Brown Season: Fat Bike Saturday

Squiggles courtesy of an Emerald Ash Borer, which killed this ash tree.

December weather has been pretty darn great here, but as we get closer to January, what constitutes 'great' in terms of weather is really not all that conducive to being out in the open on gravel roads. So, despite it being in the upper 20's with little wind, that was too brutal for me since the air was 'wet' and when it gets like that it sucks the heat right out of your very being. People who live along the coasts know exactly what I mean by that.

So, I've taken some time off gravel and have been riding city paths, alleys, and finding dirt single track within the urban area. Saturday I decided to go check out the progress on University Avenue's renovations and then check out Casey's Trail. First, a little observation I've made about this renovation of University Avenue as it relates to the Sergeant Road bike path. 

Before any renovations were done, and the old overpass and old bike path were there, the biggest issues I had, (and I suppose anyone else that walked/biked through there as well), was that due to the truncated Falls Avenue, removal of storm sewers for that old street, and with no provisions made for run-off water whatsoever, this area would become nearly unusable for much of the Winter and Spring. Nearly....but still passable. In the future?

Well, I was hopeful that this issue would be addressed with the new renovations being implemented with the new bike paths coming through on University Avenue and the making of a new underpass tunnel at the University Avenue intersection of the Sergeant Road bike trail, but..... Not surprisingly the engineers on this project did absolutely nothing to address this need. In fact, in my estimation, things will be worse than ever! 

On one side you have the HWY 218/27 expressway which is elevated above the bike path. On the other side they actually elevated the open area between the path and University Avenue. This will have the effect of creating a valley, or more like a canyon, and with less places for water to sit, that will really make for some awesome deep flooding of that section of the Sergeant Road bike trail. Then consider the tunnel. It also is at a low point, has zero drainage, and they are installing a parking area (wasn't there before) and a ramp from the elevated part of University, (wasn't there before), which will feed run-off water right you-know-where. 

From the University Avenue Project site

 This looks like an upgrade, but in reality, it likely will be far worse than ever without some way of getting run-off water out of there. Since the bike trail is effectively the lowest point through that area, I see no other alternative than failure for this project. Here's my analysis:

1. As you can see at arrow #1 above, the old Sergeant Road bike trail came down along that fence line and just to the left, as you look there, the embankment going up to the expressway to the far upper left starts on the left side of that fence and that embankment is steep. The new path will exit where #2 arrow is pointing and curve alongside that same fence line continuing out of this image's viewpoint to the lower left. All along this there are no provisions for run-off water from either the expressway or what is now elevated to the same elevation as University Avenue just out of view below the image. 
2. The second arrow points to the exit on the North side of the tunnel. As you can plainly see, it is at the lowest point of all the surrounding land. Where will snow melt and rain water drain off to? 
3. The third arrow points to the new access road off University Avenue and the small parking area for access to the trail, which never existed before. Assuming this will be paved, where does all the new run-off created go? Note: The entrance to the tunnel under University is lower than the parking area. There also is a ramp running down to this tunnel entrance from below this image out of view which will further exacerbate run-off issues on the South side.
   

 I invite any locals to go look at this and if you see something I am missing, please let me know, but to my eyes, this looks bad.

Now, with that observation out of the way, I went on with my riding to Casey's Trail and I was wanting to see how it was fairing, as it is a little used trail and newer than most in the area. 

This stick is why I like single speed bikes, or bikes like my Rohloff equipped Ti Muk 2 for single track around here.

As it turned out, the trail was in excellent shape. I was a bit surprised by this, and I took advantage of the conditions to ride it on my Ti Muk 2. The Fall/Winter riding around here can be tricky with how many sticks and small branches get blown down onto the trail surface. In Spring and Summer this debris gets cleared away by other riders and trail maintainers, but at this time of year, both those benefits tend to be gone. So, instead of risking a derailleur equipped bike's rear mech to possible rippage, I tend to use a single speed device. Or I use my Rohloff equipped Ti Muk 2, as there are no dangly bits to get caught up in any woody mayhem. 

This particular ride showed me why I am right in doing so this time of the year. What could have been an expensive situation requiring walking long distances was rendered a simple annoyance. I simply stopped and removed the offending bit and continued on my merry way. 

This turned out to be a good ride, but it doesn't replace the gravel travel experience for me. I am still going to try to get out there when the conditions are conducive for a reasonably comfortable ride without freezing my bits off. I'm sure there won't be many chances for that until Spring, but I'm going to take what  I can get there.