In the midst of #30DaysofBiking it seemed like a good time to share the tweets from #Errandonnee: winter errands by bike. That mid-March challenge provided great examples of things you can do by bike and some impressive pictures of hauling stuff: A bike carried on a bike, for example.
Check out the tweets and blog posts.
And now, for the rest of the story.
Last year we followed up on the Inlander’s reporting about Paul Dannels’ stolen bike to try to help raise funds to replace the bike. A number of generous people stepped up and between your donations and some other sources Paul is back on two wheels.
When Paul got his bike in February he wrote,
“This past week I purchased a new bike. It is incredible to say the least. I could not have done this without your help; thank you so very much.”
He sent a photo with his Trek Domane 4.3 and said, “Needless to say I probably won’t be leaving this bike anywhere, makes me very sad to say that. I sure do love it and can’t stop riding or thinking about it. Thank you again so very much.”
We asked about some of his favorite routes and he sent pictures of a ride to the Bowl and Pitcher, in Riverside State Park. He reports,
“Life is great here in Spokane; we have been really spoiled with good weather so far this year. My new bike is incredible. I have been riding around 70 to 80 miles per week and rode my first 52-miler last weekend. I’m working my way up to do a couple of century rides this year.”
Aubrey L. White Parkway in Riverside State Park — a beautiful route for a bike ride along the Spokane River.
Another beautiful view of the Spokane River.
This whole experience also inspired Paul to ask, “I’m wondering if there is more I can do in the world of advocating for bike rights and laws in my area and thought you might be just the person to ask, I’d like to share and spread my passion for biking in our community.” We pointed him to volunteer opportunities like Spokefest and Spokane Summer Parkways and told him about the Spokane Bicycle Advisory Board meetings every third Tuesday, a great place to hear what’s happening in the city for better bicycling.
Paul will be in our booth at the Spokane Bike Swap this coming Sunday, April 12. Stop by to say hi and talk bikes.
Jaime Brush with Isabella on a snowy bike ride, with Moscow Mountain in the background.
An Advocate’s Voice: Washington Bikes member Jaime Brush speaks up for the interests of people who bike in Pullman in many ways. She provided this update on her efforts, which demonstrate that stepping up and speaking up can make a real difference in your town.
For a town built on a topography of rolling hills, Pullman has made a big step in the direction of becoming a bicycle friendly community! Starting at the end of 2013 and the beginning of 2014, Mayor Glenn Johnson asked community members and organizations to submit suggestions for the City of Pullman and City Council to consider adopting. Having stirred up quite the attention around biking in Pullman, I couldn’t wait to read through all the submissions to see if any were bike-related.
Bikes outside Cafe Moro in downtown Pullman illustrate the need for bike parking.
After reading through a binder full of suggestions, I was most surprised and happy with the one from the Pullman School Board and the Superintendent of Pullman Schools (see An Advocate’s Voice Parts I and II for the background story; Part III is still in the making). Their one suggestion acknowledged the difficulty in reaching Pullman High School from downtown by biking or walking and requested that more walk/bike paths be provided to improve the connections.
Throughout the submissions, there was a clear emphasis on the theme of having walk/bike connections to Pullman High School. The Pullman Civic Trust listed this as their #1 suggestion, in addition to several other bike and trail-related goals. The League of Women Voters asked for walk/bike paths where cul-de-sacs are permitted. The Pullman Chamber of Commerce advocated for more bike infrastructure throughout Pullman, specifically downtown bike parking.
The next part of the process included a special retreat that was open to the public, where the Mayor, City Supervisor, and Councilmembers discussed the suggestions and narrowed them down to 15 goals that were eventually adopted. (Shout out to Councilmembers Francis Benjamin and Nathan Weller for speaking up for bike-related goals!)
A few weeks later, city department heads gave their input on the 15 proposed goals. The Superintendent of the Pullman Parks Department, Alan Davis, recommended changing the wording in the goal from creating bike parking in three distinct downtown locations to, instead, creating bike parking throughout the “downtown corridor.” This slight change in wording allows for input from the new Pullman Bicycle Task Force and citizens as to where the racks/lockers should be installed. After all, placing the new bike racks at destinations for people on bikes is key to the racks’ success.
