Introductions - Greatings From Seattle

Greetings all, been lurking awhile and decided to stand up and say Hey!
I started biking this winter (in my bedroom on a windtrainer) and am now hopelessly hooked. I even bought a second bike so I could just leave my "old" bike on the wind trainer.
I'm not that good, but I am having fun. Riding a Trek mountain bike (with city tires) on the local trails and hope to ride San Juan Island this month.
I hear some of you talking about the STP ride. I'm dreaming and hoping maybe I'll be ready next year. I've never rode more than 30 miles in a day before, and even then I needed a serious nap.

I'm sure I'll have lots of questions. From what I've read so far, you're an excellent bunch!

Welcome to the forums from someone on the dry side of the state. Feed your addiction whenever you can and you'll be riding longer and faster in no time.

Welcome to Bikeforums!

:)

Hi, seattlecarol.
Lotsa guys (you're the first gal?) from the Northwest hang out here.
Welcome to the forums.
Greg360

Originally posted by seattlecarol

I'm not that good, but I am having fun. Riding a Trek mountain bike (with city tires) on the local trails and hope to ride San Juan Island this month.


Welcome to the forums. The islands don't have much in the way of MTB trails that I've found but there's some great road riding. If you feel like swapping to some tyres with tread on them, there is a good set of offroad trails at Mt. Constitution on Orcas Island. If you prefer to stay on the road, there's a switchback that runs you to the top too and well... it's quite a challenge but well worth it when you get to the top. Coming down, you might need to stop in a few places to let your brakes cool. The rest of the islands are excellent for road riding too. You might also wish to try Vashon Island. There's a set of trails there that K2 actually uses to test their mountain bikes.

You might want to check out a book called "Touring the Islands (Bicycling in the San Juan, Gulf, and Vancouver Islands)" (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0944376010/002-0279377-4004063?vi=glance). It's part of the Terragraphics series of books.

If you're interested in more of the trails around here, I'd recommend the following books:

[1] "Mountain Bike Washington" by Alan Bennett, Chris & Laurie Leman, Menasha Ridge Press, part of the America by Mountain Bike Series.

[2] "Kissing the Trail" by John Zilly, Adventure Press

Then of course there are the good 'ole stand-bys such as Tiger Mountain and St. Edwards State Park which are close enough to the city and offer some good mountain biking for all sorts of skill levels. The problem is that the trails there can get crowded.


Originally posted by seattlecarol

I hear some of you talking about the STP ride. I'm dreaming and hoping maybe I'll be ready next year. I've never rode more than 30 miles in a day before, and even then I needed a serious nap.

The STP with exception of a couple of hill climbs is really a series of mild rolling hills. I would say that if you could pull off doing a metric century on a regular basis you should be fine. There's a recommended training schedule on the STP site to help prepare you. IMHO, it's a bit of overkill but it will get you to a point where you can ride it "no-sweat". I've known people to do it cold although the ride was a bit of a struggle for them.


I love the road cycling we have here in Seattle. There are a lot of great places to ride. One thing I love doing is hopping the ferry to Bainbridge Island and just biking from one end to another. The roads there are much more quiet and the scenery is wonderful. If you haven't done so, you may want to pick up some maps.

Some good free maps can be found at:

King County Bicycling Guide Map (http://www.metrokc.gov/kcdot/tp/bike/bikemap.htm)

WSDOT's Tour Planning and Bicycle Maps webpage (http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Bike/Planning_Maps.htm)

I've also found the Terragraphics series of map booklets to be very helpful. They're a tad expensive though but are convenient to carry and the routes are very nicely detailed with elevation information. My favourite is "Touring Seattle by Bicycle" (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0944376029/qid%3D1046557292/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/102-9295168-6415361) by Peter Bowers. It has a miniature pull-out map in addition to the "sectional" route guides.