I am SPEEEEED: Riding Route #1 The Country.
As per the city website, this is a 40km route that should take about 4 hours. It runs between Albion Falls and Jerseyville Rd at Lovers Lane (why do 80% of these routes start or end at this intersection?)
Connection points
East Mountain: Mountain Brow Blvd./ Limeridge Rd./ Arbour Rd.
Ancaster: Wilson St./Fiddler's Green Rd./ Lovers Lane
Route design
Easy: Paved on-road and a short paved trail section by Albion Falls over the LINC.
Take care crossing Rymal Rd., crossing Highway 6/ Upper James, Wilson St. at the roundabout, and along Jerseyville Rd.
City transit access
East Mountain: Route 21, Route 22 nearby
Ancaster: Route 16, Route 5C/ 5A nearby
Inter-city transit access
None
Our Ride:
Ridden by Jack:
Jacksquatch got his Slurpee after all….
Jack is a New Hope Mechanic described by a customer as "a gentleman in a cycling cap and rather short shorts." He likes under-biking, bikepacking, and bespoke Finnish hammocks.
Our name for this ride: I AM SPEEEEEED
This route ended up being 38.6kms and had 140m of climbing when done east to west. Going in the other direction, it looks to be about 100m of climbing. It took Jack about 2hrs to complete. Making this route into a loop would double or triple the amount of KM's. It's doable, but Jack felt that there are simply nicer routes that could be chosen if you were looking to do an 80-120km ride. Of note is that this route was planned 19 years ago, so a lot of the "countryside" is now subdivisions along the route.
Difficulty Rating:
As far as technical riding is concerned, this is a literally straightforward ride because it is just riding in straight lines. The difficulty in this ride (rated 2 out of 10 for ease and accessibility) comes from the fact that it is 40km with persistent headwinds and no paved shoulders or rest stops. Additionally, it requires you to cross 6 lanes of heavy traffic on Upper James/Highway 6 with no traffic light. This ride would be suitable for moderate to experienced road cyclists. However, it's not particularly leisurely or appropriate for a commute. This route requires that cyclists are extremely comfortable taking space on narrow country highways, strong riders in a headwind, and able to pack enough water for the entire trip as there are no refill stops along the way. Also, only road cyclists would find riding in a straight line with no shade while cars close-pass you fun, so, probably best to leave it to them.
Stardate 75035.7, I finally, a right turn. Little did I know how long I would I be on Kirk road.
Is it easy to find and stay on?:
Starting at Albion is easy because it's well-marked and has a parking lot. Similarly, starting at Loverslane and Jerseyville is relatively easy to find even though there isn't a parking lot or any good reason to start/end a route there. Overall, there are very few turns on this route, so it is generally easy to stay on. Jack did say it starts to play tricks on you, though, because you are just riding straight for so long you begin to worry you've missed your turn.
How was the infrastructure and routing?:
The infrastructure in this ride was primarily just narrow country highways with inconsistent gravel shoulders. A couple of new and well-maintained bike lanes were in the suburban sprawl at the beginning of the ride. The infrastructure could be improved by paving the shoulders of some of these roads, but honestly, it's such weird routing it makes more sense to just make a new route. One key re-route could be to take the Chippewa Rail Trail - this is gravel, though, so it may not be appropriate for road bikes. Additionally, Jack felt that taking Fiddlers Green instead of Shaver Road would make for a nicer ride. Admittedly nobody in this shop rides road bikes, so we may be completely wrong on this review.
Overall Takeaways and Recommendations:
Lots of subdivision views on this ride.
This was just sorta a bummer ride. It wasn't very interesting or scenic; it was mostly just riding in a straight line in a headwind and full sun for 2 hours. When it was made 19 years ago, it may have been a more excellent ride, but there has been a lot of new development in several areas around the route. There are a lot more interesting road rides up towards Waterdown via Snake road. This route could probably just be entirely scrapped, TBH.
Find better routing to cross Highway 6. The spot is unsafe
When routing longer road rides, make sure that you're routing around water resupply areas. This route had none - the farm stands don't sell water.
This area has many great potential stops for conservation areas, etc. When routing up the Chippewa that was not included in this ride.
Prettyyyy Pretty Good: Riding Route #3 Harbour & Lakeshore
As per the Hamilton website - this is a 16km route that is expected to take 1.5 hours and goes between Aldershot Go station and Confederation Park.
