Meet Zoe Kasperzyk

By Louise McGrody | Published July 23, 2014

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

By Louise McGrody | Published July 21, 2014

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!

By Matt Newport | Published July 21, 2014

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

By Barb Chamberlain | Published July 18, 2014

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

By Guest Blogger | Published July 17, 2014

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

By Josh Cohen | Published July 16, 2014

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

By Louise McGrody | Published July 16, 2014

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.

Posted in Wenatchee | Tagged | Comments Off on #wabikes on Instagram

Working for Better Bicycling in North Central Washington

By Barb Chamberlain | Published July 14, 2014

After a great trip to Wenatchee last week and hearing what local bike advocates are focusing on, I wanted to share the work of Washington Bikes in north central Washington the past 2-3 years. Our route to better bicycling all over the state relies on (at least) 3 things:

Map of Washington State Department of Transportation North Central Region: Chelan, Okanogan, Douglas, and Grant Counties

  • the day-to-day efforts of people who live and bike in their community every day
  • the priorities identified by local advocacy organizations where those exist and by local transportation planners
  • our role as the state organization helping amplify these local voices and share great projects and ideas from town to town.

What we’ve done the past few years in north central Washington* that adds to the tally from local efforts:

Washington Bikes to School

Around 2,300 middle-school students have learned to ride with confidence thanks to our bike/walk safety curriculum in Brewster, Bridgeport, Moses Lake, Omak, Pateros, Quincy, and Wahluke school districts.

Washington Bikes and Walks More Places

In the 2013 legislative session local projects received $5,384,545 in state investments we worked for that all mean more comfortable and connected miles you can ride:

  • Quincy Valley K-7 path
  • Brewster’s Ferry Street safety improvements
  • Okanagan and Red Apple Road pedestrians enhancements in Wenatchee
  • Susie Stephens Trail Phase 2 in Winthrop
  • Rocky Reach Trail connection to Wenatchee’s Apple Capital Loop Trail extension
  • Omak Complete Streets project

Working with Local Leaders So That Washington Bikes

  • In 2012 we brought a workshop on Growing Biking and Walking in Your Community to Wenatchee, drawing people from a wide region interested in creating more comfortable conditions for people biking and walking to share the streets with all modes.
  • Our route coordination for USBR10 in 2013 took us to meetings with transportation planners and officials in Okanogan County.
  • We met with a number of local advocates in Wenatchee in 2013 and supported their efforts to turn people out on behalf of the bike master plan update that was subsequently adopted by the Wenatchee Valley Council of Governments. (Change takes time and we’re in it for the long haul; we published a blog post in March 2011 seeking input for the plan.)
  • We talked with the publisher and editor of the Wenatchee World about the economic value of bicycling—a message that showed up in editorials in support of the plan, and we sure love that they both ride so they really get the view from the saddle.
  • We rallied people from throughout the region to testify on behalf of bicycling and walking investments at the Senate Transportation Listening Session held in Wenatchee Sept. 23, 2013.
  • We came back in 2014 to meet again for an update on local projects and to look for opportunities to partner in new initiatives.

Washington Bikes For Travel

In spring 2014 we brought out Cycling Sojourner: A Guide to the Best Multi-Day Tours in Washington. The first guide book to multi-day bike tours in Washington state to be published in over a decade, the book includes two tours that traverse north central Washington and great tips for developing your own routes:

  • The Okanogan: Overlooked Northern Reaches. Towns: Tonasket, Loomis, Oroville, Chesaw, Curlew, Republic, Wauconda.
  • Epic Washington: North Cascades Highway to the Methow Valley (traversing part of USBR 10). Towns: Mount Vernon, Concrete, Rockport, Marblemount, Mazama, Winthrop, Twisp, Carlton, Methow, Pateros, Chelan, Entiat, Wenatchee.

We have similar lists for other regions of the state; watch for those posts in days to come to get an understanding of just how much goes on all around the #1 Bicycle Friendly State.

*Where’s North Central Washington? We’re using the Washington State Dept. of Transportation North Central Region map. Communities define their region in various ways and the boundaries vary from person to person.

