Author: alliumstozinnias

A gardener (along with the Brit) who has discovered there is more than hybrid tomatoes. And a cyclist.

Day 4 — Biking South Carolina from Georgetown to Charleston

I cheated.

IMG_1192OK, I cheated. I took the recommended shuttle to McClellanville from our hotel in Georgetown, lopping off 34 miles. So it was just a 50-mile day, and when I got to Charleston, I felt I could still bike another 34.

But Highway 17 has been the low point of every day on this section of the East Coast Greenway, and the powers-that-be apparently felt this was a particularly tough day. And I certainly didn’t want to risk getting dropped by faster riders and have to fight Highway 17 on my own.

Not that we fully escaped that dreaded road. Sometimes there’s a narrow shoulder; sometimes we are more assertive about controlling the right lane. And we travel in packs. We zipped past roadside stands run by weavers of sweetgrass baskets (in some cases, stands is a nice word), and there was no chance to snap a photo, much less take a look at their wares and chat with them.

And even the Battery2Beach cycle route, which gets bonus points for actually bring signposted, isn’t as family-friendly as you would like. But for us, we were just thrilled to have some paint on the road marked bike lane.

Two highlights of the day: the bike-friendly and aesthetically striking Ravenel Bridge (above, and the larger photo below) and a police escort (3 squad cars and 1 motorcycle) over the decidedly bike-unfriendly Memorial Bridge as part of an event with local advocates Charleston Moves and 20 or so local cyclists. The reward for crossing was riding part of the West Ashley Greenway.

 

We have to ride over Memorial Bridge on Thursday morning as we head out of town — but without a police escort. We will be traveling in one giant pack and be escorted by our support vehicles. These two shots from the advocacy ride show riders headed to the bridge and then on the greenway afterwards.

 

Actually, make that three highlights. Two of us were sent to a delicious barbecue place about 3 blocks from our hotel. That mega sandwich (OK, just a regular portion but I swear there was half a pound of brisket in it, the smothered with cheese) pretty much served as lunch and dinner. Haven’t I always said it’s about the food? Though maybe I scarfed this one down too fast.

Here’s my sandwich, and the one ordered by Cheryl, a fellow rider:

 

Dear rest of South Carolina, try copying this bike trail

Finally some trail riding!

IMG_1163Finally! Some trail riding in this year’s weeklong East Coast Greenway ride.

And note to the rest of South Carolina: A bicycle trail doesn’t have to be super fancy.

We rode for many miles today along the Waccamaw Neck Bikeway. Sometimes it was parallel to Highway 17, hidden in the woods with some nice curves but certainly not out of hearing range (and sometimes eyesight) of all that traffic. At some points, it turned narrow and bumpy because of tree roots pushing up. While that just slows down cyclists, it does make that portion unsuitable for those in wheelchairs. And, given the area, golf carts too.

It made us think of where we’d ridden on Sunday and Monday where we had biked long stretches of busy roads with unused land just off to the side that could be turned into a simple trail/sidepath. And that would let workers without a car have a basic but safe way to get to work at all the strip malls we passed.

Given the good number of people biking on this trail on a Tuesday morning, I’d say this isn’t just some luxury. We called out “bikers up” more often than we have all week — shorthand for move over to the right so oncoming cyclists have half the trail to go by.

(Just wish there had been some signposting for the Brookgreen Gardens. One group found it and spent hours there.)

IMG_1153Other sections were along newer developments along golf courses — wide enough for getting to the neighboring golf course on your cart, if you desire. (We only saw someone using the trail in a golf cart at the beginning of this section.) While some might object to this use on a multi-use trail because of conflicts with cyclists, walkers and runners, I believe you have to be pragmatic. If those driving golf carts aren’t going to take to the road and their support is what gets politicians to build the trail, accept that reality. Better a trail than no trail.

One more nice thing about the Waccamaw Neck trail: it connected to the library, a shopping center, a middle school and an elementary school. Real destinations! So it was cool to hear a little boy at recess yell out “there’s a bike train” as we rode by. Maybe he rides his bike to school that way?