From the city website:
Connection points
Aldershot: Aldershot GO/ VIA Station at Waterdown Rd./ Highway 403
Confederation Park: QEW/ Centennial Pkwy
Route design
Easy: Paved; half of the route is a paved trail (Waterfront Trail) or optional on-street (Beach Blvd.)
Take care crossing under the QEW on North Shore Blvd. and crossing the lift bridge
City transit access
Aldershot: Route 18, Burlington Transit 1
Confederation Park: Route 56 (seasonal), Route 11 nearby
Inter-city transit access
Aldershot: GO/ VIA Station
Confederation Park: Stoney Creek (Nash Rd.) GO Transit
Our Ride:
Ridden by: Meredith
Meredith is a long-time New Hope staffer. She works as a mechanic, Ride Smart instructor and teaches our Bike-packing 101-weekend course. She is an avid cyclist and recently completed the cannonball 300 (so she definitely likes long and challenging rides). She is also probably the only one of us who is still nice to people on the phone at the shop.
Our name for this route: prettyyyy pretty good
This ride ended up being 14.2km with about 44m elevation (Aldershot to confederation). Done in the other direction. It looks like you might end up around 150m of elevation. Making this route a loop almost triples the distance, but besides a couple awkward spots, it was given an 8/10 overall by Mere, so it's definitely pretty good!
Difficulty Rating:
Welcome to the danger… er construction zone.
This route scored 8/10 for easiness and accessibility. There are only a couple turns on the route, so it's easy to stay on, and the majority of it is on quiet streets or the lakefront trail, so it's a very chill time. There are only two spots that lower the rating of this route. (1) the awkward start/end across from Aldershot Go station and (2) navigating the weird (and never-ending?) bridge construction on North Shore. Having this route stop/start at Aldershot automatically increases the difficulty of the ride because it pretty much starts you in the middle of a bunch of on and off-ramps, which seems rather unnecessary for a lake shore ride. Additionally, the construction on the highway bridge at North Shore Blvd is such a mess with traffic that Mere ended up actually going off the road and behind a concrete barricaded walkway for pedestrians because it just felt safer. Otherwise, though this route was lovely and relaxing and would be an excellent ride for people new to cycling and looking to go on a longer ride that still maintains a leisurely vibe.
Is It Easy to Stay On?:
Breathe in that fresh Lake Ontario air.
Mere rated this section 9/10 because it's generally well marked with lots of great bike lanes, signs and sharrows. There are also only two really major turns to take, so it is pretty easy to memorize. The only confusion comes from the age of these routes. Because they were made around 2003, they were planned with little to no existing bike infrastructure. Now that both Hamilton and Burlington have been investing in cycling infrastructure, there is a bit of route confusion because these routes keep you off newer bike paths. For example, when turning from Waterdown Rd onto North Shore Blvd, there's now an option to either stay on the road, marked by a sharrow, or to ride into the city park where a paved path and green bike sign mark a different way down the big hill (Mere had ridden that path before, and said "it's really fun! It connects to the bottom of the hill through the woods on a dirt/gravel path, which is very enjoyable and still pretty easy to ride on.")
How Was the Infrastructure?:
Does Burlington even have potholes?
So overall, the infrastructure on this ride was really great. There were lots of bike paths, lanes, and sharrows to choose from. When there weren't, you were on fancy pants Burlington residential neighbourhood streets, so you know they were well maintained. The primary spot that this route lost points on was the overpass, as mentioned earlier, where Mere described it as "confusing signage, mashed pavement and random concrete barriers and pylons to throw you off from finding a straight way through." There is lots of infrastructure along the waterfront trail portion that makes this an especially beginner or family-friendly route. Notable mentions go to the plentiful benches, good stuff to lean your bike on during a break, places to grab snacks, and a giant row of bike racks beside the Barangas patio.
Overall Takeaways and Recommendations:
The main takeaway from this route is that if you axe the Aldershot Go station section, and if that bridge construction ever finishes, this is/will be a really nice and easy bike route. It includes just enough elevation to improve beginner fitness without being impossible to complete without risk of failure.
Make the routes easier to update when new infrastructure becomes available. This way, you don't have to worry about entirely overhauling them every 10-20 years when traffic and infrastructure have inevitably changed.
