Today’s Seattle times listed Seattle’s top 10 attractions and from my commute I can either see or go through several of them.
Starting off in Bellevue isn’t too exiting. It took a while to get used to claiming the left hand turn lane in a bike, but you need to get out there in traffic and stake a position in the left hand turn lane if you want to turn left. After a few times, it dawns on you that cars aren’t trying to kill you.
I take 108th, which is a back route paralleling the far more busy Bellevue way. 108th is a straight shot all the way from Bellevue to I-90.
Once on I-90, the first nice view is midspan on the east channel bridge. See how the other half of a percent lives.
The trip across Mercer Island is largely on bike trails and towards the end you’re on ‘the lid’, a park built over the freeway and effectively tells I-90 to keep quiet. It’s amazingly quiet on the lid and you’d never know rush hour was taking place below your feet.
Biking across the floating bridge is a bit noisy, but on this day traffic was terrible. Even stopping for pictures, I still beat the cars across with the bike.
At the end of the bridge there’s a small climb up to a pedestrian tunnel above the car tunnel. It’s much shorter and pops you out on another man made lid.
Then there’s the sketchy part. The bike route leads you on a side road parallel to Rainier Ave South, then you cross it and head to the water front. There’s a decent bike lane for most of it, then it’s combat time with cars as you approach the stadiums. It’s only for a few blocks, cars are going pretty slow, but it’s still a little hectic.
Once you get to Alaskan Ave on the waterfront, it changes day to day with all the construction. The ‘ol viaduct is coming down and a huge drill, dubbed ‘big bertha’ is going dig a tunnel under the water front. Maybe the biggest change since the Denny Regrade.
Once onto the unmolested portion of the water front it gets better, but then at pier 70 you pop into Myrtle Edwards park, home of the sculpture park. The trail from Pier 70 to smith cove is wonderful. No cars, and even pedestrians and bikers have separate paths. And the views are stunning of Seattle, the sound, and the Olympics.
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| Had to take a shot of the old PI globe. My Grandmother's favorite paper, now gone from the Seattle landscape. Or almost gone. It still has an online presence run by a small staff. Last year we met the entire sportswriting staff of the PI. He was an interesting guy.... |
At Smith Cove there’s a sharp right hand turn which leads to a bike trail through the Burlington Northern Santa Fe switching yard in the ‘valley’ between Magnolia and Queen Anne. Always something going on there and the bike path at times is fenced in and so narrow in places that only one bike at a time can go through.
Once you emerge from that you’re on the home stretch. Pop down Commodore way (what do all those businesses do?) and then you’re at the locks – the south side. Apparently they’re pretty strict about walking your bike, and it’s a little tricky if there are lots of people, but the commuter crowd plows their way through. I like walking the bike as up to this point I’ve pedaled 17 miles and on my Mountain bike, that’s a long way.
One more mile to go and then it’s Shilshole, home of great sunsets.
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