How Long Does It Take to Ride Your Bike? It’s All in the Attitude

Large antique-looking clock face showing 11:30

Busy, busy, busy. Rush, rush, rush. We’re an impatient society, always in a hurry to get somewhere.

We’re like the automated cleaning devices in The Fifth Element as described by Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg (played with evil deliciousness, or delicious evilness, by Gary Oldman): “Look at all these little things. So busy now. Notice how each one is useful. What a lovely ballet ensues, so full of form and color.”

Nowhere is this kind of bustling around more evident than in our traffic patterns (although “lovely ballet” doesn’t really describe a typical downtown intersection all that well…. And come to think of it, the little critters were cleaning up after destruction—how apropos).

The idea that by hurrying we are somehow more productive, more in line with “progress,” more efficient with our time, pushes people to exceed the speed limit by some “acceptable” number of MPH, squeeze the orange at the traffic light, execute a rolling stop instead of a full stop, glance without really looking, assume there’s no one coming — and by the way, Planetizen has a good essay on just how wrong some of your assumptions about time and productivity are.*

[Tweet “The idea that by hurrying we’re more productive is just wrong. Get over it, & get on your bike.”]

Those little creatures in The Fifth Element didn’t have much choice — scurrying around was programmed into their very being. We, on the other hand, have choices. As Kent’s Bike Blog points out, by slowing down we give ourselves the gift of time.

As a young(er) woman I could be one of those impatient drivers from time to time. Red light? Time to tap my fingers on the steering wheel and mutter under my breath, “C’mon, change!”  I chose routes to avoid traffic lights so I could take my destiny into my own hands.

Then I started biking on city streets to get around. My calculation of time is so different now!

I look more at distance than at time, for one thing, to see whether something is bikeable given other constraints in the schedule. Then I work out about how long it should take me to get there.

Not because I’ll decide not to bike if it takes “too much” time, though — just to allow for the time it takes to bike.

What a change! I no longer worry about “losing” time. How can you lose time anyway? You don’t have it stockpiled in a big jar from which you withdraw some when you need it. Time just passes and our experience of that passage is really subjective.

Time can pass at what feels like an infuriatingly s-l-o-w rate while I pound the steering wheel and grind my teeth, paying an exasperation tax.

Or it can pass without me even noticing while I coast downhill, smell the coffee roaster or bakery I pass on my way to work, and watch for potholes so I can pick my line of travel to be predictable and visible for the driver behind me and not get my teeth bashed together by the cracks.

I still try to take routes that avoid traffic lights, mostly because sometimes my bike doesn’t trip the signal. (Although since WA Bikes got the law changed in 2009 to require new/updated signals to detect bicycles, this will change over time. A win for advocacy!)

But if I do hit a red light it doesn’t trigger teeth-gnashing; instead, I take it as a chance to catch my breath. It’s welcome, not resented, and that makes a lot of difference in my trip to work, or through downtown to get to a meeting.

[Tweet “Red light: Exasperating delay or chance for a rest? Bike-time attitude says yay! #whyweride”]

I can’t tell you how much more relaxing it is to arrive at work after this kind of trip than after the teeth-gnashing, steering-wheel-pounding kind. Since negative stress is hard on your cells but exercise can offset this effect I may even be extending my years on the planet.

How’s that for saving time?

 

——————-

*All this rushing around in the car at least saves a minute or two, right? Wrong.

If you do the calculations, the difference between driving at 30mph vs. 35mph over a distance of six miles is less than two minutes.

Let me also point out that a pedestrian hit by a car moving at 30mph has a 45% chance of dying; at 40mph, the chance of death is 85%according to Britain’s Department of Transport.

So when you gain a few minutes as a driver you greatly increase the potential damage you’ll wreak in the event of a collision. The time you took away from the person you hit? Priceless.

What about the difference between biking and driving—huge, right? Wrong again.

Assume I bike at an average speed of 12mph. That isn’t very fast but Seattle has a lot of hills. I can do a nice clip down 2nd in downtown, which is an arterial with abundant and often semi-empty lanes.

If I had this same six-mile route I’d spend 30 minutes on the bike at 12mph vs. 12 minutes if I drove at 30mph (ignoring traffic lights since we have the same wait time, but the driver had better drop below 30mph in school zones).

