed a new lift which is the current lift we use to get riders up. We only had two bike carriers on ten chairs, and in 2020 we added an extra carrier to the 10 chairs to get more riders up. With Blue closing their downhill operation in April 2021 we knew our cliental was going to grow. So we added five more carriers to the chair lift, which double our uphill capacity for the 2021 season.
In 2017 when I looked at the existing 9 trails, I knew there was a lot of work needing to be done. Some trails had the same entrance and just cut off the trail, and where only 800ft of the trail then merged back on the trail you started on. All the trails either ended halfway or 3/4 way down the hill.
In 2018 my goal was to make trails longer and we added a new blue flow trail to put the trail count to 10 trails.
In 2019 the vision was to build a new beginner trail right off the lift and make the jump trail better. Going Green – the new green trail; is all in the open on the ski hill with berms and rollers to build up the rider’s confidence.
With Party Train, we made its own entrance and created more of a BMX trail flow to it. Also in that year, we got all the trails going from the top to bottom and then had the count up to 11 trails.
In 2020 we just kept on improving the trails and added in a green flow trail we called Little Ripper. This trail is perfect for people to warm up on, with small jumps before heading to Party Train. Now the trail count went to 12 trails.
In the 2021 season, we knew it was going to be a busy year with Horseshoe being the only downhill bike park in Ontario. We focused on making a new double black trail sponsored by Smith called Thriller and another green trail called Easy Peezy which is accessed by our Magic Carpet. When the trail crew was busy making new trails they were improving the trails by making things better like making berms bigger, adding a new line to make the trail longer, or making jumps bigger and better.
Now the trail count is 14 trails and in 2022 we will be adding a new blue flow trail and making the Dual Slalom track available all season instead of just for HV Bike Fest. It’s crazy to think that five years ago a busy day was 20 riders to now a busy day is anywhere from 100-150 riders.”
Matt and I know each other from BMX and very recently he messaged me to come up for the weekend, stay over, shred with some other ladies and enjoy everything that Horseshoe had to offer. To be honest, I was stoked for the opportunity but I was nervous about getting on the big bike again. Summer this year was tough for riding in general; there was rarely a day where we didn’t have to deal with humidity and smog from the fires up north (I can literally hear BC folks sarcastically saying boo hoo right now), I definitely didn’t ride as much as I wanted to, so the idea of getting back on a mountain bike was daunting … also did I mention I hated Horseshoe when I went last? I was honest with Matt and I told him this, but he assured me that I’d have a better time and that Horseshoe was more Freeride now.
So on Saturday, I drove up to Barrie with my good friend Trish Bromely; a citizen of the world who also just happened to be in Ontario still that weekend, and took the 2-hour drive up to Horseshoe. We got there in the late afternoon and met up with Matt, who hooked us up with some Norco rentals. It was really important for me to take it easy and to get my eyes trained; I always had this issue at Blue where my body and mind weren’t synced on the first ride, but maybe it was the Norco Shores that I was on or how Matt built the trails, but everything felt so natural, fluid, and my love for MTB was instantly reignited. For the first half day, I think we did about 5 trails, and that night I was beat, but hungry for more the next day. Trish, myself, and our friend Rachel Summers joined a few local ladies and spent the entire day shredding together, pushing and encouraging each other.
As a crew, we rode Party Train, Despicable Me, Light Roast, Lone Ranger, and Freedom rider, and then a few of the ladies did The Smith Trail, while Rachel and I did Little Ripper. Even though Party Train is a freeride double black, you can still roll everything and you don’t need to do a pointless assessment (Was that shade at Blue? yes, yes it was). Party Train is a good example of how every trail can be fun for every level of rider.
I’ve been fortunate enough to go to some amazing bike parks in North America, including Whistler and Highland in New Hampshire, each one giving off its own special vibe and offering something unique for every rider. Horseshoe, with what Matt has done to improve it, is now one of my favorite places and it’s less than two hours from Toronto. As someone with a BMX racing background, I was able to ride and enjoy the majority of the freeride trails and I even enjoyed some of the technical ones. There’s honestly a trail for every kind of rider and there are endless possibilities to challenge yourself. I absolutely loved being surrounded by fellow riders and it wasn’t like being at Blue, where you’re being bombarded by tourists and hikers.
Trish and I had the privilege of staying at the Slopeside Condos; just a light walk away from the bike lifts. We were both stoked and floored by the amount of space…there was so much room for activities! Our condo had two bathrooms, a room with a king-size bed, a room with two twins, another room with a pull-out sofa and TV, and the living room also had a pull-out too. The kitchen was spacious and our condo featured a dining room bench – which I’m picturing in my head as a great space to bond with your crew, maybe have some brewskies and drunken heart-to-heart talks after a long day of riding. It was big, spacious, and it would have been sick if we had a few more people staying with us. The condos are very affordable for the weekend, especially if you ended up splitting it with a crew.
On top of being really close to the lifts, we were also close to the restaurants on-site too. Crazy Horse had a great dinner menu offering typical sports grill fare with live music and you definitely have to hit up Eleven01 Taphouse for breakfast – get the eggs benny. Go for a round of mini-golf, a dip in the pool, and then soon enough relax at the spa that’s going to be built on the property later this year, but more importantly, you need to check out the bike park and get your shred on at Horseshoe Resort.
Big thanks to Matt and Horseshoe for having us out and Trish Bromely for these great photos! Relive our time there by heading to our Instagram page and clicking on our Horseshoe highlight.
