Tag Archives: Biking

Keeping the ride safe: Lessons from Seattle group bike rides

So you want to run a group ride?

Group bike rides are one of the most fun ways to explore a city with your friends, or just to spend a few hours or a day out. Joining organized group rides such as Critical Mass in your city is a great way to meet like-minded people and see new parts of the city. But… how do you get dozens or hundreds of people around safely? The main threats in a group bike ride are:

  1. Cars. There is no question, cars and their drivers pose the most risk to everyone getting home safely. Most of this post covers how to keep the ride safe from cars and how to safely navigate wide streets and large intersections.
  2. Environment. Potholes, curbs, puddles, overhanging vegetation, bollards, poles, broken glass, etc., everything is out to get you. Communication is key.
  3. Riders. Try not to run into each other, and communicate clearly where you’re going. Don’t assume someone knows you’re there.
  4. Bikes. Riders may get flat tires, break a chain, drop a chain, get a strap caught in a cassette, fail to clip out, and any number of other bike-related problems. Be prepared for the basics, communicate dangers, and be ready to help when someone gets in trouble.

I’ve ridden with group rides from just a few people up to thousands, in several different cities and countries, and there are a few things that help any ride run smoothly, and dangers in common. Whether you’re leading a group ride or just want to join one, hopefully this post provides some useful information for you.

Overview

  • Come up with a cool idea for a group ride; not too long, but also not too short, appropriate to the riders’ skill level and strength, and interesting.
  • Ensure you have sufficient facilitators for the quantity of riders expected and that facilitators understand and correctly perform their roles.
  • Decide what kind of ride you want, considering the number of riders: bike facilities only, single lane only, or full takeover. (See definitions and examples below.)
  • Have a ride leader: a single distinctive, bold, and well-prepared leader to set the direction and pace, keep the group together, and direct other facilitators.
  • Have corkers: a number of riders that control traffic effectively and keep cars from presenting unsafe situations.
  • Have a caboose/sweeper: a rider that marks the end of the group, and ensures no one is left behind.
  • Have communication: use radios or another real-time communication mechanism between the ride facilitators to communicate the position of the caboose/sweeper, any problems (such as mechanicals) and any dangers (such as aggressive car drivers).

Facilitator roles in a group ride

Let’s take a look at the different roles in a group ride. Some should always exist, such as leader, while others may be optional.

Leader

  • Be the single leader who is in charge, knows the route, and makes decisions (sometimes on-the-fly) about where to take the group.
  • Maintain a reasonable/slow speed to not stretch the group out too much, usually 8-10 mph (“party pace”); slower if there are hills or inexperienced riders.
  • Don’t lead the group ahead of corkers; let them get in place ahead of you when possible, and ensure that traffic is controlled at each intersection before proceeding.
  • Communicate to the corkers and first few layers of the group by making a few callouts:
    • Expectations: “rolling after these three cars from the left”, “stopping to regroup”, etc. so that those riders can make callouts to those behind, and so they don’t make confusing callouts (such as misinterpreting a corker getting into place and calling out “right turn” when the group is going straight) or even misunderstand and go the wrong way.
    • Actions: “rolling”, “stopping”, “slowing”, etc.
    • Directions: “left turn”, “right turn”, “straight ahead”, “hard right”, “left turn into the bike lane”, etc.
    • Needs: “someone cork the left side”, “help with that car ahead”, etc.
    • Dangers: car, pedestrian, bollard, hole, gravel, curb, etc.
  • If a planned turn is missed, don’t panic! It’s probably not safe to make “small” maneuvers to correct back, as a large group has a lot of inertia. Instead it usually makes more sense to take the whole group through a parking lot or around a block, eventually re-joining the route where possible. If a U-turn is necessary, ensure there is enough space to get the whole group into a safe position, and encourage everyone to follow the leader rather than shortcutting the U-turn.

Corker/Marshall

  • Corking is often a volunteer role at the time of the ride, and some people may choose to cork only some of the time.
  • Anyone can cork at any time, and people should be encouraged to cork if they see anything that may present a safety issue for the ride (for instance, a previously unoccupied car that a driver gets in and intends to pull out into the street).
  • Control (primarily) car traffic ahead of, and through the ride, to keep cars from entering, crossing, or endangering the ride.
  • It may be necessary to control bike or pedestrian traffic at busy intersections. Since they are humans you’re face to face with, be polite and communicate what you’re doing, and set expectations for how long you will take.
  • At least 2-3 corkers are needed for most groups; for larger groups and/or larger intersections, 10 or more could be needed.
  • Corkers should normally stay in place until the caboose passes, and if desired, ride fast and catch back up to the leader and continue corking at another spot.
  • It may be necessary to help out the caboose to provide some “mass” at the rear if they are being harassed or intimidated by cars behind the ride.
  • Ask for help from other corkers and riders if a situation becomes unsafe or uncomfortable to provide more mass.
  • Ask for help from other corkers and riders if you notice that cars/movements are uncontrolled (e.g. a traffic lane that was left uncorked inadvertently).

