The ride was the first of what promises to be an annual event. The ride — a 39-mile excursion from the N.C. Museum of Art in Raleigh to the entertainment Mecca of downtown Durham (American Tobacco Complex, Durham Bulls Athletic Park, Durham Performing Arts Center, the jail) was intended to show how a dream of 40 years — of being able to ride a bike on greenway from Raleigh to the heart of Durham — is ever-so-close to being reality. About 75 percent of Friday’s ride was off-road: starting on the Reedy Creek Greenway in Raleigh, winding through Umstead State Park (save for an odd “short-cut” that had us mixing it up with lunchtime traffic on Harrison Avenue and Weston Parkway) down Cary’s Black Creek and White Oak Creek greenways and on to the American Tobacco Trail for the 22-mile (plus or minus) ride into downtown Durham.

Perhaps more telling than the 75 percent of the ride on greenway was the 25 percent that wasn’t. It wasn’t long ago that riding on greenway in the Triangle was a rare privilege: There was so little greenway that each stretch of 8-foot-wide blacktop, no matter how long, was an exotic respite from riding in traffic. Friday, it was the stints riding in traffic that were rare. There was a definite sense that greenways have evolved from a recreational plaything into a viable and vital transportation alternative. And that was just one of Friday’s encouraging signs.

Chuck Flink, president and co-founder of Durham-based Greenways Inc. and board chairman of the East Coast Greenway Alliance, noted that the route, which runs through six jurisdictions — Raleigh, Umstead State Park, Cary, Wake County, Chatham County, the city and county of Durham — is the longest urban trail in North Carolina. And Sig Hutchinson, the person most responsible for the Triangle’s growing greenway network, from his early work as president of the Triangle Greenways Council to his more recent efforts promoting open space in Wake County, finally answered a question I’ve been putting to him for nearly a decade: Has the Triangle’s greenway network become an irresistible force?

“This ride shows that we have reached the tipping point for greenways in the Triangle,” Hutchinson told the riders in Raleigh, implying that momentum behind greenway development has reached the point that future development is now assured, that greenways are now viewed in the Triangle as a basic service on par with drinking water and trash collection.

He went a step further: “We now have what I believe is the best greenway system in the country.”

Most encouraging were the riders themselves. The ride’s lead organizer was the East Coast Greenway Alliance, a non-profit charged with creating a 3,000-mile greenway from Key West, Fla., to the Canadian border that will pass through the Triangle on the route taken Friday. The group was anticipating an intimate turnout: Thursday afternoon 40 people had signed up for the ride on the event’s Facebook page. By ride time Friday afternoon more than 150 cyclists were ready to roll. (“I’m not worried,” said an excited, if not worried, Flink as he surveyed the crowd shortly before noon.)

As encouraging as their numbers was the riders’ diversity. There were riders in their 20s, there were riders in their 70s. There were Category bike racers, there were folks who looked like the most they’d ridden in the past year was down there street. There were people on mountain bikes, on road bikes, on hybrids, on tandems on Bike Fridays. And it was not, as is often the case with bike events, a nearly all-white gathering. It was a good cross-section of the Triangle, underscoring the mass appeal — and support — for greenways. Along the way I rode with a fellow who does four-hour rides from his home in North Raleigh to mountain bike at Lake Crabtree, a woman who commutes from seven miles one-way from downtown to North Raleigh, a Cary tech worker who commutes via Davis Drive to RTP, a North Durham woman who won her cycling category at the senior games in Durham County, then showed up at the state senior games to find people with carbon bikes and aero helmets. (Alas, she returned home with no gold.)

Again, a variety of riders, a variety of people, all greenway supporters.

At ride’s end, the notion of greenways evolving from luxury to necessity was underscored by the person who counts most in North Carolina on transportation matters, Gene Conti, secretary of the N.C. Department of Transportation. Conti, eschewing the sartorial trappings of typical of high-level officials in favor of a polo short and khakis, shared an anecdote from his first days in office. When it came time for his Official Portrait to be taken, he was taken outside for a suitable backdrop. He glanced behind him to see he was framed beneath the arch of the old Highway Department building.

“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!” he told the photographer. “You’ll have to air brush that out. We’re not just about highways anymore. We are now a full-service transportation department.”

