We’re opening a store and we hope you’ll come visit, shop, and volunteer to help it succeed.

Why a Store?

The site of the office in Seattle gives us a unique opportunity, located as we are just a few blocks from King Street Station in the heart of Pioneer Square. Hundreds of thousands of people pass our door each year bent on travel, shopping, exploration of historic Seattle, and the many sports events that bring Sounders, Seahawks, and Mariners fans down our street.

We hope to take advantage of the location to accomplish several elements of our mission.

Pick up an I Bike WA t-shirt in silky quick-dry fabric–great gift for that biking friend who says we need better laws and facilities, since you can say the gift comes wrapped with support for advocacy!

1) Increase the number of people who support our work directly with their dues. Members will receive a 10% discount on purchases on the store and dues, as always, are tax-deductible. People stopping in to shop will be invited to join and get the discount on the spot.

2) Spread the word about bike travel/tourism in Washington state. We already distribute bike maps from all over the state. We’ll sell guidebooks—including our own Cycling Sojourner Washington, coming out spring 2014—and answer questions to help people plan great bike trips.

If you’re arriving by Amtrak or taking light rail into downtown from SeaTac, we can be your first stop in town to get rolling with a Seattle bike map and much more.

3) Share expertise with people interested in learning more about bicycling. We’re a bike knowledge hub—a great place to ask about upcoming rides in the area and around the state, pick up a copy of our pocket guide to Washington state bike law, get advice on lane positioning or whatever else you’ve been wondering about from our 3 League-Certified Instructors (Josh, Seth, and Jack)—you name it and if we don’t know it now, we’ll research it.

4) Increase the unrestricted revenues we need to accomplish our mission while we make bicycling ever more visible. The store’s mix will fill a distinct niche, not competing with the supplies, gear, services, and custom frames of Seattle-area bike shops or with the great bike-friendly fashion available at Hub and Bespoke in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood. People looking for a gift for a biking friend will find what they need, from posters and notecards to books, jewelry, and art. We regularly have tourists stop in to ask if we sell “bike souvenirs of Washington” and now the answer will be yes.

We also want to showcase great Washington bike businesses. Bicycling supports a larger sector of the state’s economy than many people realize and we can put that on parade with future exhibits and information.

How You Can Help

Volunteers: We plan to staff the store with volunteers as much as possible. You’ll handle retail transactions, field questions, share your bike knowledge, and when there’s a lull we can use help checking and pricing inventory, looking online for more great things we can stock, writing answers for the FAQ section of our site, or researching bike travel destinations. Chances are, if one person comes in with a question others have it too, and we want to build our online clearinghouse of information.

We’ll provide training, support, and if you’re helping out while you job-hunt we’re happy to supply the references you earn.

Vendors: We’re looking for made-in-Washington bike-themed items to sell. If you’re upcycling bike parts into jewelry, clocks, and lamps—if you’re an artist with a bikey piece—if you make something you know will appeal to a bike-oriented audience—if you’re an author who’s written a bike book and want to hold an autograph session—contact us.

Visitors: Come by the shop! We’re starting up with fairly minimal stock that will grow over time. More inventory is arriving every day. We’ll be open Monday-Friday, 9:30am-4:30pm.

Our new WA Bikes jerseys are on order and the coffee cups are already in, along with delicious direct trade, organic Gear Grinder Blend whole bean coffees in medium, dark, and decaf (which you can also order direct for home delivery so you never, ever run out). Cute bike socks make a great stocking stuffer and we’ll have Bikeyface posters and a great selection of books, cards, and magnets from Elly Blue’s Taking the Lane line-up, among other things.

How We Got this Far

Melissa Beams (left) and Jeannie LaFerla discuss placement of fixtures donated by REI.

We have a great team making this happen! Miriam Works of Works Consulting is guiding our operational plans; Jeannie LaFerla of Spot On Design and Melissa Beams of REI made the retail floor space come together; the REI flagship store donated fixtures; Miranda Geiszler of REI oversaw the fixtures donation; Andy Goulding developed our sign concept; and Eric Abbott of Process Logic serves as our project manager and is overseeing our signage application with the Preservation Board, fabrication and installation of the sign, and ongoing work to keep the whole store effort on track. Our neighbors in the building, Back Alley Bike Repair, make it easy to answer the question, “So, are you a bike shop?” with “No, but there’s one in the alley!”

We appreciate the encouragement we’ve received from our landlord Todd Vogel, owner of the Nord Building; Nikki Somers, building manager; and Karen True of the Alliance for Pioneer Square.

For People Who Can’t Get to the Store

We have a few things available for online ordering right now and will grow the online inventory a bit over time, although we won’t put the whole store online. As we participate in bike events around the state we’ll bring along some of the goodies.

Reflecting on the year past, we’ve much to celebrate and much work left to do growing bicycling in Washington State. Thanks to our members and supporters we’ve continued our 26-year success story passing bicycle safety legislation, growing the next generation of bike riders in our schools, and supporting local bicycle advocates and organizations in their bids to improve facilities and funding for community bicycle projects throughout our state.

