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.