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Burke-Gilman Trail through Lake Forest Park opening at noon on Friday

Thursday, February 9th, 2012 by M.J. Kelly

Ahhhh, fresh pavement.

It’s been a long time coming, but we are delighted to announce that the Burke-Gilman Trail through Lake Forest Park has been upgraded to modern standards and will reopen on Friday at noon!

What a ride it has been. Lest it be forgotten, Cascade, along with our members, supporters and volunteers, went to bat for this section of trail. We turned out at hearings, gave testimony at meetings, conducted rides and and held press conferences in Lake Forest Park to demonstrate the case for trail improvement — and our commitment to seeing it happen. Ultimately, though, it took joining King County Parks in a legal challenge to compel a trail upgrade.

Our final petition before the Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board in 2007 cleared the way for King County Parks to complete a trail upgrade.

Go North, young man! The coast is clear.

And yes, we wrangled over the detour, which was less than satisfactory, leaving many riders without a safe option. Happily, that’s all now behind us. We’ll have the trail back and better than ever.

Starting on Friday afternoon, you’ll be treated to a new trail with wide fresh pavement, soft-surface shoulders, enhanced traffic controls and improved sight distances. Other improvements include a new stormwater system, retaining walls, slope stabilization, replacement of the Lyon Creek bridge and removal of invasive vegetation and replacement with native trees and plants. Contractor crews worked extended hours since September in order to complete construction as quickly as possible to overcome several challenges during construction, including the recent winter storm, utility conflicts and unstable soil conditions.

Please remember to obey traffic laws and ride carefully around pedestrians on the trail. We hear that “to ensure safety of trail users and adjacent homeowners, King County Sheriff’s deputies will be present intermittently during the week of Feb. 13.”

Thank you to everyone who joined us in seeing this project through. We know it’s been a difficult eight months as we all waited out the detour. Let us know what you think of the new trail.

And here’s hoping for good news on the other end of the Burke-Gilman – the Missing Link in Ballard. We’re expecting news from Judge Rogers next Thursday. Stay tuned, and thank you for being with us as we work together toward our mission of creating a better community through bicycling.

Posted in Burke-Gilman Trail | No Comments »

TONIGHT: Celebrate bicycle travel with Willie Weir

Tuesday, February 7th, 2012 by M.J. Kelly

Come to Your Senses:
A Celebration of Bicycle Travel with Willie Weir

TONIGHT! Tuesday, Feb. 7, 7 p.m.
REI Seattle, 222 Yale Ave. N

Cascade members: $5
General public: $7
Advance tickets are available at Brown Paper Tickets

Writer, performer, bicycle advocate and adventure cyclist Willie Weir has been entertaining Seattle crowds for more than a decade. His latest presentation will leave you inspired to see, hear, taste, smell and feel the world from the seat of a bicycle.

Tickets will be available online until 5 p.m. today. After that, you’ll need to buy yours at the door. But be sure to get there early — Willie’s popular presentations routinely sell out.

Posted in Cascade Presentation Series, Events | 1 Comment »

Dreaming of far off lands

Thursday, January 26th, 2012 by M.J. Kelly

Boy howdy, it’s that time of year when I start dreaming about a vacation. If Seattle’s wet, dark winter days are getting you down, too, make plans today to leave them behind next year! Cascade is offering five international bicycle tours that will bring sunshine to your cycling world. Join us this Friday at 7 p.m. at the Seattle REI for an introduction to the 2012-13 Cascade-Affiliated International Tours:

Vietnam Grand Tour: Fascinating culture, beautiful scenery and outstanding support crews have made the Vietnam Grand Tour the most popular tour we’ve ever offered.

New Zealand Grand Tour: This 15-day tour features visits to New Zealand’s spectacular National Parks, superb views of alpine peaks and lovely, low-traffic cycling routes.

Cascade Africa Rides 2012: For nine days, tour Zambia with a representative from World Bicycle Relief and learn the ins and outs of their highly-successful programs, which change lives by providing transportation bicycles to rural villages.

