Change of Scenery ride

I really love the views I get riding the Alki bike path but after doing 6 rides in a row on that route it was time for a change in scenery.  Whereas Alki offers scenic beauty in bunches the new path I choose is, shall we say, a bit more gritty.

new section of trail completed 2015

The Duwamish river trail follows what is a "working" river south of downtown Seattle and a fairly industrial area.  I passed warehouses, light industrial, chemical plants, concrete factories etc.  Quite a departure from the mountain and sound views I was used to but its good to change things up a bit.

A working river

At one stage of my adult bike riding nearly every ride was a group ride and involved loading my bike on the car rack and driving someplace to meet up and ride.  One day a neighbor, and fellow cyclist, saw me unloading my bike from the car and commented "your driving someplace to ride your bike?".  A simple comment but it resonated with me and I started to seek out local rides that didn't involve me driving somewhere.  I noticed in looking at my Seattle bike map that I had a number of bike paths in my area; Alki, Duwamish, Green River, Interurban etc. but they didn't really connect.  In fact it took me three tries before I could find a way to connect the end of the Duwamish trail and the start of the Green River trail.  I could see on that map it wasn't far maybe a mile and half but until I realized I had to jump onto to a sidewalk to go a short distance the wrong way on a one way street, thread through some sketchy neighborhoods and ride a frontage road I had never connected them.  Once I figured it out I had access to literally miles of paths.

a prettier section of the Duwamish

 So in order to keep my riding going I took my bike to the start of the Duwamish trail to get some riding in before sunset.  I had forgotten that dusk could come on so fast in September and I didn't think to check my tail light until I was on the ride to realize it had been too long since it had interfaced with a USB port and it was dead.  I was ok, however, and finished a 19 km out and back ride before the sun totally went down.  I was also able to do the ride without a "breather" stop this time, in part because I didn't want to burn daylight and in part because I felt strong enough to do it in one go which was a pleasant surprise.  Also in the section I was riding there was no place I really wanted to stop and hang out.

bike pedestrian bridge

I was able to make it to the start of the Green River trail which in the future I can use to create some longer rides.  Although the trail I rode is mostly warehouses, train tracks, and gritty urban landscapes, I did get some glances of the river and there are some nice art pieces here and there.

Boat sculpture 

I got off to a late start this summer with riding but I realize that weather won't be as much of a challenge to continued riding as daylight.  We usually have nice falls here in the northwest into mid to late October but the days are getting shorter so I might need to start taking a bike to work with me if I want to get in a mid week ride before darkness falls.

Riding, Smiling and Repeating.