Patch/Medic

  • A person familiar with bikes and typical problems and repairs and/or first aid, a quick thinker and willing to jump in to help with any problem. (Any individual could be a patch, medic, or both. Often they are bike mechanics or people who have taken first aid classes.)
  • Carry tools, possibly some spare parts, first aid kit, snacks, water, etc.
  • Help with any problems (“mechanicals”) riders encounter and get the ride rolling again as soon and as safely as possible.
  • The most common problem is a flat tire due to a puncture, so the most basic thing to carry is inner tube patches or spare tubes, a bike pump, and some basic tools.

Sweeper/Caboose

  • Stay at the back of the ride and represent the official “end” of the group.
  • Don’t leave anyone behind unless they ask to be left (and really mean it).
  • Signal or communicate to the corkers as you go by (and/or be distinctive enough for them to immediately recognize you) to release them from corking.
  • Block or recruit others to block cars from attempting to pass the ride unsafely in the center turning lane or oncoming traffic lane to defend the riders ahead.
  • If radios or other communication devices are used, communicate the position of the end of the ride to the leader, ask for delay or slower pace, and communicate any problems or stalls.

Rider

  • Have fun! Don’t worry about the mechanics of a group ride too much.
  • Bring the very basics of self-support: headlight and tail light if the ride (or your ride to/from it) will be after dark, spare tube, tools appropriate to your bike, pump, water, etc., and bring a transit card/pass as a backup way to get home.
  • Play music. Dress up. Decorate your bike. Have a ton of lights. Be yourself.
  • Follow directions and keep rolling unless the leader stops or says to stop.
  • Don’t ride in front of the leader or behind the caboose. If you do, you’re no longer part of the ride and you’re on your own.
  • Communicate your intentions (on your left, on your right, slowing, stopping, ding your bell, etc.) to the other riders near you. Don’t surprise anyone.
  • Call out and/or point out dangers to fellow riders, such as bollards, holes, gravel, curbs, etc.
  • Repeat messages and warnings to riders behind/ahead of you.
  • Keep an eye on your fellow riders and their bikes, let them know of anything unsafe or developing, such as a strap hanging in their wheel, tire going flat, items dropped, cars, car doors, etc.
  • Ride safely. Ride dangerously. Ride boldly.

Call-and-repeat messages (callouts)

As the ride proceeds, the riders and facilitators must communicate constantly. There are a number of things that can be called out such as “car back” or “bike up”. Each of these messages should be repeated by riders (using their own discretion) to ensure the message is passed forward/backward through the group. Anyone with radios should also make the same call over the radio as appropriate.

Defining positions in callouts

up: ahead of the ride, approaching from ahead (moving or stationary)

back: behind the ride, approaching from behind

right/left: relative to the path of the ride (or ride leader) not necessarily the person calling

Specific callouts

car [up/back]

A car is approaching (or being approached) from ahead or behind in a way that riders should be aware of.

Typically “car up” calls alert riders to stay on the correct side of the road, and to be more careful with any shenanigans such as wheelies.

Typically “car back” calls alert riders that a car is passing the group, either in the opposite direction lane, or in an open lane. A “car back” call could be urgent if the car is acting very aggressively towards the group, speeding to pass, etc.

Sometimes it’s helpful to call “car back, passing” to let the riders ahead know that the car is already passing and approaching them.

bike [up/back]

Same basic idea as a car, but a bike. For “bike up”, mostly a heads up for nobody to run into a bike in the opposite direction (or slowly riding in the same direction). For “bike back” mostly to be aware that they might be passing. Sometimes helpful to call “bike back, passing”.

It can be helpful to say “bike up, on the right”, for instance, if the position of the bike is unexpected or otherwise helpful to other riders to know.

pedestrian/ped up

A pedestrian is ahead, and typically the group should try to yield some space to them to get where they are going (such as crossing the street), or at minimum avoid hitting them. Often it’s useful to say “ped up, on the right” or “ped up, on the left” or even “ped up, both sides”; pedestrians are wily creatures.

broken/together

It’s common in some group rides, especially when not using corking to manage traffic and proceed through intersections at a group to call out when the group is split. Call “broken” whenever the ride is split, usually by a traffic signal. Call “together” when the group is all back together. The ride leader will sometimes wait in a safe place to regroup after a “broken” call, unless it was discussed beforehand that there would be designated regroup points.

mass up

In large rides, especially Critical Mass, a call of “mass up” requests for the front of the group to slow down and allow the group to gather more tightly together.

mechanical

Sometimes described as an “emergency stop” – after a “mechanical” is called, the ride leader will make a decision to “pull over” the ride in a safe place. Individual riders should not pull over on their own, instead just following the ride leader after making sure that they have gotten the message.

