Travel to Seattle/Portland

Burke Gilman Trail in Seattle is really nice.  I'm not currently local, sorry, but I have been a local Seattle-ite for a long time, and I'm headed back there in less than a year for law school.  Oh I'm so excited!

The recent Seattle Magazine (you may be able to get it online or ath library) ran a great article on all things outdoors, including riding. I'll try to find the article and ad a link later. Also, www.bikeportland.org.

I am going to Portland in late September to run the Marathon and Seattle in the near future frp work; wish I was going sooner - enjoy!

My favorite place to train in Seattle is Seward Park. It is the perfect place to train IMO because I can do OW swims, bike and run there. For a good ride start from the park and head north on Lake Washington Blvd. There is a bike route that goes across the I-90 floating bridge over to Mercer Island. It is a particularly beautiful route as it is along Lake Washington and has great views of Mt. Rainier.

After your ride, you can run the 2.4 miles around the park or for longer runs you can head into the park. There is a great network of trails within the old growth forest. Many triathletes train here and you are very likely to see some swimming in Andrew's Bay. The water is pretty warm (in the 70's) and would be a great way to cool off after your ride and run.

Speedy Reedy is one of the local tri shops and I believe they rent bikes.

I hope this helps and have fun while you are up here.

For Seattle and the east side of Lake Washington you can add to the Burke/Gilman, the Lake Sammamaish trail and the Cedar River trails. Amazing riding in the Snoqualmie river Valley as well among many others. Both are a mix or hard packed gravel and pavement for running and riding. Bike trail in west Seattle along Alki beach as well.

Seward Park and the Burke/Gilman are easily reached from DT Seattle. Speedy Reedy is actually on the Burke/Gilman and are great people.

In Portland, Forest Park is a great place to run and mountain bike. You can ride or run on Leif Ericson, which is a gravel road through the park with mile markers every 1/4 mile. You can then ride up hill on a handfull of fire roads. Most of the trails are closed to bikes. Wildwood trail is over 30 miles long, and is also marked every 1/4 mile. You reach Leif Ericson via NW Thurman St and there's a Fat Tire Farm bike shop that rents mountain bikes on NW Thurman and ~28th Ave.

The road to OHSU that someone mentioned in another post is Terwilliger, which is a popular running and riding route. The YMCA is at the foot of Terwilliger if you want a place to swim, and there's also a track there. From Terwilliger you can get on the Markum Trail for more trail running.

There are paths on both sides of the Willamette River downtown, with plenty of bridges to connect the two. I think a loop including the Steel Br. on the north and Hawthorne on the south is ~3 miles. On the eastside you can continue south (there's a very short stretch past the OMSI where you're on surface streets) on the trail and meet up with the Springwater Corridor. It goes south for a few more miles along the river. You would need a map, but from there you can work your way to the east-west portion of the Springwater Corridor which is quite long. I'm not sure how far, but 20-30 miles. It in turn intersects with the 205 bike trail which you can take north across the Columbia River into Washington. Basically, you can ride a hell of a long ways and stay primarily on bike trails if that's your desire.

I prefer riding on the roads. Plenty of bike lanes in downtown. Sauvie Island is just north of downtown and there's parking if you want to drive your bike(s) there. It's a 12 mile loop around the island, plus there's some out and back roads you can take. There's a large map in the parking area to get your bearings.

Mt. Tabor is another good area to run and ride.

Bike shops would include Bike Gallery, River City Bikes, Gateway Bikes, Bike n Hike. There are others, but these are the ones that might have rentals. I know you can rent tandems at Gateway (they also have a huge selection of tri bikes to drool over).

scott

Check out Montlake Bicycles for your rental needs in Seattle(206-329-7333, 2223 24th Ave E., Seattle) . They are close to the Arboretum, Lake Washington "loop" and Burke Gilman Trail. These people know their stuff and are VERY nice.

And I'd second the recommendation for Seward Park - we live close by and bike, swim and run there often. Enjoy - it's a great time to visit the Northwest!

Thanks so much for the advice guys.  I can't wait to go!