Saturday, September 18, 2010
Cruising on the Shelby Farms Greenline
Posted by John Branston on Sat, Sep 18, 2010 at 6:42 PM
The 6.5 mile trail on a former railroad line follows Sam Cooper Boulevard from Chickasaw Country Club to the west side of Shelby Farms by the federal prison. When it officially opens in October, it will extend to Tillman, but that section wasn't open Saturday morning.
The trail is flat, smooth, quiet, and shady most of the way and there seemed to be an equal number of joggers, walkers, and cyclists checking it out. It is about ten feet wide in most stretches, with an unpaved three-foot shoulder on each side. We started at High Point, where businessman Charles McVean is preparing a couple of bays in a little shopping center to repair bikes, organize Aerobic Cruiser trips, and sell snacks, beer and wine, and bike supplies. There's a nice new outdoor deck on the north end of the buildings.
The most scenic part of the trail is the cypress swamp on the east side of Interstate 40 at the edge of the park. There's good access from Waring west, but not so good from Mendenhall, Perkins, and White Station. The trail goes under those streets. A couple of minor glitches remain to be fixed, including some dead trees recently planted in a pretty section on the south side of Chickasaw Country Club golf course.
Getting to the trail from Midtown or downtown involves using North Parkway and Broad or some other east-west streets. We did 36 miles in all, from Shelby Farms to Mud Island. The Aerobic Cruiser will go nearly 20 miles an hour on its lithium battery, and faster if you pedal. Top speed was 30 miles an hour coming down the Auction Street Bridge to Mud Island. It was like rolling around in a dentist's chair, with about as much effort required.
We rode about three hours on the hybrids, and none of the bikes needed a charge and most had power to spare. The recumbent bikes weigh nearly 100 pounds so you don't want to have to rely on pedal power alone. That's theoretically possible, but it was more fun to pass well-conditioned, fully outfitted cyclists on racing bikes while pretending to pedal the hybrid as the battery did most of the work.
McVean plans to start offering bike junkets in October after the grand opening and envisions a "Trail of Trees Bicycle Parkway" running from Shelby Farms to High Point to Broad Street to Overton Park to North Parkway to Mud Island. He sees a new median on Broad, which is indeed broad and little used since Sam Cooper was extended. And he sees the bike path going down the middle of the median on "North Parkway Extended" (Broad) and North Parkway west of East Parkway, where people used to ride horses 70 years ago.
I told him I thought bike lanes on North Parkway would be simpler and faster, given the patchy median requiring curb cuts, costs, probable loss of trees, and the large number of cross streets. But you can see the possibilities on the wide medians at the western end of North Parkway near Danny Thomas. What do you think, riders?
The new trail looks like a good step to making Memphis a more bicycle friendly place and connecting a big part of the city to Shelby Farms.
Comments (34)
Showing 1-34 of 34
Where do you park to get closest to the trail in Shelby Farms?
The thought of a 300 lb silent missile riding up behind me is a little unnerving.
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zip: we started at High Point and went out and back. You could park at election comish at shelby farms and be close. the hybrid is a heavy ride, for sure. Let us know what you think of the trail.
Trial was fine. Gets a little boring along Sam Cooper. But the asphalt beats concrete to death. I do wish the bikers would show a letter more respect for us runners.
I'm with 38103. I'm fairly certain I don't want to share a 10-foot wide trail with motorized vehicles.
Back when these vehicles were first announced as part of a marketing campaign for use on the Greenline, I expressed the opinion they were unsafe for that purpose, and represented a hazard to other users of the facility. My concerns were pooh-poohed at the time.
Now that we know, first, that these "bikes" weigh 100 pounds (three or four times what a conventional bike weighs), that they're recumbent http://tomcox.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/… (meaning the rider is in a semi-reclining position while riding), and that they're capable of the speeds John Branston cites, I am even more certain they are unsafe to be ridden on the Greenline (a belief some commenters apparently share). Recumbent bikes are harder to control than conventional bikes, given the way they're configured (center of gravity shifted from the point of control, swept back handlebars, etc.), and even under the best of circumstances, require acclamation, something most of the people this experience is being marketed to won't have an opportunity to do. Add 100 pounds to the mix, plus a motor, and you've got a formula for disaster.
