busygizmo

Sorry, thread drift but do you remember the name? My folks live just outside of town and I would like to try something different if we go out to eat.

eschlwc

if this thread drifts into good and inexpensive outdoor dining along these routes with my unlocked bike, that would be a very good thing.

MillCreek

I can certainly recommend Ciao pizza in Coupeville: https://www.ciaowhidbey.com/

The Ciao Bella and Coupe Ciao are not to be missed.

toddles

Or go to the bar -- surprisingly good bar food -- and get some Penn Cove mussels. Hell if you are going to do that - stay the night and get pizza and good bar grub and spend the night at The Coupeville Inn or Captain Whidbey. Treat yourself right and bring your mountain bike to hit Fort Ebey single track trails.

toddles

You know what? Often I find intuition is the best bike navigator there is. Only a handful of times I could of used one (like 3 times) but most often than not I don't need it. I think it'd take some of the adventure out of it. Besides, if I eff up I learn not to go that way next time and if the route i chose is horrible (it seldom is), I get to ride more and back track my path. Once when I was sixty miles into it, tired, and rolling through some sizeable hills I was wishing I knew the exact way to go. As it was, it forced me down into a park I never would have gone to and met some really nice people that gave me directions.

In other words, it may be cool to have but I don't think I need it. Then again I've lived over 40 years around the whole greater Seattle area, have worked all over, and have a rough idea of what I'm getting into.

Whatever's best for you.

busygizmo

Thanks. I've driven by that several times when visiting my folks. Need to give them a try sometime.

Last time we were up there my GF and I hit the Waterfront Grill. I has a nice view of the water and good food. The spicy muscle dish we had was really good although it is not a cheap place to eat. FWIW Christopher's is real good too, generous portions but again not cheap but reasonable for lunch. The Oyster Catcher is spendy but really good. For cheap eats it sounds like the pizza place is the best bet although Toby's does greasy, filling pub grub.

TacomaSailor

"one thing i've realized with my phome is the gps really sucks battery life, so unless it's absolutely necessary, i have to leave the gps turned off."

I carry my iPhone 3GS on all my rides and get about 4 hours out of the battery while running MotionX GPS the entire time. I start the app and then use the button on top of the phone to turn off the display. If I just let the display turn itself off by using 2 minute autolock - then I only get about 90 minutes battery life. I also carry a Duracell PPS2 battery ( 2 ounces) that plugs into the iPhone via the USB connector - that gives me another 5 hours battery.

I use google earth and google maps as well as MotionX GPS Bing maps to help me find my way as I wander around the back roads of Pierce, King, Kitsap, and Thurston county. I am seldom lost for more than 1/2 an hour.

There is a huge variety of road riding available to you if you take the following ferries from the Coleman docks in downtown SeattlE:

Kingston foot ferry - there are many wonderful rides on lightly traveled roads out of Kingston - toward Hansville - Port Gamble or towards Lemolo/Poulsbo

Bainbridge - I often take my boat to Eagle Harbor (Winslow) and spend days wandering around Bainbridge

Bremerton - North thru Brownsville - thru Poulsbo - Lemolo - to Bainbridge and the Winslow ferry home - or - at Poulsbo - head over to Kingston and take the foot ferry back to Seattle or in Kingston take the Edmonds ferry and catch the train back to Seattle

You can ride from Seattle thru Alki and along the beach to the Fauntleroy ferry and then take it to:

Vashon/Southworth - all kinds of great rides on Vashon as described.
-or- Southworth where you can also ride from Southworth thru Manchester to Port Orchard (miles and miles along the water) - Gorst - Bremerton and take the Bremerton Ferry back to Seattle

- or- once in Gorst head SW toward Belfair on Hwy 3 and then back to Southworth on one of several interesting Kitsap County roads

You will quickly learn that Kitsap county is hilly - no real long climbs but lots and lots of rolling 200' hills

During the week there is hardly any traffic on the Kitsap roads

My favorite would be to take the Fuantleroy ferry to Southworth - ride south on Sedgwick and then Banner Rd to Ollala - take the Crescent Valley Hwy to Gig Harbor - take Burnham Rd NW and ride thru Rosedale and Raft Island - then follow Ray Nash and other roads along Puget Sound along Hales Pass and thru Cromwell- to the Tacoma Narrows bridge - down thru Pt Defiance Park where you would catch the Vashon Ferry to Tallequah - ride N along Vashon Island and catch the ferry back to Faunteleroy

Lots of hills - my ride around Vashon from Pt Defiance to the N end of Vashon and then down the east side and around Maurry island and back to Tallequah/Pt Defiance shows almost 4000' of climbing but the altitude never exceeds 400' .

I have a lot of .kml and .kmz files that detail these rides if you wish

Timothy

Another good option would be to use https://ridewithgps.com/routes and search CTS in the Seattle area. Most rides start from Magnussen Park (Which is fairly close to you) Most are longer than what your looking for, but it would be easy to shortcut a loop to give you the milage you are looking for.
RidewithGPS is my personal favorite for mapping routes. If you don't have a GPS you can save any route and open with https://bikeroutetoaster.com/ It will allow you to get a fairly acurate and free cue sheet.

moleman76

for instance, to get to Everett and thus to the greater Snohomish River Valley, Sound Transit route 510 will take you to the Everett Station. During non-rush hours during the week, and on weekends, you can board at 45th & I-5 or 145th & I-5.