That 12-minute driving assumption doesn’t factor in the potential for a traffic jam and a lot more frustration and time truly wasted. In the event of a major snarl-up that keeps me from moving in the vehicle lanes, I can switch to the sidewalk, become a pedestrian and keep moving. Not an option for the drivers.

So over the course of a round trip I would spend 36 more minutes than the driver if the driver is able to keep moving the way I am.

Factor in the time the driver has to spend finding parking and then walking to the actual door of the destination (where my bike will be locked to the nearest tall pole in front of the door if there’s no rack nearby). If one-way streets complicate the route the driver has to cover more miles, whereas I can use the sidewalk for a shortcut to the same address. I may even come out ahead.

In return I’ve had my recommended daily allowance of exercise with no gym fees, zero money spent on gas or parking, zero frustration and exasperation tax at red lights, and (I hope) zero damage to my tooth enamel.

Yeah, I’ll take that.

Congestion time cost: 5.5 billion hours

In 2011 congestion in 498 metropolitan areas caused urban Americans to travel 5.5 billion hours more and to purchase an extra 2.9 billion gallons of fuel for a congestion cost of $121 billion. (Texas Transportation Institute estimate)

Related Reading

Your Turn

  • What is your attitude toward time when driving?
  • How about when biking?
  • How has biking affected your attitude about the various mental elements of transportation?

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Posted in Attitudes | 2 Comments

Wanted: Awesome Organized Person to Join WA Bikes Team

You — the administrative support whiz looking for a part-time position working for something you can believe in. People describe you as:

  • Organized
  • Detail-oriented
  • A good communicator
  • Comfortable working in an open environment with a lot going on
  • Good at shifting between tasks quickly
  • Someone who makes others feel welcomed

Us — the statewide bike advocacy nonprofit in the nation’s #1 Bicycle Friendly State:

  • A great team of staff, board members, and volunteers and supporters who grow bicycling through education for school and family biking, information for local advocates and riders, promotion of bike travel/tourism, and effective public policy work to pass laws, support their implementation, and improve conditions on the ground.
  • A cool work space in the heart of Seattle’s Pioneer Square with easy bike and transit connections and indoor bike parking. (That is to say, we all bring our bikes inside.)
  • The organization working for the past 27 years to make bicycling accessible, convenient, safe, and fun.

You don’t need to be an expert on bike gear or a speedy high-mileage rider. You should be passionate about creating the conditions that enable people of all ages and abilities to ride bicycles.

IMG_3239 compressed web page

The Seattle-based team: Blake, Barb, El, Jack, Seth, and Louise.

You’re someone who can relate effectively to people who come in with diverse backgrounds and different levels of biking experience. They come to us seeking advice about bike travel, commuting, family biking, places to ride, and other information related to bicycling.

You’re the kind of person who welcomes the learning opportunities you’ll have in the position and the chance to own the smooth operational success of some of our programs, along with contributing to the success of others.

Sound perfect? Read the details in the Administrative Coordinator_2014_Job Description. Send a cover letter highlighting both your skills and your interest in our mission along with a resume and names/contact information for three references to office@WAbikes.org with the subject line “Administrative Coordinator application”.

Kate Johnston (left) from our Spokane office with Katie Ferris, a parent who cares about safe biking and walking.

Kate Johnston (left) from our Spokane office with Katie Ferris, a member of the Spokefest Association board in Spokane.

We’ll begin reviewing applications Wednesday, August 6, 2014. Position is open until filled.

CHANGE OF TIMELINE FROM ORIGINAL POSTING: We will conduct interviews around third or fourth week of August and anticipate having someone in the position by mid-September. Start date is somewhat flexible if the right person has special circumstances.

You’ll be right in the thick of things as we ramp up toward our big annual auction November 15 and beyond — the bike advocacy season runs all year long.

What are we really looking for? This slideshow should give you an idea.

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Posted in Alert, News | Comments Off on Wanted: Awesome Organized Person to Join WA Bikes Team

Hills are Good for the Soul

Hills banner-1

Today’s post is written by Brad Chodos-Irvine, a former West Seattle resident who loves riding hills. Today Brad is exploring the hills surrounding London. This post originally ran on his blog The Low Cycle.