If these vehicles are permitted to be ridden on the Greenline, especially by inexperienced neophytes, I'm afraid injuries and lawsuits will be an inevitable consequence.
Motorized vehicles are allowed on a jogging/hiking trail? No wonder we are one of the fattest cities in the country.
My kneejerk reaction is that the motorized bikes are too fast and dangerous for the trail. I've ridden it and I'm a little more leisurely than some on the trail. I don't want some group of dumbass kids cruising at 30 mph trying to run each other off the road or pass each other.
If they're led by a guide who sets the speed and keeps them under a limit, it should be fine.
i saw the guys riding some at shelby farms this summer... IMO they are close enough to "bikes" for the GreenLine.
I find it hard to believe there were "dead trees recently planted". Could there possibly instead be recently planted trees that have died? Also, the trail is not open yet; the entire 6.5 mile length is paved but work continues. Signs at each intersection state that fact. Technically the Aerobic Cruiser gang was trespassing.
anyone know the access points in town? I'd like to try this thing on the way home from work but need to know where I can jump on
I would have preferred a trolley line for commuters. It would have served a larger part of the population.
I don't think Memphians would get out of their cars to commute on a clanking slow trolley from somewhere in Cordova to Tillman Street. And then transfer to a bus to wherever they work. You could get there quicker ON a bicycle.
Jack, it can be accessed at any at-grade street crossing. These are Mullins Station, Dovecrest, Podesta, Waring, Graham, High Point Terrace, Highland, and Tillman.
nutnbtwork: trespassing? what basis for saying that? why say that? hundreds and maybe thousands of people are enjoying the trail. there are some signs that say don't use it while it is under construction, but no chains or barriers except near Tillman and no ongoing construction. and why single out the Aerobic Cruiser "gang" whose investors are sponsoring the grand opening in October and putting two new businesses into the High Point neighborhood shopping center?
Did you assume the right to "tour" the FedEx Forum, Redbirds Stadium, or Tiger Lane while they were under construction? For safety reasons, sightseers should not encroach into construction work zones. Chains or barriers would not work if you can't understand (or choose to ignore) clearly worded signs. The particular group was singled out because it was the subject of the article and there is no particular malice toward them.
nutn: so everyone walking, jogging, or biking the trail is technically trespassing (as opposed to regular trespassing?) says who? should it be closed and the trespassers fined?
You're right. The signs mean nothing and you have the right to do as you please. Feel better now? I don't care if you ride the trail or not; I just know what the signs say.
John: actually, nutn's kinda right.
I'm totally unauthorized to speak on her behalf, so let me make clear that I'm not doing so, but I saw the head of the Conservancy on Saturday night, and I think it's fair to say she was a bit frustrated that the CA had jumped the gun last week (your piece hadn't come out as yet), making it seem the Greenline was available for the public's use since it hasn't, as yet, been turned over to the Conservancy, and therefore isn't, technincally speaking, open to the public.
As I understand it, there is still electrical and other construction work to be done, plus there remains security to be put in place on the line which they had planned to do once it officially opened. So, that's apparently why the signs are posted, and I assume will remain so until the path is officially opened on October 9th, with all manner of pomp, circumstance and celebration. http://www.shelbyfarmsgreenline.org/wp-con…
P.S. John, I hold you in the highest regard, but I don't get why you're so McVean-centric on this. There are many aspects of this newest Memphis amenity that have nothing whatsoever to do with Mr. McVean, his investors, or his bikes, but you wouldn't know that from the focus of your pieces about it so far. This is the "Shelby Farms Greenline," not the "Charlie McVean Greenline."
I was out there the other day on my Little Rascal and I had no problem whatsoever with either the joggers or the aerobic cruisers. Everyone gets out of my way when they see the bladed hubs of my chariot wheels and the rotting trophies of my past victims. And trust me - 30 MPH ain't fast enough to outrun me once I get my dander up. I've got an elevator motor under the seat powered by five submarine batteries. You crowd me on the trail and you better start peddling.