Planning a successful and safe route

  • Use a route planning tool such as Ride with GPS to put together a safe route and use a device to follow the route on the actual ride. Google Maps and Apple Maps are not suitable for route planning or for use during the ride because they will readily re-route you during the ride, which may send the group on an untested and unintended (and often unsafe) route. (They can still be used to supplement an appropriate route planning tool.)
  • A few days before the planned ride, pre-ride the route with similar conditions as there will be on the actual ride: ideally on a bike, with a small group, at a similar pace, at a similar time of day, if possible on the same day of the week. This helps avoid surprises during the ride such as hills that are too steep, traffic that is unsafe, unexpected lighting issues, etc.
  • When the ride uses busy roads with more car traffic, it can be useful to include a pressure relief in the plan. Take the ride on a U-turn on a side street, or turn off the busy street for one block and back on it, loop through a parking lot, or even a make a brief stop on a large shoulder or parking lane. It’s better to be creative and include something fun and less obviously for pleasing car drivers, such as making a quick loop through a nice park near the intended route… then car pressure from behind is relieved, and the riders are just having fun.
  • When the ride crosses streets, try to ensure good visibility by crossing in a relatively flat/straight section away from bends and hill crests that limit visibility.
  • When crossing at an intersection in the lane, press the pedestrian crossing button, which often gives the signal phase more time than if it’s signaled only for cars.
  • Avoid left turns from busy roads (especially multi-lane roads), especially without a good number of well-prepared corkers. Left turns that are yield-only are some of the worst.

Strategies for how and where to ride

Bike infrastructure only

Strategy

  • Use only bike lanes, paths/trails, and pedestrian infrastructure (as allowed/safe).
  • Sometimes use Single lane only strategy where no bike infrastructure exists.

Pro

  • Least likely to draw negative attention from drivers or police (but still, it turns out, not zero).
  • With small groups, this strategy can make for a more relaxed ride.

Con

  • Bike infrastructure as designed in the US is not suitable for moving a large number of bikes as a group. The signal timings in any intersection will break the group into many small groups.
  • Stopping and starting the group rolling at each intersection takes a lot of time.
  • Regrouping once the group has been split up (broken) will take significant time and only allow the group to move at a very slow pace (something like 1-3 mph average) spending most of the time waiting to regroup.
  • Uncomfortable for riders who are left as the “leader” in the front of a sub-group when the group gets inadvertently split up.
  • Riders may be inclined to perform unsafe or illegal maneuvers to avoid being left behind, such as running a red light or stop sign as a single rider, without any traffic management.
  • Other users of bicycle and pedestrian facilities may be blocked by or unable to navigate through or across the group, or may be tempted to do so unsafely.

Single lane only

Strategy

  • Occupy a single traffic lane and act as one big vehicle or train.
  • Sometimes use Full takeover strategy if an area or intersection is too unsafe to guide the group through with mixed traffic (e.g. to make a left turn), or if a situation becomes unsafe.

Pro

  • Fewer (but not zero) conflicts with car drivers than a full takeover.
  • Less likely (but not zero) to draw negative police attention.
  • A full traffic lane packed with bikes (4-5 wide when stopped) fits a lot of bikes in a small space and allows effective movement through intersections given car traffic signal timings.

Con

  • It can be very difficult to safely change lanes with the group, e.g. to turn left from a multi-lane road. Strategies exist but require good coordination between the leader at the front and the sweeper at the back.
  • Some car drivers will still be upset, especially when a right turn on red is blocked by the group.
  • Without corking, if the group doesn’t make it through an intersection in a single signal, the group will be broken up, and then mixed into traffic in a very dangerous way. (Consider asking the group to continue through each intersection as a group.)

Full takeover

Strategy

  • Occupy all lanes in the direction of travel to prevent cars from passing or mixing with the group.
  • Occupy the center turning lane when present to keep cars from passing unsafely.
  • Occupy the curb parking lane when present to keep cars from passing unsafely.
  • Occupy the opposite direction lane when there is no separation (e.g. a median) and there are no oncoming cars to keep cars from passing unsafely.
  • Cork every intersection ahead of the group and keep them corked until the group passes through (the caboose should release the corkers explicitly).

Pro

  • The safest option for large groups (especially 100+) to move efficiently and safely.
  • Corking is very clear and unambiguous: all conflicting cars stop for the group to pass through.

Con

  • Requires many corkers, especially if large or complex intersections (e.g. freeway offramps) are traversed. (However if this is the case, you should definitely really consider using this strategy for safety reasons, anyway.)
  • Causes the most conflicts with car drivers.
  • Likely to draw police attention and possible attempts to disburse the group, and in the worst case arrests.

Legality

Laws and the enforcement thereof vary from place to place. In Seattle, large group rides are quite common, and in recent years are subject to almost no police interference or enforcement. In other locations, you could see anything from no interference to an almost immediate police presence and possible arrest of participants.

Examples from Seattle

Critical Mass Seattle

  • Protest ride, intended to draw attention and disrupt
  • Size: Up to ~250
  • Strategy: Full takeover
  • Planning: Start point known, but no planned route
  • Roles:
    • Leader – sometimes informal, often without pre-planned route
    • Corker – informal, directed on-the-fly by leader or by own initiative
    • Patch/Medic – usually informal
    • Sweeper/Caboose – sometimes semi-formal, sometimes none
    • Rider – informal, join and leave as desired
  • Communication: Radios handed out to a few key people before the ride

Seattle Bike Disco

  • Fun ride, intended to be joyful and minimally disruptive
  • Size: Up to ~250
  • Strategy:
    • Single lane only (usually)
    • Full takeover (sometimes)
  • Planning: Pre-planned route, pre-ridden, all facilitators have route.
  • Roles:
    • Leader – always formal, with researched and tested route
    • Corker – informal, directed on-the-fly by leader or by own initiative
    • Patch/Medic – usually formal, announced pre-ride
    • Sweeper/Caboose – usually formal, with route knowledge
    • Rider – informal, join and leave as desired
  • Communication: Radios brought by ride facilitators