 

Posted in Advocacy, Chelan County, Douglas County, Funding/Policy, Grant County, Infrastructure, Issues & Advocacy, News, Okanogan County, Safe Routes to School, Tourism, Trails, Travel, Wenatchee | Comments Off on Working for Better Bicycling in North Central Washington

Bikes Are Blooming in Wenatchee

By Barb Chamberlain | Published July 10, 2014

We don’t just want to be a Bicycle Friendly Community. We need to be a friendly bike community. — Rufus Woods, Publisher, Wenatchee World
Words worth sharing! [Tweet “We don’t just want to be a Bicycle Friendly Community. We need to be a friendly bike community.–Rufus Woods/@WenatcheeWorld”].

 

Bicycle riders on the bike/pedestrian bridge that connects East Wenatchee to Wenatchee at Pybus Market.

Riders on the bike/pedestrian bridge that connects East Wenatchee to Wenatchee at Pybus Market.

What a wonderful takeaway from a trip to Wenatchee this week, along with a 28-mile sunburn (it’s warm bicycling in Wenatchee this time of year — good thing they have a river to jump into), pictures of the Apple Capital Loop Trail, and new bike friends.

WA Bikes has connected with local advocates several times the past couple of years, including a workshop on creating a more bikeable/walkable community in 2012 and a visit in 2013 with a number of local riders including people working to get bikes for kids who don’t have them. Every time we go we see more people riding and more infrastructure connections to help grow bicycling.

This list will inevitably miss some of the great things happening in this beautiful valley to make bicycling better for everyone from 8 to 80; I’ll take a run at what I heard and Wenatchee bike folks can add more in the comments.

  • Bicycle Master Plan: Recently adopted by the Wenatchee Valley Council of Governments
  • Wenatchee Valley Velo puts on a great Tour de Bloom omnium. My husband raced it and said it was outstanding and he’ll be back; I’m going to plan to come with him (not to race….). They’re now working on getting the entire Wenatchee Valley designated as a Bicycle-Friendly Community — a great goal in the #1 Bicycle Friendly State!
  • The Complete the Loop Coalition, trail advocates working to connect the Wenatchee Valley’s outstanding outdoor assets, has raised money to link the Apple Capital Loop Trail with the Rocky Reach Trail and Lincoln Rock State Park. The first mile has been paved, with four to go in later 2014 after harvest season.
  • The Coalition also has a vision for a Wenatchee Valley Scenic Bikeway linking Wenatchee to Leavenworth — a popular route for bike touring travelers exploring the scenic climbs and descents through the North Cascades. This fits right into our work as route coordinators for the US Bicycle Route System in Washington, with the future proposed USBR 87 coming through the valley north/south, since travelers on the US Bicycle Routes are looking for great places to explore (and spend money). The USBR will put Wenatchee on the national map for bike travel, and the more assets business and community leaders can develop in the Wenatchee Valley to take advantage of that visibility, the better.
Confluence State Park, Wenatchee, WA -- a refreshing stop along the Apple Capital Loop Trail. With campgrounds, swimming in the Columbia River, play equipment for the little ones, and wonderful birdwatching, it's a great place to put on your list as you plan a bike trip to the Wenatchee Valley.

Confluence State Park, Wenatchee, WA — a refreshing stop along the Apple Capital Loop Trail. With campgrounds, swimming in the Columbia River, play equipment for the little ones, and wonderful birdwatching, it’s a great place to put on your list as you plan a bike trip to the Wenatchee Valley.

  • Sparkplug and WA Bikes member Deb Miller created the Pybus Kids Century, challenging local kids to ride the Loop Trail 10 times to finish a century. Now in its second year, the event has grown from 55 kids last year to nearly 150 so far this year, with at least one rider on track to finish a double century by the end of the challenge in October. She testified about her work at the meeting of the Governor’s Task Force on Parks and Outdoor Recreation held Tuesday.
  • Deb is also working to build on the momentum from our 2012 workshop, the Bicycle Master Plan adoption, and these initiatives to build support for Complete Streets.
  • Nancy Warner of IRIS (Institute for Rural Innovation and Stewardship) described the Listening Post they’ve added on the Apple Capital Loop Trail as part of a regional network of places you can learn about by calling or clicking.
  • Bike tourism is growing in Wenatchee: people who ride through on multi-day tours, those who come in for a major event such as Tour de Bloom, mountain bikers looking for the outstanding trails in the area, and people coming for a visit and renting a bike at Arlberg’s in Pybus Market to pedal along the Loop Trail.

