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.