Hills. You either love them or hate them. Me, I really like riding hills. Going up, you get the fight against gravity and you “taste the effort”, as the French say. Going down, that effort is repaid as you experience gravity in the other direction. Fun!

West Seattle is a good place to ride hills. In 20 miles you can see some beautiful scenery, climb some great hills, and descend like crazy. Good fun in less than two hours.

Not all of us get to ride in the beautiful hill towns of France or Italy, or even around our local Mt Rainier, but the hills in Seattle aren’t so bad either in a pinch. Just up from Alki there are some great streets that have some serious hills. Here are a few that I like.

Hills - College and Hughes

The intersection of College and Hughes.

College, Hughes, and 52nd streets are fun ones to tackle. It’s steep, has an OK road surface for climbing, and there are usually few automobiles. If you are descending this hill, be careful. The manhole covers are deep, and the road isn’t perfect. Add fall leaves, and a steep road and you can get in trouble.

But you get some good switchbacks, and will have stronger lungs when you are done. I like to do a loop around Alki out past the Fauntleroy Ferry. Again, good views, good scenery, good hills.

Hills - Lincoln Park viewWhen you get to the intersection of Lincoln Park Way SW and Beach Drive SW, you can choose to go up the hill to the left, which is a good climb but the road isn’t good, and there isn’t much room. Instead, go the right and ride through Lincoln Park. You get this view instead and you can ride on the wide gravel path leading past Colman Pool, around the cove, and up a little hill back on to Fauntleroy.

If you continue right on Fauntleroy past the ferry you turn left on SW Wildwood Place, and then right on 45th Avenue SW. If you are getting hungry you can stop for some old-fashioned pastries and a coffee at The Original Bakery. The line is usually 10 deep inside the door – always a little too long on the week-ends when I’ve thought about stopping.  You continue up the hill on 45th and then it becomes Marine View Drive S.W. This is a good hill if you like long hills, and a great hill for doing repeats. It’s probably almost a mile up to the top.

As you head up the hill through the neighborhood where Marine View Drive starts just past SW Roxbury, you’ll notice that sidewalks end and that there is very little space for walking or cycling up this hill. If cars are approaching from behind as you start on this part of the hill, you just have no room. There isn’t usually too much traffic on this hill, but as you can see, there is really very little space to get up this hill if you are walking, and on a bike you have about 1-2 feet to the right of the white line.

Climbing Marine View Drive

This issue is worth following up with a separate post. Why do some neighborhoods not have any room to ride or to walk?

To continue the ride, there is a nice loop on the top of this hill that means you can come back down Marine View Drive.  On the way down pay attention coming around the corner. If a car is turning right up the hill from Roxbury while you are coming down around that corner, it can be a little frightening.

On the loop on the top of the hill, when you come to the stop sign on SW 106th Street, take a right and go for a few blocks to Seola Beach Drive, which is nice little out and back through a pretty ravine to a strange little sewage treatment outlet beach, but it’s a nice hill both ways, with no traffic. (Editor’s note: This loop description is a little confusing. View map.)

Lincoln Park gravel path

Lincoln Park gravel path

On the loop back you can take a nice detour again through Lincoln Park and ride on the gravel paths through the park. There are some little inclines that make for a relaxed alternative to riding along Fauntleroy with ferry traffic. Head back to Alki via Beach Drive SW.

See you in the hills!

Posted in Guest Blogger, Rides, Seattle | Tagged , | Comments Off on Hills are Good for the Soul

Meet Zoe Kasperzyk

Zoe KasperzykIf you dropped by our office this summer or stopped at our table at Cascade Bicycle Club’s STP packet pick up, chances are you met our summer intern Zoe Kasperzyk.

Zoe, who grew up in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood biking and walking to her schools, came to Washington Bikes via New York. She is an Urban Planning/Sociology and Environmental Studies student at Bard College in the Hudson Valley, and an active member and leader of their bicycle co-op.

“During the cold and snowy winter at Bard, I began thinking about returning to Seattle for a summer internship. As I researched organizations to reach out to, it became more and more apparent that my main interest was in bicycle advocacy, planning, and encouragement,” she explained. “When I contacted Washington Bikes, I was thrilled to hear about all of the projects that I could become involved with. I was also fortunate to be awarded a grant for my work at WA Bikes through Bard’s Center for Civic Engagement.”

