In praise of urban riding

Yesterday four of us – me, JoeRay, Danno & Branson – did a variation of our Pancake Ride, which is typically a 60-mile out-and-back from Raleigh to Durham, with a stop at Mad Hatter for breakfast.

With cool temperatures, sunny skies and northwest winds, it was the perfect day to deviate from our standard course and explore the Triangle’s eclectic collection of greenways, historic buildings and outdoor art. It goes without saying that the best vehicle for urban exploration is the nimble bicycle.

Dan, JoeRay and I left from West Raleigh before hooking up with Branson in Research Triangle Park. Normally, we shoot straight out through the fairgrounds to Morrisville. But yesterday, we turned into Meredith College and hopped onto the Raleigh Greenway, crossing the majestic Bike/Ped Bridge across I-440. Here’s a good description of the structure:

The longest pedestrian bridge in North Carolina (660 feet) spans the I-440 Beltline between the Museum Park and Meredith College. It is constructed in three 220 foot long sections, each a “bow-string” steel structure, set onto concrete “bents” or upright supports that were made with form liners in the pattern of stonework.

The path winds down to a creek bottom before climbing back up to the N.C. Museum of Art. There are several outdoor displays there, including a stone sculpture, Crossroads/Trickster 1, by Martha Jackson-Jarvis, and the three hoop “Gyre" by Thomas Sayre. But my favorite is the kinetic sculpture, Wind Machine, by Vollis Simpson. It’s the one in the video at the top of this entry.

Here's a slideshow of shots near the museum.



An aside: Vollis’ property in Lucama is dotted with a dozen or more of these sculptures. He lives on a very pleasant biking road. I met him once while riding with friends from Wilson. To learn more about Vollis, check this PBS story.

After passing the museum, we crossed onto Reedy Creek Road and cruised uphill to Umstead State Park, crossed I-40 and then pedaled into the SAS complex in Cary.

This is the first time I’ve been through there. Impressive, indeed. I snapped shots of these outdoor sculptures as we rolled along. Not sure if all are on the SAS campus.



From there, we picked up Weston Parkway, one of those roads cut through the woods so a dozen corporations could set up shop in the bee-loud glade. We turned right on Evans, left on Aviation Parkway into Morrisville, then right onto Church Street, where we hit another cultural center, Al’s house, the finish to our Raleigh brevet series.


We found our Fearless Leader in his garage, hard at work on the next batch of his home-brewed beer.



Here’s his set-up. By the looks of it, I’d say he’s about ready to go national.

Back under way, we picked up Branson in RTP and crossed back over I-40, left on Cornwallis until we hit the American Tobacco Trail. A description from that link:

As proposed, a 22+ mile multi-use trail will traverse urban, suburban, and rural landscapes in route from downtown Durham, at the site of the Durham Bulls Athletic park, to New Hill Road in western Wake County. At this terminus point, trail users will have the option to board the New Hope Valley Railway and take a train ride to the community of Bonsal.

And here’s a PDF of the route.

We came into Durham right at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, for my money the best minor league stadium in the country.



Right next door is the American Tobacco Complex, an example of urban restoration at its finest moment.



A series of buildings that once housed the American Tobacco Company have been converted into a mixed-used complex of offices, shops and restaurants. The complex is 0-shaped with an open courtyard in the middle. The Lucky Strike water tower now stands in the middle of a series of pools and small waterfalls.

Here are pictures from the complex. As JoeRay noted, they don’t really give you a sense of the scale of the place.



Normally, we eat pancakes at Mad Hatter, another two miles into Durham, but yesterday a waiter from the Symposium in the Tobacco Complex persuaded us to give that restaurant a shot. The view couldn't be beat -- the restaurant has windows looking out toward the Lucky Strike tower. But the meal was just fair and a bit pricey.

Breakfast over, we headed home to Raleigh, stopping in at Al’s again to see how the home brew was coming along. We took our normal route home through the fairgrounds, passing the RBC Center (Home of the Hurricanes) Carter Finley Stadium (Home of the Wolfpack) and the historic Dorton Arena .

Here's a photo I snapped as we rolled past:



Here's a quote from the above link:

The arena's bold parabolic design was conceived by Matthew Norwicki, a Polish architect who helped lay out the rebuilding of Warsaw following World War II. Norwicki assisted in designing the United Nations complex in New York before coming to Raleigh, where he served as acting head of the School of Design at North Carolina State College (now North Carolina State University).

I have my own historic associations with that building. It’s where I saw my first concert – Led Zeppelin – in 1970. I’ve actually heard a bootleg copy of that show.

We came up Beryl, passing the JC Raulston Arboretum, before angling through the neighborhoods to Dan’s house. After a relaxing half-hour of latte-sipping, we parted ways until our next urban tour.