Then, the Mayor and Council voted and approved City Goal 2014 # 5:
Improve bicycle and pedestrian trails. Explore the implementation of appropriate recommendations in the WSU Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan. Enhance bicycle parking in the downtown corridor by installing bicycle racks, and possibly bicycle containers, at strategic locations. Encourage WSU to take the lead on developing a more comprehensive path map and funding options.
The page from the 2014 goals adopted by the City of Pullman showing Goal 5, Biking and Walking.
The next step in the process was deciding where the bicycle racks we’re going to be placed. The Pullman Bicycle Task Force was created. After several meetings and following the recommendations put out by the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals in their Bicycle Parking Guidelines 2nd Edition, the Task Force was ready to give their siting recommendations to the City of Pullman.
Sportworks, headquartered in Woodinville, WA, created a custom bike rack for Pullman. The shape suggests the gently rolling Palouse hills
Sportworks, a Washington-based company that designs and manufactures bicycle products, specifically bike parking and transit racks, was able to provide Pullman with a custom-designed rack that mimics the rolling hills of the Palouse area.
This initial stage of installing bicycle parking around the city of Pullman has began and is already a success!
In conjunction with bike parking, an bicycle/pedestrian educational campaign is being developed; I’m working on it with the Pullman Police Department with the direction and help of Washington Bikes.
According to the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals’ Bicycle Parking Guidelines, 2nd Edition, “One of the most common obstacles for bicyclists is the lack of bicycle parking at their destination. At the most basic level, bicycle parking encourages people to ride, but it also has some specific benefits, even for non-cyclists”, such as:
Shoutout to Jaime for her tireless work to grow bicycling in Pullman. She also got Pullman added to the annual statewide bike/pedestrian count. Steps like these make a real difference.
Your Turn
If you love all things bicycle and you live in Spokane, then you don’t want to miss the Spokane Bike Swap & Expo next weekend, April 11-12.
Organized as a benefit for the Friends of the Spokane River Centennial Trail, the Spokane Bike Swap is the place to buy new and used bikes, swap your old ones, connect with bike groups like us, practice using the bike rack on transit buses, get information on super Spokane bike events like Spokefest and Spokane Summer Parkways, sign up for rides like the Jedermann Gran Fondo and Lilac City Century and Family Fun Ride, and more.
Be sure to drop by the Washington Bikes booth to say hi and meet our executive director (and founder of Spokane Bikes) Barb Chamberlain and the great volunteers who will be there with her.* You can pick up a copy of our popular Washington Bike Laws pocket reference, a “Drive Aware” brochure to share with your non-bicycling friends who drive, and bike maps from around Washington state.
We’ll also have our pop-up retail store at your service:
Check the Spokane Bike Swap website for more details about the event and we hope to see you next weekend. Speaking of seeing you….
*Want to volunteer with us? Email Barb, barb@wabikes.org, if you’d like to help with set-up Friday afternoon, work a two-hour shift Saturday or Sunday, 9am-3pm, or help with teardown at the end of the event (which goes really fast).
The car-free view up the North Cascades Highway. Josh Cohen photo.
Some years people on bicycles get an amazing experience: riding on the North Cascades Highway (USBR10) after snow has been cleared and before it’s opened to motorists in a kind of impromptu Open Streets event, often on a weekend. We’ve told you to watch for announcements so you can plan a quick getaway for exclusive access.
Tomorrow morning, April 3, is your only chance.
Washington State Dept. of Transportation has announced the highway opens tomorrow, April 3. If you want to ride ahead of vehicles you need to take Friday off (we won’t tell your boss) and beat the cars.
Some people show up at first light on Opening Day, hop the gate and take off to enjoy the highway before WSDOT opens it to motor vehicles. If you go: Watch out for sweepers, de-icing trucks and other equipment as WSDOT makes one last check of the highway before opening the gates at 10 a.m.
The road-clearing efforted started Monday, March 16. According to WSDOT staff, highway-clearing crews have typically worked Monday through Thursday, leaving cleared sections of the highway for recreational users on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. In years past, large amounts of snow and deep avalanches across the highway have required five to six weeks to clear, meaning four to six weekends for cyclists.
