Cycling in Seattle in September

Lake Washington -- from Warren Magnuson Park boat launch ramp

I recently spent a week in Seattle, at and around the University of Washington. I must say that I was impressed with the support that Seattle offers for cycling, in many ways similar to that seen in Portland, its neighbor to the South. My past experience with Seattle, featuring Interstate 5 traffic jams, a big city downtown, and a couple of seemingly endless local trips out to the suburbs during rush hour, had led me to think that Seattle might not be a good place to be a cyclist. I stand corrected.

Typical I-5 traffic approaching Seattle from the South 730AM one morning.

The first revelation was the bike share program -- lime-ish green bikes sponsored by Alaska Airlines, in contrast to Portland's orange Nike-sponsored bikes and New York's Citigroup bikes. These bikes have been around much longer than Portland's, and the racks I saw -- one just a block from my hotel -- had many open slots with bikes out for use (or repair).

Bike share station in the University District

The second revelation was on the SIR brevet.  I could not discern much leaving town starting from 6AM Saturday and heading out to the South/Southeast along the shore of Lake Washington. Of course, at that hour, there was almost no traffic.

On a trail near Renton southeast of Seattle. Gravel surface here.

But coming back into town along the paved Burke-Gilman trail was really great. This route brought us more than 25 kms from the edge of town all the way past the University, all on a dedicated trail. Most of the way it was relatively wide, smooth and fast. Somehow in a very hilly city, it managed to avoid any steep grades -- understandable where it is a former railroad bed.  Of course, the hard-core SIR members on the "gravel grinder" included a number of folks who ride everywhere, in city as well as out.

Then on Tuesday at the university, I noticed some nice support for cyclists - parking with a roof, bike storage lockers, pumps and repair tools available, convenient parking. This is summarized at the UW bikeshare website, which notes that UW is a "Bicycle Friendly University", the only one in Washington, America's most bicycle friendly state! And on a ferry trip to Bainbridge Island for dinner at a friend's places, I could see many spandex-clad cyclists, taking the ferry on an intermodal ferry/bicycle commute.

At least there is a roof over your bike when it rains.

No need to bring wrenches on a daily commute

$140 a year according to the UW bikeshare website.  Lots of other support.

The beauty of Seattle's skyline from the ferry -- photos do not do it justice. Magical on a calm, warm evening.

Next, mid-week, I took a ride on the Bantam Oregon randonneur bike into town to visit a high school friend who lives between Seattle Center and downtown.  Most of the way I was in a bike lane or otherwise a well-travelled commuter route.  Very nice.

The next day I took a quick exercise ride back out to the North and East of the University District.  I thought I would find Burke-Gilman, but somehow missed it and ended up at Warren Magnuson Park. Eventually I found the trail and took in on a very fast return trip.

Appropriate sculpture for Boeing's town - airplane stabilizers as sculpture at Magnuson Park.

Rain always close, even when you can see blue sky.
If Portland is Beervana, Seattle is coffee paradise. The city is home to Starbucks, of course, but also Tully's and Seattle's Best, among myriad others.

All-in-all, a very bikeable city, even if fenders and good rain gear needed most of the year!

Mt. Rainier from my hotel -- finally shows itself fully near end of the week!

Better than London?

When I was in London in 2012 for the Positivo wedding, I marveled at the bicycle floor pump outside a pub in David and Juliane's neighborhood -- for convenient commuter use as they waited at the traffic signal.

Well, Milwaukie, Oregon, the Portland suburb where my Dad now lives, has one-upped London, and installed a complete bicycle repair station on a commuter route into Portland.  Multitool, drivers, tire irons, box wrenches, even long-handled hex wrench for those hard-to-reach repairs.  And, of course, it has a floor pump.

Milwaukie, always in my mind a relatively "blah" working/middle class suburb, somewhere in between the white trash Tonya Harding area far to the East and the tony western slopes where Intel engineers and urban professionals reside, now has a new "MAX" light rail connection direct to downtown Portland, not to mention good bicycle routes.  Oh, and they have a great Sunday farmers' market in a manageable size.

3 different varieties of "nashi" (Asian pears), and many more "yo-nashi" (western pears) 

The bread looked great ... if only we needed bread today

Mid-week Keio SFC commute

This term I am teaching a class again Wednesday afternoons as a visiting professor at Keio's Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC).   On average every other week I manage to get enough time to commute by bicycle instead of car.  Car takes around 1 hour from my house.  Bicycle takes around 1hr 30mins from my house, plus additional time for parking/locking, shower and change.  When I do the commute by bicycle, it is around 75 kms round trip, 37.5 kms each way.  It is great to get in a mid-week commute that is long enough to contribute some to my fitness.

 I've gotten used to riding on Route 246 for just under half the distance.  The Route 246 section is very fast, but not scenic and requires focus to stay safe among trucks and zooming cars.  The other half has some nice stretches, down a river along the Yamato-Fujisawa bike path, for example, and through neighborhoods. 

Bike parking at SFC - I lock my road bike to one of the trees on the left side

Yesterday, there was a lot of color, and I could not help but remember the hydrangea bushes along the driveway of the home were we lived when I was in elementary/middle school. A very pleasant ride, and a tail wind home.

The nicest stretch

Lots and lots of hydrangeas around Tokyo these days.  Ajisai!

This is where the flowers come from ... 

Almost home -- on the Tokyo side of the Tamagawa, at Futako

Classic Messenger Trick -- The RIght [Left] Turn Signal

Earlier this week I saw the following: A T-Serv messenger was about 50 meters ahead of me as the traffic light turned red and a right turn signal turned green.

