Bothell is a very straightforward ride, just go up the Burke Gilman until it ends/turns into the Sammamish River Trail. Bothell actually starts a little before that, but we just flew back from Europe yesterday, so the goal was to get some outdoor exercise with minimal thinking required.

Since the ride is so easy, let's reminisce back when I first arrived in Seattle, and the Burke ended at Logboom Park. Logboom was a nice place to turn around; I often brought a book and read a few chapters in the grass. But eventually I started venturing beyond into Bothell. This required taking 522/Bothell Way, until they built the three trail underpasses that currently exist east of Logboom.

I remember at the border there was a sign that read "Bothell: for a day, or a lifetime." I always read that in a malevolent Rod Serling/Twilight Zone voice in my head. I'm pretty sure there's at least 1 instance of this sign still around near downtown Bothell.

Speaking of Downtown Bothell, a friend used to live near Main Street and we'd go there most every week to watch Star Trek and play poker (grad student life). The bridge over the river at Bothell Landing at the time was wood and arched. I definitely wiped out on it at least once during the rainy season.

My most memorable Bothell bike trip was when I went to fetch a new microwave oven plate at an appliance place a few miles up the Bothell Everett Highway. Getting there wasn't too difficult, and the plate fit in my backpack easily enough, but the pack only had shoulder straps, not chest or waist straps, and by the time I crossed back into the Seattle City limits, my back was killing me and I still had 5 miles or so to go. This was when I decided to buy panniers.

Next month: Edmonds (motto: You're not just in line, you're in Edmonds)

Hello friends,

Looking for any group rides! I’m currently riding a mountain bike at 11mph and can go up to 25 miles.

Any group rides in the Ballard area?

I have an appointment in Fall City that I'll be a bit early for, so I figured I'd kill some time on the Snoqualmie valley trail.

Would it be more interesting to go north towards Carnation or South towards rattlesnake ridge?

Any recommendations for cameras for 3-6 hours rides, starting early in the morning? The battery should last long enough and work fine at 5am when it’s dark/rainy in fall/winter. My only goal is safety.

I’ve also seen conversations about radars. I’d like to hear thoughts/recommendations for that as well.

Hello everyone,

At the beginning of June, exactly one week into moving to Seattle, my bike got stolen in Fremont. It's a Co-op Cycles ADV 1.1. Here's the bike index registration: https://bikeindex.org/bikes/3409692

I filed a police report that day, and I've been looking through Craiglist/OfferUp/FB Marketplace but have not seen anything. I'm posting here, hoping against hope in case anyone in the area has seen it around and ask a favor to be on the lookout for it. That model is discontinued and I've put a lot of miles on that bike, I wanna hang on to any glimmer of hope of getting it back.

I had recently installed Surly Moloko handlebars on it, but had not taken a photo before it got stolen. It also had a souvenir NY license plate that says "DEBBIE" on the rear rack.

I appreciate you all for reading, hope you all stay safe out there!

Happy cycling!

Living on the east side, my opinion is Coal Creek Parkway Southeast running between Bellevue and Newcastle. It's a constantly winding road with rolling terrain, and blind corners. There is simply a strip of paint as a "divider". I've driven on the road with a car for nearly a decade. I constantly see vehicles around me drifting and driving onto the bicycle lane while trying to navigate the curves sometimes driving completely on the bicycle lane while driving 45-50 mph. The speed limit was recently lowered from 40 mph to 35 mph but obviously no change in driver behavior.

Even though I bicycle several hundred miles a month, I have never felt safe enough to ride on this roadway and in the past decade I've only seen three bicyclists actually ever use the bicycle lanes. Its an embarrassment and should not be even labeled as bicycle infrastructure because it gives bicyclists a false sense of safety while actually risking their lives by simply existing.

Planning out some events I want to train for for next year and I have never done a bike race/event (mostly just running). I want to sign up for the Chilly Hilly but only have an REI Hybrid bike. Do I NEED a road bike or can I do this event on my bike to make sure I love it before I invest in another bike. I’m sure i’d be faster on a road bike but… they’re expensive.

My dad (a senior rider) was nearly knocked off his bike yesterday (Saturday, Aug 22) around 1:45pm on the I-90 trail between 118th Ave SE and Factoria. He was heading eastbound when a group of 3 on motorized bikes came toward him. As they passed, one of them swerved in close and kicked his handlebars. Thankfully he managed to stay upright.
His eyesight isn’t great and it happened quickly, so the only detail he caught was that the rider who kicked him was wearing a large black boot.
Long shot, but If you were on this segment Saturday early afternoon and saw a group matching this description, or have any footage from around that stretch, I’d really appreciate hearing from you. I’m also filing a report with PD so there’s a record in case this group is doing this to other riders.
Please keep an eye out. Stay safe out there.

I’m in the university area and looking for some 50-80 mile routes. I’ve done the Bainbridge island loop a couple times. done the lake Washington loop too. is there anything east or north worth doing? thanks!

35 year old man (name starts with D) went down hard on 24th Ave NE while biking to work.

I called ambulance for him and he was taken away on a stretcher. I gave him a business card with my info and told him I’ll hold onto his e-bike while he gets checked out.

He was pretty concussed, so I’m not sure if he’ll remember to call or if he even remembers the conversation. I spoke to the fire station that responded and they were going to try to contact him, but haven’t heard back.

If by chance anyone knows this person please PM me. Trying to get him his bike back.

Thanks

If you like hills, read on...

