Brentani’s Cycling Blog

(I need to get this off my chest, and this blog seems like a decent place to do it. It’s a little cycling related, since every time I ride, I have to ride on this street.)

I’ve slowly come to the realization that the street I live on, Pleasant Valley Pkwy, is the most ridiculous and f-ed up street in providence. And for those of you that live in providence, I’m sure you know what a bold claim that is.

Exhibit A: 2-way traffic on what should be a 1-way street

Pleasant Valley Pkwy (PVP) is a street divided by a little park and stream. It used to be one way on either side of that park. Google Maps still says that it is. However, there are clearly posted signs informing you that 2-way travel is, in fact permitted on either side of the park.

Exhibit B: Speed Limits

Technically, the speed limit on PVP is 15 mph. I have never seen someone drive that speed. I’ve never seen anyone (except maybe one or 2 people who were hopelessly lost – which happens easily around here) go less than 30. I once saw someone fly through the intersection of death (see below) at about 60, with a cop car stopped at the stop sign. needless to say he had more important things to do than to pull this guy over.

Exhibit C: Street Continuity

Providence drivers should be used to streets that stop and start inexplicably by now. A classic example would be Benevolent on the East Side. you’ll be walking down the street looking for a number, when the street dead-ends into a building. A Providence veteran will quickly realize that the street will probably pick up one block later on the other side of that building and walk around. It’s pretty easy to understand the logic of this, even if it creates headaches for anyone who hasn’t lived in Providence their whole lives. (It WOULD be the same street if that building weren’t there.) But PVP brings this concept to a whole new level. Peruse this map:

As you can see, PVP starts out as a large commecial highway, only to become Raymond one block later (which then becomes Oakland a block later). The block before it became PVP, it was De Pasquale, and the block before was Dean. So the same street has 4 different names in 4 blocks. Somewhat later, PVP begins again, but now has absolutely no relation (I can’t even see any kind of metaphysical relationship between the two halves of PVP) to the first section. They aren’t even going the same direction.

Exhibit D: The intersection of death

If that wasn’t enough to convince you that PVP is the stupidest street in Providence, this intersection should do the trick. Here’s a diagram:

Basically, all of the factors come to a head at this one intersection. PVP makes a hard right, but there is also a break in the park, w/ a stone bridge along the ends of the park sections. At this point, headed west on PVP, your options are to follow the road around to the right, cut across the bridge and turn onto the other side of PVP, cut across and continue on Justice St. All of those options are also open to people travelling west on the South side of the street. Coming east on Justice, you are also free to continue on either side of the parkway without yielding, or turn and head north on the northbound section of PVP. Surprisingly, I’ve only seen 2 accidents at this intersection. First, a car full of LaSalle Academy kids took the turn way too fast and smashed into a tree in the park, taking down the tree. Second, (I didn’t actually see this one), I returned from a few days out of town to find one of the sides of the stone bridge completely smashed to hell. I can only assume that accompanying car crash was quite a sight.

This may become my new training regime. Yesterday, Carrie and Jude were gone all day at a baby shower for a cousin. So I had the whole morning and most of the afternoon. I decided that meant that I should do a 60+ mile ride, even though the most I’ve done in a single day since Jude was born (august 8th) was proabbly 45. I hopped on the Gazelle and met 4 others at Federal Hill. Leaving Fed Hill, we went up Atwells toward Mount Pleasant. I knew it was going to be a tough day, since my legs were already burning on that little hill, and I was out of breath. By the time we got to the top of Smithfield Ave, I started wondering if I had any hope to finish 60 miles. We were doing the 3-state loop, and the riders were all pretty strong. Nate and his friend Scott were pushing pretty hard on the hills, Radu was seeming to follow without too much difficulty, while Geoff and I were struggling. Since I had called the ride and planned the route, I kept checking to see if anyone else wanted to shorten the ride to say 40 miles, but there weren’t any takers. So I just kept myself topped off with GU and Shot Blox and hoped for the best. On Buck Hill Road, the one big climb of the day, I actually managed to climb faster than Radu, though I think he was just being generous. In the end, I finished the day and wasn’t so wiped out at the end that I couldn’t keep up a pretty high pace on Greenville ave headed back to town. I felt pretty trashed for the rest of the day, however.