Monday, May 10, 2010

Long Ride home

On Friday, I took the light rail to work so I could ride my bike home. The route I followed was about 22 miles. Most of the that was on bike paths. It took me over 3 hours, but that was because I was stopping to take a lot of photos. Next time, I will go for speed. I think I can do it on less than an hour and a half.

I got on the Guadalupe River trail at River Oaks.
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The Guadalupe River is between two large embankments with various parking lots, industrial parks and even a few unused parcels of land on either side.
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I disobeyed this sign...
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This is much nicer to look at than some office buildings....

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Nice view on this side. Freeway on the other side....
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I've been itching to get a photo of these giant hands at the airport for months. I'm not really excited by the results...
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Next, the path goes through Guadalupe Gardens park or whatever it's called. This place is huge, mostly vacant and kinda creepy...
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I stopped by the rose gardens. Last time I rode through here I ended up with a thorn in my tire.
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A mile back on the trail and I found this Son of a Biscuit in my tire...
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I stopped by the historic Hart's Department store warehouse to fix my flat....
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Under a trestle..
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I don't know what the deal is with this half of a house...
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and then through downtown..
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into the Children Discovery park...
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The paths stops and you have to take a detour through a mostly Latino neighborhood with a lot of character..
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The path resumes at the Tamien light rail station...
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where it follows right along Highway 87 for awhile...
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When I got to Curtner I had a choice to make. I could continue choking on smog next to the freeway until I arrived at Oakridge Mall where I would then have to ride down Santa Teresa Blvd the rest of the way. My other option was to take Curtner to Tully where I could then transfer onto the Coyote Creek path. I decided on the second route. It would be a few extra miles, but much nicer scenery.

I stopped by Oakhill cemetery for a minute. It was getting close to dark and I still had some ways to go so I decided to keep moving.
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I hopped on the Coyote Creek trail at Stonegate park. I need to call up Grumpy Chris and White Bat for a session here soon. It's been awhile....
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The sites and sounds of the Coyote Creek Trail were much more pleasant than the freeway...
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I made it to Hellyer Park at Sunset....
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I finally crossed back over 101 onto Blossom Hill and Cottle. This was the most bike unfriendly part of my ride. I'll need to find a safer way through this section....
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When I arrived home, Melissa was still at work and Jacob was with grandma, but this little poopy was waiting for me...
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1 comment:

  1. A great trip! Next time don't stop quite so much-I don't want you out there on the roads on a bike after dark!!! You got some really nice pictures, though, as usual. You have a way of seeing the essence of your surroundings and capturing it with the camera.

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