Cascade Bicycle Club (free group rides)

  • Group rides for tours, education, or fitness
  • Size: Up to ~25
  • Strategy:
    • Bike facilities only (usually)
    • Single lane only (sometimes)
  • Planning: Pre-planned route, usually pre-ridden, shared with all riders
  • Roles:
    • Leader – always formal, with researched and tested route, educational and certification process for ride leaders
    • Corker – usually not used due to strategy, sometimes not allowed
    • Patch/Medic – sometimes none, sometimes the Leader, sometimes formal
    • Sweeper/Caboose – usually formal, with route knowledge
    • Rider – usually formal, pre-ride signup
  • Communication: Usually voice, relatively small groups

Reflections on a year of biking for 2024

Everywhere I’ve ridden my bike in the PNW in 2024.

Since shortly after moving to Seattle in July 2022, I have not driven a car. I’ve gotten around by bike and public transit. During 2023, I stayed mostly in the Seattle region, with the exception of a trip to Victoria BC for Tour de Victoria and back to Seattle by bike. In the fall of 2023, after leaving Shopify, I decided to try to explore everywhere I could in the Pacific Northwest (and a bit elsewhere) by bike during 2024.

I researched and signed up for many organized ride events mainly as a way to have a specific destination and date to work against, which greatly increased my chances of making the trip. In total, that ended up being 23 organized ride events, adding up to 1,447 miles of riding in Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, Quebec, and Ontario.

As a matter of personal beliefs, I decided to only participate in events where I can do so by riding my bike to the start, or taking public transit. (That is, I don’t believe in driving a bike somewhere to ride it.) In many cases that meant combining an event with a solo self-supported trip by bike, and sometimes combining multiple events in a single trip for convenience and efficiency. To get to the events further afield, where I didn’t bike directly, I used one or more of bus, light rail, train, ferry, event-chartered bus, or (in two cases) plane.

During the year, I rode in 9 of the Critical Mass and 8 of the Bike Disco monthly events. These have proven to be really great rides for meeting people, lifting spirits, and causing a bit of good trouble. I was sad to have missed 7 of the 24 events – but participating in Saturday morning events in far-flung places when you don’t drive generally means staying nearby the on the Friday before.

Of course I still mostly get around for everything else I need to do by bike, I have continued my weekly volunteering by bike, and rode a lot of miles around Seattle for fun, alone or with friends. Altogether, I rode more than 7,880 miles in 2024, split between more than 5,110 miles on non-e-bikes (mostly my Specialized Diverge), and more than 2,770 miles on e-bikes (mostly my Urban Arrow Family, and mostly towing a trailer or two). My longest single ride recorded was 109.8 miles, and I had 7 recorded rides over 100 miles and two more over 95 miles.

Volunteering by bike

Home Delivery for White Center Food Bank

I volunteered for 34 of the weekly Thursday home delivery opportunities for White Center Food Bank through the Pedaling Relief Project, delivering bags of groceries packed at the food bank to folks that can’t come into the food bank due to mobility or accessibility challenges. I delivered a total of 590 bags of groceries (295 deliveries of two bags each). Each bag weighs typically 10-15 lbs, so that is a total of 5,900-8,850 lbs of food delivered to families White Center, Seattle, and Burien, and 388 miles ridden.

Home Delivery for University District Food Bank

In order to pick up some slack from folks unable to volunteer during the holiday season or the day-of-week rescheduling, I joined 2 of the weekly Wednesday home delivery routes (actually rescheduled to Monday) from University District Food Bank through the Pedaling Relief Project. I delivered a total of 21 bags of food delivered to families in Seattle in and around the U District neighborhood for a total of 64 miles ridden.

Food Rescue for Food Not Bombs

I volunteered for 24 of the weekly Sunday food rescue opportunities for Emerald Sea Food Not Bombs in collaboration with University District Food Bank through the Pedaling Relief Project. In total, that’s an estimated 5,200 lbs of food rescued and delivered it to the direct distribution in SODO, and 790 miles ridden.

Food Rescue for University District Food Bank

I volunteered for 3 of the weekly Friday food rescue opportunities for University District Food Bank directly through the Pedaling Relief Project. In total, that’s an estimated 950 lbs of food rescued and delivered to the food bank’s warehouse, and 94 miles ridden.

Cleanup work with Adopt-a-Street and/or A Cleaner Alki

I went out on 29 different days and spent a total of around 120 hours doing various cleanup work by bike, picking up litter, removing/taming vegetation, cleaning up leaves, and otherwise making Seattle better. Many of these days I went out on my own to clean something up (working with Adopt-a-Street for supplies and disposal), but I also joined many cleanup events run by A Cleaner Alki. I collected around 145 bags of litter myself, and transported several tons of illegally dumped materials and others’ collected bags by bike trailer.