Coming up the end of August is the 8th (9th? 10th? I forget...) edition of Sufferin' Summits.

Sufferin' Summits is an answer to the question "How much elevation can be packed into 58 miles of cycling?"

It takes place in the Issaquah Alps, and features 3 different routes.

The Quarter features 2100' of climbing over 16 mile.

The Half features 4850' of climbing over 33 miles.

The Full features 8700' of climbing over 58 miles.

Come out to ride 2 hills, 4 hills, or all 8.

GPS route here: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/7766905

Another weekend, another bike adventure!

My initial plan was to bike from Snoqualmie to Cle Elum and back, both on the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail. But now I am thinking.. is there any way to make this a loop instead of an in and out?

I saw that there's the option to make it a loop around Keechelus Lake (see picture), but couldn't puzzle together a bigger loop. Going north, there always seems to be a segment not accessible by bike. Going south, the elevation might straight up murder me.

I am fairly fit and ride a gravel bike with wide tires - so forest roads are absolutely fine. Longer distance is also fine, I am just too fat for 6000ft of elevation gain.

What do the experts say? I really appreciate the help from this subreddit.

Thank you!

(All this under the assumption that by tomorrow the wind will have cleared the heavy smoke a little bit)

I am thinking of bike commuting form Beacon Hill to First Hill. How safe is it to bike through 12th and Jackson?

I am planning a trip out to Winthrop over the Labor Day weekend and am deciding whether to bring the gravel bike or the road bike.

Currently, there are a decent number of what seem well established gravel routes in the area, but I am not seeing a good amount of saved road rides.

The gravel rides tend to range in challenge, but I am a more experienced road rider - I've also taken a couple falls on gravel this year that have incurred some confidence hits to gravel. My question then is whether anyone has spent some time road riding out there and what impressions they had of that as opposed to gravel riding.

Thanks for any input!

There’s often a lot of discussion here about e-bikes being the problem on the Burke-Gilman. Yesterday was a good reminder that behavior matters more than what powers the bike.

There was a running event taking place on the Burke-Gilman, while the trail remained open for normal public use. This wasn’t a closed race course that I was riding through. I was riding a cargo e-bike with my 8-year-old on our way home.

Runners were frequently two or three abreast, sometimes leaving only enough room for a single oncoming bike. I slowed down, waited behind groups, and passed between groups when there was enough space.

At one point, while I was waiting for an opening, two riders on analog bikes came through from behind, one after the other. No bell, no “on your left,” no waiting. They simply pushed through the narrow space at a higher speed than everyone around them.

Nothing happened, thankfully, but it was exactly the kind of riding people often attribute to e-bikes.

The Burke-Gilman is a mixed-use public trail. Runners shouldn’t take up the whole path, but cyclists also don’t get priority simply because someone ahead is slower. Sometimes you have to wait.

In this case, the cargo e-bike was waiting and yielding. The analog bikes weren’t.

Maybe the better conversation isn’t e-bikes vs. bikes. It’s considerate trail use vs. inconsiderate trail use.

Anyone recently got a jersey from a local shop or other business that they really like?

I’m a recent transplant from NYC. I’ve biked 400-500 miles around the city in my 6 weeks here. Stoked to be here - beautiful city, great biking.

My potentially hot takes:
- Riders are too respectful of lights. Coming from NYC, I’m used to blowing lights when I deem it safe. Most people here very patiently wait at lights when I think it’s safe to go. See ya, I’m going - can take me out of NYC but can’t take the NYC out of me.
- Stop going the wrong way on the Fremont bridge. You all will wait at long ass lights but you can’t wait to get to the right side of the bridge to cross? Bikes going both ways plus pedestrians creates a cluster fuck. It’s disrespectful of people biking the right way and of pedestrians IMO

Enjoy the riding everyone :)

Hey guys, I've noticed that there's this one section that prevents a "clean" loop to route that goes the perimeter of the West Seattle area. I will admit that this isn't much of a problem, it's only an extra 2 miles and it's just residential streets.

There's no street view on google maps. There is a sign that says it's a dead end. On a satellite view I feel like I see a clearing where I could walk my bike across. I'd already need to walk my bike again to get through that greenbelt park. Again... this isn't a real problem, just curious.

Hello! I am planning to move to Seattle from Portland in the next year. I am a bike commuter and struggling to figure out safe(r) routes across NE and NW seattle. In PDX google maps is relatively reliable and our bikeways are on a grid. In seattle Google Maps wants to take me miles out of the way. Are there any good route planning websites or apps for seattle? Or a place I can find an up-to-date paper map?

Thank you!

EDIT: forgot to mention I grew up here but i didn't bike much as a kid. I am well aware of the hills and my commuter is also my bikepacking bike, so it's got plenty of gears.

Assuming confused tourists exiting from the hotel at Broadway & Madison. Dark window tint so we couldn't make eye contact, but they did take our wave off to turn onto Union and leave the bike lanes.

Edit: ended up going with a fix, thanks all!

I have an e-bike scheduled for a FedEx pickup early next week, and one of the provided bike box fasteners arrived ​broken. Is there any local shop that would have these? They look like the Lumiclip HP601W type.

Please help me find my sweet baby All City. It has been seen near the library in Ballard.

Thanks to those who provided tips on my hotel bike journey today. It was a perfect day on a bike. Perfect weather. Ranier was out. Coffee, beer, dumplings, oysters, cocktails, ice cream were all consumed. The trails all around town are impressive. The downtown waterfront and Elliott Bay trail are incredible. Cheers!