Loop

Complain all you want about Seattle’s bicycling infrastructure (and if you’re on Reddit or the Seattle Times “comments” section, you will), one still has to admit it’s pretty incredible that a person can ride their bike about thirty miles from the tip of Lake Washington in Bothell all the way down to the western shores of the Duwamish in South Park on bike paths, routes, or separated-from-traffic trails the whole time.

It's not there won’t be points along the way where speeding cars or distracted 18-wheelers might potentially crush you like a bug, but it’s sure a lot different than 10 or 15 years ago when such points were the norm.  

It used to be, for instance, that getting from the base of the West Seattle Low Bridge at the traditional pee and pot “safety meeting” stop to the start of the Duwamish River trail meant battling SUVs going 20 miles over the 35 mile an hour speed limit and giant garbage trucks rumbling past one’s ears for a good—that is, bad—mile and a half; now, however, there’s a concrete barrier protecting a well marked bikes-only path and to make it even more amazing, getting there from downtown along what used to be a pretty scary scurry along East Marginal Way is now a smooth glide along fresh asphalt completely separated from those fossil-fuel powered behemoths so often out to get you, unintentionally, usually, but sometimes, even intentionally.

Add to this a mid-autumn new moon evening in the Pacific Northwest on which not a single drop of rain was seen to fall, and you’ve got all the ingredients for a lovely night out on two wheels; (well, most of them, anyway; the cannabis cookies and mini-joints along with the martini, beers, and surprisingly delicious pizza recommended highly by all who sampled it contributed to the loveliness, as well.)

All of which is to say that, from this quarter, anyway, no complaints whatsoever, only praise be.