More than 100 bike rides to celebrate Opening Day for Trails on Saturday

Opening Day is a highlight for baseball fans, signaling the start of the national pastime. The Rails to Trails Conservancy wants to do the same for trail use, naming Saturday, April 7, as Opening Day for Trails.

The nonprofit supporter for rail-to-trail conversions across the nation aims to kickstart spring trail use with more than 100 bike rides on trails. Those who take the pledge to create a bike event or join a bicycle ride are eligible to win some swag.

Unless you believe there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad equipment, you’ll probably want to check local weather forecasts to make sure your event hasn’t been washed out. A major deluge is due to strike the Pacific Coast on Friday and Saturday, so that could put a crimp in some plans.

You can find or doublecheck local Opening Day for Trail Events here.

Of course, you don’t need to join a bicycling event to celebrate Opening Day. You can hit the trails on your own. There are 31,000 miles of rail-trails and multi-use trails waiting for you.

If you’ve been holed up this past winter as your bike collects dust, western Washington residents might want to explore one of three new trails that have opened recently.

Bridge on newly opened section of Foothills Trail

Foothills Trail — The removal of manmade and natural barriers on this Pierce County trail over the winter has extended it to 21 miles of pavement from Puyallup to Buckley. See Pierce County’s Foothills Trail open for bicycling

Eastside Rail Corridor — Crews pulled up the tracks and laid down 4 miles of packed gravel trail from Coulon Park, Renton, to Newcastle Beach Park, Bellevue. Views of Lake Washington all the way. See New Eastside Rail Corridor is ready for bicycles

Facing east, cyclists climb the rise at the west end of the bridge

SR 520 Trail — The bicycle trail that runs adjacent to WA State Route 520 was extended across the new 520 floating bridge this past winter. At 14 feet wide and about 3 miles long, the bridge trail connects Bellevue with University of Washington and the Burke Gilman Trail in Seattle. See Bicyclists flock to new bike trail on WA 520 Bridge