Recurring group rides

Critical Mass Seattle

Critical Mass Seattle is, as with with the other global Critical Mass events, held on the last Friday of every month. It is a loosely-organized protest ride starting in the core of downtown at Westlake Park (4th and Pine) and riding wherever the rider leader takes us, as a rolling roadblock. I generally participate by helping the ride move safely through the city, corking intersections and marshaling riders. I rode in 9 of the 12 monthly rides, missing April, May, and September’s rides due to travel conflicts with organized ride events.

Strava Rides:

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Seattle Bike Disco

Seattle Bike Disco is like Critical Mass, but “more party, less protest”, and many riders have colorful lights, music, and costumes. It is held one one of the middle Fridays of each month (often two weeks before Critical Mass, but the schedule is published on Instagram) starting at UW’s Red Square and riding a route planned and tested by organizers. The ride always features stops for music/dancing and socializing, and often ends with a bonfire somewhere. Several rides this year also had a live DJ at the last stop. Like Critical Mass, I generally participate by helping the ride move safely through the city, corking intersections and marshaling riders. I rode in 8 of the 12 monthly rides, missing May, July, August, and September’s rides due to travel conflicts with organized ride events.

Strava Rides:

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Masse Critique Montréal

Masse Critique Montréal is Critical Mass in Montréal, Québec, which I attended in May 2024 (hence missing Critical Mass Seattle which was on the same day). I really wanted to attend Critical Mass in another city for comparison purposes, and Montréal was a great choice. The timing coinciding with Tour la Nuit and a few days before Tour de l’Île de Montréal was exceptionally good for my trip to Montréal. Masse Critique was well organized, well attended, welcoming (despite being 95% in French), and fun. I mostly just attended and observed, since I would not be able to answer, explain, or argue with car drivers in French, but I did participate in a couple of corkings where some help was needed.

One takeaway from Montréal that I brought back to Seattle was that they are far more proactive about allowing pedestrians through the mass, calling “piéton!” will cause everyone to stop and let pedestrians cross.

Strava Ride: May

Organized ride events

I rode in a total of 23 organized ride events (25 days) in Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, Quebec, and Ontario. These rides vary from really beautiful to boring, high camaraderie to isolating, and laid-back-hippy to pro-lycra-cyclist. Personally, I enjoyed the more chill rides with laid back folks moving slowly through beautiful settings… but the more intense rides were more physically challenging.

Chilly Hilly

For Seattle-area cyclists, Cascade’s Chilly Hilly is marketed as the “start of the riding season” ride (and maybe a bit before the season for most, as the weather can vary from sunny and beautiful to snow covered). Most riders start in Seattle and one of a few morning ferries to Bainbridge, which makes for some fun ferry crossings with hundreds of bikes sprawled out on the car decks. This year the weather was quite decent: cold, of course, but no real rain or snow. This was the only organized ride event where I rode an e-bike, my Giant Explore E+.

Worst Day of the Year Ride (“Urban Route”)

ORBike’s Worst Day of the Year Ride in Portland is another early season ride with somewhat unpredictable weather, but with a humorous approach (and name), with many people dressing up in costumes. It’s a relatively short urban ride around the Portland metro area. It wouldn’t really be worth going to Portland for, but I wanted to include as many rides in Portland as I could and get more familiar with their cycling infrastructure and approach, and meet some folks. Liam and I took Amtrak there, and stayed overnight the night before, planning to return the evening after the ride.

Amtrak canceled baggage service (and thus bike carrying service) on our train back and all others for the day were fully booked, so we had to stay overnight an extra night. We took the opportunity of an extra day in Portland to take a leisurely bike ride to Vancouver, WA, around Fort Vancouver, and back to Portland.

Ride for Major Taylor (63 mi)

Cascade’s Ride for Major Taylor is a fundraising ride for the Major Taylor Project with a choice between a shorter and a longer route. I rode with Greg and Liam on the longer (metric century) route, but interestingly they included ferry miles in the route length so it only ended up at 56.7 miles without the ferries, not actually reaching a metric century. The ride starts in White Center, goes through Tacoma, by ferry to Vashon Island, across the island, by ferry back to West Seattle, and back to White Center.

On Vashon Island, we got absolutely soaked in a brief rain storm, while mostly unprepared, so the ferry and last part of the ride were very squishy and cold.

Tour de Lopez

The Tour de Lopez is organized by the Lopez Island Chamber of Commerce to drive tourism and awareness of the island and its amenities, so it has a bit different vibe than rides organized by bike clubs. I arrived the day before (see the trip description below!) and stayed overnight at The Edenwild in Lopez Village, 4 miles from the ferry terminal, and right across the street from the Tour de Lopez start. I explored the island a bit the day before, trying to mostly avoid the ride route. Biking on Lopez Island was nice and quiet and while not car-free, mostly out of conflict with cars. The ride itself was a bit short (the island is small!) but fun and quite scenic. It rained a bit throughout the day and was overcast, but classic PNW weather.

McClinchy Camano Classic Century (50 mi)

The McClinchy Camano Classic Century is a bike club challenge ride around Camano Island. I rode from Lopez Island for the Tour de Lopez the day before (see the trip description below!) and stayed overnight at an Airbnb near Stanwood. I opted for the 50 mile route, as the longer routes spent all those extra miles on the mainland. The route starts in Stanwood, which is on the mainland, but it is almost entirely circumnavigating Camano Island, which is connected to the mainland by bridge. Due to being accessible without a ferry, the island has more car traffic than other islands, and that traffic tended to act more aggressively. Nice ride and good views.

