Very little has changed about this route from previous years. See my writeup for 2022. A small change has been made at the start due to changing traffic patterns in North Bend. The ride now accesses the trail via Ballarat Ave. (The same change has been made to the Permanent.) The start and finish will be run differently for this ride. Late starts will not be accommodated. The organizer intends to join the ride. The start will close whenever he gets all the start materials put away. Proof of finishing and proof of passage will be entirely by electronic means. The finish will not be staffed. Whe ..read more

The Seattle International Randonneurs headed to the eastern Washington city of Wenatchee to host brevet week of 2023. My name is Kiel Safstrom, or some in the club like to call me, Hand Grenade. Surprisingly, there was no self-implosion completing all four of these bombastically designed routes by Don “Shiggy” Person. Let’s pull the pin and recount the routes for those aspiring to ride amongst the tumbleweeds. Saturday May 20th – Lake Wenatchee 200K 15 registered riders gathered before the 6 am. start at the Hilton Garden Inn, the main base of this entire week’s operations. We roll out on the ..read more

400 kilometers is a long ways, and you can see a lot. This ride will keep you interested as it hits many highlights on local roads. With 12,500 ft of climbing, this 400K has a little more elevation per mile than PBP, but the sawtooth profile is similar with endless short climbs and descents. Parking Parking is pretty restricted in Mukilteo- most on-street parking is at most 4hrs with no parking 2-4am. Nobody wants to find their car towed after finishing the ride. Be sure to allow time to find parking and ride down to the ferry. By far the most convenient parking is at the pay lot across the st ..read more

A Sleepy Randonneur’s Guide The 2023 Spring 400K starts on Whidbey Island and finishes in Mukilteo. All riders will be riding the last 20K at night, many will be doing it well after midnight. There will be very little traffic because of this, but randonneurs navigating this for the first time can be confused with all the turns, one way streets, and road furniture. Becoming familiar with this beforehand will hopefully ease your way to the finish. 17K after the control in Arlington, leave the Centennial Trail by making a right on 60th St NE, one of the many cross streets on the trail. There is a ..read more

Last summer a portion of the trestle across Fidalgo Bay was burned. Reconstruction finished ahead of schedule last month. Three permanents were affected. They can be ridden now without detouring onto Hwy 20: 3040 San Juans Shuttle, 3043 Snohomish-Anacortes, 3044 Snohomish-Anacortes-Snohomish I know you all missed chancing your tires on the broken oyster shells. Thanks to Matt Kreger for alerting me to this news ..read more

313 km 14,000 ft climbing Preriders: Yonnel Gardes, Robert Giglio, Bill Gobie, Aaron Jones, Keith Moore Crashers: Bill Gobie, Keith Moore Tower Rock From foxgloves to towering cedars to enormous volcanoes, scenery abounds at all scales on this route. Waterfalls, lakes, marshes and creeks tempt you to linger, but mosquitoes and biting flies will impel you onward! Pray you don’t get a flat! Abundant also is climbing. Climbing, climbing, climbing! 14,000 feet of it in long alpine ascents plus the occasional vertical wall. Where climbing abounds so does descending. On some stretches you may reach ..read more

Historically this route has been based in Kingston or Bremerton. The only motel in Kingston burned down. The Seattle-Bremerton ferry is hobbled by crew shortages – with the reduced schedule the ride could not start before 9 AM, wasting almost four hours of daylight. Consequently this year the ride starts in Southworth and ends in Bainbridge. Starting in Southworth lets us begin at 6:15AM, almost an hour earlier than we used to start from other locations. Riders should spend less time in the dark reaching the overnight at Forks. All riders who finish in time will be able to catch a ferry from B ..read more

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/40858024117 km Climbing: 4300 ft (RwGPS), 4900 ft (pre-ride gps) The Populaire starts at Tacoma’s War Memorial Park. There is ample parking at the park and adjacent Park & Ride lot. The park does not have restrooms. A number of fast food restaurants and a gas station are nearby. The ride starts with the spectacular crossing of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. The projected cold weather should discourage tourists, but as always, be careful around pedestrians and other cyclists. The descent to the bridge, climb to its middle, descent and then final climb on the west ..read more

Lots of new routes have been created since my last post about routes. #04367 Divas 2 Good 2 Stoup, 105 km, designed by Mark Thomas, was the route used for the Divas Populaire. #04412 Redmond-Golden Gardens, 102.4 km, was contributed by Randy Oakley. Apart from the Missing Link in Ballard, it is entirely on the Burke-Gilman and Sammamish Valley Trails. At 47.8 km the route has a curious left turn onto the Burke-Gilman from Shilshole Ave that involves getting on the right-hand sidewalk along Shilshole. SDOT has done what it could to ensure cyclists make the turn under the protection of the traff ..read more

Someone set the trestle on fire last week. Cascadia Daily News. This is the trestle that crosses Fidalgo Bay approaching Anacortes. Several routes use the trestle: 3040 San Juans Shuttle, 3043 Snohomish-Anacortes, 3044 Snohomish-Anacortes-Snohomish The routes will remain active. Detouring on highway 20 is straightforward. Leaving Anacortes there are side roads and a bike trail accessible at S Fidalgo Bay Rd about half a mile before the traffic circle on 20. You cannot use this trail and roads going into Anacortes because of the median barrier on 20 at S Fidalgo Bay Rd ..read more