Bryan K

I rode around the lake last night and even with the mist/light rain in the air, that trail is a disaster! So many people walk on the bike side of the pathway and it wasn't even busy. It's got great scenery but I cannot even imagine how bad it is on a nice evening. Does anybody have any ideas on where I could ride at night after work (5-8 miles) starting near the zoo that could help me get back into shape?
Thanks!

Seattle Forrest

I really don't like Green Lake. And you've discovered why.

If you can stand a few hills, ride to 85th, go down the crazy fun hill into Golden Gardens, ride the flat BGT to Ballard, and enjoy a less steep climb back up to Phinny than the hill you came in on.

A slightly longer ride would go over the Fremont Bridge, maybe down the western shore of Lake Union, as far as you like, then back up the sound waterfront, through Myrtle Edwards Park. I think the waterfront trail is the best short ride in Seattle.

Unfortunately there are a lot of hills, and while there's some cool stuff near the zoo, most of the best riding in the city is more than 8 miles round trip. On the other hand, all buses take bikes, which either could get you to a nicer ride, or could be your backup if you bonk on the way home.

eplanajr

How long are you trying to go? You have several options.
You could ride past Greenlake onto Ravenna. Take that down to the Burke Gilman and ride that. Bonus is that you can ride on the trail and gain more and more distance. Eventually you can ride all the way to Lake Sammamish and do a long out-and-back.

toddles

I'm in agreement w/ you all. Green Lake riding sucks.

nhluhr

I can't even imagine riding a bicycle at Greenlake. It would be like riding around a track at a high school.

toddles

percy kittens

[h=2]Alternative to Green Lake?[/h]Drinking in the morning and stumbling around the house spitting: "Bike lane! Bike lane!"

eschlwc

i love riding around green lake, but on the road, not the inner walking/skating path which is for moms, children and the very elderly. if you start at the top of the lake and take the bike lane on e.green lake way, you can then fly downhill on stone way and get on the burke gilman trail. my new favorite way to get downtown is to ride west on 34th (instead of the bg trail), cross the fremont bridge, and use the excellent bike lanes on dexter. the pavement and lanes are so nice now. and riding back north on dexter provides a really fun and fast climb before again flying downhill back toward the bridge. it seems the mayor is finally making some great investments in seattle riding...

if you've read this and can share some equally excellent pavement that you've recently stumbled upon, please share. cheers.

toddles

This is when it pays to live in the suburbs. You urbanites have crappy alternatives for riding your bikes. yeah, yeah, I know all about your bike paths in the city. I've ridden them all and none of them compare to riding in the mountains and valleys. Unless your thing is congestion, you're bummin'.

Seattle Forrest

I don't know of any suburbs in the mountains. I guess Issaquah kind of pretends to be, but Tiger Mountain is a big hill. That's why it's the foothills. Kirkland really isn't meaningfully closer to Icicle Creek or Winthrop than Seattle is.

Except Ballard.

toddles

No, but I can ride my bike easily to the top of Snoqualmie pass from where I am at or be in Granite Falls w/o using my car. Sure you can but tag on another 20 miles. Besides, I really live closer to Woodinville and it's a 20 mile ride to Fall City, Carnation, Issaquah, Snohomish or Monroe. I consider that close enough to the mountains. And if we lived on the east coast, they would call those mountains.

Medic Zero

If you don't mind some hill-climbing, you can make your way to Interlaken Park. When you reach the end of that, you can turn around and make your way back. From where you are to there and back is probably around 8 miles. Interlaken is really nice. IIRC it's 1.2 miles of nice paved road from the bottom to the top. I never see more than half a dozen cars on it and I regularly take it as part of my commute, often at rush hour. It does involve some fairly serious climbing though, including getting there.