Blog Post

Kitchener Trail

Mick C • 6 August 2021

Sherwood Pines Red Route

Having visited Sherwood Pinesin the horrendous rain I wanted to re-visit it to sample the Kitchener trail when its dry. As Sherwood pineshas been on the peripheral of some of my local routes I tend to pass through and don't have the time or energy to do the full Kitchener Trail.

Due to the circumstances of this year I have had more time to bike, improving my fitness allowing me to do longer routes. This summer I extended some of my local routes to visit Sherwood pinesmore. Sometimes I pass through on a 26-mile route that includes ‘Tornado Alley'. A 45-mile loop through Thorsby Parkincluded three sections of the Kitchener Trail. This week the sun was out Tuesday morning and I made it my sole objective to get to the Pines, ride the full Kitchener trail and ride home a different way...and I accomplished it all off road, with a 36-mile route and a stop at the pines cafe for a refuel.

So, why make it my objective I hear you ask? Well, during the visits over the summer I've noticed some improvements that have been made to the section’s I've had chance to ride. I really wanted to do the whole route to see if it has been updated...and I found it has.

The first quarter of the red route hasn’t change too much. ‘Between the Lines’, ‘Flying Pig’ and ‘Over the top’ sections all seem the same, apart from a bit of new gravel. The changes are noticeable when you get to section four ‘Sanctuary Wood’ with a totally bone shaking cobble section at the start, but I really spotted a big difference when travelling through the ‘Donkey Walloper’ section. The trail has been packed much more with a solid base and mounds have been built up to travel over or even get some air if you are that way inclined. More obstacles have been added including rocks, cobbles, stumps, and solid built berms. The ‘Western Front’ now has back to back berms swinging left and right until you leave the clearing back into the wood. Happily, my favourite section ‘Tornado Alley’ is untouched and ‘Lewis Gun Range’ is much the same. I was surprised to see no sign for the ‘Marchin’ not fightin’ section. When leaving ‘Lewis Gun Range’ you are diverted right, to traverse through the forest, missing the old lengthy link section. The new route then seems to join ‘marchin’ not fightin’ halfway through so the next section sign is for ‘Fifth Avenue’, which is untouched. My second favourite section, ‘Death Valley’, has had some similar improvements to make it flow better, and it does feel faster. The final section, ‘Gas Pipe Cavalry’ as far as I remember is exactly the same…still a bit of a drag to the finish.

The Kitchener Trail measured 8.24 mile in distance with an elevation gain of 329ft. According to the new feature on Garmin the fastest section was the 2nd half of the diversion that flowed into ‘Fifth Avenue’. The slowest sections were the start of ‘Sanctuary Wood’ and the middle section of ‘Dog Soldiers’ where the route loops right at the southernmost point of the loop.

The map shows the full Kitchener Trail. The slower sections are indicated by 'blue', medium speed by 'green' then 'orange' and 'red' indicates the highest speed.

All in all, I’ve got to say that the improvements made are awesome making some of the previously drab sections so much more interesting. For me, the best change is ‘The western front’ with its line of berms (well I think it was the western front, the ride flowed so well it blurred into one sometimes). Hats off to the trail developers…