Pacific Northwest - Around Lake Washington

Can someone give me the best route around Lake Washington for a pair of novice riders? I've done rides this long before. I'm more concerned about my friend who might have a hard time with any big hills.:thumb:

The Seattle Bicycle Touring Club has two routes on their website that will help you do this, both starting from Mercer Island:

http://www.seattlebiketours.org/members/maps/mercer_island.html

1. One is the North Loop of Lake Washington.
2. The second is the South Loop of Lake Washington.

You can do either one of them (the North Loop is longer and has the biggest hill of the loop - which is the stretch of Juanita Drive between Kirkland and Kenmore) or you can just make one giant loop out of the both of them. If you're worried about your friend, the easier / less hilly / shorter is the South Loop.

There are a number of minor variations you can make on this route -- there are several good options to get from through Kirkland and Bellevue...the route shown on the link I provided is about the least hilly way to get through Bellevue, but there are nice routes (that are west of Bellevue Way) that are prettier but hillier. There are a bunch of different versions of these routes on www.bikely.com (http://www.bikely.com).

Most of the lake is conveniently located a mere 16 feet above sea level :)

The Burke Gilman doesn't have much elevation change as shown here:

http://www.poplarware.com/biketrails/2007/burke-gillman-wa/

Most of the lake is conveniently located a mere 16 feet above sea level :)

The Burke Gilman doesn't have much elevation change as shown here:

http://www.poplarware.com/biketrails/2007/burke-gillman-wa/

The Burke Gilman is indeed flat but that path will not take one all the way around Lake Washington. If the OP and his friend are actually going to go around Lake Washington, it's possible to hit some reasonably significant hills...the hill on Juanita Drive is a long, moderate pull - not terribly steep but its length would make it frustrating for a beginning.

Also, if one follows the recommended city of Bellevue bike route from Main Street south there is one hill with a short 12% to 15% grade, and with a modest wrong turn one can end up on a four-block hill that is roughly 10% to 12% the entire way up (101st Ave SE). It's pretty, but would be a challenge to a novice (the route I posted above from the Seattle Bicycle Touring club avoids this hilly section of Bellevue).

Another, shorter hill is on the west side of the lake, climbing up Lake Washington boulevard from the waterfront toward Madison Park. Nothing very difficult but challenging for a novice.

True. I remember how steep those hills seemed as a newbie. These days I've got some kind of disease and actually seek them out.

to go around the lake, you've got to do a few small climbs:

* small ups and downs on the sw side of the lake (lake wa blvd)
* decent size climb on the se side, in the newcastle area

you can skip the larger jaunita climb and go via 100th ave, like this: http://veloroutes.org/bikemaps/?route=120

100th is trafficky, and still hilly, but is a much shorter climb than jaunita.

your friend should probably do one half of the lake at a time, and then do the whole thing after they feel ok with the climbing.

it's a great ride though, well worth doing!!

True. I remember how steep those hills seemed as a newbie. These days I've got some kind of disease and actually seek them out.

If you don't mind the short, steep hills I mentioned earlier...this is my favorite way to get from Kirkland south through Bellevue to I90.

It's hillier than the routes mentioned above, but a much nicer ride IMHO.

http://veloroutes.org/bikemaps/?route=21819

I second the warning about the Juanita Hill. I did the ride around the lake on the 4th of July this year and that hill was by far the hardest part of the ride. Not get off and walk bad, but certainly get into very low gears and spin hard bad. It's also a long hill. The riders coming the other direction, on the other hand, looked like they were having a great time.

Depending on where you're starting from, stretching the ride around the lake (about 64 miles) into a full century isn't all that hard. I did that by starting actually from my house in Burien, riding up past Boeing Field into downtown, through Mertyl Edwards Park up to Ballard and getting on the B-G there. I then followed the North route around the lake, came back down and added about another 10 or so on the Interurban to get my full century in.

The Seattle Bicycle Touring Club maps library is a great resource. I've used it quite a bit for pleasure rides.

Any special concerns riding around the lake between fall and spring?