Out riding on Saturday morning, I decided to check out the open section of the new Santa Fe trail. This will eventually connect White Rock to Fair Park, following the old railroad right of way. The open section of trail extends from Carroll Avenue up to Glasgow Drive, just behind Woodrow Wilson High School. Unlike the Katy Trail, the engineers of the SF  have created a path that meanders back and forth in a serpentine pattern. I presume this is either because they think straight-line pathways are too boring or they decided that the curves will mandate a slower, safer speed from riders using the path. I'm not sure which is correct, but I couldn't think of any other reason to add curves where there is no physical reason for them to be. Be that as it may, the ride was easy and gives a nice hint of the potential of the entire trail once completed. One very significant caveat to consider before riding this trail: apparently residents of this neighborhood find great nocturnal amusement in disposing of their empty beer bottles (by throwing them from the roadway) onto the bike path. Santa Fe Street runs right alongside the path. There is an constant  array of broken glass all along the route that makes for some challenging moments of navigation. I ended up with a flat tire which cut my ride short for the day but,  ironically, the glass was not the culprit. In trying to avoid the glass, I picked up that dreaded scourge of bike tires everywhere, a goathead.  Had to call my husband for backup at that point. I got the flat repaired but couldn't get the tire reinflated. Lesson learned - need to purchase a better frame pump.

It's really a shame what happens to trails in urban neighborhoods. Rose and I started out riding on the Fish Creek Park trail which is near our house. It's a beautiful bike path, but it suffers from those same problems.

Quote from Patti on Mar 9^th, 2009, 10:19am:

 
I have been evaluating the merits of the Road Morph G against the Turbo Morph. Haven't made up my mind yet, but both seem to be generally well reviewed. I've been carrying a CO2 pump but I don't care for it at all. My particular model is awkward to use and it bent my presta valve. Just a tad annoying... [/quote]
 
 
agreed, the Road Morph is the best pump I've ever used

Done. Ordered a Road Morph G from Amazon, $29.99 w free shipping. Less than RBM and none of the aggravation.  

Quote from mleuck on Mar 10^th, 2009, 9:43am:

 
Some people carry a micro pump to backup their co2. I carry a pump to backup my pump   I guess I should leave one on schreader and one on presta though that way one can easily refil my horn or some homies BMX tire.
 
Actually I just threw it on for my 400k just in case I had a pump problem and was in the middle of nowhere.