Spokane trip

I've read some bicycling blogs lately where the writers recently visited Bellingham, WA or Spokane,WA. I've visited both places recently (I am posting this from Spokane, in fact).

Here are some pics I snapped in Spokane this weekend. Not many, I admit, but they struck me as interesting, showing some of the pro-bike attitude of what I (erroneously) thought was a pickups and asphalt kind of town.

In the river park, with paths for bicycles and pedestrians to share, it was interesting to see this kind of trail marking, though there were plenty of "no bikes" or "no pedestrians" signs around town too.

Sort of a different approach than my city is considering.


Auntie's Books had a window display of cycling books for Bike to Work month. :)



I did see this ghost bike in Spokane but wasn't close by to take a photo. A reminder for everyone to watch out for cyclists.

going to B'ham

I have a workshop the next two days in Bellingham, WA and I hope to take a bike with me to explore.

Someone put together some bike routes maps.

There are a few community and/or college bike shops to explore too.

I'm taking a camera (if I remember it) to snap pics.

how cool would this be?

REI offers tours in many places of the world for hikers and bicyclists, like this one in Italy.



Though this cycling one, Vienna to Prague, has my eye.


Someday, perhaps.

Friendly Skies: I think not! using social media for customer complaints

Listen up, United Airlines!

$175 each way (yes, EACH WAY) for flying a bicycle is ree-dick-you-lus!

A dude on facebook is lashing out.

From back in the day when peanuts were free and you could carry any liquid you wanted to on-board...

Bikes near the Pike

Last weekend, the four of us headed down to the Pike Place Market in Downtown Seattle. My wife wanted to pick up some Market Spice Tea. Despite my urging we travel via bus or light rail into Downtown Seattle, we ended up taking the family truckster (our 2003 Dodge minivan). Predictably, traffic around the Pike Place Market (vehicles, bikes, and pedestrians) was heavy and parking, when we found it, was expensive ($17 for about a two-hour stay).

I snapped lots and lots of photos, but below are ones that have some bike-related content. Most are not in the Pike Place Market proper, but on the next street or block over in one direction or the other.

I snapped this one of my daughter Lauren posed near a Walmart type of MT bike. It was locked up.


A Schwinn road bike set up for commuting perhaps. Locked up on First Avenue. The owner must be close by, since it looks like the front wheel is left unlocked.


Isn't the whole point of a folding bike that you tote it with you? Maybe they don't let bikes into the strip club across the street. It was nice of the owner to fold it up before locking though, less for the pedestrians to step around.


The guy riding down Post Alley just prior to me snapping this photo nailed the girl in jeans on the right hand side of the photo and kept on riding, not even pausing to see if she's OK. This is not far from where this bike-ped collision happened recently.


In the far left of the photo above, you'll see the world-famous "Gum Wall". A gross tourist thing to be sure... one that most locals don't even know about. Here's a detailed view...


My daughter was less thrilled to be in photos as the afternoon wore on. Here she's posed next to a cluster of bike racks near the Pike Place Market. I was wondering why so few were being used and/or how they determined how many to install in that area.