Each day is a little different and full of new things to learn, according to Zoe. Her projects have varied between conducting a survey with bike map distributors around the state; to creating a bicycle advocacy toolkit to help community advocates understand how to influence projects, plans and processes; and organizing the projects funded by Safe Routes to School for the past 10 years.

Zoe intends to make use of her newly acquired bicycle advocacy knowledge when she returns to New York this fall.

“I want to help Bard College attain the League of American Bicyclists’ Bicycle-Friendly University status and I want to help work on a bicycle map for the Mid-Hudson Valley area to encourage more ridership. I also hope the bike co-op will reach out more to the schools and surrounding communities through bicycle education programs,” asserted Zoe.

Zoe added that she will intern with Kingston (NY) Department of Planning and hopes that her work will include a bicycle infrastructure component.

We are grateful to have Zoe as a member of our team this summer. Her work will benefit bike advocates in all corners of our state and help us we continue to make Washington a better place for biking.

As a Community Action Award intern, Zoe has been blogging about her summer experience at Washington Bikes. You can read her entries on the Bard College Center for Civic Engagement blog.

Posted in Advocacy, News, People | Comments Off on Meet Zoe Kasperzyk

National Bike Challenge: Local Prize Winners Announced

We’re into the heat of July and midway through the National Bike Challenge! Over 43,000 riders from across the USA have collectively ridden 12,277,523 miles.

In the Evergreen State, 817 riders have pedaled 242,707 miles. That’s a trip to the moon! Slightly more than half of our miles (51%) have been for recreation/fun; the remaining 49% were for transportation.

As promised, we drew for a round of local prizes and the winners are:

The Detours Coffee Bag is a versatile dry that can be attached almost anywhere on your bike.

The Detours Coffee Bag is a versatile dry bag that can be attached almost anywhere on your bike.

Detours “Coffee Bag” dry bag:

  • Dennis Chambers of Grand Coulee
  • Lisa McCoy of Port Angeles

All Kinds of Riders for All Kinds of Reasons note cards:

  • Annika Ledbetter of Seattle
  • Lou Khazoyan of Kent

Set of Washington bike maps:

  • Alex Krob of La Center
  • Amy Ruddy of Yakima

It is NOT too late to join us in the National Bike Challenge! Join today and start tracking your bike trips and miles. We will do a second round prize drawings in September and riders at the Bronze level and above will be eligible. Participants can also qualify for monthly prize drawings at the national level.

Many thanks to Detours for being our local sponsor!

Posted in Bike to Work, Encouragement, Events, News | Tagged | Comments Off on National Bike Challenge: Local Prize Winners Announced

Bike Camping In the City – With Kids!

Metro Parks Tacoma started a new program last summer that allows folks to camp overnight at a few city parks on select summer nights. We couldn’t make it last year, but this year I made sure to register early for a tent spot at Owen Beach in Point Defiance Park.

The park is only about five miles from our house, so we made this a bike camping trip: I hauled the gear on our cargobike and the girls (6 and 8) rode their own bikes.

With room for one more in the tent, we decided to bring a friend along (8). He rode his own bike, too.

The evening of our campout turned out to be one if the hottest we’ll see all year with temps around 90°F as I loaded up the EdgeRunner. Our saving grace was a small spray bottle hanging from my handlebars so I could mist the kids with water as we pedaled.

About halfway to the park, I decided to make an impromptu stop at the Sherman Elementary pocket library where my oldest crashed hard into a curb and pinch flatted. Doh!

Luckily the EdgeRunner has a 20″ rear wheel, because I hadn’t thought to pack any extra tubes for kid bikes. It only took 10 minutes to change the tube and the kids rummaged through the library cabinet to find a few books to read later. Onward!

Stopping to see a deer bedded down in someone’s yard

Homestretch: the waterfront trail between the Point Defiance marina and Owen Beach

 

Everyone pitched in to pitch the tent

Room with a view: Vashon Island and the Point Defiance/Talehquah ferry

The kids had fun playing along the beach and on the hillside bluffs rising from the shoreline. The park was busy on this hot afternoon with many day-trippers staying until the park closed at dusk to take full advantage of the complete shade along the waterfront.

