The Best Way to Get to Bumbershoot

We recently spent three days in the shadow of the Space Needle supporting One Reel and in their effort to get more people to ride to the event. Parking for Bumbershoot has always been a problem so for two years now we've supported the bike parking. We watch over the hundreds of bikes that people leave in the bike corral. While we're technically not responsible for the bikes just being there lends a bit of security to the area. We also bring our tools and make small repairs to make sure that people can make it home from the event. We fixed a few flat tires, adjusted a few derailleurs and tightened up some brakes. There was plenty of work to be done, and no way to do it all. I was amazed to see the variety of bikes that people had. Everything from titanium Lightspeeds to thirty year old Peugeots.

This is the second year that we've worked with One Reel and the second event of the year. Here's to hoping that more events and event organizers see the benefit of providing bike parking. If nothing else, people love it. When we told people that the parking was free and that we'd be there until 11pm hanging out the response was always positive. Lot's of smiles, a few fist pumps, many utterances of "sweet!", "Awesome!", "You guys rock!" and other positive comments.

Many thanks to all the staff that came out to help with the event.

Wamu Family 4th and Bikes

Lot's of bikes!

For the second year in a row we were out at the Family 4th manning the bike parking area. The area last year ended up being too small and they people from One Reel did it right this year, expanding the area to fit what we estimate at close to 800 bikes by the time the fireworks started. The annual 4th of July event draws thousands of people and the parking is, as you can imagine, a nightmare. It's great that organizations like One Reel is looking to diminish the impact of their events by offering bike parking. And we're happy to be able to help.

So what are we doing while we're down there? Well, we're not responsible for the safety of the bikes, but we do watch the area the whole time, answer any questions that the riders might have about bikes or the event and fix things on the bikes that might have gone wrong and prevent the rider from making it home. So, we're not doing tune-ups but we are taking care of some fixes that people might need to make it home. Some of the things we fixed this year included flat tires, a crank arm that had migrated off the bike, a couple of brake cables and some other random stuff. All in all a great day to hang out at the park, help people out and, eventually, watch the fireworks.

Gas Prices and Bike Sales?

I'm getting the question quite often these days. Mostly from publications that want me to advertise with them. "Are recent gas prices increasing your sales?" At this point it's too early to tell. But, there have been quite a few recent news articles that would lead you to believe that this is true. I especially like this one as it make great sense to pair the Washington State Ferries and cycling.

Make room for more bikes

TAD SOOTER; Reporter
tsooter@bainbridgereview.com
Published: May 17, 2008 12:00:00 AM

On Monday, Washington State Ferry Captain Ty Anderson watched 130 bicyclists pedal onto the 5:30 p.m. sailing from Seattle to Bainbridge.

It was the most cyclists he had ever seen board a regular commuter run, but he was hardly surprised by the number. Anderson, himself an islander and bicycle commuter, has seen the number of cyclists grow steadily in his 25 years as a captain.

Read more...

I'll keep posting them as I see more. Thanks to the bikeologist for the link. You can check out some of his videos here.

Big Weekend of Support

It was a big weekend for cycling in Seattle. Not only did we have the best weather of the year (as long as you like it over 80), but there were some great events going on. And we were a part of a bunch of them. Whether you were commuting to work, riding for a cause or riding for a cause and for a party, we were there turning wrenches, fixing flats and giving support.

The weekend started early with the Starbucks Bike to Work Day on Friday. We supported three stops. On in Bellevue, one in Lynwood and one right here at Greenlake. By all accounts this was the most populated Bike to Work day in memory. Just at the Greenlake station alone we counted almost 700 riders and I heard news of upwards of 1600 riders at other stops. There were a lot of everyday commuters out there but what was really encouraging was the amount of first time commuters out and about.

On Saturday we packed up the van and went out to Marymoor park to support the American Diabetes Association Tour de Cure. Close to 700 riders came out on the warmest day of the year to ride 15, 25, 40, 70 or 100 miles. We've supported this ride for at least five years now and it's been great to see it grow into a very large and popular event. We set up at the crack of dawn and helped people with last minute adjustments and the such. After everyone got out on the road we set up again at a rest stop and helped a few more people. Riders were hot and tired by the time they got to us buy spirits were high and people really enjoyed the ride and riding for the cause.

We wrapped up the weekend doing support for the New Belgium Urban Assault Ride and event. This event benefited Bike Works and The Bikery and at least 300 people came out to ride from checkpoint to checkpoint taking care of some crazy obstacles and generally have a great time. There were mystery checkpoints, bike limbo and big wheels in effect. Once again we showed up early to make sure that competitors bikes were all tuned up and ready to go.