Tour Turkey – Aegean to Mediterranean Tour: This acclaimed tour offers a terrific value to a fabulous destination, combing old-world charm and world-class cuisine with outstanding facilities and safe roads.

Beer, Bikes & Belgium: Combining the wonderful roads of Belgium with the very best in world beer and the opportunity to watch the 2012 UCI World Road race championships in neighboring Netherlands, this tour is sure to sell out soon.

Cascade-Affiliated International Tours Night
Friday, Jan. 27, 7-8:30 p.m.
REI Seattle, 222 Yale Ave. N

With special guests:
Michael Kollins (World Bicycle Relief, Africa Rides 2012)
Danelle Laidlaw & Ken Wright (Tour TK, Tour Turkey – Aegean to the Mediterranean)

Posted in Events, International Tours | No Comments »

RSVP lotteries close on Friday at midnight

Thursday, January 26th, 2012 by M.J. Kelly

If you’ve ridden the RSVP — Ride from Seattle to Vancouver, BC and Party! — with us in previous years, you know what a great event it is. The event has proven to be wildly popular, selling out its 1,400 spots faster and faster over the years, to the point that it was selling out within hours. And last year… well, let’s just say the RSVP demand on our event registration system brought the whole thing down.

Out of the calamity of “server meltdown 2011″, RSVP2 was born. And to smooth out the registration process and make it more fair to riders clamoring to get on the ride, we moved to a lottery system.

RSVP lotteries have been open since Jan. 11. This Friday, Jan. 27 at midnight, they are closing.

As we expected, the first RSVP event, on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 17 – 18, is close to full. But RSVP 2 is still wide-open, with plenty of space available. The ride offers the same scenic route, expert support crews and festive finish line party that you’ve seen on previous RSVP rides. The only difference is that riders depart from the start line on Saturday morning, one day later than RSVP 1 riders — which means that if you work Monday through Friday, you can save a vacation day!

Though we can’t guarantee that entering the lottery will score you a registration for either event, your chances at this point are very good.

If you’ve already entered one or both of the lotteries, tell your friends! And if you haven’t, what are you waiting for? Enter the lottery now. Detailed instructions can be found here. If it doesn’t matter to you which event, we suggest entering both lotteries. If RSVP1 gets filled before your name is pulled, you’ll still be in the drawing for RSVP2. There’s nothing to lose by try.

Lottery entrants whose names are drawn will receive an email with registration instructions on Monday, Jan. 30. They will then have two weeks to register for the event. If there are still open spots, registration will open to the public in late February.

You can read more about the 2012 event registration process here. If you have questions, please email support@cascadebicycleclub.org.

Event registration fees support Cascade programs that make our streets safer for bicyclists and encourage people across the Puget Sound region to ride bikes for transportation, fitness and fun. Thanks for your support!

Posted in Events, RSVP | No Comments »

It’s been one of those weeks

Friday, January 20th, 2012 by M.J. Kelly

We’ve seen videos of the intrepid Riding Reporter taking on snow,

got schooled on DIY studded tires (disc or coaster brakes only) by Seattle Dutch Bike Company,

spotted a unicycle,

and did some vicarious bike sledding with Car Free Days.

Bikes towing sleds

There were uphills and downhills:

And then there was this:

Now, the melting has begun. How did you fare over the last few days?

Posted in Around town | No Comments »

Work on Cowen Park Bridge next week

Friday, January 20th, 2012 by M.J. Kelly

Crews from the Seattle Department of Transportation plan to work on the Cowen Park Bridge near Ravenna and Cowen parks from January 23 through February 3. They will close the southbound, right lane from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to remove concrete spalls on the underside of the bridge.

The work was initially planned for last week but has been rescheduled due to unfavorable weather. This work is subject to change due to weather conditions or in the event that crews are called to perform emergency work at another location.

Posted in Road & Trail News | No Comments »

UW Fixit stations welcome bikes to campus

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012 by M.J. Kelly

The following is a guest post from David Amiton, Transportation Analyst | MURP with Commuter Services | Transportation Services at the University of Washington

This might come as a shock, but as a government employee I don’t receive a lot of fan mail. So you can imagine what a pleasant surprise it was when appreciative emails began trickling into my inbox in December.