The past winter saw low snowfall totals, which made the highway easier to clear. WSDOT will accomplish it in just 19 days, including only two weekends, this year.
Westside riders were further handicapped because in December 2014 WSDOT had to close the west end of the highway, east of the Diablo Gate, to recreational use due to a rock slide and unstable hillside between mileposts 142 and 143. Work to secure that area took all winter and was just completed Tuesday, March 31. (See photos of that work on Flickr.)
People on bikes are allowed on the road year-round; if anyone turned road closure into an amazing fatbiking experience we’d love to have a blog post about that.
It’s unfortunate for riders that opportunities to use the highway as WSDOT cleared it were limited. But opening it quickly enables everyone to use the highway and lets you start planning your journeys along USBR 10.
Other Car-Free Experiences Await
This isn’t your last chance at special access on a challenging climb, though. While some roads into Mount Rainier National Park are also slated to open April 3, others remain closed. Keep your eye on the Mount Rainier road status page. In particular watch for Sunrise Road to open around June if you want a ride like this one: Car-Free Mount Rainier: Now’s the Time!
Thanks to Tom Pearce, WSDOT Communications, for telling us what’s happening with SR20.
Check out our USBR 10 page, where you’ll find a map, information on the official designation as part of the US Bicycle Route System, and links to these and other posts:
Samantha Ollinger, Executive Director, Bike San Diego, was a featured speaker at the 2015 Washington Bike Summit. Image by Allison Don.
Guest blogger Samantha Ollinger, Executive Director of San Diego, gave the keynote address at breakfast on Day Two of the 2015 Washington Bike Summit. We added a couple of the tweets people shared during Sam’s remarks.
I had the thrill of speaking to a sold-out crowd of attendees committed to making Washington State more bike friendly at the recent Washington Bikes Summit. I wanted to also record some of my comments in written form so that those of you who missed the event can perhaps be inspired to be committed and stay the course to ensuring that your own community — in and beyond Washington State — is bike-friendly and a source of joy and pride to you.
Barb Chamberlain and I originally connected through the powerful medium of the internet when she somehow stumbled across my personal bike blog Brown Girl in the Lane several years ago. She was getting her feet wet in bike advocacy, and I personally had no real interest in advocacy (at the time) beyond ranting on my blog.
I had started the blog because someone on a local bike commuter forum complained about the dearth of local bike blogs and I figured I’d start one. The name of the blog was very deliberate — I wanted my audience to know that I was brown-skinned, I was female, and that I enjoyed puns (the name is a play on an old Boney M song, Brown Girl in the Ring).
Samantha Ollinger Exc Dir Bike San Diego #WABikeSummit @ollingers @BikeSD – Inspiring story, keep making it happen! pic.twitter.com/V7zE0lFrJQ
— Carl Tully (@CarlTully) March 17, 2015
I had just moved to San Diego with my husband (fulfilling his 16-year-old dream to live by the ocean so he could regularly surf). In San Diego we didn’t know a single person in the city. But I made a decision that I wanted to only befriend people who loved slow food and bicycling. And it is this decision that has opened up a whole new world, given me a whole new career and an engaging enough opportunity to stay in it longer than I would have otherwise.\
We had wound up in San Diego and during our journey to San Diego I had just undergone a fairly drastic personality change.
After a somewhat traumatic experience in my former home city of Philadelphia that shook my already introverted and withdrawn self to my very core, I convinced my husband to move across the country on a bicycle because I wanted to do something bold. I’m trained as an accountant and had carefully constructed my life to avoid human contact and most socialization — so this was a very bold idea for me to suggest. But I didn’t want to live a life of fear, worrying about things that may or may not happen.
So we sold everything we owned and replaced it with a bicycle, panniers, camping equipment and headed out West. Having never willingly ventured outside major cities by choice, I was very nervous oaboutf what to expect. In the post-9/11 world the fact that someone with my background (Indian — from Asia) could be mistaken for a potential terrorist was on the forefront of my mind. I had experienced fairly unpleasant encounters at airports and wasn’t eager to run into any citizen activists who could take a dislike to me upon sight. You know…the kind of activists I’d heard about on TV.
