Wednesdays from Washington (State)

[Steve O]

@bobco85 165629 wrote:

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This bollard with diamond marking setup is used on the Green River Trail

This is awful. Three bollards!! One overgrown with weeds. Steel. The one on the right invisible in poor lighting. And all unnecessary; could be replaced with a couple of good signs and some surface paint treatment.

[Sunyata]

Ooh! This is awesome.

Plus, it gives Steve O some new bollards to yell at. 😎

[bobco85]

@Sunyata 165647 wrote:

Ooh! This is awesome.

Plus, it gives Steve O some new bollards to yell at. 😎

Sadly (or happily), there aren’t likely to be more pics of bollards, but I’ll try to get a good mix of whatever I see each week.

[bobco85]

After doing some more exploration and getting my computer stuff running back at full speed, I’ve got a couple more pics from the greater Seattle area to share.

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On the Green River Trail in Kent is this cool bridge-under-a-bridge. It is suspended from the underside of WA-516 which you can see here on Google Maps Streetview: https://goo.gl/maps/MBAypeto6xw Also, another thing I should mention: the Green River Trail can be navigated completely on Streetview!

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Seen on the east side of the West Seattle Bridge is a bike monolith, i.e. counter; this pic was taken on a Sunday morning

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From the bike path running along the north edge (154th St) of the SeaTac Airport, one can see how the airport is high up on a plateau (the little bridge is just for the runway lights). It’s certainly a different view of planes taking off or landing than the one I was used to at DCA!

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In Renton, I’ve seen a couple of these bike markings at some intersections that do not have any other bike infrastructure. A cyclist just needs to line up their front wheel on the marking, and it will trip the sensor for the stoplight. They also have these in intersections with bike lanes, but I’ve seen those before (e.g. SB Commonwealth Ave bike lane at Mt Vernon Ave in Alexandria, VA).

[bobco85]

More exploration from the Emerald City and the areas around it!

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This is the Homer M Hadley Memorial Bridge, the 5th longest floating bridge (5,811 feet) in the world. The parallel eastbound span (Lacey V Murrow Memorial Bridge) just to the left in this pic is the 2nd longest (6,620 feet), and 3.6 miles north/right of this picture is the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge (a.k.a. 520 Bridge), the world’s longest floating bridge (7,578 feet) that is currently in construction of a MUP set to be completed this fall (I’m excited to ride it!). Back to this bridge: it’s awesome riding across even though it’s odd to be riding near the water level in the middle of a lake!

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This is a wonderful MUP on the side of Logan Ave N in Renton (south side of Lake Washington, just east of me from Tukwila). It runs north from the Cedar River Trail for a couple of blocks and ends by splitting into regular bike lanes (ones that have stoplight sensors) that lead to the Lake Washington Loop (a signed ~50 mile bike route going around Lake Washington on both trails and roads). The intersections are either driveways with good sightlines or have pedestrian signals. I took this pic while on a lovely Cascade (will get to them in a sec) ride around the southern half of Lake Washington, and I have made much use of this MUP especially when heading to Bellevue (east side of Lake Washington).

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Feeling tired from riding a metric the day prior, I took my bike on the Link light rail to get into the city for a moderate speed Cascade ride. There are specific cars labeled with a bicycle sign onto which people can bring their bikes, and I made use of one of the hooks they have in a specific spot (you hang the front wheel onto the hook, and there’s a fixture on the wall to keep the rear wheel from bouncing around. Up to 4 bicycles can be on each car (multiple cars per train), and usually there’s room to hang 2 of them to save space. Also, there’s NO RUSH HOUR BAN on bikes!

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When moving out here, I asked y’all what organizations would be great for getting into the cycling community, and most recommended Cascade Bicycle Club. In ways, it runs like a mixture of Potomac Pedalers and WABA, and there are many rides of different speeds/skill levels that one can choose from on any given day (especially the weekends). After doing about 5 of their rides and getting involved in other things related to bicycle advocacy, I decided to become a member. Now, I am a member both of Cascade and WABA! (Note: I am wearing my Virginia jersey)

[barbielwc]

Wow thanks for sharing. I liked the bridge-under-a-bridge.

[Judd]

@bobco85 166246 wrote:

Now, I am a member both of Cascade and WABA! (Note: I am wearing my Virginia jersey)

It’s the opening of the East Coast / West Coast Bike Wars.

[Judd]

The bike on rail is pretty nice. How does it compare to Metro? Bike hangers on metro would be great, but the cars are so crammed that I don’t see it being feasible during rush unless you wanted to bop people in the face with a wheel.

I googled the trains and they look similar to the light rail system that St. Louis has. They look swanky.

[bobco85]

@Judd 166253 wrote:

The bike on rail is pretty nice. How does it compare to Metro? Bike hangers on metro would be great, but the cars are so crammed that I don’t see it being feasible during rush unless you wanted to bop people in the face with a wheel.

I googled the trains and they look similar to the light rail system that St. Louis has. They look swanky.

The Link light rail is pretty awesome, and in my experience, it works well with the bus system. In certain parts of downtown Seattle, buses run through the same tunnels as the light rail trains and stop at the same station platforms as part of their routes.