Find a nice way to make it an actual lakeshore loop that can be done starting and ending in Hamilton. It will definitely require adding some km's but would probably be worth it as this is a pretty standard way for people to ride to the beach from downtown.
Don't start/stop cycling routes at the Aldershot Go station. Depending on the time of day, the bike racks on the buses back to Hamilton can be pretty full, and the cost of the go bus is $4, which probably won't break the bank but may act as a barrier. Additionally, sometimes you end up waiting a while between buses which can be an annoying deterrent to using this route.
Please finish that underpass/bridge construction. It sucks.
Ride Smart North
On the road again
After a week and a half at home Ride Smart staff headed North again. This time we opted to take the Highway 11 route through Cochrane and set out with new t-shirts and new destinations. The first stop was Armstrong (Also known as Armstrong station) about 3 hours NNE of Thunder Bay. We met with a very keen teacher at the local elementary school who has built about 5 km of mountain bike trails right in the town. He offered to take us for a ride later and we couldn’t resist. We also met with a youth worker and band council representative from Whitesand First Nation, a community that abuts Armstrong and they were enthusiastic about having the program in their community in August!
The following day we headed south to Gull Bay First Nation to meet with a Band Council representative and offer pop-up repairs and do some short rides with youth the dozen youth that showed up. We repaired 5 bikes as well in the short time we visited and will be back in August to deliver a full day or two of programming.
After catching a few fish for dinner, we headed for Red Lake the next morning, but not before stopping in Thunder Bay to get (fingers crossed) our last Covid test of this pandemic so we could safely enter Pikangikum to help get the bike program rolling again for the season.
Pikangikum Bike Program
In the past, our partnership with the Ontario Provincial Police has allowed us to fly straight into Pikangikum, but things did not work out for flights this time. This provided a challenge and a great opportunity, to paddle a canoe from the end of the all-weather road into Pikangikum. The majority of this route we had ridden on fat bikes for the Ice Road Challenge in 2020 so it was great to see it from the water rather than the ice! What looked like 12-15km on a topographic map ended up being 19km of paddling so the paddle in took about 3 hours and 20 minutes, an overall rewarding experience. Thanks to Goldseekers Outfitters for providing us with an excellent, lightweight, Kevlar canoe that was a dream to paddle; think the ‘carbon road bike’ equivalent of canoes!
Once on the ground in Pikangikum, we headed to the shipping container shop and found Rusty had already got a head start on tidying things up and getting bikes ready for this season. We jumped in to help with tune ups and organizing, and made a list of parts, accessories, and tools to ship north to make things run even smoother. We were also able to connect with Public Works to get the second, smaller shipping container full of bikes moved over to live beside the bike shop.
With the bike shop and program in capable hands of Rusty and Tony (both have worked with the program before), we reloaded our canoe and paddled back to our parked van. This time we made the trip in under 3 hours, whether this was due to better navigation, a tail wind, or a determination to make it to Thunder Bay before we slept, no one will ever know, but Strava proves that it did happen.
We did in fact make it to Thunder Bay that night, slept in the back of the van for 3.5 hours and continued straight home to Southern Ontario.
A successful trip – 4700km later…
Our second trip north was extremely beneficial from a planning perspective as it provided face to face meetings with new partners and allowed us to connect with Rusty and Tony as summer staff for the Pikangikum bike program. Our fundraising efforts from the Ice Road Challenge and a generous donation from the Cataraqui-Kingston Rotary Club will support these summer positions and provide continuity for the Pikangikum Bike Program. The Pikangikum band council through summer student employment has also provided two summer staff to the program giving the flexibility for some staff to remain at the bike shop while others head out for rides in the community and on local trails.
Map of our route
Escarpment Rail Fail: Riding Route #9 The Escarpment Rail Trail
As per the city website, this is a 9km, 1hr easy ride that goes between Corktown Park and Mountain Brow Blvd, sort of across from the Albion Falls viewing platform.
From the city website:
Connection points
Downtown: Corktown Park at Ferguson Ave./ Young St.
East Mountain: Mountain Brow Blvd./ Limeridge Rd./ Arbour Rd.
Route design
Easy: Paved trail, gradual slope
Take care crossing Wentworth St.