We packed some treats, but Metro Parks also provided campers with a few individually packaged snacks. There were also board games to borrow. The kids were completely spent by 10pm. We missed the storyteller that presumably started after we were fast asleep, but we did get to see the supermoon rising over the Port of Tacoma.

We rose at 7am the next morning for a light breakfast provided by Metro Parks (coffee, juice, milk, fruit, oatmeal.) My oldest said she counted 16 tents.

Beachcombing: the first sanddollar I’ve ever seen at Owen Beach

 

Reload!

With another scorcher in the forecast, we set off for home around 8:30am to beat the heat. The ride home is nearly all uphill to some degree and I knew my little riders were only going to get more tired as the day progressed.

Watching that ferry never gets old

Stopping to watch a raccoon

Our pack mule: Fully loaded Xtracycle EdgeRunner

We stopped at the Sherman playground to stretch our riding legs after the steepest part of the ride home. (No flats this time!) I had promised the kids a donut stop, but at this point they were already saying that it was too hot for donuts. They wanted something cold for second breakfast.

So we stopped at the grocery store and the three kids split a 6-pack of ice cream sandwiches. After nearly 10 miles of riding in the heat, these kids had earned it. To loosely quote bicycle guru Kent Peterson: Cyclists are not nutritional role models. This ridiculous pile of bottled water made an excellent make-shift picnic bench.

This short trip was a great opportunity for us to try bike camping and make some memories without ever leaving the city. All of us had a blast. My oldest said that the camping would not have been as fun if we had just driven to the park. I agree.

There are still two more opportunities for you to Campout with Metro Parks Tacoma this summer. Consider making these bike camping opportunities as well.

Matt Newport lives in Tacoma. He is an at-home parent who integrates bicycling into daily life as much as possible. This post originally appeared on his blog Tacoma Bike Ranch.

Posted in Adventure, Family biking, Kids, Pierce County, Tacoma | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Biking as Downtime: Musings on Overproductivity

Living as I do now in the land of technology, aka Seattle, I assume I’m surrounded 24/7/365 by people thinking up new ways to give me new tools to be “more productive,” all of which will involve giving some of my attention to glowing electrons.

I’ve always loved to read and even that now involves technology, which in turn requires maintenance. (All my neatly organized collections on my Kindle mysteriously vanished and had to be recreated just the other day, turning reading into work when it’s supposed to be relaxing.)

Couple all this tech stuff with my lifelong tendency to say yes to lots of things and then generate ideas to turn them into even more work and you have yourself a recipe for burnout.

Biking can be a discipline to which you bring all the compulsive over-achieving, data analysis, and tech whiz-bang possible. (I know this because I’m married to someone who trains for bike racing.)

Fortunately for me, I’ve outgrown some of the Western world’s thinking about athletic achievement thanks to a yoga practice of several years. In yoga, where you are in your practice is where you are. Force it and you’ll snap a hamstring (which makes a sound like a rifle shot, as I know from painful firsthand experience).

Settle into your practice, though, instead of striving constantly for “more” and “should” and “better” and “perfect”; bring everything you have into that moment; and you will have a deeply satisfying experience that uses every cell and fiber in your body. And you do improve so that ambition thing gets satisfied eventually.

Biking is much the same way. Like yoga, bicycling provides a wonderful practice opportunity for mindfulness meditation, as Puget Sound area biking blogger Claire Petersky has pointed out.

[Tweet “Riding in traffic is particularly good for biking mindfulness.”]
Riding in traffic is particularly good for biking mindfulness. If you’re riding with the flow of traffic you’re constantly adjusting pedaling pace to maintain a safe distance as drivers and riders around you change speed.

You’re watching pedestrian movement and looking for unpredictable pets.

You’re looking for cracks, potholes, broken glass, gravel (which gave me a nasty fall a couple of weeks ago), slippery sewer access covers, stormwater grates that have the openings running parallel to your tires so you have to avoid them….

Despite what Kevin Henderson said about ESP, I still have to look.