As far as DC’s Metro is concerned, they need longer trains and an attitude adjustment. 8 car and 6 car isn’t working now, and they need 10 and 12 car trains. If they could manage passengers better, they could easily IMO add bike-friendly cars to front & rear of each train. Right now, there’s no will for it, so I will not hold my breath.

The Link light rail system is actually set to expand in a massive way over the next 2 decades (first expansion to University of Washington was completed in 2016) that will add multiple lines and connections between the major cities in the area (Seattle, Tacoma, Bellevue, & Everett). Here are pics of the current map and future expansion map:
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FYI: I live less than a mile from the Tukwila/International Blvd station (south side of Lake Washington, and the elevated rail itself passes close enough to my apartment complex that I can actually see my balcony from the train. It’s kinda cool!

[Judd]

Nice. You’re making a compelling case for me to take a bike vacation there.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bobco85]

I’ve officially been in the Seattle area for a month now, and there’s still so much more to explore. Here’s more from Washington!

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View of the Stadium light rail station from the SODO (“SOuth of DOwntown”) Trail which runs alongside the light rail for about a mile (I have an upcoming video in the works for this short-but-sweet trail) – the station is about a half mile from both Safeco Field (baseball) and CenturyLink Field (football & American football)

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On my way to a Cascade group ride, I encountered this slight traffic delay at the Fremont Bridge – also, no, I was not riding the Limebike in front of me

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Walrus on a bike! The muralist is Ryan Henry Ward (goes by Henry), and he’s a local artist to the area – my favorite kind of art is street art, whether it’s mural and/or graffiti – Henry’s website is here: http://www.ryanhenryward.com/

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Boardwalk on the Springbrook Trail in Renton – I have only ridden it once, but will let y’all know what it’s like when wet

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IKEA is less than a half hour bike ride away, WOOHOO! Back in VA, I lived about a 2 hour ride from either IKEA, so this was a welcome discovery – note in the pic, I overestimated the size of my bike trailer and had a bit of bumping against the rear wheel, but I still got my shelf home

[KWL]

I believe I see a lime green Freezing Saddles band on the top tube of your bike at IKEA. Well done.

[bobco85]

@KWL 166499 wrote:

I believe I see a lime green Freezing Saddles band on the top tube of your bike at IKEA. Well done.

Yeah, that is my commuter bike (and trailer) which I brought with me from VA; I had left all my FS stuff on it. Btw, there are actually 2 FS bands (top tube and front fork) and 3 FS tags (all on bike bag, one facing the other way) in the pic if you use a keen eye

[bobco85]

First off, I want to let you know that I received the book that y’all signed. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I’m reading a few notes from it each day, and it helps me get through the homesickness.

For this week, I’ve got photos from a ride I did the other day that just about made me fall in love with Seattle a second time. I went on a ride after picking my Chinook bike up from the bike shop (had to remove and replace a screw attaching the bike rack to the bike that had sheared off) that took me around Elliott Bay at sunset. I’ve only attached 5 pics here, but the scenery was just majestic.

I rode on the Elliott Bay Trail which goes by a massive container ship loading apparatus (think grain conveyor belts except gigantic) and features multiple sections where the pedestrian path runs completely separately from the bicycle path
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sunset over Puget Sound from the Elliott Bay Trail (at Elliott Bay Park)
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viewable seemingly from everywhere around the Seattle area, I caught a glimpse of Mount Rainier in red from (I measured it and added the map to the image) about 60 miles away!
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riding south of the Seattle Waterfront on my way to West Seattle, this part of the Elliott Bay Trail reminded me of DC’s Metropolitan Branch Trail
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I was cyclist #1157 to pass this bike counter (at 7:42 pm) at the West Seattle Bridge, and I saw cyclist #1158 as she was coming the other way on the bridge; it still amazes me to see so many folks passing through sometimes
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[streetsmarts]

@bobco85 166740 wrote:

First off, I want to let you know that I received the book that y’all signed. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I’m reading a few notes from it each day, and it helps me get through the homesickness.

For this week, I’ve got photos from a ride I did the other day that just about made me fall in love with Seattle a second time. I went on a ride after picking my Chinook bike up from the bike shop (had to remove and replace a screw attaching the bike rack to the bike that had sheared off) that took me around Elliott Bay at sunset. I’ve only attached 5 pics here, but the scenery was just majestic.

I rode on the Elliott Bay Trail which goes by a massive container ship loading apparatus (think grain conveyor belts except gigantic) and features multiple sections where the pedestrian path runs completely separately from the bicycle path
[ATTACH=CONFIG]15589[/ATTACH]

sunset over Puget Sound from the Elliott Bay Trail (at Elliott Bay Park)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]15590[/ATTACH]

viewable seemingly from everywhere around the Seattle area, I caught a glimpse of Mount Rainier in red from (I measured it and added the map to the image) about 60 miles away!
[ATTACH=CONFIG]15591[/ATTACH]

riding south of the Seattle Waterfront on my way to West Seattle, this part of the Elliott Bay Trail reminded me of DC’s Metropolitan Branch Trail
[ATTACH=CONFIG]15592[/ATTACH]

I was cyclist #1157 to pass this bike counter (at 7:42 pm) at the West Seattle Bridge, and I saw cyclist #1158 as she was coming the other way on the bridge; it still amazes me to see so many folks passing through sometimes
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We miss ya!! Looks beautiful there!

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

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