City transit access
Downtown: many HSR Routes
East Mountain: Route 21, Route 22 nearby
Inter-city transit access
Downtown: Hamilton GO Centre (GO Transit, Coach Canada, Greyhound)
Our Ride:
Ridden by: Rebecca
Rebecca is “too cool” for social media so here’s Ron, her dog.
Rebecca pretends to be in law school, but we all know she's a New Hope lifer. She has been a programs coordinator and mechanic for 6 years.. or 60. We've lost count at this point. Rebecca likes riding gravel bikes, mountain bikes and climbing big rocks.
Our name for the route: The Escarpment Rail Fail
This route is 8.3km each way. It can be made a "loop" if you continue on Mountain Brow Blvd for about 100m to the Rail trail access. This isn't so much a loop as just riding back the way you came while avoiding the stress of getting passed by cars going 70 in a 30 zone. This route so far has the most minor climbing at 95m of elevation when done Corktown to Albion. It took Rebecca about 30 minutes.
Is it easy?:
This route would be genuinely easy with 10/10 for leisure, commuting and accessibility if it stayed on the rail trail the entire way to Albion Falls. The rail-trail portion of the route is excellent for families and beginner cyclists. Starting from downtown, it is predominantly an uphill ride. Still, the slope is relatively gradual. Going slowly and taking breaks at one of the numerous lookout spots will make it enjoyable for all skill levels. It is one of Rebecca’s favourite sections of city biking. Additionally, the Rail Trail also often acts as a nicer way to commute between downtown and the east mountain by bike. The city website says to take care crossing Wentworth street; this is now easier with the new pedestrian crossing they installed last year but do take care as cars coming down the mountain still regularly run that red light.
A very nice ride up the escarpment.
One of the main things impacting whether this is an "easy" route is the routing choice made to take Mountain Brow Blvd rather than the Rail Trail to get to Albion itself. As an experienced downtown cyclist, even Rebecca felt her stress levels rising as cars close passed her, going well over the posted speed limit. Mountain Brow Blvd has only a partially paved shoulder for bikes and pedestrians to share. If cyclists decide to take the lane, their curvy and narrow shape with speeding cars tends to harsh the mellow obtained on the Rail Trail. Rebeca felt it would be unsafe to take kids or beginner cyclists onto that portion of Mountain Brow Blvd, especially if it was a busy waterfall time like evenings or weekends.
Was it well marked and easy to find/stay on?
That’s the end. Its literally a small sign in the middle of a road.
If starting at Corktown park, the beginning is straightforward to find. The turn off the rail trail onto a side path that leads you to Mohawk at Mountain Brown isn't marked, but it's also the only major turn, so it's easy enough to figure out looking at the map. The end of the route and the beginning at Albion are just small green bike signs on the shoulder that say "start" and "end," so if you aren't looking for them, you might miss them.
How was the infrastructure?
“Paved”
Calling the rail trail a paved trail is somewhat generous as the path requires serious maintenance in several spots. It's still a reasonably comfortable ride with a hybrid or a bike with larger tires, though. The infrastructure for anything but cars on Mountain Brow Blvd is entirely missing. The shoulder is inconsistently paved and also has pedestrians in it. At the same time, the lanes for traffic are incredibly narrow and winding, with a solid yellow line dividing the lanes for the majority of the road. The speed is lowered from 50-30 over that stretch. Still, cars were aggressively overtaking Rebecca, who was averaging 25km/h on that stretch of the ride. For infrastructure and infrastructure maintenance, Rebecca scored this ride a 4/10. The Rail Trail likely needs to be switched to gravel since most of the pavement is torn up and parts are splitting and sliding down the escarpment.
OK but no shade I love this crossing light.
Additionally, if cyclists are going to be routed on to Mountain Brow Blvd, it needs infrastructure to ensure the road can be shared safely between cars, cyclists, and pedestrians. Everyone in the shop agreed that they would never take that road to get to Albion Falls. The four points were primarily given for the pedestrian crossing light installed across Wentworth street. Still, there does need to be a red light camera installed there since cars run it frequently.
Overall takeaways and recommendations:
Draw how you felt at the end of this ride, Rebecca.
One of the primary takeaways of this route is that the Rail Trail is a treasure of cyclist and pedestrian infrastructure in the city. The ride is picturesque in every season. This is unfortunately dampened by the nightmare that is riding on Mountain Brow Blvd, especially when the Rail Trail continues along beside it to the same destination. This route had the feeling that it had never actually been ridden before it was posted.
