Concordia Eco Resort would be a great place for an ebike rental

After picking up the new bike chain at Caneel Bay and installing it, I did a couple more video shots at the Trunk Bay hairpin, then went up John Head Road planning to go straight to a downhill ride on Bordeaux Mountain Road.  When I got to the top rain started and I decided to sit it out instead of going straight to Centerline.  When I got ready to go I noticed my wallet was missing so back down the hill to Trunk Bay hairpin where my wallet was  sitting in a puddle.

So the hairpin was soaked, and a car got seriously confuzzled in the turn with a taxi coming down the hill at a normal pace.  I waved a stop sign and maybe disaster averted.  I proceeded back up John Head Road again accumulating a bit more mud, then drove centerline to Bordeaux.  This part of centerline is not as hazardous as the hill out of Cruz Bay but cars and trucks do expect to go fast. The hills are fairly big ups and downs.  The uphills are not too steep but my casual speed for the ups is around 7 mph and I was conserving battery with the extra climb I had done on a trip that was already going to be  long.  Traffic was light and mostly intelligent about passing but I made a practice of knowing whether the shoulder or gutter cuts were rideable and dip slightly in when something big and fast is overtaking.

Bordeaux Mountain Road is paved at the top as well as in the long steep bottom hill going into Coral Bay.  Traffic should be light and if Mountain Biking is your thing it will be interesting for you.  There are no great views until you start to go seriously down, when they are world class but you'll either need to stop to look or pay attention to your brakes.

I had gone up Bordeaux Mountian from the bottom to see the Stonegarden Cottage, which is about one-third of the way up the steep part of the hill.  Coming doẃn my disc brakes were screaming and hot but I'm told the noise is typical of new Avid BB7 disc brakes and wiping with a bit of rubbing alcohol will quiet them doẃn, and they should last a long time. I say trust, but verify, your brakes before going down a lot of this hill. My brakes settled down on their own after a feẃ miles of normal biking on the rolling hills going to the south shore.  My summary of Bordeaux is you can go up it with an appropriate ebike and steady pedaling in lowest gear but watch your battery use if you go to the top  You can go down it with good disc brakes and better stay on them because if you get faster, gravity will beat you.  I stay under ten, prefer around 6mph.  If you encounter a car, most should be courteous enough to allow you a straight line near the paved gutter but the road is narrow for two cars. There are driveway turnouts you can use; I stopped twice just for my own breaks.  The gutters are passable on bike but watch for rocks.

The road to south shore was a joy to ride.  There are a series of moderate hills with nothing extra steep, and lovely airy views as you go down.  There are some fairly sharp corners so watch your speed if you can't see that you have a clear straightish runout.  Get into a fairly low gear for the uphills as you will need it by the top.  I was running mostly level 2 out of 5 power on these uphills at around 7mph with steady pedaling.  There are no good shoulders for riding so use your pace or stop at the guardrails if traffic is bad.

My destination was the Concordia Cafe for Open Mike night, which usually happens every Monday 4:30 to 6:30.  It can get crowded so arrive early.  I think Concordia would break new ecotourism ground if they add an electric bike rental concession. The South Shore road, like the North Shore, is an easy ænd fun ebike with lmited, frequently courteous traffic.

My return was long, south shore to Cinnamon Bay, and I was watching my battery because of the extra trip up John Head so I stuck with a notch lower power than usual. I left around 5:15 pm to get as much daylight as I could but that proved not quite enough to get off the Centerline hill out of Coral Bay before dusk.   I think the combination of happy hour with dusk made the cars a bigger hazard than I'd like to repeat.  I made one choice to hit the passable shoulder hearing a big SUV with lights off and tinted glass bearing down without slowing.  Its line was within a foot of the white line and I doubt that driver saw me in spite of good lighting and my adequate speed; they were probbly doing 35. I suspect waiting later with good lights is safer than dusk, especially if you can gauge when traffic will be light and you can plan based on approaching and trailing headlights what you'd prefer to avoid by pulling out, speeding up or slowing down.  You must drive your bike defensively in the USVI, always.  I won't drink and ebike just one or the other, thanks.

North Shore Road down, no traffic till a couple oncoming cars around the intersection at the bottom. See my more complete analysis of North Shore road in the climbs articile.  In the dark, slow down under 10mph as you approach the S turn at the bottom, or if this is your first trip down, just keep it slow the whole way  This one has become old hat for me as the bikeway to Coral Bay and beyond, but take it easy and slow going down, and pick a low gear and stick with it going up, till you learn a more nuanced set of options.

No traffic on the North Shore back to Cinnamon, and the day's miles totalled 30.5 with battery showing two of four bars remaining; this with a larger than typical 20amp hour battery.  I would guess about 10 to 15 miles left if needed but the bottom two bars are less predictable than the top two.  Your mileage will vary but I am heavy and don't add power to overcome the weight so this number seems fairly conservative.  If you have a smaller battery pack on St John, make your expeditions short till you learn its range, and know your upcoming climbs to avoid a long walk home.