toughyreader

Hello All,
I am trying to start commuting again. But now I have a new job that is a lot futher away.
My old commute was six miles one way and on lazy residential streets. My new commute would be starting at hulen and I 30 all the way to fossil creek. About 15 miles one way. The majority of the ride on beach street. Just wondering if anyone rides it or could suggest a better route. Thanks

crdean1

I am not sure, but if you want to pm me the addresses (to and from), I could plug them into my Garmin and it 'should' give me the best route for a bike.

Ryan

aikigreg

I don't commute, but I ride up that way all the time. You'd be best taking the trinity trail which right at hulen and 30 up to the beach street exit, which is about 13 miles. from there you could ride up Beach which would likely be "ok" so long as you're REAL reflective. The only problem with biking it is that you've got to cross over or under 121 somewhere, and that will limit your options.

aikigreg

You can go N on beach, take a left onto 1st and go north on riverside. R on meacham, lef ton mercantile. Tough commute any way you go though!

truman

ew, ugly, no envy here.

You considered riding the TT all the way to Buck Sansom Park, then hitting the roads - prolly too far off track for you...

Props, though - I live at Hulen & 20 and used to work at Motorola by N Beach 10 years ago. Traffic's way worse now...

Road Ferret

I'm a fair weather commuter. I work at Bell at Maxine & 121. I ride North Beach (going southbound in AM) from Heritage Trace to 121 a 2-3x/wk. From home, it is about 11.25 mi one-way. I've seen two other bike commuters on Beach.

Sadly, there is no shoulder on Beach. There are some sidewalks, but you can't go at speed on them, and brush is overgrown. I can tell you that the cars run pretty fast and that you need to ride with confidence and a good line. Know your braking ability. The good thing is that there are not so many cars that you'll create a train behind you. If you are going north, traffic is much lighter. Beach is very wide from Long to 820. The ride is slightly uphill has you go north. You will generally have a nice tail wind as you go uphill to 820.

In my opinion, the tough parts of Beach northbound, for safety, on my route are from 377 to Broadway (crazies in Haltom City) and 820 to Western Center (two lanes, no shoulder) If you're looking for something more "scenic," quiet, and safe there are neighborhood streets that parallel Beach. Haltom Rd is a very safe road that parallels Beach, but that will add about 3/4 mile to your trip to go down.

I'd like to hear from others that might have advice.

Post back and let us know how your ride goes.

Thanks!

ctoddrun

To keep this OT for the OP, I was going to suggest the Trinity Trail to get north a ways, then Beach or Riverside to get up to Fossil Ridge area - not sure exactly how that would map out, but would be interested to find out - I've been looking for a way to do a long ride south from my house and pick up the TT, but haven't looked very hard yet...

Road Ferret, where do you live? My commute starts at Heritage Trace as well, but I go east through Keller and then north through Westlake up to 114 - Solana area... Might be interested in hooking up for a ride once in a while if you're interested - don't get to do much aside from the commute, but might be nice to have some company if'n I get a chance...

toughyreader

I leave for vacation on friday so. I may try a one way tomorrow. But I doubt I will attempt it until next week.

Road Ferret

Layton, Fincher and Eastridge are good parallels to Beach.

ctoddrun, I sent you pvt msg on riding so not to take thread off subj.

Steve A

If it isn't too far east, Haltom Road is an excellent choice. It's every bit as safe as Road Ferret suggests, but it's also pleasant to ride on and doesn't have an inordinant number of stop signs or lights along the way. Working your way east, the 121 Service Road is a good choice when east of the Trinity.