A Memorial Day Ride on the PET

I planned this ride to cap off the long weekend. I am pretty sure the last time I rode the length of the Pacific Electric Trail (PET) from end to end, and back again, was seven or eight years ago. Since I had been reading that the Upland section had been receiving some upkeep and maintenance attention lately I was ready to check it out, see what it was all about. Mostly it was a pretty quiet day out there - the Fontana section seemed to be the most active. Unfortunately the holiday meant the local brew houses were closed, and the canned beer at Petisco's (they used to serve bottles) was unsatisfying. What was open was Mark's Bicycle Shop at their new location, right on the path (watch for a separate post on that visit in the near future). All in all it was a fun day, certainly different from what I might normally do on a weekend, and well worth the time.

Memorial Day sentiment at the Fontana School District yard

the newest stretch of the PET looking back into Claremont

nice new paving and markings along the Upland section

but still some rough areas where dirt and stuff gets washed across the path

a lot of Springtime blooms along here - Upland still, nearing Rancho Cucamonga

Here's Rancho - pretty barren along some of the longer stretches, but the split path is a moment of design brilliance - perfect for when your riding partner talks a lot and you don't

more trailside color

we missed a ceremony at Rancho Cucamonga's Veterans Memorial, but we stopped to pay respects anyway

good to see that the street crossings (designed by Architerra Design Group) have held up over the years - it was at least ten years ago I worked on the plans for the crossings for the Rancho and Rialto sections of the Trail

Eugene of the CSBG

old Etiwanda Station of the Pacific Electric Railway

grape vines and gray clouds

approaching the I-15 overpass, with Fontana just on the other side

park at Fontana's Civic Center

used to be Sunkist, now the school district

Fontana is rather unique in the amount of turf, and rows of citrus trees planted alongside the path

turf of Fontana replaced with decomposed granite in Rialto - had a hand in the plans for this stretch as well

and this

and this bridge (heavily value-engineered from the original plans)

used to be a football field?

Fontana civil center - where much reference is made to all the old steel mills

from the civil center to open spaces Fontana's may very well be the most interesting stretch of the trail

back in to Rancho - I just don't know what they do to their Sycamore trees

didn't make it back in time for lunch at Molly's Souper

so Petisco's it was where, and as much as I hate to admit (since their tacos used to be so tasty), it is just not what it once was

That's it. And I didn't even have to do a spin around the block to make fifty miles - 50.11 door to door, round trip