West Seattle Bike Connections

Have you ever wanted to do the Seattle to Portland bike ride? Or even wanted to do the 1-day STP? And never trained for it? Here is your big fat chance!

Do it in 2 hours, and end up at a huge finish line party! One week before Cascade’s big STP, so perfect for training for that in case you forgot.

West Seattle Bike Connections will be riding again from SW Seattle Street in the Admiral neighborhood to SW Portland St in Fauntlee Hills, and back north to Summerfest at the West Seattle Junction, for a fabulous finish line party. After an hour or two there, participants can ride home independently, or ride with a leader back to Hamilton Viewpoint.

Family friendly! We have had 3-generation family groups. Easy pace. We will stay together and work together to cross any busy intersections. Led by Don Brubeck and Marge Evans. More co-leaders welcome.

This is a Cascade free daily ride with certified leaders. Helmets required. Save time at the start by registering in advance.

Route with cue sheet:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/14357732

7.5 miles south to SW Portland and back north to Summerfest at the Junction. (10.2 for total round trip to the Hamilton Viewpoint start.) Route is mostly on quieter residential streets along the ridge parallel to California Avenue SW.

Some hills but less than most West Seattle routes. One block you (we) might walk up. About 450 feet of elevation gain over 7.5 miles. 640 feet for the full 10.2 miles.

For children riding their own bikes: parent or guardian please read and conform to Cascade’s policy and call ride leader at least a day in advance. http://www.cascade.org/information-parents.

Bike Everywhere! It was fun to see and meet lots of bike riders going all directions this morning!  All shapes and sizes of riders and rides.  From Fauntleroy and White Center, Alki and Pigeon Point. To SODO, Harbor Island, Kent, Downtown, Pioneer Square, South Lake Union, UW, Queen Anne and Pill Hill.  Going to daycare and school. Going to work as accountants, building managers, landscape architects, environmental enforcemnent workers, transportation engineers, interior designers and architects, bike mechanics, small business owners, shipping company freight expeditors, school district staff, teachers, and bus drivers, volunteers, clerical workers, baristas, fashionistas, …

West Seattle Bike Connections hosted a celebration station where the trails meet under the West Seattle Bridge for the morning commute hours.  Bob Winship led the effort.  Cascade Bicycle Club and F5 sponsor the event. Alki Bike and Board and West Seattle Cyclery joined us to provide quick bike checks and adjustments. Nuun was there with sports drinks. WSBC volunteers baked cookies, brought fruit and other treats, and Starbucks donated coffee. A big thank you to all who made this happen and all who stopped or waved.

If you are just trying this out, know that it keeps getting easier more comfortable the more you ride! And we are here to make it safer, more connected and more comfortable.

More pix on the WSBC Flickr page.

Stop at our commute station!

from 6 to 9 AM at the west end of the Spokane Low Bridge, where the trails meet.

West Seattle Bike Connections members will be bringing homemade cookies and bars to power your ride. Besides baked goods, we will have coffee, other beverages, bananas, bicycling information and on-the-spot bike checks and simple repairs courtesy of Alki Bike and Board.

We look forward to seeing you!

A record number of people crossed the Spokane St Bridge by bike today.  More are finding  this is a good, reliable way to avoid Viadoom.
Previous high was 1,847, set on May 14, 2014.  Today, it was 2,525!

With nice weather and Viaduct closure incentive, we should be able to set a monthly record for May!

Lots more people are riding bikes to get to other places in West Seattle, too. They just don’t cross this bridge.

The counter counts each one-way trip. That is the same way that vehicle traffic counts are done.  You can see average annual weekday counts on Seattle traffic flow maps here. The Spokane St Bridge average weekday traffic count was 10,300 in 2014.  2,000 bikes is about 20 percent of the number of car and truck crossings on the low bridge.  Not insignificant.
The high bridge count is about 10 times that. Each person on a bike is one less car or bus seat on the high bridge. It makes a difference for everyone on the road.

Count data is available from SDOT here, or by clicking the link in the upper right corner of our home page.

Here are a few. We will add more as the Viaduct Closure looms and Bike Everywhere Month approaches.
West shoreline route, flat and scenic, from Alki Point.
White Center, as flat as it can be, with a hill between Puget Ridge and Pigeon Point down to the Spokane St Bridge.

Alki to Downtown
Downtown to Alki

White Center to Downtown

Downtown to White Center

Pioneer Square to Arbor Heights Direct  [this is shortest route, but hilly, with a tough hill southbound from SW Alaska St up to Mt St Vincent]

If you have a fave, feel free to offer it up!

Avoid the Viaduct closure traffic jams!    Test ride a bike commute route this Sunday, April 24 at 9:00 am.

If you or people you know are interested, but uncertain, come join us and try it out!  If you ride a bike while Bertha has the viaduct shut down, you can save a seat on a bus or a car space on the road for someone who really needs it, while you get some exercise and save some time.  Any bike in working order can do the job for your 30 to 45 minute ride. It does not take special clothes or anything much else besides a lock and a place to secure your bike while you are at work.

Meet Al Jackson at Lowman Beach Park on Beach Drive, or Bob Winship at Thriftway in Morgan Junction or ~9:20 at California and Alaska at the bike corral in front of Starbucks at the WS Junction.
Ride at a stay-together social pace into Pioneer Square and the 2nd Avenue protected bike lanes. And back!

Details in our Events Calendar.

We can also give you custom bike route advice, and have a few volunteers willing to be your bike buddy for a weekday morning or evening commute.  Ask here or on our Facebook page, or email us at westseattlebikeconnections@gmail.com

“It was almost exactly 3 years ago that we first reported a Viaduct closure was possible when the tunneling machine went beneath it”

Three years went by so fast! Bertha went so slow. But this is just in time for Bike Month (May). So, if some more people are able to take bikes to downtown it will free up bus seats and help a bit with car traffic. West Seattle Bike Connections and West Seattle Cyclery will lead some guided rides. 30 to 40 minutes to downtown from most places in West Seattle, and the viaduct closure will not change that. We’ll announce ride times and places on our website and Facebook pages, and so will West Seattle Cyclery. Usually in May there are 1,000 to 1,200 daily bike crossings counted on the Spokane St Bridge. Maybe we can double that this year and make a difference.

Good news tonight: WSBC member Joe Laubach has been selected to serve on the Move Seattle levy Oversight Committee!

Here is what we said in recommending him:
Joe will bring a balanced perspective on movement of people and goods in Seattle, with financial abilities the committee can use for oversight of Move Seattle’s progress.
We know Joe from involvement in creation of safer streets for people of all ages and abilities to walk and ride bikes in West Seattle and the Duwamish manufacturing and industrial area. Joe rides a bike to his job as an accountant at a Port of Seattle shipping company tenant, often with a stop to drop his daughter off at daycare. He understands first hand the the safety and connectivity challenges and importance of moving freight and people on bikes through the same corridors.

We are meeting at 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm Tuesday, March 2
HomeStreet Bank, 41st Ave SW & SW Alaska St
and you are invited. Please come join the discussion and planning to make riding a bike a great way to travel West Seattle.
This month’s agenda includes safety at some key intersections and an update on the Move Seattle levy program.