BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Regarding 885: doable, but unpleasant in my experience. The shoulder works pretty well, until it doesn't: e.g. construction, roadkill, etc. Be prepared to take the lane when necessary. I much prefer Streets Run. Downsides to Streets Run: crossing the same set of RR tracks half-a-dozen times, and the steep little hill right before the traffic light at the intersection with 51 is a pain. However, it's low traffic, tree-lined, and fairly pleasant for most of its length. @Pierce or @Marko might have some better insight than I.

I normally go Streets Run to Delwar Street which is a pretty good climb but not much different than 885 as far as effort goes, but speeds on Delwar are much lower - though the shoulder isnt as good. ToMAYto - Tomoto. Delway puts you near Applebees on Lebanon Church where you can cross into Century Town Center then use cluster-F**K of roads and lots to get to the store of your choice.

Thanks - I will give Streets Run a try next. Is it currently passable by bike? As of this morning, the detour signs were still up. I think they were doing bridge construction...

The bridge downstream from Brentwood Road is currently being rebuilt, and looks like it will be closed for a while. The closure has made it a very nice road to ride. You can get through the construction site by walking across a foot-wide wooden plank that spans the creek. If the workers are there, they may or may not let you pass; be prepared to walk a good distance on the tracks if not. Be careful as the shoulder of the road is very inconsistent, and when the road reopens you will encounter your share of assholes, especially if you are traveling with rush hour traffic. Weekends and mid-day are dramatically different from 7-9 a.m. or 4-6 p.m. during the week.

@jacob, thanks for reminding about the bridge construction. I usually catch Streets run further up and forgot all about it.

I cycled to CCAC South for about five or six years multiple times a week and took 885 the majority of the time. I only took Street Run Rd a few times and found it unpleasant during rush hour-ish time. With 885, if you do stick to the shoulder, you don't really have to worry about unsafe passes and it's generally a straight road without any curves. Streets Run Rd on the other-hand, is very curvy and one lane each way, which means cars are going to choose between giving you space and going into the opposing lane, which they're hesitant to do. If you do use 885, I have some tips. Going downhill, aggressively take the lane. If you don't, and sometimes even if you do, cars will play chicken with buses coming up the hill in the opposing lane. Taking the lane helps reduce risky passes by stupid drivers. You can easily do 30 going downhill, just be prepared to stop at the light in the middle of the road and give the car in front of you lots of space in case they decide to hit the brakes on a yellow light. Going uphill, at the bottom of the hill, there is a dog that will always bark at you. I think it's old and will hopefully die soon. About halfway up the hill, past the shopping center, there is runoff that will always freeze and create a hazard on the shoulder and a few feet into the lane. So you kind of have to take the lane around the light until you pass it and can get back into the shoulder. For the underpass, take the lane going both ways, hopefully have lights. You could take the sidewalk, but it always seemed like too much of a hassle for me with all the debris. Once outside the underpass going towards CCAC, I would take the lane because the shoulder goes away. When you get to the big intersection, watch for people somewhat carelessly merging between the three lanes. If you take your lane, I think that makes you more visible and less likely to get into trouble. From that point, I go into the shopping center and you can ride around there with much less trouble than the larger four lane highway-esque roads.

Another one for 885 -- Big Bang Bicycle Store is on this road so if something happens to your bicycle you can always stop there to fix it.

I rode up Streets Run to Delwar to the Shop n Save/Applebees area last night at around 7 pm. The construction crew was gone for the evening. I don't think I'd feel comfortable to ask if I could pass through the site when they are actually working. I'd hate to interrupt them while they're working and walking through a construction site in spandex doesn't sound like fun (I'm female). But the road was quite nice to ride on with no traffic. After the construction site (traveling outbound), traffic got heavier but I didn't mind it. Once the hill gets really steep on Delwar the shoulder widens enough that I could comfortably stay out of the way of traffic. I think I prefer climbing Streets Run where I feel like I can control the traffic by taking the lane versus climbing 885 where I feel like I am at the mercy of cars, trucks, and buses flying up that hill. However, I didn't have to deal with any traffic on the lower half before the bridge closure and that is probably where vehicles are traveling at the fastest speeds. For now, Streets Run will definitely be my after-hours route.

^ I'm glad that worked out ok for you. You're right that traffic can get a little fast on Streets run, but where doesn't it.

I will second @pierce's observation about aggressively taking the lane where necessary. While I don't deal with roads south of town (I'm north), I've found it necessary to make absolutely clear that I am controlling a lane, fairly often. I get plenty of horns, which I'm training myself to ignore. I'd rather get horns than clipped by fenders or mirrors. The short version is, if there is more than one lane headed forward, get in the right-most one, and stay at the center, maybe even a little left of center. Good lights fore and aft, dressed so drivers can see you, and follow the rules, and you're set. I recommend getting a mirror, if you don't already have one. My preference is a Third Eye (tm), which glues to your helmet.