Just too bad it ends about 9 miles shy of Georgetown and forcing us to use a busy road. Supposedly the plan is to expand it all the way to the bridge leading into Georgetown and creating a 27-mile trail. Can’t happen soon enough! Only 14% of the East Coast Greenway in South Carolina is on trails, so there is plenty of room for improvement.

Today’s best historical sign in South Carolina

Because I stop for Lafayette sightings.

IMG_1169Because I stop for Lafayette sightings. Just because.

This is just outside Georgetown, South Carolina.

And next to it:

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Day 3 — A 36-mile bike ride in South Carolina from Myrtle Beach to Georgetown

I’m learning a lot about the rain and humidity in South Carolina’s Low Country.

IMG_1166I’m learning a few things about the weather here.

You know how during a northern winter, your glasses fog up when you go inside? Here they fog up when you head outside in the humidity from an air-conditioned room.

And the rain!

The light showers are actually nice because it cools you off given the crazy humidity. And the rain is warm.

But when it comes down hard, it quickly floods. We’re at sea level so there is no place for the water to go. The drainage system can’t cope. Continue reading “Day 3 — A 36-mile bike ride in South Carolina from Myrtle Beach to Georgetown”

An East Coast Greenway ribbon-cutting in Myrtle Beach

A big deal in Myrtle Beach.

IMG_1144So we’re only a year late.

Last year’s Week-a-Year ride on the East Coast Greenway was supposed to end with a ribbon-cutting for a new section of trail and a trailhead at the southern end of Myrtle Beach. Hurricane Matthew spoiled those plans, so city officials waited until we came back to hold this ceremony.

This is bigger than just another piece of trail in the East Coast Greenway jigsaw; Myrtle Beach is the first city (not to be confused with town or other form of government) to finish its section of the route.

That’s particularly impressive for a state that has completed a mere 14% of the Greenway.

Unfortunately, right after we pass this kiosk, we’re outside city limits and back on an ugly road. So there is still much to do.

Hats off to Myrtle Beach for a big turnout for this ribbon-cutting — maybe 100 or so people. Some arrived by bike. Here are some of the riders before they took off from Warbird Park. Props to those who can identify the plane in the background.

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We’re 2,000 miles down the East Coast Greenway

Myrtle Beach is at the 2,000 mile marker.

IMG_1141This East Coast Greenway mile marker is at the kiosk on the southern end of Myrtle Beach.

And Barb and Bev are among a handful of riders in our group who have biked all 2,000 miles from Calais, Maine, taking it one week a year.

Me? I’ve ridden south from Newark, NJ, plus 350 miles from Calais to Portland, Maine, and some of the Connecticut trails and the New York City route. Got a bit of catching up to do!

Day 2 — 40ish miles from Ocean Isle Beach to Myrtle Beach in South Carolina

A crazy amount of rain, plus an alligator sighting.

IMG_1132Wow did we get drenched today. Even though we tried to wait out the worst of it. And the flooding on Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach … at one point I swear I biked through water halfway up my wheel. At least my chain got “washed.” And, yes, my shoes are soaked. I’m on the hunt for newspaper to help dry them out.

Thankfully the ride through heavy rain was only for 4 miles, with rear light flashing for visibility and almost no traffic to cope with. And it wasn’t a cold October rain like it would have been up north.

Still, when you show up at a hotel soaking wet, you are grateful for a hot-out-of-the-dryer towel and a warm chocolate-y cookie before you even check in. 300-and-some-odd calories be damned. Thank you, Lillie.

(Oh, and when you say that county name in the photo at the state line, it’s a silent H. Otherwise it sounds illicit.)

IMG_1135Photo of the day: an alligator in a neighborhood pond just off the road. How it got there… and why it can stay there … is beyond me. Last night, a kid at the general store’s fish counter explained to us how to hunt alligator (bait is bits of chicken dangling from a string, followed by a bullet to the head). He was selling a block of frozen Georgia gator meat for $17.99 a pound, but who knew North Carolina meat was so close? (Why you will pay that much for gator and then essentially turn it into chicken-like nuggets when chicken breasts are regularly on sale for $1.99 a pound is something someone still needs to explain to me.)

You never want to call a gator friendly, so let’s say this one was … curious. He kept drifting closer to where we were standing, as if wanting to check us out as much as we wanted to check out him.