What I found riding through the country was something no media organization had bothered to inform me about. Our entire journey took us through communities that were filled with kind, humble people who willingly welcomed us into their communities, their homes, their yards (so we could pitch a tent) and willingly — and without us asking — invited us to share a meal, in exchange for sharing stories, experiences, hopes and dreams.
This was in the midst of the 2008 recession and a lot of communities were reeling from the housing collapse. But we experienced unbelievable amounts of kindness everywhere we went.
Prior to leaving Philadelphia, I was convinced that the entire countryside was filled with racist murderers who wanted nothing more than to lynch me. But the reality was much different. People were nice and compassionate and no one treated me differently because I looked different from the people they were typically accustomed to.
And it was during the course of that trip that I committed to offering myself to being of service in whatever community we’d wind up in to promote biking and walking. That community happened to be San Diego.
In Philly, I wasn’t much of a bike rider. My limit was 2 miles — on flat ground with no threat of inclement weather. I began to enjoy riding and actually fall in love with it on some of the longer trips my husband used to drag me out to on iffy trails (that have since been paved thanks to the Philadelphia Bike Coalition’s efforts). The clarity of thought and focus I get from long rides isn’t something I’ve been able to attain even through long silent meditation sessions. And that’s where the addiction to long rides began.
In San Diego — after taking a long time to get over the shock that despite the perfect weather, people preferred to be cooped up in their cars — I was consumed with one question: Why? Why aren’t people riding?
Over time I began to learn the answers. The barrier were many — freeways crisscrossing the city cutting neighborhoods from one another, urban canyons serving as another physical barrier along with mesas, valleys and other geographic formations — but at its core it was one issue that struck out over all the rest: the complete absence of political will to effect change to make San Diego’s transportation revolve around anything besides the automobile.
The story as Barb wrote was that I somehow was able to finagle mayoral candidates in our historically car-centric town to come out strongly in support of biking. But it wasn’t that easy.
What it was based on was a simple idea: What’s the harm in trying? What if you stayed persistent despite criticism, mockery, putdowns, and gave the dream your best shot? What if you focused on the small bits of encouragement — via bloggers located thousands of miles away, via strangers who shared one thing in common, our mutual love for bicycling — and tried to give it your best shot?
So that is the essential foundation of BikeSD: a member-supported, non-profit organization with an idea that seemed to be based on complete fantasy but now in three years has turned into a vision “that will probably never happen here.” Progress, as I see it. And an exciting journey to be travelling along.
I’m pretty sure Samantha Ollinger (@ollingers of @bikeSD) is my favorite bike advocate ever. #WABikeSummit #SEAbikes
— Brock Howell (@BrockRides) March 17, 2015
The simple pleasure of a bike ride, every day. That’s 30 Days of Biking, an international challenge, and it’s time once again to make the pledge and plan to get rolling April 1 (no fooling).
The challenge: Whether you ride around your block, around town, or around the state, you just ride every day. Simple, right? For a little extra inspiration check our #BikeIt list and try a few things you haven’t done before.
If you go for it we want to give you a little something. Use the form at the bottom to request your “I Arrived by Bike” cards you can leave behind at local businesses to help them appreciate bicycling customers. (After all, bikes mean business — a message that helps recruit new allies to support better bike connections in your town.)
If you’re telling the world about your ride you’ll be entered in a drawing to win a coveted Washington Bikes coffee mug or other goodies.
No matter how you accomplish it or how long you’ve been riding, 30 Days of Biking can give you new riding experiences and fresh perspectives on familiar routes.
[Tweet “I’m riding #30daysofbiking w/@WAbikes. Join me.”]
While we were all busy putting the final touches on the Washington Bike Summit, KING 5 News did a story on bike education happening in Tumwater. They joined our Safety Education Program program in 2014 receiving bikes, training, and support to teach on bike safety skills to their middle school students. Check out their story.
On-bike programs like this are now happening in 40 school districts around the state. Thanks to the ongoing support of WSDOT’s Safe Routes to School Program, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the over-200 teachers who are part of this program, 16,000 middle school students get to have bike and pedestrian education in their P.E. classes each year. That is a lot of smiling faces.
