There are some obstacles to riding a trike on the Cooks River Cycleway, some more serious than others. I have a trike at the smaller end of the scale when it comes to width. So some of the obstacles are be more difficult for wider trikes and there may be some spots, like the ramp onto Canterbury road which may be impassable to wider trikes. So let me know if you have a wider trike what your experiences are so we can share them here. I hope to work with MASSBUG to get some of these resolved, though some are not in their part of the world.
Note: if you click on the photos, you will go to Flickr, there you can click on the all sizes button and see the full sized image.
Illawarra Road Steps
There are steps with a bike lane going down from Illawarra Road to the bike track. The simplest way around this problem is to go on the northern side of the river in this section as the track goes along both sides. The alternative is to carry the trike up the steps, but the steps are quite narrow.
Lang Road Foot Bridge
There is a wooden footbridge across the river. The northern side can be negotiated, but the southern side has a U-Bend. To get around it I needed to do a three point turn. I did not need to get of the trike, just go backwards for a bit. I guess that is one of the advantages on a trike. It is easy to go backwards slowly.
Canterbury Road Underpass
This underpass is very narrow and even on a normal bike you are rubbing your shoulders on the concrete and the fence. The trike will not fit. What is worse is that there is no easy access to Canterbury Road from the down stream side. I had to bash across the park and then get off to push the trike down the gutter. If you cross Canterbury road in the wee hours, there is little traffic, but for most of the day there is an impossible number of cars. The option I use was to head up past the train station and use the lights to cross the road. I have not tried crossing on the southern side of the river. That may or may not be easier. There is a ramp on the northern side down from the road to the bike track. But the entrance barriers make it very narrow. My trike only just fitted. So if you have a wider trike I do not know if you will make it through.
Crossing the M4
The entrance barriers onto the bridge over the M4 are very narrow. On the northern side I had to get off the trike and man-handle it past the barrier. I have heard of people having to carry the trikes over the tops of the barriers. On the southern side there is the same issue, though with my narrower track, and after I removed the flag, I was able to fit under the barrier.