At the same time you’re feeling the power of your own muscles moving you forward, the breeze in your face. You’re taking in the smells, sights, and sounds of things around you and gauging the weather and its potential effects on your riding. If it rains you have to brake sooner than normal. If it’s hot you need to drink more water. Your chain is starting to make that chirping sound that indicates you need to lube it.

This may sound like a lot of input. But compare it to a workday with ringing phones, people coming into your office with questions, the email notice blooming constantly in the corner of your monitor, texting teenagers asking if they can have a friend over and bake cookies and by the way where do you keep the vanilla, a dozen or more tabs open in your browser.

I have two monitors at work plus my tablet and on some days a laptop. Think about how much real estate I have in which to create screens full of competing projects: five or six if you count my cell phone (you should) and the screen on my desk phone with its annoying little note about missed calls.

Paying attention to only one purpose — riding my bike — instead of dealing with multiple purposes and priorities is incredibly relaxing by comparison.

When I ride my bike I’m completely in the moment. At the same time I have created a space in which I cannot be distracted by electronic technology, thus improving my ability to focus. Much as it may amaze some of my online acquaintances to realize this, I do not actually tweet every five minutes.

Around 50% of all car trips in the U.S. are three miles or less. This is ridiculously short — the engine doesn’t even warm up. But on a bike that distance takes about 15 minutes, a wonderful length of time that lets you clear your head and make some space in your life.

Biking is downtime, a precious commodity in our plugged-in, wired, always-on world. Make some time for downtime.

[Tweet “Biking is downtime, a precious commodity. Make some time for downtime.”]
A version of this post originally appeared on my personal bike blog, Bike Style Life.

Related Reading

Your Turn

  • What does riding your bike do for your mental health and ability to focus?
  • When was the last time you deliberately scheduled (yes, scheduled) downtime?

 

Posted in Attitudes, News | 1 Comment

The “No Drop” Rule

Tom Stevens, AKA The Puget Pedaler, is a Northwest native and lives in the Tacoma area. He is an avid cyclist and rides with the Tacoma Bike Racing Team. This post was originally published on his blog, The Puget Pedaler, and you can follow his musings there.

Me, getting dropped. At least Dave waited at the top.

Me, getting dropped. At least Dave waited at the top.

Ah, the “no drop” rule.  It’s an interesting phrase, “no drop”.  I use the quotations, because every time I hear it, I see Dr. Evil doing the finger motions, “Evil”.

This “rule” as it were, is something I have heard about for group rides, but I rarely see it happen.  The “no drop” rule is as follows, sort of, the group will slow down or stop and wait for struggling riders.  That is to include flatting or other mechanical problems.  It is to keep the group together, so no one gets lost, and gets the stronger riders to support the weaker ones.  It looks good on paper, is a sound theory, but is seldom practiced to its fullest intent.

All to often, I have seen where someone will drop back, and an hour later the ride “leader” is asking where’s so&so.  Then the following week, you’ll see them and ask what happened.  The response is always the same: flatted, bonked, or dropped the chain.  So while they were changing the flat, sucking down a couple gels, or getting the chain back on, the “no drop” group continued on, no slowing or stopping, just hammering on.

The reason this so called “rule” pisses me off to no end, is that there have been a couple occasions when I’ve stopped to help a flatted rider, and we’ve called out the flat.  Nothing more frustrating than standing on the side of the road, yelling, and watching the group get further away, knowing that they ain’t stopping.  And then catching up to them at the coffee stop, and explaining what happened, and hearing “Bummer, dude”.

So, beware.  You could be fixing a flat by yourself, without a clue where you are, or how to get back.  If you are just starting out on group rides, I suggest finding one that says the group stays together, rather than “no drop”.

Get out there, and enjoy the ride.

Posted in Bike Clubs, Guest Blogger, Racing, Rides | Tagged | 3 Comments

Snohomish County Bikes: Everett’s Easy Road Ride

Enjoy an easy road ride on flat country roads direct from downtown Everett. Snohomish County Bikes: an ongoing series highlighting great Snohomish County bike rides.

Distance: 29 miles
Elevation: 830 feet
Good for: Beginner to Intermediate road riders
Highlights: Quick and easy, flat, country roads

There are not many bike routes around western Washington’s hilly topography with fewer than 1000 feet of climbing. But this easy loop from downtown Everett rises just 830 feet in 29 miles. With sections traversing the banks of the Snohomish River, along the Centennial Trail, and around the northern shore of Lake Stevens, this route makes for a great and quick escape from the city.