Invest in putting better pedestrian and cyclist infrastructure on Mountain Brow Blvd. It is a beautiful road to ride on, but if you are not keeping up with traffic going 60-80km/h, it is a somewhat stressful experience. Or simply keep the route on the Rail Trail the whole time.
Spruce up the Rail Trail. She deserves it. But by spruce up we mean probably switch it to just gravel like the Chedoke Radial Trail since that seems to be the better medium for surviving on the escarpment.
Ride Smart Travels Across Ontario
As the province has started opening back up, our Ride Smart program leads (Andrew and Adam) have been hitting the road to promote our cycle education program, and we mean really hitting the road! From Sioux Lookout, to South River, Parry Sound and then Armstrong for the last week of June. Along the way they’ve been building partnerships and connections that will allow the program to be delivered in new communities!
Sioux Lookout will host the Ride Smart program in July and then the team will continue northward with the trailer and program vehicle to Pickle Lake and North Caribou First Nations to offer the program in these communities! We have also built connections with an indigenous youth drop in centre in Sioux Lookout called WINKS which has some 40+ program bikes. Ride Smart will be able to support this program with additional repair training for youth and program staff and outfitting the group with proper repair tools to maintain their fleet of bikes!
A student practices riding a slalom course for the Ride Smart video.
The team has also spent three days filming digital content that will create a video of cycling fundamentals that teachers, volunteers and students will be able to use across the province to improve fundamental cycling skills.
Funding support for Ride Smart in 2021 has been provided by the Community Foundations of Canada Health Communities Initiative and Jumpstart Charities.
To follow along with the Ride Smart program as it goes across the province follow @RideSmartOntario on Facebook and Instagram!
Che-Okie-Doke: Riding Route #10 The Chedoke Radial Rail Trail
Chedoke Radial Rail Trail #10
As per the city of Hamilton this is another “Easy” route. It's a 12km ride which goes between Corktown Park and Ancaster at Jersey Road and Lovers Lane [a lot of the rides start or end here and we can't figure out why]. Also again the city does not specify which of these is the ideal starting point. The city says it should take about an hour.
From the city website:
Connection points
Downtown: Corktown Park at Ferguson Ave./ Young St.
Ancaster: Wilson St./ Fiddler's Green Rd./ Lovers Lane
Route design
Easy: Combination of paved on-street and unpaved on Chedoke Rail Trail; stairs with trough crossing Highway 403. Northbound: no paved option west of Dundurn St.
Take care on Charlton Ave. westbound or on Herkimer St. eastbound and at Wilson St.
City transit access
Downtown: many HSR Routes
Ancaster: Route 16, Route 5C/ 5A nearby
Inter-city transit access
Downtown: Hamilton GO Centre (GO Transit, Coach Canada, Greyhound - lol RIP)
OUR RIDE
Ridden By: Jack
Last Known Image of Jack
Jack is a New Hope Mechanic who was described by a customer as "a gentleman in a cycling cap and rather short shorts." He likes under-biking, bikepacking, and bespoke Finnish hammocks.
Our name for the route: Che-Okie-Doke
This route is 12 km each way. When done East to West, it has 193m of climbing [aka entirely uphill]. When done West to East, it has around 60m of climbing. There is no nice way to make this route into a loop without tripling or quadrupling the KM's, so for this one, Jack just turned around in Ancaster and rode back downtown. Riding East to West took about 45m.
Is it actually an easy ride?
We should also mention its not just “a couple steps”
The ease of this route is highly dependent on direction. If riding East to West, Jack scored it at a 4 out of 10 for "easiness" because the entire ride is uphill from this direction. It also includes riding up Dundurn street, which is a notoriously steep hill with a 16% grade that most beginner cyclists have to walk. If riding East to West, the route got an 8 out of 10 since it is predominantly downhill. Although regardless of direction, you have to carry your bike up and down the stairs at the bridge that crosses the 403, so some physical fitness is required.
Was it well marked and easy to find/stay on?
If you guessed dont fully turn but go straight into that little unmarked pathway.. you’re right!
