Thursday, May 5, 2016

Bicycle Bridge to Nowhere

Today'sTracking to Nowhere

This was a short ride, to "See What's On the Other Side".
I just replaced the Terratrike's front seat fabric and was anxious to take it for a ride to see how the new seat felt.  Since I had limited time this evening, I decided to ride east over the quasi-new pedestrian/bike bridge over I-25.  Jacque and I actually rode it over a year ago while it still had orange cones marking final construction, and were disappointed that it merely emptied into the parking lot of  a local "Men's Club" called TD's.
Seems like we saw this silly sign before, just as you top the grade at the top of the ramp leading into the enclosed bridge;  the absolute slowest part of the ride.  It still seems like a stupid warning that would be better advice going DOWNHILL out of the bridgework:

Well, the bridge seems quite well done, although it feels like you're in a rabbit run going across I-25:

On the east side of the bridge, once over the breathtaking view of I-25 whizzing both ways below you, the bike trail just..... opens into a small cul-de-sac between Texas Roadhouse Restaurant and TD's "Show Club".  I turned into the large littered TD's parking lot and rode around the perimeter, looking for other outlets or bike trails, and I noticed one just on the other side of the fence parallel to the I-25 frontage road.
If you still have the energy to be titillated, you can ride your bike and park it and go inside for the expensive entertainment.

As I explored further by riding out to Osuna, I found the "entry" into the aforementioned bike path:  Another almost-invisible ramp combined with the sidewalk leading to TD's.  I did a hairpin turn, as best I could with the 12 foot wheelspan of the trike, and rode up on the path to see where it went.
It went all of maybe 50 yards before encountering an "End of Bike Trail" sign where the entrance to Texas Roadhouse intersected the frontage road.

I rode into THIS parking lot hoping to find a bikeable exit or ramp somewhere and NO such luck.  I turned around and went back the short way I came.  Then I rode past Cliff's Amusement Park parking lot on Osuna looking for any hint of further bike trails or lanes.
Nothing was found, and with only the busy intersection of San Mateo looming ahead, I turned around.
After I got home and looked at the map, it shows a bike lane in that area along Osuna leading to better lanes and paths farther east.  Oh Well.

Ride Started: 6:28 PM    Ride Ended:  7:12 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:   13.7   Ending Voltage: 13.2  Lowest:  13.0
Lowest Temp  71 F      Highest Temp:  78 F 
Stats from the GPS:    Total Miles:  2.83
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
   4.2 MPH                            5.5 MPH                       20.6 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
40 minutes                             30 minutes                   9  minutes