After crossing the Hewitt Avenue Trestle, the route heads south through the farmland of Deadwater Slough. You’ll meet the Snohomish on the aptly named Riverview Road, which takes you east into the City of Snohomish. From there you connect with the Centennial Trail for a lovely and flat cruise north. The route traces the northern shore of Lake Stevens where you’ll encounter a few of the ride’s handful of short, punchy climbs. Once you’re past the lake, it’s just a few short (and mostly downhill) miles back to the Hewitt Trestle and into Everett.

Cycling Snohomish County's quiet roads

Cycling Snohomish County’s quiet roads

When you reach the junction with the Hwy 2 interchange, merge left to continue under the highway to 20th Street. That will connect you with the two-way bikeway that takes you under the trestle and across the rivers.

everettloop_map

Because it only takes a few hours to ride, this route is an excellent option for after work rides and weekend days where you just can’t sneak away for a full day on two wheels. The great thing about riding in an area as lovely as Snohomish County, even the near-city training loops feature beautiful scenery. If 30 miles just isn’t enough, you can easily link up with the Lake Roesiger loop and double the length of the ride.

The cue sheet for this ride starts and ends at Café Zippy, a little coffee shop and restaurant downtown with vegans and meat options, hippy vibes, and bicycles decorating the walls.

Total Mileage Cue Segment
Begin at 2811 Wetmore Ave
0 SOUTH Wetmore Ave 0.1
0.1 LEFT Hewitt Ave 0.9
1 LEFT Hewitt Trestle Bike Path 0.8
1.8 CONT 43rd Ave SE 1.9
3.7 LEFT Ebey Island Rd 2.3
5 RIGHT Swans Slough Rd 0.5
5.5 LEFT Riverview Rd 2.8
8.3 CONT Riverview RD 1.1
9.4 RIGHT 1st St 0.8
10.2 LEFT Centennial Trail 8.2
18.4 LEFT 20th St NE 0.5
18.9 LEFT Hartford Ave 0.1
19 RIGHT N Lakeshore Drive 1.6
20.6 LEFT Lundeen Park Way 2.1
22.7 RIGHT Hwy 204 2
24.7 RIGHT 20th St 1.2
25.9 LEFT 51st Ave SE 0.5
26.4 RIGHT 43rd SE 0.2
26.6 CONT Hewitt Trestle Bike Path 0.8
27.4 LEFT Walnut Street 0.2
27.6 RIGHT Pacific Ave 0.1
27.7 RIGHT Pine St 0.2
27.9 LEFT Hewitt Ave 0.6
28.5 RIGHT Wetmore Ave to finish

Do you have a ride report from this route you’d like to share? Click here to submit it to Washington Bikes to inspire others to ride.

Planning to add this to your personal “#bikeit” list? Tweet this to tell people about it: [Tweet “Putting Everett’s Easy Road Ride on my #bikeit list. Love to #bikeWA!”]

Josh Cohen is a freelance writer, editor of The Bicycle Story and a contributing author to the newly released Cycling Sojourner: a Guide to the Best Multi-Day Tours in Washington.

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Posted in Adventure, Everett, Guest Blogger, News, Rides, Rural, Snohomish County, Tourism, Travel | Comments Off on Snohomish County Bikes: Everett’s Easy Road Ride

#wabikes on Instagram

Our ED Barb Chamberlain spent a few days in the Wenatchee Valley last week and was thrilled to see bicycling and bike advocacy flourishing in the region. She wrote about it in this post.

Biking images from the Wenatchee region are getting our attention on Instagram as well. We featured this image from @seebicycles of his bike ride along Lake Chelan.

@milerdd showed us the do-it-yourself bike fixstation that has been installed in downtown Wenatchee and one of the young cyclists participating in the Pybus Kids Century.

@ronsnyder1 told us that biking is great therapy and shared one his “sessions” with us.

Riding your bike is indeed great therapy and gets you into the great outdoors. Share your bike therapy with us on Instagram. Follow @wabikes on Instagram and tag your image #wabikes to make sure we see it.

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