The start points of all of these routes are easy to find. This route got a score of 5/10 for navigation, with the downtown portion being relatively well marked and the Ancaster section being poorly marked. One significant issue was at the Mohawk/Filman intersection. Here, the lights don't change for cyclists, so you have to dismount to press the walk button or run the light, and the path you are supposed to get on isn't marked and looks like someone's driveway rather than a cycling path. Jack initially missed this turn and ended up lost in a suburb for 10 minutes before realizing the little path was part of the bike route.
How was the infrastructure and routing?
WHO IS SHE
Jack gave the maintenance level of the infrastructure a 5/10. Most of the roads were well enough maintained, with the Charlton bike lane desperately needing to be repaved [other staff who commute on this, and their butts agree]. The gravel section up the Chedoke radial trail is fairly average maintenance wise with one particular area of extremely deep loose gravel before the golf course parking lot. The top of the trail into Ancaster has also apparently been ripped up by quad bikes riding it when muddy with other washed-out sections to be aware of. The star of the infrastructure show on this route is the public fountain, which you’ll need after that ride up Dundurn.
The routing choices were the primary issue on this ride. Riding East to West, you are immediately routed the wrong way on Forest street. Additionally, if you are riding West to East, you are expected to know to hop up to Herkimer for the bike lane in the proper direction even though the map does not reflect this. It is noted in the "things to watch out for" portion by the city but is not adequately explained in our opinion. In addition, Jack indicated some abysmal routing choices when it came to road crossings, with the example that the ride has you make a sketchy left turn from Halson to Wilson in Ancaster when there is a gravel road path that connects those roads without requiring that on-road turn. Jack said this turn would be OK if you were alone or with other experienced riders but would be extremely unsafe with kids or beginners. Routing an "easy" ride up Dundurn is also unnecessarily aggressive, especially since the bike lane on Dundurn ends at Aberdeen (where the hill starts to get steep), and cars turning right on to Aberdeen have a tendency to cut off cyclists going straight through the intersection.
Draw how you felt about this ride, Jack.
Overall takeaways and recommendations:
Similar to last review, there are some genuinely beautiful parts of this ride. Primarily the time spent on the Chedoke Radial Trail, and the Radial Right-of-way Trail in Ancaster. With better signage, and route planning (lookin at you highway 403 overpass stairs) this could be a super nice family ride. For a family outing we would definitely suggest cutting out the Ancaster section, and going from West to East to avoid spending an hour riding up hill with the kiddos.
Same as last time, MAKE IT A LOOP. Having routes being unidirectional adds the requirement of transportation from the ending spot or requires the rider to double the length to get back to the start.
Ride the routes before posting them; this would allow for better routing. For example, instead of going straight up Dundurn, you could route cyclists through Kirkendall south and access the Chedoke Radial Trail via the gravel path between Hillcrest and Dundurn, which allows for a less steep climb. Additionally, instead of turning from Halson to Wilson, stay on the radial right-of-way trail you were already on because it links up to Wilson in a safer way a block later. Finally, when route planning for downtown specifying the route going east vs going west is essential as there are a ton of one-way streets.
Give a warning about the stairs crossing the 403 or cut the end of the ride at that bridge; the trip into Ancaster made no sense, especially since, same as the last ride, it drops you in a random residential neighbourhood. Our current theory is that the person who made the routes lives in the area.
Jeckyl & Hyde: Riding Route #6(66) Dundas Valley and Westdale.
As per the City of Hamilton, this route is listed as easy. It is a 21km route between Bayfront park and Ancaster at Jerseyville road and Lovers Lane. The city does not specify which of these is the appropriate starting point.
The City of Hamilton’s Map for the route - follow the #6.
From The City of Hamilton’s website :
Connection points
Ancaster: Wilson St./Fiddler's Green Rd./ Lovers Lane
Hamilton Harbour: Bayfront Park, Bay St./ Barton St.
Route design
Easy: Combination of on-street and trails; unpaved on Rail Trail in Dundas Valley; paved option between Ancaster and Dundas is Wilson St./ Old Dundas Rd
Take care on Sulfur Springs Rd. and on Dundas streets
City transit access
Ancaster: Route 16, Route 5C/ 5A nearby
Hamilton Harbour: Route 99 (seasonal), Route 4, Route 2 nearby
Inter-city transit access
Downtown: Hamilton GO Centre (GO Transit, Coach Canada, Greyhound)
Westdale: McMaster University GO Transit
Our Ride
Ridden By: Meredith Park
Meredith Park is a long-time New Hope staffer. She works as a mechanic, Ride Smart instructor and teaches our Bikepacking 101-weekend course. She is an avid cyclist and recently completed the cannonball 300 (so she definitely likes long and challenging rides). She is also probably the only one of us who is still nice to people on the phone at the shop.
