So I’ve been up and and down the Woodcroft to Durham Bulls Athletic Park time after time. It’s wonderful — paved and relatively flat. There’s nice scenery most of the way, and a good combination of sun and shade. Even in these long, hot days of triple digit heat, I have yet to feel totally overheated. Something about moving on a bike at 15-25 MPH helps the breeze moving.
Anyway, on the other side of Southpoint Crossing, the Tobacco Trail is not yet paved, nor connected to the part that currently ends at N.C. 54 near Ruby Tuesday and Southpoint Crossing. So right now, I’ve been accessing that area by going down Fayetteville road past The Streets at Southpoint. The next road past the traffic lights of Southpoint is Massey Chapel Road. I make a right here, and then a mile and a half down the road, there’s a pitiful little entrance to the American Tobacco Trail. From here, there’s some nice scenery, but the trail is uneven, bumpy muddy depending on the rain. Regardless, I’ve been up and down that area three times, and a fourth yesterday. I’m pretty confident and familiar with the terrain so by trip number four, I was going down the unpaved trail with a fair amount of speed. At some point, I heard a pop, and thought I had hit something.
I got to the area where the ATT crosses Scott King Road and there was a gentleman there with a riding mower with a Triangle Trails to Rails Conservancy T-shirt on. So I took the opportunity to ask him some questions. Turns out his name is Cotten Tyler and he’s very active with TRTC and lives nearby.
It turns out that they have the funding they need to put the bridges together over Northeast Creek and the one past it. Both of those should be completed in the next year. The I-40 bridge has the funding too, but that one will be a little longer until it is up and running. The trail on either side of I-40 is going to be closer to 751 than Fayetteville Road. About this time, a woman walked up who had wanted to hear it all too. She’s also a big fan of the trail. He also mentioned that soon TRTC will hand over maintenance of the trail to Durham Parks and Rec. and then they’ll start work on another trail. I can’t wait for it all to be completed!
So we parted ways and I flew down the last mile to the Northeast Creek trestles, greeting a few dog walkers on the way. Soon after I had made it to the trestles and turned around and passed the dog walkers, it started pouring rain! I hauled ass down to the Scott King Road trail head, and joined the Mr. Tyler, trying to take shelter under the small trail head. After a minute, I decide that I’m going to attempt to out run the rain back to Woodcroft. So I’m flying down teh trail, rain and dirt blinding me and I realize that my rear tire is screwed up. By now, I’ve gotten ahead of the rain. There is an overpass at Fayetteville Road that I stop under and sure enough, my tire is flat.
Thankfully, just the day before, I started carrying my cell phone on my rides, so I call Amanda for help. Then I scaled the steep stone embankment up to Fayetteville Road. I start walking back toward the Southpoint area. I’m really not that far. Amanda meets me about a mile from the Streets at Southpoint and I have the idea to stop at REI to get the tire repaired. The tech looks at the bike and gives me instructions and advice on how to do it on my own in the future (and even out on the trail!). I got a little bit of gear and I’m good to go. Regardless, I’m not going back to that area of the ATT again until after I put more suitable rubber on.
All in all, it could have been a lot worse! Apologies on the long ass post, but my cycling ones tend to be that way.
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