Bike path entrace gets an upgrade?

I was planning to ride in on the surface streets and the "dreaded" Mill St. (which is really pretty good), when I notice some orange cones at the entrance to the river path.

So being nosy and needing something to blog about I promptly changed plans.  It looks like they have redesigned or expanded the sidewalk / street interface. 

Sorry about the blur factor....cameras and bikes are fine until you make it 20 degrees and have medium weight gloves to work with!  From the looks of this shot I think they widened the portion of the sidewalk that grades down to street level so you don't have to funnel so narrowly to access the trail.  This is a pretty good improvement, as pedestrians and cyclist were often competing for space on the narrow entrance.

I'll swing by next week to see if my guess on the improvements is right.

Bicycle underground!

Bike Path at the Kietzke Lane / 395 Underpass.

Cyclists talk a lot about the things that you only see and hear (and smell) while riding.  They usually mean the sights and sounds that are really around us every day that are blocked out while riding in a loud, hermetically sealed form of transportation (e.g. a car).  Well, it is true...drivers don't smell the diesel exhaust, hear the ubiquitous noise their tires put out, or the rev of their engines as they hammer it away from the stop light.  Perhaps if they did, they'd understand the real point is they miss the smell of fresh cut grass, the ozone smell after a recent rain, and the gurgle of the river as you ride along it.  And even more specifically, they miss entire areas that are open only to bicycles and pedestrians like the river path.  Mile after mile of parks and riverside views.  Even in the places where car culture impedes, like the recently expanded section of the 395 bridge, the cyclist wins out over the driver.  They may now have 6 lanes of concrete, but we gained a really nicely planted and landscaped areas that once was just dirt!  So if you don't use it....get out and take a ride on the river path this weekend.