“The way we look at transportation has changed,” he added. “We have options, and we need to start thinking about those options.”

* * *

Friday’s route

Here are links to greenways that were part of Friday’s Cross Triangle Greenway ride:
Reedy Creek Greenway (Raleigh)
Umstead State Park
Black Creek Greenway, Cary
White Oak Creek Greenway, Cary
American Tobacco Trail, Wake, Chatham and Durham counties

* * *
For a slideshow of Friday’s ride, go here.

The post A greenway ride into the future appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Like ride your bike from Raleigh to Durham, mostly on greenways?

Friday at noon, 40 bikers/greenway enthusiasts will set forth from the N.C. Museum of Art on a 39-mile bike ride that will wind up five hours later in downtown Durham, at the American Tobacco Complex/Durham Bulls Athletic Park. It’s part of an effort to boost support and awareness of greenway development, support for riding greenways not just from Raleigh to Durham, but from the Triangle to Key West, Fla., or to the Canadian border. The latter is the goal of event sponsor the East Coast Greenway Alliance, which is putting together a mostly paved, off-road bike path that will run more than 3,000 miles along the East Coast. The event is also sponsored by the local Cross Triangle Greenway group. http://www.crosstrianglegreenway.org/

The path for tomorrow’s ride is the East Coast Greenway’s route through the Triangle. And a surprising amount of it — nearly 75 percent, according to ride organizers — is finished.

Reasons to ride:

• You’ll be able to discover the 75 percent of this 39 miles that is finished. More importantly, you’ll be able to find the best way to bridge the stretches that aren’t.
• Except for those brief on-road stretches, the ride will be devoid of competition from cars. (Do you know how difficult it is in the Triangle to ride 39 miles free of cars? It’s difficult, but thanks to the region’s growing greenway network it’s getting easier.)
• The ride has rest stops: at mile 10.5 (Cary’s Godbold Park), 22.6 (White Oak Church trailhead) and 31.4 (the REI at Southpoint Mall in Durham). Snacks, drinks, rest rooms — can life get better?
• It’s supposed to be sunny and 68 degrees. http://www.wral.com/weather/7day/

Perhaps the best reason to ride? The list of confirmed attendees, which reads like a  Who’s Who of Greenways — not just in the Triangle, but anywhere. Among the confirmed riders:

Dennis Markatos-Soriano, executive director of the East Coast Greenway Alliance (and UNC grad who grew up in Pittsboro).

Chuck Flink, president and founder of Durham-based Greenways Inc. One the nation’s top authorities on greenways.

Sig Hutchinson, whose contributions to local trail, open space and greenway development are two numerous to mention (go here for a rundown). The driving force behind greenway and trail development in the Triangle.

Some things you should know if you plan to ride:

• The ride starts at noon, at the N.C. Museum of Art.
• Can’t make it to the start? The peleton plans to hit the following locations at the following times: Cary’s Godbold Park, 1:20 p.m.; Bond Park, 1:25; White Oak Church trailhead, 2:45-3; REI in Durham, 4-4:15.
• There will be a shuttle, but you’ll need to sign up, pronto, when you sign up for the ride. Go here for that.
• The ride is free. You just need a bike and a helmet.
• What kind of bike? you ask. The route is mostly paved, mostly flat. However … there is five miles of fine, compacted gravel screenings through Umstead State Park and a little less than that on the American Tobacco Trail. Road tires will be OK; be advised there are some good hills in Umstead.
• A pace of 10-13 miles per hour is anticipated.
• * The ride is expected to reach downtown Durham a little after 5 p.m.
• There will be a little get-together at the end of the ride. Come prepared to get together.

You can find more information on the ride at Cross Triangle Greenway.

If you can’t make it, you can still live the ride in real time by following my account on Twitter at JoeAGoGo. And if the boss busts you for Twittering in your cube, I’ll be writing about the ride next week. That report will also include a map of the route so you can ride it in your free time. Still, much as I’d like to pretend that reading my account will be like being there, there’s no substitute for actual participation. Try and join us.

Did I mention it’s supposed to be sunny and 68?

Photo at top: A goodly portion of Friday’s Cross Triangle Greenway ride is on the American Tobacco Trail.

The post Cross the Triangle: A greenway adventure appeared first on GetGoing NC!.