Seg #49 & #50 Madison & Huntsville, AL Tennabama Trip 10/1-2/14

Seg #49 Bradford Ck Trail + streets of Madison AL 10/1/14 

Start	County Line Rd S	N 34.68261  W 86.78667	N-S miles 10.4
End	Bradford CK Trl	N 34.72157  W 86.78639	Trl lgth 4.1 Ride 7.9mi

Ride hr 1:07

AVS 6.9

MXS  mph 18.6

DST 7.9mi

Tmp 66

Kcal 335

Seg #50  Indian Ck Trail + streets of Huntsville AL 10/1/14 

Start	Indian Ck Grnway	N 34.70910  W 86.70136	N-S miles 10.4
End	Harvest, AL	N 34.85964  W 86.72233	Trl lgth 14.8 Ride 15.1 mi

Ride hr 3:19

AVS 8.6

MXS  mph 20.9

DST15.1 mi

Tmp 86

Kcal 440

This was the third time I bundled a trip to Petersburg, Illinois with pre-planned trail rides; this time, in Alabama and Tennessee---affectionately named the Tennabama trip as opposed to the HomaTex trip (see Segments 43-48). Petersburg was  nearly a third

Connie visited Linda and Don in Petersburg while 
I rode trails in Tennessee and Alabama. 

of the way to Huntsville, Alabama. I kept driving another six hundred miles, arriving in Huntsville as dark was closing in. I was too tired and night time trail riding was too risky. It was still dark in the morning when I headed for the first trailhead. The coordinates I had plugged into Trixie (car GPS), were spot on for the Bradford Creek Trail. It was rush hour so going slow enough to find the trail-head participated a bally of toots from irritated morning commuters. 

The Bradford Creek Trail presented a couple of 

firsts. The trail was marked differently than I have 

seen. It is common to have a painted line down 

the middle of a paved trail but not a more narrow 

walk path (left  36") versus a wider bike side (60"). 

Another first is the small white sign  (left) that 

says "BEWARE of  SNAKES". I think the

sign should have read "BEWARE of HUMANS"   

There were multiple cars parked at the trail-head so I knew I wasn't going to be the only soul on the trail. Even though there were plenty of people to slow for, I made good time riding  the trail and then extending on to the County Line Road to knock down latitude overlapping a trail in Santa Cruz, California. 

The next trail of the Tennabama trip was another Huntsville area ride. I found the Indian Creek Greenway Trail about 10 a.m. The farthest south this trail runs is Old Madison Pike Road in Madison, Alabama. There was a problem getting on the trail , the path was not accessible. In fact the whole bridge at trail-head, at Old Madison Pike Road, was gone. Work crews were in the process of building a new four lane bridge. It looks like it will be a long time before this project is done. This disruption necessitated me riding steep hills to find another trail access point. After a mile diversion, I was back on the Indian Creek Greenway. I could only ride about

This trail was very similar to the Bradford Creek  Greenway.
Once  these trails are connected, I imagine Madison and
Huntsville will become a destination for trail riders afar.

three miles to the end of the trail and then I needed to turn around. Fortunately I found a piece of the trail that led to a park full of play equipment, sort of a public-private park for those living at the end of the cul-de-sac. The only way out of this dead-end situation was to either go back to where I started or ride city streets and head-out for the north piece of the Indian Creek Greenway, north of Highway  72.  I was fortunate to hail down two road bikers to ask about how to find the north section of the trail. They suggested I forget going to the north section since it was less than a mile in length. They also warned me about the unfriendliness of Slaughter Road; the direct route to cross Highway 72. Despite their suggestions, I decided to push on. After riding through Potters Mill Development, I was on Slaughter Road, probably the most egregious breaking of my self imposed rules for riding trails only. Because the speed limit was 45 miles per hour and the traffic was light,  I was able to ride the white line at the very edge of the road hoping everyone would give me a break. They did. I rode farther north than necessary because I wasn't confident I would find the small section of Indian Creek Greenway just north of Highway 72. I called a cab and he gave me a lift to the remaining short segment of the trail. I rode the remaining latitudes mostly on city streets and sidewalks to an Exon station where I caught another cab back to the car. By two o'clock the bike was back on the car and I was on the road to Clarksville, Tennessee for the final segment of the Tennabama Trip.