The messenger glided in front of the lead car stopped at the light, then angled across the intersection staying just to the left of the cars making a right turn with the signal.  Nothing unusual (though not the technical "two light, pedestrian style" right turn required under Japanese law).

But as the messenger got to the far diagonal corner, he made a sharp turn up onto the corner just as the traffic light (and walk light) on the cross street turned green.  He headed into the crosswalk and then bore right in the street ... as I slowed to a halt and waited 60? 90? seconds for the light to turn green.  The move looks like this:

I learned this from my cycling mentor back in the U.S., as we commuted together through Washington D.C.  He told me it was a classic bike messenger maneuver.  It saves one signal, and is safe even if cars are using the turn signal coming in the opposite direction. (... as long one is careful not to sway into oncoming traffic ... maybe my drawing above needs a bit of adjustment.)  Of course, flip left and right for the version in the U.S. or elsewhere one drives and rides on the right side of the road.

I use this move regularly, most often on my commute (1) just NW of Ebisu, (2) at the Komazawa Dori/Yamate Dori crossing near Nakameguro, or (3) at Tengenjibashi.  Indeed, I can recall using it at least 3 times this week.

But Tuesday was the first time I have seen a T-Serv messenger use it in Tokyo.

Solution to the Equation: Winter + Cycling = Coffee

Under the Toyoko Line on Komazawa Dori - Gohongi

My first regular weekend morning rides on a road bike, in the countryside outside Bethesda, Maryland well over a decade ago, often ended with coffee (or latte, or espresso) at a Starbucks in Potomac -- the most "social" part of a social ride.

Eventually, a new, local coffee shop opened up in Poolesville, near our usual turn-around point. In the winter, when the warmth of the shop, the smell of hot coffee, and the caffeine pulsing through the veins after we remounted and accelerated out on the road, was especially attractive, our coffee stop shifted to mid-ride.  Indeed, good coffee is almost an essential part of a social ride.  The ride makes the coffee taste better, and the coffee makes the ride better.  After all, caffeine is (within limits) one of the few legal performance enhancing drugs.

Sometime in the past year or so, a new shop opened up along my commute home - a spacious high-ceilinged coffee shop under the Toyoko Line at Komazawa Dori - Streamer Coffee Company.  The open, airy design looked like a good place to hang out, read, open up a laptop.  Very much like something one might see in Old Pasadena in Southern California, or in Seattle or Portland.  It is one of several in the trendy SW Tokyo chain, whose owner, Hiroshi Sawada, is a kind of "celebrity latte artist".

Riding by, I could not help but notice the bike rack in front, a bike hanging from another wall rack inside, and yet more bicycle parking to the left of the door ...  I sensed a theme.

But I had never managed to stop.  Most evenings, it was already closed (8PM) when I would pass. Other times, I was just on a mission to get home, or trying to maintain a quick pace on this flat section of Komazawa Dori.

Today, I stopped.

The shop looked almost deserted from the outside, but in fact, there were 5-6 customers, all further back and to the right hand side.  One woman took my order and chatted with me while another, the barista, served an impressive looking latte in large, bowl-like cup.  It took both hands to move this massive cup toward my lips.

Mmmmmm.

I will go back. And bring a good book.

Shimano SPD pedal self destructs?!?!

I started my commute to work on Friday morning and quickly headed via Kaminoge Dori toward Meguro Dori taking the fast route rather than the more relaxed Komazawa Dori.  I was using my standard Azabu-and-back commuting rig -- the Yamabushi, with SPD pedals and Shimano cycling sandals -- comfortable, easy to change out of at the office.

But soon after I got onto Meguro Dori and up to speed, I felt am odd slippage on my right pedal, my foot sliding off the pedal entirely.  Somehow, the pedal had come entirely off its spindle.

Left pedal, still in one piece; Right pedal, useless

What triggered this?  I have no idea.  I guess nothing lasts forever, and these are more than 5 years old, with heavy usage over the past year or two.  But it was a bit disconcerting, since I am using other SPD pedals (with a platform) on longer rides, and would hate to have the same thing happen during a long randonee.  I am not about to start traveling with spare pedals!

99 Kilometer Commute

This fall, I am teaching a class at Keio University's Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC) on Wednesday  afternoon.  SFC is a beautiful campus built in the 1980s, designed by Fumihiko Maki, Pritzker Prize winning architect.

Since the campus was planned and built back when Japanese land prices were very high, it is sited far from central Tokyo.  From my house it is a long train/bus trip, or just under a 1-hour drive via Daisan-Keihin, Yokohama Shindo, then local roads, without traffic tie-ups.  Or it is a 37.5 km bicycle ride.

If I ride in to work for the morning, then back home (24km round trip), then out to SFC and back (77km round trip), it works out to almost 100 kilometers.

SFC commute -- 37.5 km each way, via 246

I cannot manage it every Wednesday, but at least if I can do this every other week, perhaps I will notice the difference in terms of regular conditioning by the start of next year?

In town commute -- 12 kms each way, via Komazawa Dori (or faster but less pleasant Meguro Dori)

As for the route, after consultation with former and current Yokohoma residents (MOB, James M. and others), I am using Route 246 to get out to Minami Machida, then taking local roads and bike paths (e.g. the Yamato-Fujisawa bike path) the rest of the way.  246 is ugly, but fast.

Once I tried to go straight from my office via Nakahara Kaido, into stiff headwinds the whole way, and it was a disaster.  Way too many red lights, way too many hills, too many narrow stretches with lines of traffic and no room to pass by at the shoulder.  The ride took an additional 45 minutes.