Once at Everett Station, go south on Smith St. (lies just west of the bus station), take a right on Paine (first right after going under the freeway), up a slight rise and then south on South 3rd Ave through the Lowell neighborhood. 3rd becomes 2nd, then (1) take a left on Lenora and DOWN the hill across the railroad tracks; stay on the River Road to Snohomish; or (2) keep on heading south on 2nd, which becomes Lowell-Larimer Road; keep going, cross Hwy 9, up a slight rise and left on Springhetti Road, and north to Snohomish.

[alternate route to Snohomish: north on Smith to Pacific, east on Pacific one block, north to Hewitt, east on Hewitt under I-5 and take the bike/ped lane over the river on the bridge; then south on Home Acres Road, follow the "bike route" signs on Swans' Slough Rd, Rivershore, Riverview, and into Snohomish]

So far, not counting the travel to the bus in Seattle, about 10 miles whichever way; 15 miles via Springhetti.

[Food breaks in Snohomish, on 1st Street (take a right, after crossing the bridge into town) include Twin Eagles, for all-american high-cholesterol breakfasts, and the Snohomish Bakery (just east of Avenue A) for much tastier fare, or Crepe Escape (on Cedar, east edge of downtown) ]

from the east side of Snohomish, the Centennial trail is about 32 miles out and back, unless you go all of the way to downtown Arlington (add perhaps 10). With the 10 miles back to Everett Station, 50-60 miles.

OR, from downtown Snohomish, go east to Lincoln, take a right and pick up the Old Snohomish-Monroe Road to Monroe. From Monroe, south on 203, right on Tualco, continue to High Bridge. Decision time: left, toward (eventually) Carnation, and on to the bus at Fall City (take the route along the west side of the river south of Carnation); or, right, back toward Snohomish. Oops, there's a hill here, but there are downhills too. Elliot Rd and Connelly Road, and Springhetti, will take you back to Snohomish; or, skip Springhetti, go straight onto Lowell-Larimer and back to Everett from the south. The Snohomish-Monroe-Snohomish loop is about 25 miles. So, Everett - Snohomish- Monroe - (Snohomish) - Everett will be about 45 to 55 miles, depending on the choices you make to get to Snohomish.

The only limit on the bus-bike travel is the bike carrier on the buses - 2, or 3 bikes max. So, don't invite the whole neighborhood to ride with you.

eschlwc

thanks for adding to the thread, folks. seems i really have my work cut out for me...

Seattle Forrest

If you find yourself riding through Ballard, India Bistro (on Market and 27th or 26th) has fairly cheap food. You can get an appetizer and a main course for less than $20 with a chai, and a few bucks less without one. They have outdoor seating, and you can lean your bike up against the fence, on the inside section. Tends to be pretty filling.

skoobywrx

nice country rode ride:

https://www.sunset.com/travel/northwe...0418000068489/

Timothy

This is another good bookmark if you haven't found it yet. https://www.seattlebiketours.org/members/library.html

edit, just noticed moleman already posted this link, so consider this +1

vwchad

That would be it! Excellent pizza, nice people too.

cjbohl

Not sure how far it is (yet) but I am planning on doing the the interurban trail, ride roads thru Renton to the Cedar River trail, ride roads from Maple Valley thru Enumclaw to South Praire, hope on the Orting trail, ride roads sumner to interurban trail. Seems like a good loop to me.

I have done one 80 mile ride & have done 50+ a few times

Timothy

I did a ride similar to that about a month ago.
The route https://connect.garmin.com/course/1449872

I really liked the section between Maple Valley and Orting, except for a short section on 410 and the road up to Carbonado doesn't have much of a shoulder.

Also it is short on facilities until Buckley, so If you are short on water, make sure to stop at Kanaskat State Park

toddles

I don't know. I rode from Woodinville to Black Diamond and on to Auburn and another time from Woodinville to South Prairie basically covering all that he speaks of -- and actually found riding down Hwy 169 out of Maple Valley into Black Diamond was quite safe and easy. All kinds of services along that baby. I always thought it to be a very busy route -- and it is -- but it's good to ride. Lot of shoulder room.

Bekologist

Another classic ride out of seattle is to ride Shoreline CC and Innes Arden/15th ave NW/205th st and thru Sherwood Forest and Woodway to the Edmonds Ferry, ride over to Kingston, then ride back from Kingston thru Indianola, past Chief Sealth's grave, cross Agate Pass Bridge and ride Manzanita/Miller/High School Road/Finch into downtown Winslow and the ferry terminal for a boat back to downtown seattle.

about 60 miles if i remember it right. Great ride, low traffic, ample places to stop. the boat rides of course make for natural 'stops' on this trip. Beautiful scenery.

BengeBoy 

For anyone reading this thread, I would like to highlight what a great resource this particular route library is. It has many, many great routes of different lengths, starting from different places all over the area. Also has a number of great rides that are a bit farther away from Seattle. This should be a standard bookmark for anyone riding in the area.