Continued Inundation of the American River Parkway

Last night after work, I got onto the bike path at 19th & C and headed up over the bridge to the north side of the American River. I was pleased to find that Northgate Blvd is once again open. That was a problem for me, last week, when I needed to get to Natomas for a meeting. As you recall, I ended up taking the bus. 

The water on the bike trail has receded about forty yards, horizontally. That looks to equate to less than three inches vertically. Maybe you bike commuters out there recognize the location in the photograph above. Off in the distance in the picture is the T-intersection between the Jedediah Smith American River Parkway and the Sacramento Northern Bike Trail. The intersection is still under a fair bit of water.  I didn't feel the need to roll my bike through that sludge so I'm not sure of the depth, but you get the idea. My understanding from talking to others is that the trail is largely submerged behind Costco and REI then accessible again after the Elvas railroad tracks. The access points at Cal Expo and Northrop Ave are open and trail segments between Cal Expo and Fair Oaks are dry, for what it's worth. 

I'm headed to Oakland for a long weekend, leaving on Amtrak tonight. I will check the water level again, probably Tuesday, and post an update. 

Yours for the ride,

DC

An appreciation for Transit Options

Despite a few days of sunny weather, the Sacramento and American Rivers remain high. The bikeway is still flooded and impassable near Del Paso Blvd.  In addition, when I pass over the flooded area on Light Rail, I can see that even the patches of bike path that are exposed mostly covered with debris. Even when the water recedes, it's going to be a while before the path is suitable for skinny road tires. So, I continue to ride H Street. Most days.

On Wednesday last, I needed to attend a meeting up on Truxel. Ordinarily, getting to the Natomas area from downtown is easy by bicycle--one can ride through Discovery Park, along the Sac Northern Bike Path, or up Northgate to get across the sloughs north of the American River.  All three of these options are flooded as I write this, and were flooded all of last week. 

The only viable alternative for a cyclist was to ride all the way to Fair Oaks and then backtrack--a ten mile detour to get from Downtown to Natomas. 

Fortunately, we have other options.

My route on Wednesday was to walk downtown and catch a bus which took me across the Interstate 5 freeway bridge to Natomas--an option which is otherwise closed to cyclists.  

Sacramento isn't a world-class transit city but it does pretty alright for a second-stringer. Being so close to the Bay Area, with its intermeshing and mostly functional transit systems, Sacramento has to provide transit options. Many of us, who spend a good portion of our time in the Bay, would demand this. Or at least, barring that, would think of Sacto as all that more of a backwater for lack of transit.   

Like many community transit systems, Sacramento Regional Transit (RT) is struggling to keep its head and budget above water. It is easy for the politicians in the Capitol or in Washington DC to cut funding for public transit--or bicycle infrastructure, for that matter. Few of their loudest constituents and probably few of them use these services. It seems that the loudest voices in the halls of transportation subcommittees would rather demand continued subsidy for multilane restricted-access highways than for these other services. 

It has been argued that transit and bike lanes are "extras" or that they serve few people for the amount of funding that they require. 

Having seen those of our community who rely on these modes the most, I would find it difficult to see them as so indispensible. Many of the riders who get on the train with me at Alkalai Flat have no other means of transport to get them to and from work. A bicycle is fine but it won't get you there when the bikeway is flooded. A bus is okay but it's healthier and cheaper to ride your bike. We need both options.

Heavy Rains lead to Flooding along the American River Trail

I left my apartment this morning on my usual commute ride.  Down F Street, onto Sixteenth, under the UPRR tracks, back behind the warehouses on North B and onto the bike trail feeder behind the Blue Diamond Almond Plant.  The trail follows the old Sacramento-Chico Traction Commuter rail tracks across the bridge over the American River.  It then drops down into the floodplain... where I found a lake. 

The bike trail disappeared from view and was submerged as far as I could see.  "Damn," I thought, "and I was thinking I'd be to work a little early." 

So I backtracked into town and wound my way on surface streets back to H Street and then the Fair Oaks Bridge.  From there, I got on the bike trail heading the other direction, bound for my usual connection with surface streets at Northrop Ave. 

At some point, as I was riding along the levee, a county park ranger stopped me to warn me that I wouldn't be able to get to downtown due to flooding.  "I figured that out the hard way," I told him, and thanked him for stopping me.  A guy can't be everywhere at once, right?

