Before I signed up for the 185-mile RSVP (Ride from Seattle to Vancouver & Party) last February, I thought long and hard about all the “street miles” I would be putting in on my bike. I wasn’t too keen about riding in the road debris that collects near the street gutters, cars passing by too close for my comfort, or worse, possibly T-boning into a just-opened driver door.
If you’re a road cyclist, I know you’re nodding your head right now.
I needed to get my miles in – safely – and The Seattle Bicycle Guide Map and the King County Regional Trail Map helped me discover a whole new riding world in my backyard.
King County Parks has one of the best trail systems in the nation with over 175 miles of trails, networking communities from Bothell to Auburn and from Seattle to Snoqualmie. In the coming years, King County is expected to develop that trail network to 300 miles.
And Seattle’s Burke-Gilman Trail provides a 17-mile paved bike path from Ballard to Bothell, linking into the Sammamish River Trail which wends 10 miles more into Marymoor Park in Redmond.
Add to these trails, 90 miles of signed bike routes in Seattle alone. These wide bike lanes alongside the city streets offered my riding partner, Erin, and I a net of safety as we embarked on an 80-miler one rainy Saturday in July.
We utilized the Burke-Gilman, signed bike arterials into Renton, a 24-mile out-and-back along the nicely paved and enjoyably under-utilized Cedar River Trail and a mixture of trails and on-street riding until we crossed the bike/pedestrian lane over the I-90 Bridge back into Seattle.
Of course, on the trails you still get the (perhaps?) oblivious Saturday or Sunday morning riders who ride two-abreast in 25-mile-per-hour pacelines, the weaving kids who are still figuring out how to ride their bikes straight and of course, the gnarly tree roots poking through the asphalt.
You take the good with the bad but it’s been mostly great! A big thanks to all those who have campaigned and contributed to making our region one of the most bike-friendly areas in the country.
Comments? Carolyn Price may be reached by clicking here.
Bike Map Resources
King County Regional Trail System
www.metrokc.gov/parks/trails
Seattle Bicycle Guide Map
www.seattle.gov/transportation/bikemaps.htm
Cascade Bicycle Club
http://www.cascade.org/Community/maps_routes.cfm
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