northbend 

FINALLY! A decent day for a bike ride. This has been a cold and dreary spring in the Northwest. I went for a ride with a few friends on Saturday. Starting at Mercer Island we rode across the bridge threading our way through Seattle’s International district and over to Ferry in West Seattle via Alki:

Vashon Island is a short ferry ride away from the city. It is a great place to ride your bike if you ever get the chance to visit Seattle. Kind of a funky offbeat place with lot’s of rural riding options. Be advised you will be climbing hills.

We rode the West side route then looped back into town for lunch at the hardware store.

Afterwards we did a loop on the Eastside and stopped at a local attraction. The “Bicycle Tree”. The story goes that someone threw this bike into the tree years ago and the tree grew around it..


On our return back to Mercer Island, the winds started to pick up, the clouds thickend blocking out the sun but we lucked out – no rain!

VaultGuru

I have a very close friend that lives on Mercer. I love riding around it. Last time we were up there, we went to Orcas Island and had a spectacular day of riding.
FWIW, I get a lot of bike stuff and have wheel repairs done at Branford Bike. They are over by the University. Rodd Wagner and his partner Doug really know bikes. They are Campi experts.
https://branfordbike.com/
Hope you get in a couple of sunny days in the next 6 months to ride.

SurferRosa

Yo, @northbend. I just noticed that there's another water taxi (in addition to the West Seattle one) from downtown Seattle to Vashon for just $6. Have you used it? I've never been over there, but now I'm really tempted. I'd probably ride down to that Point Robinson lighthouse. Anything I should watch out for or roads to avoid?

northbend 

I've never taken that taxi before but have been on the Water Taxi to Bainbridge. The bike racks on that taxi were awful.
They hang your bike's front wheel in a metal hanger that contacted with the down tube, taking paint off of my Singer. Wasn't too happy about that..
If you can, insist on hanging your bike so you can protect any contact points.

zacster

Wow, a ten year old thread and you still got a response from the OP!

My son just moved to Seattle and once he settles in I'm going to visit. I lived there in the 80s and have only been back a few times. The best part though is that he "adopted" my Davidson that I had custom built for me when I lived there and he boxed it up and shipped it out so I'd have something to ride when I get there. The bike is a mix of original parts like the Campy DT shifters and derailleurs, headset, BB, and some new parts like 10sp wheels, Tektro brakes and a Chorus crank. The original Modolo brakes sucked, and I put the Chorus on when the old Zeus chainrings were really noisy with a 10sp chain. I just happened to have the crank. I didn't do the BB because I couldn't get the old one off. And those 10sp wheels came from an infamous BF member that used to post about "dialing it up to 1000 watts". Everybody online thought he was a jerk, but when I met him in person he was actually a nice guy and was yanking yer chain online.

I'm more excited about him being there than he is!

SurferRosa

Well, I know him, so ...

SurferRosa

Fittingly, this showed up on my Google page today:

How to spend a perfect day on Washington's beautiful Vashon Island

zacster

You must be using the Chrome browser. They read everything. I stopped using Chrome for that reason. I'm completely fed up with the tracking and ad feeds. And don't think that Alexa isn't listening in too. Try having a fake conversation with someone within hearing distance about a topic that you have no interest or relation to. And then watch what happens to your web pages. I started talking about Fiji with my wife and started getting ads about Pacific Island tours.

rsbob 

Have ridden the entirety of Vashon a couple of times - maybe three. It is a lovely island but there is a ton of climbing and most of the time you are surrounded by trees with not that many views of the Salish Sea (formerly known as Puget Sound). It is rural, slow paced, artsy and quirky. If you decide to ride the island be prepared for a full day and some tired legs.

SurferRosa

Took the Fauntleroy ferry over there today for the first time. The island is definitely super hilly. I wouldn't recommend Burma road: dark, tight, windy, and crumbling. Other than that little mistake, I had a really good time. Super long day in the saddle, but glad I finally did it. Here's the Point Robinson lighthouse.


.

zacster

Love the classic bike!

bikemig 

The Burma road is a heck of a road. I've ridden a fair amount on Vashon Island. It can be challenging.

rsbob 

The island is not a place for beginners unless they stay on the spine. The fact that you have ridden it quite a few times shows you like challenges. Well done.

SurferRosa

Next up, I think I'll ride up to Edmonds, ferry over to Kingston, and ride up to another lighthouse I've never seen at Point No Point. Looks like about the same distance as my Vashon ride, but without the hills.

rsbob 

Hansville Rd will get you most of the way there. Bet you will enjoy it.

SurferRosa

I ferried over to Kingston and rode up to Point No Point today. Pretty uneventful, just taking Hansville Rd up there. I did like the little leg, called Old Hansville. It was pretty fast going north down that one. I was wrong about the lack of hills; it's just not as dramatic as Vashon.