Category: Northwest Cycling

Seattle area gets new century bike ride — Red-Bell 100

A new bicycle century ride that benefits World Bicycle Relief is coming to the Seattle area in 2012.

The Cascade Bicycle Club is presenting the Red-Bell 100 on June 30 next year. Registration opens Jan. 25.

As you can probably guess, the charity ride rolls out from Marymoor Park in Redmond and ends with a party in Bellingham. It follows bike trails and low-traffic roads that will be familiar to cyclists on Day 1 of the RSVP …

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2011/11/26/seattle-area-gets-new-century-bike-ride-red-bell-100/

Big coup for Coup de Cascades – RAAM qualifier in 2012

Ultra marathon bicyclists will be marking next year's calendars for the Redmond-based Coup de Cascades on Aug. 14-15 after the Race Across America chose it as a qualifier this week.

Since the 2012 RAAM starts in Huntington Beach, Calif., on June 13, the Coup de Cascades will be one of the qualifying events for the 2013 RAAM.

The 425-mile loop around the Cascades launched in 2011 as a polio fund-raiser for the Redmond Rousers Rotary. The weekend event also featured a century and half-century ride for those …

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2011/11/18/big-coup-for-coup-de-cascades-raam-qualifier-in-2012/

24 Cranksgiving food-bank bike rides (4 in Washington) coming up

At least 24 Cranksgiving bicycle food drives are coming up and most are taking place this final weekend before Thanksgiving.

Four of the Cranksgiving bike rides are scheduled this weekend in Washington — Olympia, Seattle and Sequim on Saturday, and Bellingham on Sunday.

In all, 36 Cranksgiving food drives were on tap this month, according to a list at New York City's Cranksgiving, the oldest food drive ride now in its 13th year.

Most are alley-cat style “races” in which participants try to be the first to the finish after stopping …

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2011/11/18/24-cranksgiving-food-bank-bike-rides-4-in-washington-coming-up/

Tour des Trees coming to Oregon in 2012: Ride your bike, plant a tree

A week-long bicycle tour that celebrates the common tree and raises money for tree research is rolling into Oregon next year.

It marks only the fourth time that the Tour des Trees bicycle tour has visited the Pacific Northwest. The inaugural ride rolled from Seattle to Oakland in 1992, then started in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, in 1997 and Seattle again in 2002.

Next year's Stihl Tour des Trees (Aug. 5-11, 2012) encompasses a 585-mile loop that includes Pacific Coast rain forests and the central high deserts. When they aren't bicycling, tree lovers will be planting trees or offering tree-education programs to kids.

While the warning “On your left!” is a common refrain ….

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2011/11/16/tour-des-trees-coming-to-oregon-in-2012-ride-your-bike-plant-a-tree/

Take a virtual bike ride on Burke Gilman and Cedar River trails


Larger view on jump

The Google Street View trike has been hitting the bicycle trails in Seattle and King County over the past summer and now those trail views are available on Google Maps.

I mashed a couple of trails with the TripGeo.com application to animate the bike path views on the Burke-Gilman Trail between Gas Works and Log Boom parks, left, and the Cedar River Trail from Renton to Landsburg, below.

It's fun to see the locales of our off-road rides preserved on the Internet. Seattle Bike Blog located trail views outside the Seattle Google headquarters in Ballard and the Seattle end of the I-90 bike trail….

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2011/11/14/take-a-virtual-bike-ride-on-burke-gilman-and-cedar-river-trails/

Seattle voters reject car-tab fee that included bike projects

A proposal to raise $204 million for transportation projects over the next 10 years in Seattle, including bicycle infrastructure, failed on Tuesday.

Voters in the city resoundingly defeated the measure that would have required car owners to pay an extra $60 car tab fee per automobile.

Half of the money raised by the issue, Proposition 1, would have paid for …

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2011/11/09/seattle-voters-reject-car-tab-fee-that-included-bike-projects/

Bike commuting into fall and winter in Bellevue

If you started bike commuting to work this spring but hung up your wheels when the dark, wet and cold set in this fall, you might be ready to reconsider your decision.

With the proper lights, layered clothing, and rain gear on your bicycle, there's no reason to abandon the bike for a car or bus these days.

Choose Your Way Bellevue is offering a free winter bike commuting class with the experts from Cascade Bicycle Club.

The brown bag presentation is scheduled on Thursday….

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2011/11/08/bike-commuting-into-fall-and-winter-in-bellevue/

East Lake Sammamish Trail paving: northern section complete

Since the East Lake Sammamish Trail opened in 2006 with a crushed stone surface, many bicycle riders have said they'd like to see it paved.

Their wishes have been granted, at least on a 1.2-mile section at the north end of the 11-mile rail-trail.

King County Parks says a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11 a.m. Monday in the new trail side parking lot on NE 70th Street will mark the re-opening of the Redmond section of the East Lake Sammamish Trail.

Paving the southern end of the East Lake Sammamish Trail in Issaquah is the next project on tap …

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2011/11/06/east-lake-sammamish-trail-paving-northern-section-complete/

An unusually fine November day for a bike ride

As fall becomes winter in the Pacific Northwest, I keep expecting the permanent overcast skies to roll in and bring the drizzle that keeps me in rain gear all winter long.

We've had our share of nasty days already, but Saturday was not one of them. Clear skies and temperatures in the low 50s coaxed me outside on my bicycle. …

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2011/11/06/an-unusually-fine-november-day-for-a-bike-ride/

Meet and greet Tyler Farrar and other pro cyclists in November

Cycling fans can meet Wenatchee born and bred sprinter Tyler Farrar and other pro cyclists at events in Renton and Seattle in November.

Farrar is considered the best pro cycling sprinter to come out of the US in recent years; maybe ever. In just the past two years, he has individual wins at the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana.

In sprint stages across the European continent, the Garmin Cervelo team tactics always include a way to maneuver Farrar to the front of the peloton as they approach the finish.

The first meet-up with Farrar takes place from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Nov. 26 at Peterson's Bicycle Shop in Renton. ….

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2011/10/30/meet-and-greet-tyler-farrar-and-other-pro-cyclists-in-november/