Denton to Dallas and back - Any route recs?

[room203]

I'm thinking straight over on 380 then down 289 into Uptown would be a way to go. Haven't driven 289/Preston that long though so I'm not really sure how safe that would be.

I hate mapping out routes through places I haven't been, so, has anyone gone from Denton to Dallas or Dallas to Denton?

[tailchaser]

289 can be rather unpleasant even on weekends... What time of day do you need your route? I'm sure we can string something together.

[room203]

I would leave Denton at 10 or 11am on a Saturday, ride/do whatever in Dallas until I'm tired then stay overnight and come back the next morning.

[jim10040]

I wouldn't touch Preston Rd with a 10' pole. Especially close to Dallas. I'd go to Preston just a few miles then jump east to Hillcrest and come south. Check out your route carefully, though. Hillcrest is much less deadly than Preston.

[lotek]

I avoid Preston like the plague.
In Frisco I'd go west a block or so to Ohio it turns into hillcrest after it crosses plano parkway.

Marty

[mocella]

One of the routes we do on Sunday mornings, goes out towards 380/720, and we take 720 back towards Frisco, which you can take up to Legacy and then across to Ohio and then turn towards Dallas. That should get you around having to take 289. Another option is to take 380 to 423 and then cut across on Panther Creek/Teel up to Main Street(720) and again across to Legacy.

If I recall, 423 was a bit busier than taking 720, but is a bit more direct. You might look up the routes that the West-End rides take into Dallas for ideas on streets that might be more bike-friendly. That's about the only time I've ever ridden towards Dallas, but it seemed like they picked some decent streets as far as traffic went.

[crdean1]

You can check this year's first leg of the MS 150. We went from Frisco to North of Denton.

[Creakyknees]

Are you sure 380 has a shoulder all the way? That's a high-speed, high-traffic highway.

Have you considered coming down the W side of 35E, via Copper Canyon Rd? You could swing by Grapvine Mills Mall then across to Sandy Lake / MacArthur Royal then into residential streets to Uptown.

something like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pe2aqYkIbXM


which is a bit shorter than the eastern route you were thinking, and mostly uses more bike friendly streets

Here's a stab at the eastern route
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/tx/denton/117665958982

[mocella]

You can check this year's first leg of the MS 150. We went from Frisco to North of Denton.

I thought I read that they used the Dallas North Toll to cut North from the start, and I recall someone posting that there are "no bicycle" signs on the frontage-road. Although, that stretch would probably be pretty quiet at least from 380 to Eldorado.

[room203]

Creakyknees: I think you're onto something here. I've only ridden McKinney street that far once and I don't remember if I liked it or not. At least the cars arent going 70mph. 380 does not have a shoulder when you start out, but it has a very wide (the size of a lane) shoulder once you get a couple miles out of town, and it's definitely present on the stretch of 380 your route uses.

It seems you may have pasted a youtube video link by mistake in lieu of a route map. heh.

I thought about the Copper Canyon way but I've driven that before and as I recall it's very 'country.' I don't know if I'd want to take a road bike on that for very long.

Dallas North Tollway may be an option though. I'll take that on the drive home today and see how it looks.

Also, when I took 380+Preston to the Superdrome one time it didn't seem so bad, at least for that stretch. I was thinking maybe take it that far, and then when it gets too crazy, switch over to parallel side streets.

Thanks for all the help so far everyone

[crdean1]

I thought I read that they used the Dallas North Toll to cut North from the start, and I recall someone posting that there are "no bicycle" signs on the frontage-road. Although, that stretch would probably be pretty quiet at least from 380 to Eldorado.

Looks like we did use the tollway to get to 380, although I didn't notice because of riding with a group.

Here's a map:

http://dallas.ms150.org/dallas/maps/2008/08SCDay1Route.pdf

[Creakyknees]

wow... sorry for the bad link, was responding to a totally different thread.

I don't understand what bothers you about "country" on a road bike ???

I couldn't find the western route, must not have saved it right.

[lotek]

personally I'd rather take 289 (Preston) from 380 to Eldorado. With the exception of a small
area there is a wide shoulder and even though its probably more heavily used (than tollway)
less dangerous. In addition as mentioned above tollway access road is clearly marked NO BICYCLES.

Marty

[room203]

Came up with this:

http://veloroutes.org/bikemaps/?route=11278


Kinda snakes around and adds a bunch of miles, but it seems pretty safe. I inspected everything pretty close with the satellite view.