From the ride
A few frames from the day.
A 50 km loop on the country roads around Rouge National Urban Park. Half smooth pavement, half quiet gravel, with butter tarts in the middle.
Map, elevation, and the route file to take with you.
Half pavement, half gravel, on the doorstep of Canada's first national urban park.
"Somewhere in that peace and quiet, you'll be reminded why you fell in love with this sport in the first place."
This 50 km loop rides the country roads in and around Rouge National Urban Park, Canada's first national urban park and the largest of its kind in North America. The Rouge runs all the way from Lake Ontario up to the Oak Ridges Moraine, protecting working farms, century farmsteads, and river valleys within sight of the city, which is exactly what makes a ride this rural feel improbable so close to downtown Toronto.
The route splits neatly in two. The first half is paved and holds most of the climbing over rolling moraine roads, delivering you to the hamlet of Goodwood, where Annina's Bakeshop, a long-time cyclist favourite famous for its butter tarts, is the natural stop. From there the pavement gives way to gravel for roughly half the loop. It's bumpier and slower, but the payoff is the quiet: near-empty concession roads where it's mostly your tyres, the birds, and whoever you brought along.
The reel. Open on Instagram →
Food, refreshments, parking, and local hints. Filter below.
We parked at the Black Walnut Day Use Area in Rouge National Urban Park, off Reesor Road. A quiet, easy trailhead lot to roll out from, right where the paved roads begin climbing.
Open in Maps →The reason to smile mid-ride. A long-time cyclist favourite in the hamlet of Goodwood, famous for its butter tarts, with coffee, home-style baking, and a big front-lawn patio with picnic tables. It's your main resupply, so fuel up here before the gravel begins.
Open in Maps →Roughly half the loop is unpaved. The climbing is mostly done on the paved first half; after Goodwood the roads turn to gravel, bumpier and slower going. You'll definitely want gravel tyres for this one, a 25 mm road setup won't cut it.
The gravel concessions are near carless and services thin out fast once you leave Goodwood, so carry water, a snack, and what you'd want for a flat. That self-sufficiency is the price of the peace, and it's well worth it.
A few frames from the day.