Emerald City Ride

A late addition to the year’s event schedule, but a very worthy ride: Cascade’s Emerald City Ride took riders across a temporarily-closed West Seattle Bridge (the high bridge) and circumnavigated most of West Seattle before returning across the Spokane Street Bridge (the low bridge). Due to the street and bridge closure permit requirements, the ride started quite early in the morning and had a very specific window for everyone to cross the West Seattle Bridge. It continued around Alki, down to Fauntleroy, east to White Center, and then back up north (passing almost right by my house). Aside from climbing the bridge span and climbing out of Fauntleroy (a quite challenging hill!) it was pretty flat. I was worried about West Seattle drivers’ reactions to the ride, but it was mostly reasonable.

Skagit Spring Classic (65 mi)

The Skagit Bicycle Club’s Skagit Spring Classic heads north for views (and climbs!) along Samish Bay and Chuckanut Bay before heading inland on the east side of Lake Samish and then returning to the coast along Padilla Bay before heading back to the finish. It was incredibly green and lush everywhere across the farmland and forest, and beautiful.

To get to Burlington, Liam and I took Amtrak to Mt Vernon and rode 4 miles to a hotel in Burlington. The evening we arrived happened to be the peak aurora borealis event on May 10, so we decided to ride out to Padilla Bay and along the Padilla Bay Shore Trail to see the aurora (good choice!), forgoing a lot of sleep before the early morning ride start the next day.

Mighty-O Tour de Donut

  • May 25, 2024
  • Seattle, WA
  • Mighty-O Donuts
  • 11.5 mi
  • Strava Ride (including a ride along Lake Washington Blvd before going home)
  • With Liam Cole, Greg Harbin, Bob Svercl

A quirky and fun little semi-organized ride, the Mighty-O Tour de Donut had riders visiting each of the Seattle Might-O locations to get free donuts. There was a Google Maps route showing the locations, but it wasn’t suitable for navigation, so in practice everyone ended up following different routes, making the ride less organized and less fun (didn’t see as many other riders along the way as we could have) than it might have otherwise been. After the ride, we rode down Lake Washington Blvd to Seward Park because it was a closed-to-cars weekend.

Tour la Nuit

Vélo Québec’s Tour la Nuit is a relatively short 15-mile loop, almost flat, on entirely closed streets, with a fun family-friendly atmosphere. There were something like 13,000 participants, and it was wild! The route overlaps somewhat with the Tour de l’Île de Montréal, but in the dark. The start point was the same place as the Masse Critique Montréal start/end point, and they were coordinated so that you roll from one straight into the next. I met Douglas and several of his friends and we all rode together.

Tour de l’Île de Montréal (100 km)

Vélo Québec’s Tour de l’Île de Montréal circumnavigates the island of Montréal passing through many neighborhoods surrounding Montréal itself. The first parts of the 100 km ride downtown were on closed streets, then it used many open streets for much of the circumnavigation, before joining up with the other shorter routes and most of the families and children while heading to the finish. The vibe was amazing, and seeing so many people on bikes is incredible.

Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour (Day 1, “Classic Route”)

Ottawa Bicycle Club’s Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour is actually a two-day ride, from Ottawa to Kingston, staying overnight at the dorms at Queen’s University, and returning to Ottawa the following day by reversing the same route. I planned to ride onwards to Montréal, so I only rode the first day. Prior to the ride, I rode 7 miles to the start point, making the full day more than 114 miles. I found the route to be overall fairly uninteresting, passing through suburban and rural areas, farm fields, and forests. I rode with José, and along the way we met Jordan who was looking for some slower people to ride with. We were among the last to finish the ride, only passing a group of three others near the very end to save ourselves from being dead last.

Petal Pedal (50 mi)

ORBike’s Petal Pedal explores the Willamette Valley, departing from Silverton (near Salem) and making several excursions to the northeast and northwest. In theory some flowers should have been seen. In practice, we basically saw no flowers. Lots of generic farm fields. One famous covered bridge.

STP: Seattle to Portland (two days)

Cascade’s Seattle to Portland (STP) ride is probably the most famous bike ride event in the Pacific Northwest, and certainly the biggest of Cascade’s lineup. It was a 206-mile two-day one-way ride from the University of Washington in Seattle to Holladay Park in Portland, with an overnight stop at Centralia College in Centralia (although many riders stay at other locations around Centralia and Chehalis, and some ride it in only one day) I stayed at the official Centralia College stop, in one of the pre-setup tents rented by Alaska Airlines.

This ride frankly scared me, but I wanted to prove that I could do it (and more). The week before, it was incredibly hot (enough that I was pondering what temperatures might make me cancel), but it mercifully cooled off before the weekend, and the weather for the ride hot but quite tolerable. I rode from home down to SODO station and took the light rail to UW, departing the start just after 6am in the nice cool morning air. Departing Seattle was a lot I’d seen before, but riding with so many others was novel.

I got dinner, showered, and camped at Centralia College, where everyone was tired, maybe a bit scared for the next day, but overall excited. Between sleeping on the ground and a tent-neighbor who snored very loudly, I didn’t end up getting very much sleep, just a few hours at most. I started the day just after 6am again, a slightly warmer second day and a lot of highway 30 miles ahead.

