If that sounds familiar, I wrote essentially the same thing after last year’s Cross Triangle Greenway ride recognizing the region’s growing greenway network.

Saturday’s ride was intended as the official open house for the East Coast Greenway Alliance and as a way to showcase Durham’s growing greenway system. The Alliance relocated its offices from Rhode Island to Durham in February, in large part to beef up development of its reason for being, a 3,000-mile greenway that, hopefully, will some day run from Key West, Fla., to the Canadian border. About half of the trail is complete in the Northeast; development is well behind that in the South (in North Carolina, just 14 percent of the 390 miles envisioned for the state are finished). Hence, the ECGA’s move south.

About 100 riders started Saturday’s ride, which began on a grassy knoll in the midst of the American Tobacco Campus, the Durham Bulls Athletic Park and the Durham Performing Arts Center. The location itself was symbolic, starting in the heart of Durham’s downtown renaissance. A few words kicked off the ride: Rep. David Price, a longtime friend of cyclists, noted that in the current budget-cutting climate “Advocacy has never been more important.” Dale McKeel, coordinator of Durham’s bicycle and pedestrian program, noted the escape greenways offer by citing David Byrne’s “Bicycle Diaries.” And Dennis Markatos-Soriano, executive director of the East Coast Greenway Alliance, didn’t miss a beat when a passing train drowned him out: “Let’s hear it for intermodal transportation!” (Durham’s new transit center was two blocks from the start.)

But it was the ride itself that spoke loudest about greenways and their significance. It started on Durham’s Downtown Connector, what I’ve come to think of as asterisk greenway: trail designated greenway that’s actually extra-wide sidewalk. Before the ride I had hoped to corner Chuck Flink, president and founder of Durham-based Greenways Inc., and ask if there’s an industry-accepted definition for what constitutes a greenway. Sometimes, a brief detour onto sidewalk is inevitable to make a vital connection. But I’ve become increasingly irked by greenways that advertise themselves as such when in fact they’re mostly sidewalk. My complaint was fresh after spending Thursday in Greensboro exploring a Bicentennial Greenway advertised at 3.9 miles when in fact a good three miles of that was sidewalk.

In the Durham Connector Trail’s defense, it was devised to make a difficult connection between the American Tobacco Trail on the south side of downtown and the South Ellerbee Creek Greenway to the north. That connection made, South Ellerbee proved the quintessential Triangle greenway, a meandering passage through forest and wetland providing cozy escape from the neighborhoods sometimes just 50 feet away.

Alas, South Ellerbee too quickly gave way to more sidewalk, more than a mile of it along Stadium Drive. The problem with sidewalk “greenways” isn’t just aesthetic, cozying up as they do to streets. It’s also a safety issue. Sidewalks generally cross driveways, driveways where cars typically most poke past in order to check out oncoming traffic. Rare is the driver who checks oncoming sidewalk traffic before advancing to check out oncoming car traffic. It’s one of the most dangerous situations cyclists face. (It’s also a danger to pedestrians.)

So dangerous that when Saturday’s route hung a left on four-lane Horton Road it proved a relief. Greenways (including the sidewalk variety) made up 57 percent of Saturday’s ride, roadways the remaining 43 percent. Most of those roadways included bike lanes. Some, such as busy Hillandale Road, did not. While Durham, which was awarded Bike Friendly Community status last year, has made good progress adding bike lanes and extra-wide roadways, passages on roads such as Hillandale are still required to make key connections in some places.

It’s worth it when the pay-off is a greenway on the order of Durham’s new Third Fork Creek Trail. Just opened, this nearly 3-mile path passes through a scenic wetland between Southern Boundaries Park near Martin Luther King Jr. Road and Garrett Road Park. It’s ideal as a recreation trail (we passed other cyclists, runners and strollers), it’s well-suited as a commuter connector. It’s the image I get of when I think of the perfect greenway.

Saturday’s ride spent its last 6.8 miles on the northernmost section of the American Tobacco Trail. This section opened in the 1990s and based on my observation is the most used greenway in the Triangle. Despite nine road crossings, it’s a pleasure to be on.

Due in part to my inability to follow directions, by the time I got back to the start, the registration tent was folded and gone, my fellow cyclists had dispensed after hanging around to share ride tales: there was no sign that a ride had taken place. Or so I thought until I heard a voice yell, “Joe! Joe! Over here!” Under a tree sat Dennis Markatos-Soriano with his wife and son.

He wanted to know how I’d liked the ride, if I’d had a good time. I shared my thoughts about the ride being good, both from the standpoint of showcasing Durham’s greenways but underscoring, from some of the dicey passages on roadways, the need to build more. I wondered if he might interpret this as criticism.

“I couldn’t agree more,” Markatos-Soriano said.

Rather than criticism, he’d interpreted it as a challenge. A good sign for the future of the East Coast Greenway.

Photo: Rider Carl Patterson eats a banana while contemplating why he can’t keep air in his back tire.

The post Saturday on Durham’s greenways: A ride half full 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!.