All in all it was a great weekend to spend on the bike and a great weekend to support those that were out on bikes. That's what we do!





More pictures of Bike To Work Day
More Pictures of the Tour de Cure
More pictures of the Urban Assault

Bike Racks and Buses: An Advisory

Looks like Metro is taking some bike racks off of some of their buses. Check this link for more info: http://transit.metrokc.gov/tops/bike/loadbike.html

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Bike Share in Bellevue?

A couple of days ago I got a call from a developer in Bellevue. Turns out they have filed a "Request for Information" with the City of Bellevue concerning a Bike Share program. The first part of the process is setting up a meeting with concerned parties (by invitation apparently) and talk about what a Bike Share would look like in Bellevue, what what need to happen to make it work and to start to figure out what the logistics would be. Basically to get enough information to see if it will be possible.

The Bike Share idea is not new, it has been an evolution. Bike Share programs are regaining some momentum in the last few years with programs in Europe that have been described as very successful. Because of this the idea is once again catching on in the states with cites such as Portland, Washington DC, Chicago and now Bellevue.

The meeting was an interesting group of people with different interests. There were people from the City of Bellevue, from King County Parks, Cascade Bike Club, Bike Alliance as well as local developers. There are an estimated 3000 housing units going in to the 36 square block area that is downtown Bellevue in the next few years and everyone is a concerned about traffic in the area. Adding a bike share program is seen as a way to possibly reduce the amount of cars on the road in the downtown area.

As you can imagine there are a number of "roadblocks" to negotiate to make something like this happen. Downtown Bellevue is not a bike friendly place in any one's estimation and it will take it a while to get there. Nevertheless it is encouraging to see local developers and city government taking a pro-active approach to future traffic issues and even more encouraging to see that bikes are being seen as a part of the solution.

This is all in the very early stages but I'll keep posting about it as it goes.

What Have We Learned?

It seems that the "traffic apocalypse" is over. For now. We went through a couple of weeks of construction on north bound I-5 and from all reports... wait for it... traffic was better during this time of construction then it was before (with the exception of my trip to Issaquah during a Mariners game, but that doesn't really count. Traffic is always jacked during games). People rode the bus, got on the train and they rode their bikes. It was good to see. So, what have we learned?

Well, I learned that when there are less cars on the road a person can actually use I-5 as a way to go north to south in the afternoon. It was like it used to be when I was in college. In the early 90's if you wanted to go somewhere, you jumped on I-5 went to the the exit you needed and arrived at your destination in pretty good time. These days you stay off of I-5 at all costs on all days. Too many cars. But with less cars on the road it was like stepping into a time machine.

Hopefully the many people that found an alternate means of transportation also learned something. Hopefully, those people learned that buses aren't half bad, that the train is pretty cool and that biking to work really is the best way to get there. Hopefully they learned that the answer to all of our traffic problems is not more lanes but less cars. If not, well, we'll get another chance next year when they shut down the south bound lanes!

It's Working, It's Working!

The I-5 Construction and closure has been big news all over Seattle and it seems that people have taken it to heart.

On my morning commute from West Seattle to Greenlake I usually see 10 or so other bikers along first part of the route out of West Seattle. Today there was at least double that. I thought for a few moments that I was racing as I had to check my blind spot for other cyclists as I was riding.

From all accounts it sounds like people have heard the message about traffic and are finding alternative ways to get into Seattle from the South. Talking to another employee today who came into Seattle on Sound Transit, she said that they were experiencing double their usual ridership since the beginning of the week.

Yesterday I had to drive to work (needed to bring some demo wheels back from home) so my wife, who works in downtown Seattle, and I left about 30 minutes earlier to make sure to get her to work on time. We figured traffic would be awful and expected the worst. As we got on to the West Seattle Bridge we quickly noticed that traffic was better than it has been in weeks and we ended up getting her to work about 35 minutes early!

This is both encouraging and a little worrisome. Encouraging because so many people are finding alternative ways to get to work that during some of the worst traffic conditions possible the roads are actually very clear. But worrisome in that people may hear this and get back into their cars and start driving again.

What I'm hoping is that people will try out these alternatives, whether they be riding, carpooling, taking the bus, or the train, and find out that they are good choices and even enjoyable and stick to them throughout the year instead of just when there is the potential for really bad traffic. Just think, the roads could always be this clear if just half the people that have tried an alternative to driving this week kept on with their new routine.

What have your experiences been during this "Traffic Apocalypse"?