And why do I say 40ish miles? It was supposed to be a 46-miler but at one point in North Myrtle Beach, some riders started following East Coast Greenway signs instead of our cue sheets. The signs date back to an interim on-road route with bike lanes that follows Ocean Boulevard rather than the new trail route further inland. Just another opportunity to debate the route! I ended up with the road group. Think the long side of the triangle. Maybe I lopped off 6 miles? But I missed the only real trail segment of the day.

We were just 4 miles from our Myrtle Beach hotel when some other riders called out from a meh beachside grill restaurant. Most of what was left of our group stopped to eat, figuring we could still find the trail afterwards — and then came the deluge. At least we could hide out and watch a bit of baseball; others were on the trail with no place to hide for quite a while.

Does getting soaked count as doing laundry?

Read what my fellow blogger has to say about the day.

 

Day 1 — Biking 62 miles from Wilmington to Ocean Isle Beach in North Carolina

This photo sums up why we need the East Coast Greenway.

FullSizeRenderThis photo, taken by another rider today, sums up why we need greenways — off-road trails like the East Coast Greenway that serve cyclists, runners, walkers and others of all ages and ability.

Look at that intersection. Wide roads, no bike lanes. How many would cross it on a bike? And with children?

And once we got past intersections like that, we were on roads that sometimes had tiny shoulders.

If people speeding by in their cars thought all these cyclists were nuts, would you blame them?

One rider in our group is a distributor for a major bike brand and says he’s not surprised by the poor bicycle infrastructure around here. Even in beach towns, there’s not a culture of bicycling to the beach, unlike, say. the Jersey Shore. And he doesn’t have a bike store between Wilmington and Savannah selling his brand aside from one in Charleston.

What did look familiar? People trying to slow down traffic in front of their homes. Beyond those commercially available red “Drive like your kids live here” signs, these two homemade signs in front of one house caught my eye (but probably not those speeding):

And today’s ride? All roads. The plan had been to ride East Coast Greenway trails in Wilmington, then follow the beach south to Fort Fisher, catch a ferry for a few miles to Southport and then make a big loop inland to cross a river before heading to the beach again.

Many of us were looking forward to the ferry ride. Only the state transportation department, which runs the ferry, decided that today and tomorrow (Columbus Day) was a perfect time for maintenance. And we couldn’t come up with a replacement service. So no ferry ride. (Shades of my first WAY tour in 2014 when the boats didn’t show then either!) Instead we were shuttled across a bicycle-unfriendly bridge and started riding a few miles outside Wilmington.

The flip side is that today was a 62-mile day instead of the 70 miles that had been billed. It was hot and humid, so a bit less is good as those of us from up north adjust to Carolina weather. Got to keep remembering to reapply sunscreen, including under the edge of my bike shorts (shorts ride up when you sit and that’s where the rash from too much sun shows up).

My roommate on this ride is blogging too. Here’s how she summed up the day.

Day 0 — To Moores Creek, with a helping of BBQ on the side of the road

This is what I call breakfast plus lunch!

IMG_1099When all you had for breakfast is a Clif bar and you spot barbecue being sold under a simple white poop-up tent on the side of the road… of course you stop.

Good thing too, since the scenic route back from Moores Creek to Wilmington ended up on a different route, missing the planned lunch spot and stopping instead at a “famous” hot dog place after 45 or so miles, which most certainly wouldn’t have been what I was looking for.

This signed lured us in.

IMG_1093And this is what I got for $10. More than enough for breakfast plus lunch! Sorry, vegetarians, even the rice and okra had meat in it. No idea about the collard greens. Awesome ribs, with meat falling off the bone.

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We were told the sale was to help one of the workers get his own place. Just a mobile home, nothing fancy. Hope it works out.

The day’s ride was to close the gap from the end of last year’s abridged ride at Moores Creek from Elizabethtown and the start of this year’s in Wilmington. But with our detour, it was more than I bargained for — probably 60 miles all in, including my ride to and from the start.

Virginia Capital Trail, part 2: around Richmond

I explored more of the Virginia Capital Trail. Five stars!

IMG_1069First, the Virginia Capital Trail is a fabulous trail. I wish other areas would take a look and see how they can copy it.

Continue reading “Virginia Capital Trail, part 2: around Richmond”