Ran in the whopper 2 days ago. Mostly dry, and good condition, saw some moto tracks but nothing too torn up.
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@Drgonzo I haven’t been to Brunello since August… only a couple trails were overgrown at that time, but no worse than anywhere else in the summer months. I didn’t notice any trails in a state of disrepair.
The skills park tho was a mess. Maybe there’s been some maintenance since this pic in early Aug but it was pretty bad at the time. Rumour has it that area will be developed and the skills park moved elsewhere.
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Wow.
That’s why I use it for free 
When it’s cleaned up I’ll start paying again 
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They just opened new machine built trails that doubled the size of their trail network, but you’re poaching it because there’s grass in the skills park?
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I dont ride the trails there, I only go for the few ladders for my 4yr old, so yes absolutely 
The last time I paid we went down to ride the features and you could barely see them in the overgrown grass.
One could argue that the lack of people paying has contributed to the lack of upkeep…
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You’re reaching
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It’s not reaching to say people not paying admission, means less money for maintenance. It’s cause and effect.
Really at the end of the day, trails in Halifax are rarely up kept. The reason; mainly money. Maintenance isn’t something that seems to be part of budgets for most places. They build parks, but then they fall by the wayside because they don’t budget for continued future maintenance. This is fact, not speculation.
I wasn’t specifically pointing my finger at you.
But don’t complain about maintenance at a place that you aren’t paying admission to attend… when they specifically state you must pay to ride. To me, that’s rude.
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For starters, I’m not complaining, I’m simply stating a fact, and the fact is that I’m not paying to ride there until it’s fixed up.
I’ve been around along time and I’m certainly aware of the old cause and effect.
I’ve been supporting Brunello since it’s inception until August of this year.
It becomes hard to support when I’m going to utalize their skills park (only) and you can’t see the features that you’re paying to use. They had enough money to build new trails but not enough to whipper snip the grass around the existing features 
Anyhow it’s all good. Glad we are having this constructive conversation.
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Purely speculation but the lack of maintenance on the skills park may be because it’s slated to be relocated anyway.
But yeah, for an operation that has a full time grounds crew on staff it wouldn’t take much to trim it back.
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I had no idea about the relocation until reading this tonight.
Fair enough!
Even though it’s due to be moved, unless that’s soon I’m surprised they aren’t maintaining it. Given they have grounds crew on staff. That wouldn’t take much time at all.
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Maybe the trails arent generating enough traffic as a whole for it to even have the revenue to pay for maintenance… the golf course is their main focus
I went to check out Brunello for myself. Overall, Trails seemed fine to me, more nature regrowing into the sides of the machine built trails to become more singletrack-like (improving the aesthetic, IMHO). My first time riding the new trails, which I really enjoyed. I didn’t spend a lot time in the skills park, but other than the skinnies being totally overgrown, all other features seemed clear. A few of the jumps on Party Mix did have some taller weeds on the side leaning into them, where if I was more of a jumper, trying to dial in my steez, it might harsh my mellow a bit.
I would say the condition of the trails, if encountered anywhere else, for the majority of us it wouldn’t even register to comment on. I suppose perceptions/expectations are a bit different when you pay for it, though. Its also a bit amplified when you see the small army of groundskeepers keeping the golf course super immaculate-sparing one person for an hour with a whipper snipper could make all the difference.
The bike trails are a side hustle for Brunello, and that’s fine with me, better than more golf or buildings. I’ll gladly pony up the $4.80 semi-regularly for what I currently see as more for permission to ride on their land, than proactively maintained bike trails. I’m sure it costs less than a bucket of balls for the driving range. Brunello is a business, and rightly or wrongly, if enough of us vote with our wallets, we could continue to see more incremental improvements and expansion. With the trail expansion, there’s certainly now enough to keep me interested for an hour or so while the kids are doing bike lessons there, or for someone to blow off some steam after work. If anyone was a bit underwhelmed with the first stage of trails volume or difficulty-wise- definitely go check it out again!
My original (likely incorrect) understanding is that the trails were a partnership with Bicycle Nova Scotia and was to be a sort of flagship training ground for the MTB development team, and if I look at them in that light I would be somewhat disappointed, seeing the weeds grow up through the BNS labelled portable ramps, and the rusty CCM floorpumps at the trailhead. These aesthetics likely wouldn’t fly with the golf crowd-good thing I’m a dirtbag mountain biker 
I think the quality of the trails are great, though-Thanks Trailflow!
TLDR- trail conditions no big deal, more bike trails are a good thing!
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Maybe it would help to pass on some feedback to Brunello? Good and bad feedback could be helpful to them. What we like - keep and build more. What we don’t - suggest or request that it be fixed.
A little grass around the features could actually soften unplanned landings, as long as it isn’t thorny or woody, but the foliage should definitely be cleared off the features.
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Anyone ride macintosh this morning?
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Anyone know if Cooked is open again at Railyard? Looks like they have been doing some good work in there!
Yup, still closed. Their Facebook and Instagram feeds provide regular updates, best bet is always to check there first.
I had a chance to check out the upper section of Cooked last weekend when it was open, it’s much improved. I’m looking forward to seeing the whole thing when it’s ready.
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