Murray’s first words were, “I’m not a bike guy. But I’m going to give this a try”. Riding an inexpensive old bike in sweatshirt and jeans, not looking the stereotype bike guy. After the long climb back up to the Junction, he was very happy to have found out he really could do it!
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We are getting the news out out that riding a bike can be viable Viadoom option. Our second SurviveRealign99 ride attracted another couple dozen people for a test run to Downtown, lower QA and South Lake Union.
It was also nice to have couple along on road bikes wearing stylish club ride jerseys and tights. They ride a lot, but have never commuted by bike, and were wary about downtown. Now they think it could work for them, too.
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There must be lots more folks like these, who could give up a seat on the bus or a car space on the road to make it easier for all those who really need to drive. The bike commute, once you have it down, can be more reliable and enjoyable than any other way of getting to work. It will be better once we really have a Basic Bike Network downtown, and the Fauntleroy Boulevard Project, Avalon Way paving with bike lanes and the Delridge and East Marginal Way Corridor Projects completed. But even as is, it beats being stuck in a traffic jam.
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A KOMO 4 news crew filmed us at several points along the way and interviewed riders. The story aired last night, The short version is here.
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Check out our route maps on our Resources page, along with tips for riding in winter weather. If you have your own favorite routes, please pass them along!
We had a great turnout last Saturday, so we’re doing it again this Sunday, January 13.
The Alaska Way Viaduct is coming down! Traffic is entering the period of maximum gridlock. How will we get out of West Seattle to go downtown? Ride our bikes!
This ride is a chance to try out bike commute routes in a friendly group, on a Sunday morning with more daylight and less traffic than on weekdays.
Meet in front of Starbucks in the West Seattle Junction on California SW at SW Alaska. Arrive by 9:15 for check in, safety briefing. Rolling at 9:30 am.
28 adults + 4 kid passsengers rode from the Junction to try out bike commute routes to lower Queen Anne, South Lake Union, Downtown, Pioneer Square, and SODO. A great group. Ride oganized by Doug Ollerenshaw, led by Don Brubeck, swept by Tamara Schmautz, and awesome video by Paul Dieter. Check it out! We just need Gloria Gaynor on the sound track.
Here are counts of actual bike trips at key locations in Seattle where SDOT has permanent full time bike counters. Fremont Bridge, Spokane Street Bridge, and Second Avenue protected bike lanes near University Street. Contrary to recent news reports, you can see that the numbers have been fairly even over the last few years at the bridges, and went way up on Second Avenue after the second phase was completed.
The SDOT bike counters count real people actually using bikes, for all kinds of purposes. The Second Avenue data is interesting. It shows what happened very quickly when the City actually made a big change on just one downtown street to prioritize safety, and permitted dockless bike share, too.
The erroneous news stories reporting that bike riding went down by some big percentage in 2017 in Seattle were based on a small sample of people answering a US Census American Community Survey question on what their single primary mode of commuting was. They did not actually count any bike riders on the streets. They just sampled a few people, and their question missed all those who use a bike for just part of their commute, or part of the time.
Lovin’ the brand new Spokane Street Bridge bike counter. 2013.
The numbers are from SDOT. We added up the monthly data for each year. The graphs are ours, as are any errors.
We adjusted 2018 data for the Spokane Street Bridge to account for 6 days lost in June to emergency bridge closure, 3.5 days in November due to copper cable theft, and 9 days in December due to another copper cable theft. Adjustment was made by interpolation from nearest weekday and weekend days to those events. Counts even without those 18.5 days were higher than 2017 by 3.5%. This counter is still out. A temporary hose counter in place. Of course, due to the federal government shutdown, the US Census Bureau is not working either.
The Alaska Way Viaduct is coming down! Traffic is entering the period of maximum gridlock. How will we get out of West Seattle to go downtown? Ride our bikes!
This ride is a chance to try out bike commute routes in a friendly group, on a Saturday morning with more daylight and less traffic than on weekdays.
Meet in front of Starbucks in the West Seattle Junction on California SW at SW Alaska. Arrive by 9:15 for check in, safety briefing. Rolling at 9:30 am.
If you’ve never tried it, we encourage you to ride in the wet months. We hardly ever have ice or snow, and it doesn’t rain hard here all that often. This November, it didn’t even rain at all on a lot of days. You don’t need a shower at work if you get one on the way. We’ve got some tips for riding in the rain on our Resources page to get you started.
We were right behind the Ice Cold Quad Squad from UW, and ahead of the NOAA AFSC Marine Mammal Laboratory Tour de Flipper team.
In the Club/Organization category, counting all 13 WSBC members who signed up, we were 5th for number of commute rides, and 10th for commute miles, coming in ahead of some big agencies and clubs.
Kathy Dunn was our team Captain, riding every day. John Graham logged 1,208 miles in November on 59 rides! You can sign up to join them and Bill, David, Don, Paul, Tan, Jodi, Al, Tamara, Valerie, Bryan and Joe, if you’d like to log rides through the winter and join the next challenge in May for Bike Month.
On December 1, Bike Works hosted a Major Taylor Tribute Ride, and screened a new short film honoring the first African-American world cycling champion. That was in 1899, when bike racing was a really big deal. This was a fun, social ride around south Seattle at quite a bit slower pace than the Black Cyclone’s.
Rich Brown, Jay Taylor and Phyllis Porter
Organizers included Seattle African-American bike community leaders pictured here: Rich Brown, Jay O’Connor and Phyllis Porter. They are leaders in Bike Works, Rainier Riders, Rainier Valley Greenways, Black Girls Do Bike-Seattle, Cascade Bicycle Club, Cascade’s Major Taylor Project, and Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board. Other leaders included Ed Ewing and Dr. Rayburn Lewis, two of the founders of the Major Taylor Project in Seattle. Don and Rachel (a Major Taylor Club volunteer) rode, representing West Seattle Bike Connections.
119 years after Major Taylor broke speed records and color barriers, a lot of people still think bike riding is something that only white people do. Not true. And that bike advocacy is dominated by white people and perspectives. That part is true. What can we do to change this? We are working on it, and invite you to join the effort. We welcome and embrace the diversity of experiences and knowledge of everyone in our city, particularly with regard to race, ethnicity, culture, socio-economic background, gender, sexual orientation, age, and physical ability.
You can learn about Major Taylor and the new film at the National Brotherhood of Cyclists, which Rainier Riders club is part of.
Instead of our usual monthly meeting at Neighborhood House, we will have a casual get together at Great American Diner, to celebrate our sixth year with food, drink and conversation. Come join us, even if you’ve never been to one of our meetings!
Tuesday, December 4 at 6:30 pm, 4752 California Ave SW
At the NE corner of SW Edmunds and California SW, near the south end of the Junction. Look for the group with bike helmets and drippy rain jackets.
A lot of people think using bikes for transportation “won’t work” in West Seattle. Hills. Rain. Dark. But Viadoom is proving that wrong. 
