When I first started riding a bicycle as an adult back in the late 1970s in Maryland, one of the first things I did was to buy a guidebook of bicycle rides in the region that encompassed Maryland, Pennsylvania and Delaware.
Looking back, I think I primarily needed that book because I really didn't know what made a good or bad bicycle route. That sounds funny now, but I didn't have a sixth sense about finding good roads for bicycling.
There's been such a guidebook of bike rides available for western Washington for a few years now. It's written by ardent local bicyclist and author Bill Thorness. He shares his wisdom gleaned from 20 years of bicycling in “Biking Puget Sound: 50 rides from Olympia to the San Juans.”
Although I'm long past needing to know what makes a good bike route, I'll have to admit that my ride choices tend to get stale. Too often I'm riding the same routes over and over again. So I bought the book in hopes of finding some fresh routes to tackle.
After flipping through the 50 rides in the book, I'd say there are plenty of opportunities to revigorate my bike rides on both sides of the Puget Sound.
Thorness, who leads rides for the Cascade Bicycle Club, talks about his book in the video clip above. Because of his expertise in creating bike routes, I also asked for his reaction to the new “biking directions” application for Google maps.
Biking Puget Sound is published by The Mountaineers Books, the Seattle-based house that carries a wide catalog of outdoors books.
You can learn more about Thorness and rides in the Puget Sound at the Biking Puget Sound website. He also has a couple of rides posted for website readers.
Other BikingBis video clips from the 2010 Seattle Bicycle Expo:
Saturday: Balance, grace and skill on a bicycle — artistic cycling
Sunday: More family bike travel adventures with the Metal Cowboy
Monday: Willie Weir's favorite place for bicycle travel
Tuesday: Bill Thorness shares 50 bike rides around the Puget Sound
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