We postponed this event from February, when the forecast for high winds sounded like a bad combination with our plans for pop-up tents and a bicycle artist welder shooting sparks. Now it’s time to feel the love for sure.
Back Alley Bike Repair, Pronto! Cycle Share, Zipcar and Washington Bikes have banded together again to make #BikeLove 3.0 happen. The event is free; RSVP on EventBrite to give the partners an idea how many people to expect. (We hope you’ll support the event with a tax-deductible donation that helps us cover our bartender cost.)
Join us in celebrating Seattle’s diverse bike culture during the third annual #BikeLove shindig. This year we’re all about recognizing different spokes for different folks and the many unique bike scenes that make up Seattle. All kinds of riders for all kinds of reasons! This is the place to be whether you’re any of these or none of these:
New this year, we’ll be having a social group ride around Pioneer Square to showcase all of our unique styles! Details:
After the ride, mix and mingle with your fellow bike enthusiasts while you enjoy complimentary drinks provided by Hilliard’s Beer.
Watch the sparks fly as local kinetic sculptor and metal worker Matthew Dockery creates a one-of-a-kind Frankenstein-esque “Bike Love” sculpture from recycled bike frames and parts! Enjoy all this and more during Pioneer Square Seattle’s First Thursday Art Walk. Feel the #BikeLove and Spring in the air!
Much bike love from your friends at: Pronto! Cycle Share, Washington Bikes,Zipcar, Back Alley Bike Repair, Hilliard’s Beer and Attoparsec.
Guest blogger Jessica Lowery is @xmcshiftersonx on Twitter.
If I’m going to be completely honest, I don’t really enjoy city riding. I don’t like the traffic, the lack of shoulders and all the commotion. My idea of a perfect ride involves quiet country roads, farm animals, and long distances. I also enjoy finding new routes through Ride with GPS that I’ve never done before.
I like the adventure and I like only having myself to rely on. We are so lucky that there really is no shortage of good rides in the greater Seattle metro area. Here are three of my favorites.
The first ride is a shorter one close to home that I refer to as the Carnation Loop. It’s a 38-mile route with about 2,000 feet of climbing that starts in Issaquah. It has a few challenging climbs like Inglewood Hill followed quickly by Ames Lake Road as you go through Sammamish, and then the Issaquah-Fall City road climb towards the end of the route. In between you come across all sorts of farm animals, crops, and beautifully forested roads. To view the route map go here.
The second route I discovered a couple of years ago and have done annually since. The ride goes up to the Carbon River Entrance of the Mount Rainier National Park from Auburn. If you’re looking for a ride with a decent amount of miles but not too much climbing, this one is for you!
The route is about 78 miles but only has 2,900 feet of climbing. It’s a slow gradual climb to the top, with a fun downhill on the way back. It is such a beautiful ride. There are times where it is completely quiet except for the river in the distance.
The view doesn’t get old, either. Looking out over the edge of the road, there’s nothing but steep hillsides covered with lush green forests. To view the route map, go here.
The mountain is out! View of Mount Rainier riding from Auburn, WA.
This last ride is one I discovered while trying to find a long route with a good amount of elevation to train for Obliteride. This route goes from Enumclaw to the Crystal Mountain ski resort. It’s about 91 miles with 4,500 feet of climbing. Most of the climbing is in the first 45 miles, which made for an awesome downhill on the way back. The climb takes a steeper path as you turn onto the road leading directly up to the resort. That climb lasts about 6 miles.
For the vegans out there, the Bullwheel Restaurant at the top has a Boca burger with your name on it (and fries) (check first, though; may be closed depending on whether it’s still ski season.) To view the route map, go here.
As I alluded to before, with so many options in this area it’s hard to pick only a couple of favorite rides. I could have easily written about a handful of others. But I’ll keep some of those paths less traveled just for me!
We’d love to have your post and pictures (and/or video) to share some of your favorites. Busy city streets, peaceful small towns, quiet country roads with just you and the trees — whatever and wherever your ride takes you in Washington, send us your story.