Overall, the ride was hard, but easier than I expected. The sheer number of riders is actually a feature, since it’s easy to find people to pace or draft with. The energy of the group is high and inspires you to push on. Seeing friends along the way helps.

I opted to stay overnight in Portland and take Amtrak back to Seattle, so I could look forward to sleeping soundly in a real bed after getting to Portland, rather than hopping in a hot and sweaty bus.

Tour de Whatcom (“Metric Century”)

The Tour de Whatcom is a tourism event promoting Whatcom county, starting in Bellingham. Liam and I took Amtrak to Bellingham the day before, and took the opportunity to explore the area, heading out to Lummi Island (definitely recommended!) before settling in in Bellingham. The ride itself was typical farmland and highways, with views of Mt Baker popping in and out. Mallard Ice Cream in Bellingham was probably the highlight.

Tour de Lavender (“Metric Century”)

The Tour de Lavender is a tourism ride promoting the Olympic Peninsula, the Olympic Discovery Trail, and the area around Sequim famous for Lavender farming. To get there, we took the ferry to Bainbridge and the Strait Shot bus to Sequim. Unlike many themed rides, this one really delivered on the theme: lavender! We stopped at all the lavender farm rest stops, everything was in bloom and smelled amazing, we bought some gifts containing lavender, and even tried lavender ice cream (don’t really recommend…). It was actually great, and quite relaxing. The following day, we rode from Sequim to Kingston, took the ferry to Edmonds, rode from Edmonds to Northgate, took the light rail to SODO, and biked home from there.

Summit to Sound (Hyak start)

  • August 10, 2024
  • Hyak, WA to Seattle, WA
  • Peace Peloton
  • 75.7 mi / 2,136 ft
  • Strava Ride (riding home rather than to the finish line due to time)
  • With Robert Cole

Peace Peloton’s Summit to Sound (S2S) started at the Hyak trailhead just east of the Snoqualmie Tunnel, so it starts with going through the tunnel (the main reason I wanted to do this ride) and then continues through about 20 miles of gravel descent on the Palouse to Cascades Trail before joining the Snoqualmie Valley Trail at Rattlesnake Lake (all new to me up to this point). From that point on we used a mix of trails, streets, and bike lanes to make our way back to West Seattle. The actual ride ended on Alki, but Rob, Liam, and I had a train to catch to Portland for the Providence Bridge Pedal the next day, so we broke off from the group and went home directly instead of going to the finish line and afterparty. The event was run a bit like a group/friends ride, divided into several pace groups of riders of different speeds, which stayed together.

Providence Bridge Pedal (“Fremont Express”)

Providence Health’s Providence Bridge Pedal is a large-scale fun/tourism ride on closed streets and crossing most of the bridges in Portland, including the I-405 (Fremont) interstate bridge, which was the main attraction for me. Rob, Liam, and I opted for the “Fremont Express” option which started early in the morning (7am!) with food provided on the middle of the bridge. We grabbed some donuts with a few thousand others, and headed off on a loop of Portland. It was a relatively short route, so we finished early and had brunch afterwards.

Tour de Victoria (“Nordic Fencing 60 km”)

The Tour de Victoria has quickly become one of my favorite rides of the year, not the least because it demands a trip to Victoria which provides many more opportunities for cycling. I rode with Liam and Rob again this year, and we took the ferry from Seattle to spend a few days around Victoria. We rode the “Nordic Fencing” 60 km route, which is a bit on the shorter side at 36 miles, but the longer routes include a lot of egregious climbing, and the 60 km route includes all the urban parts of Victoria that are great to explore. It’s a large ride with thousands of riders, which is overall good vibes.

RSVP: Ride from Seattle to Vancouver and Party (two days)

Cascade’s Ride from Seattle to Vancouver and Party (RSVP) is the second-most popular cycling event run by Cascade and one of the more famous ones in the PNW. It’s slightly shorter than STP, but hillier. Due to the support requirements for the border crossing, the only official option is to do the ride in two days, and the overnight stop is in Bellingham, where there was a mid-point party.

I biked to the SODO light rail station and took the train to UW for the start, and it was raining already from the moment I left home. The rain didn’t let up for the first 80 miles or so of the ride, so I got absolutely soaked. Many registered didn’t ride due to the rain, or joined from Bellingham or other points along the way. Riding with soaked clothing, rain paints, etc., caused a lot more chafing than usual, which sucked.

The second day was much better than the first, and was even much warmer than I expected – I started off very overdressed and had to pull over and strip off half of my clothes within 5 minutes of leaving the start. It was quick work getting to the border. Crossing into Canada was very efficient, taking only a few minutes with the border agent checking my passport card against his list. Aside from the lingering effects of the chafing from the day before, the ride was quite pleasant and at only 82 miles felt like a short day. There was a nice finish line party with food trucks and after having some food, I found myself falling asleep on a park bench and figured I should head back to the hotel.

After staying overnight in Vancouver, I made my own way back to Seattle instead of taking the RSVP charter bus, see the trip description below for more on that!

