Seattle Bike Blog

Blonsky: A non-definitive guide to bike overnighters within an hour(ish) of Seattle

By

Marley Blonsky

| Posted

April 22, 2016

EDITOR’S NOTE: Marley originally posted this great beginner’s guide to bike camping trips near Seattle on her blog. Bike camping season started early this year thanks to a very warm winter. Adventure is closer to home than you think.

A year ago, I’d never gone bike camping. My first bike overnighter was in May 2015. Since then I’ve more than made up for lost time, with over 20 trips under my belt.

Most of these trips have been “S24O” outings, a fancy term for a trip that takes fewer than 24 hours (“Sub 24-hour Overnight”). S24Os are perfect. You get to sleep outside, ride your bike and still be back for weekend fun (or responsibilities.)

My personal preference is to pack up Thursday night and ride my loaded bike into work on Friday morning. I’ll then ride directly to the ferry after work, saving valuable time and daylight. One bonus to being on a bike is you never have to wait in line, so even on the busiest days of the year you get onboard. Bikes are the best!

Living in Seattle, I am incredibly lucky. The Washington State ferries that depart from downtown open a world of camping to people on bikes. Within an hour or two biking there are at least five campgrounds. Expand your riding to two and a half hours, and you’ve got at least four more campgrounds. I’ve been to all of these except one (I’m leading a trip there in June), and here are my personal experiences, recommendations and tips for each.

This is totally unofficial and non-definitive, so it’s a good idea to do some of your own research in advance. RidewithGPS, Google Maps (bike layer), and the Washington State Gazateer are all super handy when planning. In all honesty though, none of these campsites are very far off the beaten path, so you can just plug it into your phone and go.

And now, tips, tricks, and recommendations for each: (more…)

tags: bike camping, bikepacking, marley blonsky, s24o

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Now’s the time to get your Bike Everywhere Challenge team together

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

April 21, 2016

The annual Bike Everywhere Challenge (formerly known as the Bike Month Challenge and the Bike To Work Challenge) starts May 1, so now is the time to join an existing team or talk to coworkers and friends and form a new team. You can also sign up solo.

The collective goal for the region is to log 400,000 trips in the month of May, 86,000 more than last year. So they’re gonna need your help.

All you have to do is track any trips you bike on the challenge website. The site then compiles it all so you can see how biking even a little every day adds up to a huge amount over the course of a month. The site is also a way to encourage people to keep it up through the whole month and to find new trips to make by bike (take Pronto to a new lunch spot, for example, and you can log another trip).

Making biking your primary mode of transportation takes some habit-forming, so a challenge like this is a great way for people to make the switch. And odds are, once you’re in the biking habit, you won’t want to go back.

Lead in past years by Cascade Bicycle Club, the challenge is now being handled through Washington Bikes. The two organizations merged late last year, so they are still establishing which arm of the organization does which annual events.

More details from WA Bikes: (more…)

tags: bike everywhere challenge 2016, bike month 2016, cascade bicycle club, washington bikes

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Cascade calls for more bike/walk station access funds in ST3

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

April 20, 2016

Way cheaper and more efficient than a parking garage

Sound Transit’s latest ballot measure draft would spend $661 million in transit funds to build car parking near stations. Seattle Transit Blog did the math and found that each new parking space would cost $80,000. To put that in perspective, a person could park their car at a station every day for 50 years and Sound Transit would pay them $4.38 per day to do it. That’s basically the cost of their round-trip fare.

The budget for new car parking at stations is double the budget for biking and walking access improvements to those same stations.

And not only will these biking and walking projects help people get to light rail safely and easily, they will also make the neighborhoods around the stations better places to be. Sound Transit can pay for the stations access and get the improved livability for free.

Cascade Bicycle Club has an action alert out calling on Sound Transit to increase the biking and walking access funds to $500 million. One way to fund this increase: Simply charge for parking at stations. This would have the added benefits of incentivizing people to get to stations by another means if possible and charging people more of their fair share.

Sound Transit already charges for secure bike parking, and bike parking costs a minuscule fraction of that $80,000 per car space. (more…)

tags: cascade bicycle club, sound transit, st3

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Man biking in Bellevue catches his own scary hit and run on video

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

April 19, 2016

Still from the video. Police are looking for a black Ford F150, possibly with a license plate starting “D9”
Dan Scarf was in a pretty “mundane” part of his bike commute home to his wife and three kids on a street marked for 25 mph and calmed with speed humps when someone driving a black Ford F150 struck him hard and fled the scene without stopping.

“I’m really angry at the guy, and I’m just shocked,” Scarf said. “How could you actually do it?”

Scarf’s hip was broken in the crash, which happened around 5:30 p.m. April 13 on 161st Ave SE just south of SE 28th Place in Bellevue.

He caught the collision on a handlebar-mounted camera, but the video didn’t get a shot of the person driving or the license plate number. Scarf posted the video to YouTube (collision happens at the 2:00 mark):

(more…)

tags: bellevue, dan scarf, hit and run, injuries, jane kriehn

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Arena plan would build pedestrian bridge for Holgate, needs bike lanes on 1st Ave

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

April 18, 2016

Concept art for the proposed Holgate pedestrian bridge. Images from a presentation to the City Council’s Sustainability and Transportation Committee (PDF).

The team putting together a plan for a new arena directly south of Safeco Field plans to build a new pedestrian bridge over the train tracks on S Holgate Street as part of a multi-million dollar public benefits package to pay the city for Occidental Ave, which lies in the path of the proposed arena footprint.

This project has sparked controversy for some (especially freight companies) and hope for others (especially for those who want an NBA team in town). But for the sake of this blog, we are only going to be looking at the impacts and proposed public benefits that affect biking and safe streets. Ultimately, I’m pretty sure the project will live or die based on other factors, but I’ll leave that story to other reporters.

One of the major hurdles for project approval is the “street vacation” of Occidental Ave, since that requires City Council approval. That’s why the Seattle Arena team is headed to the City Council Sustainability and Transportation Committee tomorrow (Tuesday) during their 2 p.m. meeting.

Proposed Holgate Bridge

(more…)

tags: 1st ave s, sodo, sodo arena

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Bike around South King County for Cascade’s Major Taylor Project Saturday

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

April 15, 2016

Cascade Bicycle Club’s Major Taylor Project offers after-school programs for students at 14 schools in South King County and Pierce County. “Bike Club” provides 300 students “a forum for helping students develop confidence, goal setting abilities, bicycle maintenance and handling skills, and deep connections with their peers and communities,” according to Cascade.

Saturday’s Ride for Major Taylor starts at Chief Sealth High School in West Seattle and heads through White Center, Burien, Seatac and Tukwila. Proceeds from the ride will go to support the program.

Ideally, you have already been getting friends and family to pledge cash for your Major Taylor fundraiser. But if not, no worries! You can register at the start line between 9 and 10 a.m. for $60 ($50 if you’re a member). Anything above the registration fee is a donation. It’s a good cause if you have the cash.

More details from Cascade: (more…)

tags: cascade bicycle club, major taylor project, ride for major taylor

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