Seattle area training hills

[MrSalsa]

There are lots of good hills around. You can find any degree of difficulty you want. For a steady climb in the city, try 8th Ave NW from Leary Way (near the ship canal) up to about 85th St. It's no too steep or long and it has a bike lane most of the way.

Another option is to start near Montlake Playfield and go southeast up Boyer Ave to 24th Ave NE, then go right one block and right again on Interlaken Ave. Then follow Interlaken up to the intersection of 19th Ave NE and East Galer St. From there you can go up 19th a couple of blocks and turn right toward Volunteer Park on top of Capitol Hill. It's a very nice ride.

There are lots of hills to choose from on this ride: http://home.comcast.net/~cheg01/waterworks1.htm
though they tend to be pretty steep and some of it is on high traffic roads

Other good resources:
http://www.bikely.com/listpaths/srchkey/seattle
http://www.routeslip.com/discover/USA/WA/Seattle
(routeslip has distance and elevation)

[Starfish]

In the Ballard/North Beach/Blue Ridge area (nearish to where you are):

You can do NW 24th both directions, north and south. If you start down in Ballard near the locks, you get a long gradual hill up to 85th. If you continue on up and over, you end up at the salt water and can turn around and come back up to 85th.

When you are all the way down by the water, if you turn right (east), you can do some harder (shorter) hill repeats in the Blue Ridge neighborhood when you want to go a little harder.

Also, for fun weekend training trips out to the Olympic Peninsula, check out the routes for the ride: Olympic Cycling Classic (I think it is olybikeride.com...but Google will find it for you). We have great hill training and a terrific century in May.

[dakay]

Another nice hill out east of Seattle is along Snoqualmie Ridge Parkway(the SR 18 exit off I-90) between I-90 and SR 202. A nice path climbs from 202 to the top so no traffic to worry about.

Kathy

[teigyr]

Thank you, everybody!

I braved the rain last sunday but it was on a bike trail. I look forward to this weekend so I can try out some of these routes, they are appreciated more than you can imagine. It took me a long time in California to figure out good training rides but I had just started riding so the rides developed as I did. Now I'm impatient!!!

Jane

[Starfish]

I know you're looking for some routes that have specific attributes, not just hill climbs, but the Cascade Bike Club newspaper used to have a monthly favorite hill route featured. I don't live in Seattle anymore and I am no longer a member...don't know if they still do this.

You might consider doing some of their group rides, whichever is the right pace for you, as a way to find new routes with groups of people who already know their way.

Also, when I lived there, I found a good riding buddy through CBC's online forum.