Woodinville Wine Ride

Cascade’s Woodinville Wine Ride is a bit different than Cascade’s other rides; it’s basically a short bike ride punctuated by day drinking. The ride itself was relatively flat and pleasant, but for one hill, and the usual amount of trouble mixing with cars since the ride was on entirely open roads. While the ride itself was short, I rode from home to and from Woodinville, making the day’s ride total 78.6 miles. The wine was good, but it was not a lot.

Harvest Century (“The Century”)

ORBike’s Harvest Century is ostensibly a ride through farmland during harvest season, although there wasn’t much happening in the way of harvest. It started from Molalla, so I rode from Portland to Molalla via Oregon City, about 35 miles the day before. I rode part of the ride with a few folks from Portland after we passed each other back and forth a few times and I asked if I could just tag along instead. That was nice!

Reach the Beach Washington (Lacey start)

American Lung Association’s Reach the Beach Washington was a fundraising ride from Lacey (near Olympia) to Westport at the Pacific Ocean. I wanted to ride it totally by bike, so included an extra day to ride from Seattle to Lacey (via Bremerton), and three days to ride from Westport back to Seattle via the Willapa Hills Trail. Definitely one of the most beautiful rides of the year, and I was strong enough by late September that it wasn’t so challenging as to be painful. The ride along the coast from Westport to Raymond was awesome, and the Willapa Hills Trail begs me to come back.

Kitsap Color Classic (Hansville and Poulsbo loops)

Cascade’s Kitsap Color Classic is advertised as the “end of the season”, which is kind of funny for folks like myself who ride year-round. In theory this event would ride through trees with fall colors on their leaves around the Kitsap peninsula, but in actuality, like last year, very few trees had any interesting colors. (The photo above is pretty much the only colorful trees we saw.) In order to get to the ride Liam and I rode to the SODO light rail station and took the light rail to Mountlake Terrace, met Greg, and rode the 4.9 miles to Edmonds ferry terminal. Due to some scheduling constraints, we were on the last “supported” ferry for the ride, which meant we were some of the last to arrive at all the rest stops along the route. The weather however was great, and the ride was interesting enough. Liam took the shorter route and split off at the midpoint to meet us at the finish, while Greg and I rode the full route. After completing the ride, and taking the ferry back to Edmonds, we rode to Lynnwood City Center light rail station to head home.

A few major cycling trips

Lopez Island, Camano Island, and Centennial Trail (4 days, April 26-29, 276 mi)

I noticed that the Tour de Lopez and McClinchy Camano Classic happened to be on subsequent days (Saturday and Sunday), and they’re fairly close to each other on Lopez and Camano islands, so I planned a single trip to participate in both of them. I also wanted to ride the Centennial Trail. I took Amtrak from Seattle to Mt Vernon, biked to Anacortes, took the ferry to Lopez Island, participated in Tour de Lopez, took the ferry back to Anacortes, biked to Cedardale near Stanwood, participated in McClinchy Camano Classic, biked to Arlington, and then biked back to Seattle using the Centennial Trail.

Major route segments:

Montréal and Ottawa (15 days, May 30 – June 13, 680 mi)

I was planning a trip to Montréal noticed that I could make a loop from Montréal to Ottawa to Kingston to Montréal using the first day of the two-day Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour (RLCT) to ride to Kingston, and allowing for two long segments to and from Montréal along completely different routes. I spent three different days riding around Montréal exploring, and one short ride around Ottawa exploring. I was joined by friends for several parts: Douglas Andrade for Tour la Nuit and a ride around Montréal, Jean-François Gagne for the Tour de l’Île de Montréal, and José Albornoz for Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour and the three day trip from Kingston to Montréal.

This was a challenging trip to plan, but was a good length and quite enjoyable. Bringing a bike by air and relying on only the bike after arriving in Montréal required a bit of creativity.

Major route segments:

Seattle, Vancouver, and Victoria (3 days, August 24-26, 272 mi)

I wanted to participate in Ride from Seattle to Vancouver and Party (RSVP), but I wanted to find my own way home by bike and the ferry instead of the official event bus transportation. I participated in RSVP, riding from Seattle to Vancouver in two days (see above for more on that).

The next day, I biked from downtown Vancouver to Tsawwassen ferry terminal via the Queensborough, Annacis Channel, and Alex Fraser bridges, about 40 miles. I took the BCFerries ferry to Swartz Bay. I biked another 23 miles on mostly the Lochside and Galloping Goose trails into Victoria to catch the evening Victoria Clipper ferry back to Seattle.

Major route segments:

Seattle to the Pacific and back (5 days, September 27 – October 1, 378 mi)

I wanted to make a big loop trip out of the Reach the Beach Washington (RTB WA) event, a fundraiser for American Lung Association ending on the Pacific coast in Westport. I also wanted to ride through Bremerton, on the Cushman Trail, and the Willapa Hills Trail. I was able to combine all of these in a single trip. I took the ferry to Bremerton, biked to Lacey using the Cushman Trail and Tacoma Narrows Bridge, participated in Reach the Beach from Lacey to Westport, biked to Raymond along the Pacific coast, biked to Chehalis using the Willapa Hills Trail, and biked to Seattle using a combination of many trails.

Onwards to 2025!