One read, Thanks for one of the most useful things to ever be installed as a resource on UW’s campus! Another was more concise: This is so cool – thank you!

What were people going so gaga for? A new cycletrack on campus that someone forgot to tell me about? A fabulous new covered bicycle parking area? Had Red Square been converted into the world’s largest roller skating rink?*

Think smaller.

A Fixit station in action at the Law School

Late last year, UW Commuter Services installed bicycle repair stations at five popular campus bicycling destinations. Each station features an air pump and essential tools like tire irons, screwdrivers, and a hex wrench set. Manufactured by Dero, the stations are clean, simple, and functional. And the best part? The project was entirely funded through a grant from the University’s innovative Campus Sustainability Fund.

The bicycle repair stations give UW students, employees, and visitors convenient access to the tools that keep bicycles on the go. They also send a clear message that bicyclists belong on campus. This might seem like a small gesture, but it’s an important one, because generally speaking people who bike don’t receive many visual cues that invite them to use public spaces.

Consider some of the things you encounter on your bicycle errands and commutes: body-less bike symbols, wet leaves in the bike lanes, honking cars; sound familiar? Now, when was the last time you spotted a bicycle radar sensor, display counter, or waiting rail while pedaling around Seattle? These are also small gestures, but they add up to create an environment that welcomes people on bikes. Judging from the feedback I’ve received, the bicycle repair stations are definitely helping the University of Washington roll out the bicycle welcome mat.

*Apparently the honor goes to this place. But still, a guy can dream.

Posted in Around town, Complete streets | No Comments »

January Cascade Courier

Sunday, January 1st, 2012 by M.J. Kelly

Posted in Cascade Courier, Club news | No Comments »

Your gift will help us get an extra $5k!

Thursday, December 22nd, 2011 by M.J. Kelly

You can help us get an extra $5,000
by making your tax-deductible gift to
the Education Foundation by the year’s end!

Thanks to a matching grant from an anonymous donor, we have a chance to raise an additional $5,000 to support our education and advocacy work, but only if you can help us raise $5,000 by Dec. 31.

Give today and your gift will go twice as far toward putting helmets onto the heads of children, bringing bicycling to underserved teenagers and improving bicycling conditions for everyone in our community.

“Because of Cascade, I decided to try commuting to work by bike this spring. I’m addicted now! I love the exercise and that “like a kid again” feeling, but I also feel like we have so much work to do to make biking safer and more mainstream.”
– – Christine Grant, Cascadia Consulting

“We had 109 bikes on Friday!!!!!!! It was jammed and we were scrambling to get bikes parked before the bell! I LOVE BIKE TO SCHOOL MONTH. Thank you for helping make this such a great experience for our school community!”
-– Leslie Cooper, Bryant Elementary

When you give to Cascade Bicycle Club Education Foundation this year-end, you’re supporting Cascade programs that make your community a bicycle-friendly community. You’re getting more kids and adults out onto bikes, pedaling safely with their families. And you’re investing in making our community a better place to live and bike in. There’s no better gift to give this holiday season.

Thank you for your support!

Posted in Advocacy, Club news, Education | No Comments »

Looking for event registration information?

Monday, December 19th, 2011 by M.J. Kelly

Event registration dates are staggered this year. Mark your calendars for these key dates.

Registration for RSVP 1, RSVP 2 and all Regional Tours will be held as lotteries.

As a thank you for their continued support, Cascade members have an advanced registration period.

If you register for an event and cannot ride, you’ll want to review our refund policy.

If you register for a tour and cannot ride, you’ll want to review our transfer policy

Still have questions? Check the Registration FAQs

Here are all events that are currently open for registration.

Need more help? Send us an email.

Posted in Chilly Hilly, Events, Flying Wheels, Kitsap Color Classic, RSVP, Ride Around Washington, STP | No Comments »

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