2009-09-14

37th Annual Carolina Cup

Here are the photos I took before the cheap replacement battery on my camera conked out with one hour left in the Pro/1/2 race. I'll be editing the photo captions as I collect more race data. Needless to say, there is a very good 11-14 Junior who will be making news for a while if he sticks to this sport (He raced in both Junior races AND Cat 3!).



On Yer Bike!

2009-09-12

Carolina Cup is Tomorrow!

First, the obligatory Queen video:



On 13 Sep 09 the Carolina Cup will be run in Country Park on the north side of Greensboro.



View Larger Map

Here are a few pics from while we were getting some setup done this morning.


From Carolina Cup 2009

The Start/Finish area being laid out.


From Carolina Cup 2009

The starting stretch going into Duckwalk Corner under construction.


From Carolina Cup 2009

The run-in to the Finish line. It's a slight uphill, maybe 2% tops, after dropping off a short 4% drop. This should be the place to see some high speed fire works.


Hope to see everyone there!


On Yer Bike!

2009-09-08

OMG! WT#! #TW!

From Battleground Rail Trail

I've lived in Greensboro for almost a year and within 1/2 a mile of the beginning of this trail but until yesterday I had never taken the time to explore it. I want that year back! I'm not sure how good this trail feels on an upright bike but on my 'bent trike....


The photo above was taken while climbing back up a section of twisting descent that had me tapping the brakes to prevent rollovers. The G's necessary to roll my trike in a gradual curve are pretty impressive (I did go on two wheels in one corner).


Then there's this section of false flat near the northern end of the trail. I thought it was the wind keeping my speed down to 12MPH while traversing the field. Not so. Once I hit the end of paved trail I turned around (1.5" tires and no suspension is no fun on the big gravel used on old rail beds). Very quickly I found I was now going downhill--it wasn't much effort to get to 27MPH and I still had gears left. There was traffic ahead so I coasted back down to sane traffic speed and was very effortlessly maintaining 15-17 MPH before I had to stop for a road crossing.


If you live in or near Greensboro and want a nice short to middle distance ride (I added a couple loops around the military park and Country Park to total 21 miles) with no motor traffic (but some ped and bike traffic--mind your speed and distance when passing) I strongly recommend hopping on this trail at its start in Guilford Courthouse Military Park and heading north.


On Yer Bike!

2009-09-04

BRT-Cone Rd Underpass

Today we have a collection of photos of the Cone Rd Underpass under construction. The first few are my own, the balance were taken by a GDOT employee.


From Battleground Rail Trail

Looking south while north of Cone Rd.


From Battleground Rail Trail

Looking north from Cone Rd.


From Battleground Rail Trail

Looking north while south of Cone Rd while Michael J Fox oversees.


From Battleground Rail Trail

Looking south from Cone Rd.


From Battleground Rail Trail

This is the first of the GDOT photos. The balance of the photos are also courtesy of GDOT.


From Battleground Rail Trail

From Battleground Rail Trail

From Battleground Rail Trail

From Battleground Rail Trail

From Battleground Rail Trail

From Battleground Rail Trail

On Yer Bike!

2009-09-02

BRT in Progress

Here are my first photos of the BRT as it is being built.


From Battleground Rail Trail

This view is from about 50 yards south of Total Wine looking north. The trail will connect to the sidewalk just before the driveway for Total Wine/CVS. This looks to be a crash waiting to happen. In fact when I headed through the driveway intersection I had a ROW conflict with a right turning pickup. Fortunately we were both alert to the potential for problems and no harm done.


From Battleground Rail Trail

This shot was taken from the same location as the first but looking south. The crushed stone bed looks reasonably wide.


From Battleground Rail Trail

This view is from Martinsville Rd looking north. Hopefully that speed bump is not part of the design.


From Battleground Rail Trail

This shot was taken from Isaac Pl and Martinsville Rd. It illustrates two things:


  1. Looking over the hood of the second car you see the beings of the next section of trail.

  2. Due to the high traffic volume I had to shoot the shot with cars in the picture. Combine this with the 30-40 yard offset between trail segments and we have a significant conflict point. No pedestrian facilities means all trail users will be using the road to get between the trail segments.


From Battleground Rail Trail

This next segments have much work to be done at this point. Here is the segment that curves around the Toyota lot to begin running parallel to Patriot Way.


From Battleground Rail Trail

Same location as the last shot but looking west now.


I hope the designers have thought about the conflict zones I have highlighted here. It seem to me the money being spent to tunnel under Cone would have been better spent tunneling under Martinsville or Pisgah Church. On Cone a crossing pedestrian or cyclist only needs to negotiate with traffic from one direction at a time. They get to change their focus once the median is reached. Martinsville affords no such luxury and I have yet to figure out how the Pisgah Church crossing is expected to work but unless those high speed corners are squared back off I expect it can't help but be dangerous.


On Yer Bike!