Riding and Races in the Seattle Area?

[dirtygirl1]

So I just accepted a job with Microsoft in Redmond, Seattle which means we are moving to the Seattle area ...

I would love to meet some other riders in the area and also have some other questions:

1. Are there any good long distance races in the Seattle area?
2. Where are the best spots to ride? We will be close to Issaquah which I hear is where loads of trails are - I am pretty stoked about that

Thanks!!

[SadieKate]

Congratulations!

I absolutely love the folks at bicylepaper.com. They run a nice website and provide printed copies of both a touring quide and a racing guide.

http://www.bicyclepaper.com/

And there's an article about women's racing right smack at the top: http://www.bicyclepaper.com/articles/2008/03/many_opportunities_await_women_racers

[Eden]

Looks like you are a mt biker primarily? I'm much more familiar with the road scene around here, but we do have a dirt contingent to our team that I could put you in touch with.

I think the best source of info about local mt bike rides and races is here: http://www.bbtc.org/home/index.php
another person who orgainizes local mt bike races is www.buduracing.com
you might also check out Oregon www.obra.org

for road go to www.wsbaracing.com (and there is a link to the cyclocross site and calender from here on the events page)

[Drtgirl]

Hi--

I live in Issaquah- it's the gateway to the mtns and a lot of great trails (biking and hiking). There are a handful of endurance races in the PNW but I can't think of any in the Seattle area. Besides the 24hr race in Spokane there's the Cascade Creampuff but that's in Oregon.

And then there's British Columbia....you can check out the Test of Metal, the BC Bike Race (7 days) or a couple 24 hr races. The riding up there is nuts!

When are you moving out here?

PM me if you want more info.

[dirtygirl1]

Thanks ladies ... I am pretty excited.

Yes, loads of racing in BC and Alberta. I have done the TransRockies a few times (when I lived in Ontario) and have always wanted to try the Test of Metal ... some day.

I hear Issaquau is the place to live for trails. We are looking for a place close to the area - it is nice to be able to ride from your door - a few miles on the pavement just helps you warm up. :):)

Thank you for the links. I am looking forward to the move. Those of you in the area will likely hear more from me when we have settled in!

[KnottedYet]

Hot diggity! There's a ton of active TE'ers in the Seattle area! Let us know when you get here!

[dirtygirl1]

Got here yesterday. Our stuff hasn't arrived so we spent a few hours checking out Coal Creek on our mtbs today ... very fun area! I am hopeing to get back out there tomorrow (work starts next week) and do a longer ride.

Any good hilly options around? To prep for a race in July I need to find a mountainous loop (~2000 + feet of climbing) that is fairly technical. Any suggestions?

[Eden]

Mind you I know very little about mt biking.... but close in there are trails at St. Edwards Park over near Kirkland http://www.bbtc.org/wiki/index.php?title=Trail:Saint_Edward_State_Park

and the one place I've ever ridden a mt bike, Tolt McDonald (the team did a team building / learn to mt bike ride here - there are lots of trails, technical to easy I think) http://www.bbtc.org/wiki/index.php?title=Trail:Tolt_MacDonald

If you don't mind a bit of a drive there are lots of options
there's a nice list of trails with elevation info and descriptions here
http://www.bbtc.org/wiki/index.php?title=Special:Allpages&namespace=100

just be sure to check out current conditions before you go many of these places - there's been so much snow here this year, and such cold weather as of late that its likely that some of these trails are still buried!

[Irulan]

24 hour race Spokane May 24-25
http://www.roundandround.com/RoundTheClock/RoundTheClock.php

Cascade Creampuff
http://www.cascadecreampuff.com/

[Drtgirl]

Most of the trails in the Seattle area are relatively flat. If you want to work on technical skills you can check out Tapeworm (aka DNA, Parasite, etc.) in Renton, Black Diamond, S. Seatac near the airport or Soaring Eagle in Sammamish.

If you want to climb the closest trail system would be Tiger Mountain. There are plenty of fire roads to climb and some nice singletrack. This trail just opened up for the summer and gets VERY crowded (ie-no parking available) after work and on weekends. I'd recommend an early am ride.

Capitol forest down in Olympia is also really nice.

Eden's right about the snow Last winter's snowfall was really heavy and a lot of the trails are still covered. My hubby and I explored some trails off hwy 18 last weekend and we ran into over 3' of snow on the shady side of the mountain :eek:

[Drtgirl]

Eden's right about the snow Last winter's snowfall was really heavy and a lot of the trails are still covered. My hubby and I explored some trails off hwy 18 last weekend and we ran into over 3' of snow on the shady side of the mountain :eek:

Yeah....so I tried to ride Tiger tonight. Snow about 100m in from the trailhead. We turned around and literally got pummeled by hail. Riding down a fire road at nearly 30mph is not fun with you add in the ice pellets!

[dirtygirl1]

Thanks Girls,

I also tried Tiger and ran into snow. It wasn't too bad but I am originally from canada ;)

Black Diamond is providing loads of fun for me right now...

Irulan --> are you going to Round and Round? I raced it Solo last year and plan to go again. what a great race. It was my first 24 hour Solo and I loved every minute of it :-)

I am hopeing Tiger will be cleared this weekend - will let you know!

[dirtygirl1]

I was out to Tiger both Saturday and Sunday ... no snow left on Tiger!

Saturday was amazing ... Sunday it hailed, snowed and rained ... but was a fun ride.