Pack throws himself on the mercy of the Court: Your Honor, I may have robbed the bank, but it was a good kind of bank robbery. Judge: Take him away!
Jeff: I get your levity, but 30 MPH is EXTREMELY fast to be going on a bike. The average speed on a flat stage in the Tour de France is between 25 and 30 MPH, and most cyclists here (and certainly none who are going to be riding the Greenline) aren't TDF-quality.
Having been a hell-for-leather cyclist in an earlier life, I can tell you there were very few occasions when I saw that number displayed on my cyclometer. I have no doubt that someone of your prodigious abilities has no problem achieving that speed at will. However, at that speed, and on a contact patch between rubber and roadway that, depending on the tires you're riding, can be 1/16th of an inch or less, the word "in control" is not one that describes the experience, especially not going downhill. I can remember vividly going downhill on the infamous Jackson Hill in Shelby Forest, looking down at my cyclometer, seeing the number 40 staring up at me, and thinking "I'm about to die."
Nah, Marty, I just think the new greenline is....awesome. That's all I was trying to convey. Its general awesomeness.
Jack. You can see it on google maps. It is a thin line that runs from Farm Rd/ Mullins Station to Tillman. Perfectly straight line that almost touches Sam Cooper. Every where it crosses a road West of 240 is an access point (I haven't been all the way yet, but I made it to High Point).
The maps I have seen are all pretty uninformative.
Pack: rad, tubular, bitchin', maybe; awesome--'fraid not.
But, at the end of the day, someone was thinking outside the box, pushing the envelope, going forward, on the ground, maintaining transparency and accountability. My bad? Have a nice day.
John, tell Charlie McVean that Livable Memphis (through Walk Bike Memphis) is already working on that connection from the Greenline up to Broad and into Overton Park, using bike lanes and a trail in Overton Park. A group of stakeholders is at the table (including City of Memphis and others) and this likely be completed in the next 18 months. He needs to contact Sarah Newstok at Livable Memphis and help fund that effort. Then he can fund her to advocate for the connection to downtown. Go Walk Bike Memphis!!
Hey, Evergreener: why would you want "John" to tell McVean anything, instead of telling him yourself, or getting Sarah Newstok to tell him? Do you know something about a connection between "John" and McVean that the rest of us don't?
Thanks Pack; I appreciate that. I'm going to try hard to be a good boy so I don't get in trouble with the powers that be, again. I see those powers are giving me the silent treatment, at least on this forum, which I'm perfectly OK with. And, I think/hope I've protected my computer from being "phished" so those same powers don't think I've said or done something I haven't, like happened before. I don't ever want to go through an episode like that again. Strangely enough, I had a more recent episode where my e-mail provider suspended my privileges becuase they thought I was using my e-mail address to send bulk unsolicited e-mails, which I wasn't. I took steps to protect myself there as well. I love/hate computers. Anyway, it remains to be seen how successful I've been/will be at all of the above. Stay tuned (and let me know when you think I'm straying from the straight and narrow).
This link goes to our Greenline map at MSTA. It has trail entrances, points of interest, possible parking, and some links to the rail line history going back to 1886.
http://www.midsouthtrails.com/midsouthtrai…
So the bikes weigh 100 lbs... let's ban all people that weigh over 200 lbs, what if they were to wreck with someone? Let's also ban all wildlife because they can get in the way of pedestrians and cyclists and cause injury. Actually we also need to drain the lakes at Shelby Farms because there will be accidents waiting to happen. It's ridiculous, sounds like phony lawyer talk. Instead there should be a speed limit on the greenline, no one over 20. Electric bicycles are key to weaning our selves off of fossil fuels and the automobile. Believe me, I ride one and would not be able to commute to work in Memphis without it... actually it is quite dangerous... the extra speed makes my commute safe and I find that motorists show me much more respect than when I take my other bicycles at 12 mph vs 20.
"key to weaning ourselves off fossil fuels and the automobile"? Not hardly. More like, key to taking the excercise out of excercising.
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