Albert Posted January 29, 2019 Share Posted January 29, 2019 While doing a large 50 mile loop between Walnut Creek and downtown, I discovered that the city has transformed Narnia into a concrete highway! For those who aren't familiar, this was a section of singletrack connecting the area underneath the 183/Mopac flyovers to the street that dumps into the J.J. Pickle Research Campus. I had been avoiding this since it was sometimes grown over or muddy, but guess that will no longer be an issue! They placed part of the path on the inside of the turnaround under 183, which requires you to cross the turnaround twice, not ideal. I'm guessing they did this because the trail would be too close to the train tracks on the other side. This concrete path extends along the frontage road all the way to Shoal Creek, so that's nice. Entire album here: I have to wonder how much J.J. Pickle cares that people ride through their campus, which is certainly going to happen more often with this concrete Narnia.. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mack_turtle Posted January 29, 2019 Share Posted January 29, 2019 Nice! Map of this route? Are we Strava buddies yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted January 29, 2019 Author Share Posted January 29, 2019 18 minutes ago, mack_turtle said: Nice! Map of this route? Are we Strava buddies yet? https://www.strava.com/activities/2110059778 No idea if we're Strava buddies... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustinBike Posted January 29, 2019 Share Posted January 29, 2019 OK, I'm gonna share my favorite little secret (legal) feature in that area. Just north of Steck there is a sidewalk and underpass that lets you go from Shoal Creek to the Mopac frontage road. If you are heading south on the weekend when the pickle is closed you can shoot all the way down the frontage road on the really wide and side sidewalk, then duck into the Strayer university parking lot, shoot through the underpass and make your way back downtown on Shoal Creek. Someone showed me this a couple months ago and it is great, no more dealing with the traffic and intersection at Steck and Mopac. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mack_turtle Posted January 29, 2019 Share Posted January 29, 2019 Thanks! I have ridden some similar routes. Connectingnthe end of Southern Walnut over to WC metro sucks, and getting back across Research going south to get to Shoal Creek looks much better now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted January 29, 2019 Author Share Posted January 29, 2019 7 minutes ago, AustinBike said: Just north of Steck there is a sidewalk and underpass that lets you go from Shoal Creek to the Mopac frontage road. That is very interesting! Just curious what your route is when doing this? When I head south from Walnut Creek, I go across the Northern Walnut Creek Trail and then cross over Mopac at the Braker intersection. I then head south along the sidewalk all the way down to the 183/Mopac exchange, hop over the train tracks, and then go through the industrial park on the corner to get to Shoal Creek (although that last bit is no longer necessary with the new concrete path along the 183 frontage). The only really crappy part about the 50 miles loop I do is connecting the Southern Walnut Creek Trail back to Walnut. I go west along 290 to Cross Park, make my way to Rutherford, then north to Rundberg Lane east of 35. I then go west across Rundberg until I hit Parkfield, go north until it ends, then right onto Bittern Hollow. Rundberg is a terrible road, especially the area around I-35 and Lamar. Would like to find a better route that avoids Rundberg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Posted January 29, 2019 Share Posted January 29, 2019 9 minutes ago, Albert said: The only really crappy part about the 50 miles loop I do is connecting the Southern Walnut Creek Trail back to Walnut. I live just north of WC, so when I do this loop I go all the way to Howard Ln. It isn't great getting there, but Howard has a decent bike path. https://www.strava.com/activities/2012876596 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted January 29, 2019 Author Share Posted January 29, 2019 11 minutes ago, Barry said: https://www.strava.com/activities/2012876596 I've looked at this route before, but Harris Branch didn't look great for bikes, so I've never tried it. Another variation I've done in the past is to take Cross Park to Cameron, which then turns into Dessau, left onto Shropshire, and then west on Yager Lane, which takes you right to Walnut. Less treacherous than Rundberg, but you do have to ride on the road on Yager, which I'm not crazy about. There are some trails between Shropshire and Dessau that you can ride if it's not wet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntonioGG Posted February 11, 2019 Share Posted February 11, 2019 Wow! Desau Rd. is terrible on a Sunday afternoon. We just rode the sidewalk the whole way. There's no good Northeast passage as far as I'm concerned. In the future I'll just take 51st to the SWCT and get extra miles some other way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted February 11, 2019 Author Share Posted February 11, 2019 Yeah, I would never ride on Dessau road proper, I always use the sidewalks. That rode is too busy. The sidewalk has always worked fine for me, though. I've never ridden on 51st, but that seems pretty far out of the way, and isn't 51st also pretty busy? I'm not sure I'd want to ride on that rode, even with sharrows painted on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Posted February 11, 2019 Share Posted February 11, 2019 On 1/29/2019 at 12:10 PM, Albert said: I've looked at this route before, but Harris Branch didn't look great for bikes, so I've never tried it. I've done this Harris Branch connection quite a few times now. And while it doesn't have a bike path, it isn't terrible. From Howard to Parmer is the worst part because it has no significant shoulder, and has bad traffic. But at lest it is very short, and you can even sidewalk some of it. The longest section between Parmer and 290 has variable shoulder widths and variable sidewalk availability. But the traffic along this section is always very light. Traffic picks up again between 290 and Lindell (Southern Walnut access), but the shoulders are wide and this section is short. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntonioGG Posted February 11, 2019 Share Posted February 11, 2019 51st is awesome in comparison. Most of the way you have a wide lane and part of the way you have bollards dividing you from the traffic. We felt safe riding on the road lane when we didn't have our own lane. On Desau, even the sidewalk made me nervous because the road lanes and the sidewalk are very narrow and the cars are flying, racing, revving engines. The sidewalk was also very trashy. It was a bit crazy for 3:30pm on a Sunday afternoon. I think you ride this during the week right? https://www.strava.com/activities/2089808863 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted February 11, 2019 Author Share Posted February 11, 2019 Thanks for the Strava link. I haven't driven down 51st street in some time, looks like they've added dedicated bike lanes, which is nice. I'm generally trying to go north and south from Walnut Creek to downtown and back, and trying to do at least 50 miles on these rides. 51st isn't really conducive to that type of ride, but good to know as I could setup a different route using it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
June Bug Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 (edited) There may be a current issue if you're trying to cross over 183 where 51st tees into the YMCA and on to the Southern WC Multi-use Path (or the reverse). There'll be a bike/pedestrian flyover to cross 183, but from what I understand, it's not yet connected. The top part has been erected for months but the ramps have not yet been added. On 1/29/2019 at 11:26 AM, AustinBike said: OK, I'm gonna share my favorite little secret (legal) feature in that area. Thanks, AB, that will come in very handy in the future! Edited February 16, 2019 by June Bug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntonioGG Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 22 hours ago, June Bug said: There may be a current issue if you're trying to cross over 183 where 51st tees into the YMCA and on to the Southern WC Multi-use Path (or the reverse). There'll be a bike/pedestrian flyover to cross 183, but from what I understand, it's not yet connected. The top part has been erected for months but the ramps have not yet been added. You'll have to ride to MLK and do the U-Turn. I fully expect to ride the sidewalks and crosswalks, but when I rode there was a clear in traffic so it was safe to get on the road and do the U-turn lane, then got back on the sidewalk. One thing to watch out for is that Westbound drivers on MLK have a dedicated turn lane and may not be watching for you to cross there. We opted to exit the turn lane onto the crosswalk and use the island between the turn lane and the main 183 access road. There's a temporary paved path connecting you from the sidewalk to the YMCA parking lot and trailhead. I didn't see a water fountain, but there was a hose bib to refill, and one of those sets of tools at the trailhead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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