Nevertheless, I'm trying to find a resource to tell me before I leave for work in the morning if my normal commute route is flooded and impassable or not.  It took me an extra ten minutes to ride out to the lake and then backtrack this morning.

My current plan is to ride H Street, tomorrow, and just check the conditions when I get a chance later this week.  Maybe I'll keep riding H until the Bureau of Reclamation ramps down their Nimbus Dam release (upstream of Sacramento) to less than 30,000 cubic feet per second!  If anyone else has a resource that you use, shoot me a link! 

Safe travels!

An Intersection of Concern

This is the cyclist's view of 21st Street at Capitol in Midtown Sacramento.  Two days ago, I approached this intersection as the light turned green.  The lights are timed, here, so that if one can keep up 20mph all the lights turn green. 

When I approached, as traffic started to move, the second car in line suddenly began a right turn.  The driver did not use a turn signal.  I swerved dramatically, shouting explicatives.  The driver stopped in the middle of the bike lane.  I rode by, with a loud shout, "Use your turn signal!"  The driver completed the right turn after I passed. 

Another friend of mine had a similar experience, end of last week.  A third friend of ours was actually hit by a car at this very location at the beginning of last week.  All three incidents were the same scenario--passing slow or stopped cars, one of which made a sudden turn without signalling. 

The dashed white line reminds us, of course, that cars may be changing lanes in this area.  Approaching the intersection, it makes sense to be alert to this potential.  Only a certain measure of mind-reading is possible from the saddle, though. 

If you drive a car... please make using your turn signal at least three seconds BEFORE you begin your turn a habit.  Not only is it the law, but it could save a fellow citizen from injury. 

Use of turn signals or blinkers appears to have been a fad that has fallen out of favor with Sacramento drivers in particular.

I guess it's kind of like calling your shots when playing pool.  If you know what you're doing and play with a degree of skill, calling the shot is no big deal.  If you're just pushing the ball around the table, though, calling a shot doesn't move you closer to your goal--you can't say, "I meant to do that," if you called a different shot!  If you're just pushing your car around the street, safety isn't on your mind--all you're thinking about is getting there.  A driver that isn't using turn signals is just pushing their car around the road--an objective hazard to not just cyclists but also other motorists and pedestrians. 

If you drive a car, please think about what you're doing while driving.  Drive intentionally and drive to promote both your safety and the safety of those around you.

Many thanks.
DC

The Automobile has been Replaced

For a long time, I kept my car around because I figured that I needed it to transport bulky items.  Since we purchased a house, I have transported probably a dozen sheets of plywood on the roof of my car--sometimes singly, sometimes six sheets at a time.  How could I transport six sheets of plywood on my bike?



Enter the Bikes-at-Work 96A trailer into my life.  Ah, the fresh air!  When I sold the car, I specifically decided that proceeds from the sale would go toward the purchase of this trailer.  Well, here it is hauling a bicycle.  The first week after I assembled it, I went to the hardware store and bought two 4'x8' sheets of 1/4" exterior sheathing, four six-foot 2x4's, and a bunch of hardware.  It went onto the trailer so easily that I forgot to photograph it. 

As you can see, cargo can easily be loaded over the fenders--or maybe I should call those WHEEL WELLS. 

The manufactuer, Bikes-at-Work, claims that these wheel wells have the same 300# capacity as the trailer.  Just toss your bulky items on, tie them down, and off you go. 

A good set of brakes on the bike is, of course, recommended if operating with a heavy load.  I wouldn't suggest going randonee in hill-country while pulling this, either.  It's a great trailer though and has already come in handy repeatedly in the three weeks that I've owned it.  I made two Oakland-to-Alameda trips with it just this weekend. 

The trailer comes in a package about half the size of a bike box, delivered to your door and ready for assembly.  Assembly took me about an hour and required two wrenches and a screwdriver.  The kit comes with wrenches, but I don't recommend trying to use them.  Get real wrenches. 

The photos above show the trailer with a plywood floor that I installed as a retrofit in week two.  Not counting the time spent waiting for the varnish to dry, installing the floor on the already-assembled trailer took less than an hour.  The manufacturer provided excellent instructions for this retrofit as a part of the original purchase. 

Its a pedal-powered pickup truck!