Seattle Bike Blog

Family Ride: Hauling Christmas trees and cruising Candy Cane Lane by bike

By

Madi Carlson

| Posted

December 9, 2016

EDITOR’S NOTE: Critical Lass will be biking to and through Candy Cane Lane Sunday. This family-friendly ride for women and their friends meets up 4 p.m. at Fix Coffeehouse in Green Lake. You can find more details on the event page.

To run with the holiday theme, I loved Madi Carlson’s recent post on her blog Family Ride about her adventure with her kids to get their Christmas tree. It’s a wonderful insight into how biking can turn normal family errands into adventures. Enjoy this excerpt, reposted with permission:

“Go Team Christmas Tree!” is one of the many things people shouted at us as we biked home with our tree this year. There’s something to be said for parading six miles with a big tree. Last year we got the tree just half a mile from home. That was the first time the kids rode their own bikes so that was exciting and new (for them–I would have liked carrying both kids and tree because the bigger the load, the more points). We probably would have gone to the same tree lot, but it doesn’t seem to be there this year and the kids suggested the Swansons Nursery Reindeer Festival. So this year was both kids-on-their-own-bikes and far-away-tree. Fun!

(more…)

tags: candy cane lane, critical lass, familyride, madeleine carlson

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Check out Seattle Bike Blog’s new mobile site

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

December 8, 2016

No more fighting on your phone with frustrating text input boxes just to post a comment! Seattle Bike Blog finally has a mobile-friendly version.

This Obama-era technological advancement is only for phones and small tablets, and we don’t currently plan any significant changes to the desktop version. If it ain’t broke, right?

This change also signals a change to our advertising options. Seattle Bike Blog depends on a combination of reader supporters and partnerships with local businesses to make ends meet.

(Warning: Sales pitch ahead)

We now offer two sizes: A wide “Banner” spot ($90/30 days) and a large square “Showcase” spot ($150/30 days). The showcase ads are shown on every page view in the “Bike-Friendly Business Showcase,” but now they also appear in middle and at the the end of story content.

So if your businesses is not advertising with Seattle Bike Blog, now is a great time to start. The site draws about 100,000 page views every month, mostly from Seattle and greater Puget Sound region. Our ad options were already good deals, but the new mobile spots make both of them even better.

We also have a option for a larger “Site Sponsorship” option for anyone looking to really make a big splash with a campaign. If you have any questions about this or any other advertising options, email [email protected].

As with any technical change, please let me know if find any bugs either by emailing me or commenting below.

tags: seattle bike blog

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Ride your bike, support bike-friendly businesses & donate toys Saturday

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

December 7, 2016

Ride your bike. Shop at bike-friendly businesses. Support survivors of domestic violence.

Join Commute Seattle and Cascade Bicycle Club Saturday for the Seattle Bike Friendly Business Network‘s first Holiday Bike Friendly Ride. Meet up 2 p.m. at Métier (11th and Union) for a group ride to Red Balloon. There you can buy toys that the YMCA will give to kids who have escaped dangerous domestic situations.

The ride should be a fun, family-friendly way to bike around Capitol Hill and the Central District and support community members who need some help this holiday season (Disclosure: My amazing spouse Kelli helped organize this event).

The ride ends at Electric Lady (23rd and Union) for an after party and a chance to buy some gifts for the bike-lovers in your life.

More details: (more…)

tags: cascade bicycle club, commute seattle, holiday bike friendly ride, kelli refer, seattle bike friendly business network

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Seattle again falls short of ‘platinum’ bike-friendly status

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

December 6, 2016

Seattle has again failed to reach “platinum” in the League of American Bicyclists’ Bicycle Friendly Communities ratings. The city has maintained its “gold” status, which is revised every two years.

The city lost a lot of points due to the rare all-ages helmet law in King County. Requiring helmets under the threat of getting stopped and ticketed by police is not a national or global best practice for bicycle safety and encouragement. Cities with the best safety records and the highest numbers of people biking almost never have such helmet laws for adults (many don’t even have them for children).

Instead, those cities focus on safe and inviting bike routes and encouraging more people to ride, triggering a safety in numbers effect.

The League specifically notes that the helmet law is likely getting in the way of bike share success. Again, best practices for bike share do not include mandatory helmet requirements. Instead, strong station density and low-stress, connected bike routes are important.

Though the numbers show an impressive 8/10 for “Bicycle network and connectivity,” the League docked serious points for the city’s reliance on sharrows. Sadly, this blog’s logo is still very relevant on Seattle’s streets: (more…)

tags: bicycle friendly communities, league of american bicyclists

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Bike News Roundup: Seattle’s multimodal neighbor

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

December 5, 2016

It’s time for the Bike News Roundup! Here’s a taste of some of the sweet (and not-so-sweet) bike-related and bike-adjacent news floating around recently.

First up: StreetFilms visits Vancouver, BC, giving an overview of how Seattle’s neighbor to the north made itself into a truly multimodal city.

(more…)

tags: bike news roundup

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7th Ave bike lane will connect Dexter to downtown, end just 5 blocks from 2nd Ave

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

December 2, 2016

From the project fact sheet.

7th Ave is a direct line from Dexter to downtown, so it’s no surprise that the street is one of the most important bike routes in the city center.

While the street got some nice buffered bike lanes between Dexter and Westlake back in 2010, people biking downtown are still dumped into mixed lanes to navigate downtown traffic.

But that is set to change as early as six months from now as the city moves forward with delayed plans for a protected bike lane between Westlake Ave and Pike Street.

This is one key piece of finally connecting downtown to popular bike routes to the Fremont Bridge, the Burke-Gilman Trail and beyond. It brings the northend protected bike network within a few blocks of the 2nd Ave bike lane. It also connects the growing South Lake Union to major transit connections downtown (why the city need a quality bike share system).

The current plan is for a one-way southbound lane on the west side of the street that turns into sharrows (yes, sharrows…) between Pike and Union. Many downtown-bound users will likely use Pine Street to get to 2nd Ave, so there will still be five blocks of mixed-traffic biking. This is so tantalizingly close to finally connecting… (more…)

tags: 7th Ave

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