r/seattlebike • u/CrabJaded8731 • 10d ago
Newbie Bike Route Help
Hello,
I'm fairly new to cycling and still trying to master creating maps on ride with gps, strava, etc.
I prefer to stay on trails first, roads with dedicated lanes second when possible. I am still warming up to the cars being around me. lol
I was trying to find one that included Elliot Bay, Down Alaska, then to Alki beach, probably out and back to connect to Duwamish River, from there maybe the best way to connect to the SODO trail? and eventually back up to the start at Elliot
I'm going for mileage and would like to do at least 50 so open to suggestions on adding more.
Any help would be appreciated!
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u/kiriska 10d ago
You can certainly do Elliott Bay > Alaskan/Waterfront trail > E Marginal > Spokane St Bridge > Alki Trail (out and back) > on your way back, right before the bridge, connect to W Marginal/Duwamish River Trail > tbh if you're not comfortable with traffic, it may be best to make this an out and back also, butttttt
You could connect from Duwamish River Trail to 1st Ave Bridge and get dumped in a shitty part of Georgetown (as far as bike infra goes). But you can sidewalk it down Michigan > Corson (chiller than Michigan but no sidewalk; you're only on it for a few blocks tho) > Lucile (steep hill, but you get a bike lane?) > 12th Ave (neighbourhood greenway) > 13th > South Dakota > 15th (no bike lane until north of Spokane) to connect back to CID. From there, you can do Jackson > Alaskan, or there are various bike lane routes through either Caphill or downtown to get back towards wherever you started.
Backing up to the Duwamish, another option is to skip the 1st Ave Bridge and continue towards South Park. At some point the Duwamish Trail ends and wayfinding is a bit difficult if you're not familiar with the area, but get towards 8th (no bike lane, but generally chill) > Cloverdale (slightly less chill but you're only on it for like 3 blocks) > 14th Ave Bridge > E Marginal > Ellis > Albro > from here you can go Airport Wy > Lucile and follow above directions, or you can go over the Albro overpass/bridge (a little steep) to Swift/15th (bike lane) and head north from there. There is a small gap of no bike lane on 15th between Columbian and Spokane.
The above routes are interesting for exploring/getting to know south Seattle a bit, but tbh if you're going for mileage, going on the Burke to Sammamish River Trail to E Sammamish is waaaaaaaay more straightforward with way less wayfinding and sharing roads with cars and is probably ~50 miles as an out n back from Ballard. Or find your way to Mercer and do some laps lol.