Our name for this route: Jekyll & Hyde.
The route itself was 21km with 288m of climbing. The city description does not list the elevation gain on the route, only the distance. To make this a workable loop, Meredith ended up riding 35km. The city route took about 1h 20m, and the entire loop took about 2h.
Is it easy?:
The elevation map from Meres Strava recording. This route is a lil’ spicy on the legs.
Rather than "easy," Mere felt that this ride would be more of a fitness ride for a newish/moderate cyclist. Someone who is looking for a fun, challenging ride to improve their cardio and technique. Although the route starts off leisurely at Bayfront Park, the Dundas valley segment involves several steep, rooty, and rocky gravel climbs, including a 1km climb up Sulphur Springs road at the end. The accessibility score of this route was a 4 out of 10, and the leisure score was a 5 out of 10, meaning this route may be too much for the average family on entry-level bikes looking to go for a nice ride. It may be easier if the starting point is Ancaster traveling into Bayfront Park.
Was it easy to find and stay on?:
One of the primary problems with this ride is that you cannot open the interactive map provided by the city on a cellphone browser. Instead, you must rely on the city's PDF cycling map, which has part of the route covered by the legend and inconsistent street names, so you mostly navigate by guessing the shape of the route. They also do not have GPX files of the route to download. If you are unfamiliar with the city and, in this case, the DVCA, you will likely get lost on the Dundas section of the ride. This route received a 10/10 on how easy it was to find (if starting at Bayfront Park). Its navigation score was a 4.5 out of 10 because although the Bayfront and city portion of the ride are paved with bike lanes and signage, the rest of the route is primarily unpaved with no bike lanes and no signage. The primary issue with navigation on this ride involved stopping to try and figure out the city map repeatedly with little success, especially in the Dundas Valley.
How was the infrastructure?:
I guess the ride is over now. Lanes done, lets go home.
The trails and roads on this route were mainly in great condition. However, some of the bike lanes ended abruptly, and signage was highly inconsistent. Meredith rated the infrastructure at 8/10. Two notable failures of infrastructure involved Ogilvie rd and a new bike lane in Westdale. This route has you ride up Ogilvie rd in Dundas, which, although it has green bike route signs off to the side, does not have bike lanes and cars have a tendency to be aggressive to cyclists making their way up the hill slowly. If riding the route Bayfront -> Ancaster Meredith felt this would not be a beginner-friendly climb due to the hill's steepness mixed with the volume of traffic and lack of protected or marked bike lanes. The second notable infrastructure failure was in Westdale, where a new bike lane has been installed. Usually, this would be dope, but it's only about 20ft long and abruptly terminates at a parking spot.
Overall takeaways and recommendations:
Let’s be real, rides through the Dundas Valley are always pretty, and rides around Bayfront are always enjoyable. Sometimes, however, putting two fun things together can ruin the experience of both. This ride is fun for a moderate cyclist on a decent bike, but Mere and the staff at New Hope would advise against doing it as a family or beginner ride. How can this route be improved? here are our top three recommendations:
Draw how you feel Mere.
Make it a loop! The drop-off or start in Ancaster is incredibly confusing since it is primarily just a residential area (although there is a lovely ice cream shop a little down the road). Additionally, making bike routes lines rather than loops mandates using a car or bus to shuttle the cyclists to and from the ride. If the routes were planned as loops, they could be accomplished entirely by the cyclist without requiring planning around cars or bus schedules.
Break it up! This route was called Jekyll and Hyde for a reason; the portion of the ride in Bayfront and Westdale was well marked, maintained and would legitimately be fun for a family or casual rider. The valley and Dundas sections of the ride were on an entirely different level than the Bayfront section. This half of the ride required higher levels of rider experience, and fitness and very likely could not be achieved on an entry-level bike while still having fun.
"At least give us a sharrow or something" The lack of infrastructure on Dundas' many hills made this route less than beginner-friendly. This route should be changed to use the rail trail rather than routing through Dundas streets.