This year we launched a new initiative: expand bike travel and tourism in every corner of Washington! It’s ambitious and lofty and in keeping with our vision to make sure everyone in our state bikes, and visitors far and wide know our hills and valleys, our city streets, our towns and rural outposts offer a variety of scenic pleasures for the experienced and novice rider alike. The #1 Bicycle-Friendly State in the Nation is an outstanding destination!

Thanks to your generous support in our Kickstarter campaign last summer, Cycling Sojourner Washington, a multi-day bicycle tour guidebook highlighting nine of the most gorgeous rides in Washington, will debut in April 2014.

More importantly our bike travel initiative will bring new life to bicycling in all corners of the state, generating better bike path and road links, community cohesion, and economic development. When our towns become more bike-friendly to draw visitors, they’re more bike-friendly for the people who live and ride there every day!

John Pope, WA Bikes board member, in Anacortes.

Nobody understands this better than volunteer and Washington Bikes board member John Pope.  Two years ago John began volunteering to map USBR 10, the state’s first United States Bike Route starting in Skagit County, where he lives, and stretching across the state all the way to the Idaho border. Having travelled by bike all over the western United States and served on his area’s Regional Transportation Planning Organization, John was well-prepared for this opportunity.

“I love the idea of an interconnecting network of bike routes that crosses our country and informs people about where the best and safest routes are across the U.S. and especially in Washington,” says John.

“In the past I had worked with folks from Adventure Cycling Association on certain sections of our region’s Northern Tier route. When the national USBRS effort that stalled several years ago was rekindled, I knew I had to help.”

The route that John is mapping will stretch from Anacortes across the Cascades through 18 communities in Skagit, Okanogan, Ferry, Stevens, and Pend Oreille counties (with roughly 25,440 total elevation climbing and coasting). It’s 421 miles—or 579.2 if you count all the alternate routes, spurs, and bypasses John checked out to prepare the map. More routes will follow through the mid-section and southern portion of the state, going east to west, north to south.

“It’s my way of giving back,” he continues. “It’s my way of serving present and future bicycle riders and the entire community since the infrastructure for bikes will improve as we build this system. Bike travel tourism is also an engine for economic development since riders make multiple stops for carb loading, nutrition, and overnight stays.”

Here are the benefits that mapping the USBRS in Washington will bring to you, the community, and the entire state in the future:

• 3,600 miles of uninterrupted bicycle connections with direct links to restaurants, lodging, shopping, groceries, and local attractions.
• Improved bicycle facilities throughout the state as communities recognize the economic benefit of welcoming bike riders.
• Signage to make it easier to know where (and how far!) you’re going.
• Increased safety as driver awareness of bicycles on the road increases.
• Improved streets and roads.
• Legislative support for the economic activity we represent that translates into votes for our issues and priorities.

For John Pope, his investment of volunteer time and energy is a journey of the heart–a journey of believing the USBRS is the right thing to do and the time is now.

Washington Bikes board member John Pope has been mapping USBR10 across the state. Scenic riding from Anacortes (shown here) to the Idaho border is yours to explore!

We have more to do when John’s volunteer work is done to prepare the route for approval by the Washington State Department of Transportation, submit it to the USDOT for official recognition, and begin our work for signage and all the rest. (And then we get ready to do it all over again for another route somewhere in the state.)

“Every city and county engineer, every bike club or bike enthusiast, every bike shop, and every Chamber of Commerce hears about the route and is encouraged,” John adds. “There are those in all walks of life who are helping to make the route better, safer, more hospitable, and clearly designated for the traveling bicycle rider.”

We hope you’ll make a tax-deductible year-end donation to support the time and effort required to map and highlight USBR 10 so volunteers like John Pope can receive the support they need to get the job done.* That way all of us will have the chance to ride safely across the mountains, through the deserts, and along the rivers and waterways of our beautiful state, completing our own journey of the heart.

Get your own original sketch of your bike (or the one belonging to someone special) when you donate $100 or more. Donations to Washington Bikes are tax-deductible.

*  With a donation of $100 or more, you’ll receive a complimentary sketch of your favorite bike by artist and Washington Bikes supporter Andy Goulding. We’ll send Andy your bike photo, and he’ll sketch and scan it to a JPG and return to you, to use as you wish: for personal note cards, posters, framing, sharing on social media, as holiday gifts, however you choose. Andy captures the spirit of bikes as unique machines in line drawings.

A teacher at Langley Middle School made a great video showing their bike safety education program in action. The video includes practicing bike handling skills, learning about navigating intersections, and going on a road ride.

South Whidbey School District joined the Bike and Pedestrian Safety Education program in 2011. Washington Bikes and Feet First trained their teachers in the 8-lesson curriculum, and the program has been rolling ever since. Each year they teach their middle school students how to ride a bike and important pedestrian safety skills. The teachers here have also added elements to the curriculum to cover group riding skills and a road ride to a neighborhood park.

Your school district could have the Bike and Pedestrian Safety Education Program too, thanks to funding from the Washington State Department of Transportation. School districts can apply through the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction’s call for applications that is due next Monday, December 9th. Encourage your schools to make bike and pedestrian education a part of every child’s life.