I declare time dead!

#229

Killed some time today while waiting for our Prius to have some Toyota recall items taken care of.

I drove down to Folsom with the trike in the back of the car, pulled up to the service drop-off area, and nipped around to open the hatch and unload bike and stuff on the curb.

Did the paperwork and then set up my bike and rolled away for a 20+ mile ride.

I headed out on Folsom Blvd., since that was -despite some boulevard turns, the most expedient way to get on the river-side bike trail.

I rode on the trail to Hagen park, then turned around and rode back.

Poison oak. My ENEMY!!

I played in traffic some more, then spent a while killing time at a coffee shop, and - since the car was still not done - relocated to Bella Bru for a nice BLT and some ice water.

Getting back to the Toyota service center was the third, final, and most straightforward traffic excursion.

So, here's what I mean.

The red line is my route from the service center to the bike lane on Folsom Blvd. The red hooky-do at the bottom is my boulevard turn to get around the intersection. I did not feel like playing in traffic to the extent of making a vehicular left-hand turn.

The orange line is my route from the bike path paralleling Folsom Blvd. to a spot where I could turn around (green diamond) and get on the correct side of the road to get some coffee.
And the green line is my route from the sandwich place back to the dealer ship.

The screenshot below is the intersection of Folsom Blvd and Blue Ravine. It is a huge, busy, car-filled spot. There are push-button ped signals at all four corners, but the curb cuts to and from the bike path are really designed for foot traffic, not bicycles - even though this is a city of Folsom bike path.

This picture is how I did the coffee-turn. (the orange line in the map picture. Sue me.)
This is the next push-button equipped intersection (Parkshore), since the pushbutton situation at Blue Ravine was even worse.

The red line is how I eventually got across at Parkshore, did a u-turn, and headed back down the street to get coffee.
There is a pushbutton crossing at the upper rt of the intersection, but it is not available from the bike path since one has to cross the the light rail tracks (and the crossing arms - down when I went through - prevent easy access). So I crossed on the zebra there. Discovered that there is no pushbutton on the upper left corner to get across the street (downward in the pic), so - back across street - on the wrong side of the tracks (ie: not on the zebra), to Fred Flintstone my way to the button.
Then, finally, I could transition with a neat left hand turn from the cross walk to the bike lane.
I really wanted my coffee!!

There is just not a good, safe way, that I can find to get from the bike path on one side of Folsom Blvd. to the shops on the other. Maybe this is an example of infrastructure for two different kinds of cyclists: bike-path-only and road-only. If one is willing to be a vehicular cyclist at all times, most of the lights in Folsom seem to be "bike aware". And the bike paths are splendid! Many times, however, getting from one system to the other is a pain in the bottom and requires shenanigans of some degree.