 

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Two quick stories from the Tour de Bloom that help illustrate the value of bicycling to the Wenatchee Valley, whether or not you ride:

  • Bikes mean business: [Tweet “Wenatchee restaurant had 50% increase in sales in a single night thx to Tour de Bloom race. #bikesmeanbusiness”] A local restaurant owner we’re sure wants to remain nameless initially expressed some unhappiness about having the streets closed for the criterium race (fast loops on a short loop course in downtown). At the end of the evening, however, this owner said a typical night for the restaurant would bring in $3,500-$4,000. That night they did $6,000 in business. Not bad to have a 50% increase in just one night thanks to those hungry, fueled-by-calories racers and the family and friends who come to watch.
  • Bike events are good for community: The Wenatchee Police Department looked at the citations they issued during the Apple Blossom Festival and Tour de Bloom. According to Wenatchee Valley Velo member Ace Bollinger, they said they issued far fewer citations during the events than they did on any normal night — and that was with hundreds more people thronging the downtown streets. They were able to downsize their staff during a shift in which they expected an overload, which meant a direct savings to taxpayers.

Wenatchee is really rolling, and at the same time local advocates say they have a lot of work to do and projects to complete. My list doesn’t include everything I heard and learned on my visit.

Your turn: If you bike in Wenatchee, what do you think people need to know about what’s happening there to grow bicycling and make it even better?

Share this on Twitter to thank local bike leaders for all their hard work:
[Tweet “Thx local advocates in Wenatchee Valley/North Cascades for all your work. #bikeWA”]

Want to read more about what’s happening for better bicycling in Wenatchee and around the state? Sign up for our e-news.

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Posted in Advocacy, Chelan County, Douglas County, News, Tourism, USBRS, Wenatchee | 3 Comments

Snohomish (and Island) County Bikes: The Classic Camano Island Loop

By Josh Cohen | Published July 8, 2014

Take the train to Snohomish County’s Stanwood and begin your circumnavigation of hilly and rural Camano Island. Snohomish County Bikes: an ongoing series highlighting great Snohomish County bike rides.

Distance: 50 miles
Elevation: 3,023 feet of climbing
Good for: Intermediate to advanced road cyclists
Highlights: Beautiful scenery, low traffic roads, challenging climbs, possible trail ride

The Camano Island loop is a classic western Washington cycling route. The 50-mile ride traces the perimeter of the island, offering scenic Puget Sound vistas, quiet roads, and punchy ups and downs to keep things interesting (not to mention the occasional roadside kitsch).

Most people ride the loop counterclockwise starting just across the bridge in Stanwood in Snohomish County’s upper northwest corner.

Stanwood is also a stop on the Amtrak Cascades line, making it an excellent option for car-free cyclists or those of you who simply want to leave the car behind for the day. The Cascades line is the only Amtrak train that allows bicycles on board that aren’t boxed up (though they’re expanding the service to 15 additional lines soon). Bikes cost an additional $5 and the train’s rack only holds 10, so reservations are recommended. Whether arriving from the Seattle or Bellingham directions, expect to arrive in Stanwood between 8am and 9am and expect to depart around 8pm. Keep in mind, schedules are subject to change so please check the current Amtrak Cascades schedule.

If you’re driving, the Seattle Randonneurs start their annual Camano Loop ride around the QFC/Starbucks in Stanwood.

As with most of the islands peppered throughout Puget Sound, there are hardly any flat stretches of Camano Island. And though none of the climbs are very big (the tallest of them are only about 200 vertical feet), you’ll be feeling those near-constant ups and down by the end of the day.

Camano Island State Park. Photo by Amit Chattopadhyay. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Camano Island State Park. Photo by Amit Chattopadhyay. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

About 17 miles into the ride, you will face an important decision. Many riders choose to dip down through Camano Island State Park for a stop at its beautiful beach. But, as any western Washington Cyclist knows, a ride to the shoreline almost always means a steep climb back out and Camano Island State Park is no exception. Skipping the out and back cuts off about six miles and the aforementioned climb.

Shortly after the park and about halfway through the loop, the route passes Elger Bay Grocery, a small convenience store where riders can fill up bottles and grab a mid-ride snack. From there the route takes you around the island’s southern tip and back up the eastside towards Stanwood.

Click here for a map and cue sheet for the Camano Island route.

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 Camano Island bike tour http://ow.ly/yZ4Mt 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, Island County, News, Rides, Rural, Snohomish County, Tourism, Trains, Travel | Comments Off on Snohomish (and Island) County Bikes: The Classic Camano Island Loop