The Eastern Bryant Ramp -- Closed (image credit Soren Jensen)
I'm no always aware of why I choose a particular route. I mostly avoid the lights and traffic of downtown. Nicer routes get picked more often. But yesterday, I riding from the U to Uptown, I realized just how much impact pleasure and convenience play.
I've gotten into the habit of taking the three-times-longer, but deliciously pleasant route of the Hiawatha LRT trail down to the Greenway as one of my "avoid downtown" routes.
But, as I was pedaling and calculating my route, I remembered three facts:
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the Sabo Bridge is closed, so no view from the top, no sweep of riding back down, and no hope of spying people enjoying the bridge -
the closed bridge also would mean traversing Hiawatha, and I wasn't sure of the state of that crossing -- it's been both great and horrible in the last few weeks -
the exit ramp I usually use to get home -- on the east side of Bryant -- is closed, leaving me to navigate the blind, steep, hairpin turn up the west side without any momentum, and the memory of having nearly crashed there a few days ago
Apparently, the joy that draws me down the trail route is negated by the construction so that the shorter, faster 15th Street advisory bike lane route won out.
I don't read any big meaning in any of this. The Greenway is still great, and downtown is still horrible. But I did realize where my personal trade-off between "pleasant" and "speed" and "distance" lays out.
What factors are primary for you when choosing a route?
