The City of Seattle intends to complete the Burke-Gilman “missing link” for cyclists, as we noted, but it won’t be easy. From the Ballard Tribune:

“Attendees at the meeting claimed that bicyclists do not need a bike lane on Nickerson, or even on Leary Way, because there are off-street bike trails nearby.”

This needs clarifying: The problem being that the trail is available at some points paralleling Leary, but not everywhere. On the Nickerson side, the same thing applies. Not sure what point “attendees” were trying to make, but in general more bike lanes are needed everywhere in the city, especially along east-west corridors. The other factor in play here is that mixing rec trails with commuter trails is increasingly a harrowing proposition. As bike commuting grows, it needs a conduit of its own to flourish.

A $500 billion Transportation Bill has about as much chance as Dick Cheney renouncing torture in this Year of Living Deficitly, but BikePortland.org has a thorough rundown anyway.

I came within a couple of days of seeing the Ashland Super-D mountain bike race. But it was all the talk of the town even in the aftermath. When I rode Ashland, it was sunny and in the high 80s. More on that later.

You can go 50 miles an hour on this bike without pedaling, and not even downhill. It’s the only bike you can get at Best Buy, and here’s why.

The Godz of Klunkerz, Gary Fisher, Joe Breeze, Charlie Kelly and Wende Crage, were on the public radio station KQED. Photo here (guess which one is Gary!), hear here.

Ethan also decided while I was packing up his stroller to eat dirt. He seemed to like it since it was smeared all over his face. Unfortunately the camera was put away by this point, otherwise it would of been a nice picture to use as an embarrassing photo when he’s older.

I also had to include the below photo even though it was not on our walk since Ethan has this guilty look on his face which cracks me up.

I left the house again precisely the same moment the rain began to fall.

Then hail began to fall. Ouch.

I took the Burke-Gilman trail to Kenmore and back. The trail is a mess of leaves and puddles. It's also incredibly lumpy.

When you reach Lake Forest Park on the Burke-Gilman, you won't see an official "Entering Lake Forest Park" sign, but you'll know when, when the posted speed limit becomes 10 miles per hour. Note: Your average adult bicycle cruising speed is about 14-16. I go 16-18 on my single speed. In addition to a ridiculously low speed limit, there are stop signs every hundred feet for many stretches, so be prepared to break the law at least five times each way as you roll through all of these.

As a member of Cascade Bicycle Club, you constantly receive newsletters talking about how the government of Lake Forest Park is constantly creating trouble for bicycle trail users. It seems the smaller the government or organization, the more petty they get. And apparently, they more than make rules, they send the police out as well.

I rode back in the dark. I have a permanently attached generator-powered light, so no problem. Except I got blinded by riders who point their lights directly ahead, and then there are walkers or bicyclists who walk or ride around at night without any lights, so my vision is constantly confused. One moment, it's fairly dark, then somebody's LED burns a hole in my retina, then I'm coming up to a pair of joggers looming in the shadows.

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