Riding between the tracks

Fritz M wrote:
I was riding to a nearby town northwest of my destination, taking a
north road then a west road, when I looked down between the tracks of
a rarely-used railroad spur that's a diagonal hypotonuse to these
roads. The gravel is piled up even with the ties, so I considered
riding between the RR tracks to my destination.

In spite of the 30% difference in distance, I decided against it
because I'm a weenie when it comes to trespassing. But it got me
thinking, does anybody do this? I'm not talking about rail-biking, but
riding between the rails over the RR ties. What are the practical
considerations of doing this?

RFM

I regularly commute and travel using railroad tracks, even frequently
used ones. There is practically no danger if you ride fast enough and in
a vehicular fashion. The only limitation is to use only double-track
sections, as you don't want to be riding head-on against a train. Wrong
way riding is, as usual, not recommended. By the way, trains ride on the
left, not on the right.
I usually manage to keep ahead of most trains, except perhaps TGVs. In
this case, I hop to the side, allow the train to pass, then quickly
catch up and draft the TGV for a while.

Jacques

On Thu, 09 Sep 2004 19:13:24 +0200, Jacques Moser
wrote:

I regularly commute and travel using railroad tracks, even frequently
used ones. There is practically no danger if you ride fast enough and in
a vehicular fashion. The only limitation is to use only double-track
sections, as you don't want to be riding head-on against a train. Wrong
way riding is, as usual, not recommended. By the way, trains ride on the
left, not on the right.
I usually manage to keep ahead of most trains, except perhaps TGVs. In
this case, I hop to the side, allow the train to pass,

Not necessary.

If you look mean enough, they'll usually back down and let you pass.

"Jacques Moser" wrote: (clip) I usually manage to keep ahead of most
trains, (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^
Jacques, please keep posting, so we'll know you're still alive.

Jacque Moser wrote:

I regularly commute and travel using railroad tracks, even frequently
used ones. There is practically no danger if you ride fast enough and in
a vehicular fashion.

Somewhat more humorous than the usual strawman :-). The only road
vehicles I've seen operating on tracks are RR-owned and specially
equipped.

RFM

Leo Lichtman wrote:
"Jacques Moser" wrote: (clip) I usually manage to keep ahead of most
trains, (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^
Jacques, please keep posting, so we'll know you're still alive.


Alive but slightly out of breath. This last one was fast.