Specific Commuting Route

[kfergos]

Hmmmm a couple things I can think of...

I think the Bellevue - I-90 route may be a bit more hill and traffic friendly than the west side. The I-90 route also eliminates the need to get through downtown, which while not impossible or dangerous can be really slow...
The Burke starts to wear on most people who use it often because its bumpy, has a lot of cross streets and can be crowded in nicer weather. Of course you can avoid most of the BG and cut some of the milage by going through Lake City (it does mean climbing a big hill though) The basic route is Lake City way to 35th to Ravenna which turns into 25th, but if it interests you I can be much more specific.

If you are up on the hill off Juanita Drive then there's no avoiding it, but if you are just in the area, then Waynita is an easier climb.

It won't work for the Xtracycle, but with a regular length bike you can take a bus across 520 if you are in a hurry. It can be a challenge to get a spot at rush hour though as most of the buses have 2, 3 at most rack spots. Metro is giving free lifts on deadhead buses from only the last stop before to the first stop after the bridge. I think they may even be allowing bikes on the bus to fit more riders too, but as far as I know there isn't exactly a regular schedule so it can be a bit dicey to wait there.

Thanks for the input so far!

Yesterday afternoon, about the time it stopped raining (hooray!), I tried out a loop combining two possible commutes. here are the GPS tracks from them (they end at an intersection near where I'm staying, for security):
1. BG and through Seattle: http://www.plus3network.com/routes/route/110852
2. I-90 and through Bellevue: http://www.plus3network.com/routes/route/110851

I agree the BG route is irritatingly bumpy (I rode on it to Fremont the other day on my Xtracycle and I was ready to kill somebody by the end), plus all the cross-streets and ped traffic, not to mention increased bike traffic in nicer months, make me wonder if this is really the golden bullet so many people seem to make it out to be. I can't imagine riding that in the pitch-dark, for example, because of all the invisible rooty bumps and surprise driveways. Plus I really, really don't like the way the trail has bicyclists crossing on crosswalks. I would be interested in trying out alternative on-road routes to the BG, if you have good ones. Anyway, it seemed like it was a steady grade from when I got on MLK Jr. Way all the way to the UW. Generally the route didn't seem overly hilly. Traffic-wise I did it like 3:00 or so, so not prime driving time. I could see all the stoplights really slowing a person down.

The Bellevue/I-90 route seemed OK, but I'd worry about going across the bridge on a windy or stormy day. It was pretty gusty even yesterday, when it was relatively calm. There were a couple hills of note, the Market Street hill in Kirkland and the Bellevue Way hill going up by 520, but otherwise even in Seattle and on the bridge it seemed remarkably flat and doable for Western Washington. Just not sure how bad traffic would be in Bellevue, but presumably not worse than Seattle during rush hour. I have heard there have been muggings in the I-90 tunnel, which makes me somewhat more wary of riding that route by myself at odd hours of the day and night.

Question: Buses and bikes. I've heard that your bike can get pretty badly damaged when you put it on a bus, mainly from other people shoving their bikes against yours really roughly. I had one person tell me that every time she put her bike on a bus, she had to get it (the bike, not the bus ) repaired afterward. Aside from my Xtracycle, which probably isn't going to work with buses ever, all I have is my ti Seven, and I'm really reluctant to expose that to any kind of even potential damage. Is that a valid concern with buses? I'm looking at a 20-mile trip each way and that's long enough I'd want to be able to do partial bike/bus commutes, but I really don't want to damage my Seven.