So yes, you've noticed the sun is out, and hey!--maybe it would be cool to do some bike riding. Let's keep in mind that the sun came out of all 600,000 of us, so for the most part, you're not the only one who noticed. Please remember that when you walk into my shop on a bright, sunny Saturday morning. It will save you from looking like a complete twat that huffs, "Why are there so many people here?" more ›

August 8, New Belgium Brewing's Tour de Fat rolls through Seattle with a stop at Gasworks Park. The tour celebrates "all things bicycle," and one of its annual traditions is that someone will actually sign over their car at the event as a sign of his or her commitment to commute by bicycle. In exchange, this year the car-less bicyclist will receive a custom-made bike from Black Sheep Bikes. So here's your chance--the tour still needs a Seattle participant! To enter, visit their Facebook page and submit an essay or video explaining your desire to be car free. Time's running out, so jump on it ASAP. more ›

Just this last Tuesday evening, while outside Licorous for Seattlest Happy Hour, we saw an accident with a bicyclist at 12th & Spring. A guy in a Jag "bumped" a bicyclist who was, technically, going the wrong way down the bicycle lane, as he was trying to hop up on the sidewalk. No one was hurt, but the bicycle was a bit damaged and didn't seem to be working all that well. more ›

No less an authority on exercise than the weight-dropping New York Times is covering the Dutch Bike Company's expansion: "So, with 170 miles of new bike lanes in New York, it makes sense that the Dutch Bike Co. in Seattle should be opening a branch in the city this summer, its third in the United States." Actually, the Dutch bike story is in their fashion section, because apparently the real trick is to look manly while cycling. Money quote: "The only person I know who has a Dutch bike is a girl." more ›

It's been a while since our last guest editorial. Not that you were clamoring for more, but we're just saying. We expected a lot more crank email from people about zoo animal captivity and Pez. This week we have Charles Redell, former Seattlester and Green Man-about-town, with a safety concern near and dear to the hearts of hipsters everywhere. more ›

The Seattle Times says "between 4 and 9 a.m., the Washington State Patrol logged 52 accidents, including five with injuries, on major highways in King County." But you'll only read on Seattlest how dangerous the corner of Broadway East and East Aloha was. That's where our bike slid out from under us and we still somewhat sleepily glided along the road for a few feet. Ironically, we'd been checking for ice farther up the hill, but there we were in the sunshine and the frost had melted. A shady corner in the flats was our undoing. We've been biking around the Hill for almost three years now and that was our first spill. Sort of anticlimactic. more ›

• West Seattle Blog marveled over a pair of orcas playing off Alki Point yesterday.
• Both MyBallard and Fremont Universe are wondering if the streetcar will be coming to their neighborhoods.
• Capitol Hill Seattle warns that the most dangerous stretch of road for bicyclists on Capitol Hill is on E. Pine, between Summit and Melrose.

The P-I is running an AP story this morning about the new carbon fiber composite belt that some bike manufacturers (Trek, in the article) are switching to. The article makes all sorts of claims for belt superiority. We imagine they are quieter, and of course there's no chain grease involved, but we drew up short at this: "And one belt will typically last three years--the life span of three chains." Is that for real? Our chain is...let's see...carry the two...about 35 years old. It still seems to do the trick. What's the deal with these one-year chains? more ›

• "Gross!" is right. The Rainier Valley Post explores reports of mouse droppings at the Mount Baker Safeway and wonders rightly, "Where is the health department?"
• While the Mount Baker Safeway is having rodent problems, the neighborhood's Rainier Grocery Outlet is shutting down next week just in time for Thanksgiving.
• Hooray! We will be keeping at least de facto nudity at Seattle area parks.

No really. It's true. According to the League of American Bikes (via the Cascade Bicycle Alliance in our case), Washington is the most bicycle friendly state in the union. According to the LAB, "Washington’s model bike laws, signed and mapped statewide bike route network, dedicated funding from the state for bicycle related programs and projects, and an active statewide bicycle advisory committee" are reasons that the state earned top honors above Wisconsin, Arizona, Oregon (numbers two, three and four respectively) and all the others. more ›

Thanks to these high, high temperatures (OMFG!!1! 80 degrees?! *pantpant*), the P-I reports, the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency is close to calling a smog alert. The shame! The agency's Dave Kircher says to do everything possible to keep from driving the next few days: "Stay home, have an iced tea or whatever, and don't mow your lawn." Here we just laugh! As bicyclists, we're gonna pack extra water, but otherwise, Kircher, we'll do whatever the hell we want and go wherever the hell we want. (Okay, and shower much more often.) Don't worry, we'll keep an eye on the air quality for those of you trapped in cars. If there's a good reason to be wheezin', we'll let you know. more ›

Not to belabor this story, but we think the issue of the rights of bicycle riders to the road is an important one. We ride on the city streets every day and, though some commenters on our post about changes we'd like to see made to Critical Mass in Seattle think that every driver goes out of his or her way to be respectful to us, we know it's not true. Seattle still has a lot to do for bike riders. Our streets are not very safe, nor welcoming to us. more ›

Twenty minutes south of Olympia we take exit 95 off I-5 towards Little Rock. The road changes name a couple times until we're on 28th Ave SW, which ends at Waddell Creek Rd. SW. This was the closest point we could map to where we were going: the Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve. From here, we take a right and drive down Waddell for about a mile, just like the article in the told us, and then just barely noticed the turn in time. more ›

As 7:30 a.m. rolled around, we were ready for breakfast and tired of slowly following the STP riders through Kent, so we made our way back to I-5 and headed south to the first of two stops that took us away from the bicyclists' course. more ›

At 4:45 a.m. Saturday morning, July 12th, 2,427 bicyclists set out from the Husky Stadium parking lot to make the 204.5-mile Group Health Seattle to Portland Classic in one day. Fifteen minutes before that, we were drowsily slumped over the steering wheel of our car, stuck in the traffic jam on NE 45th St. headed towards University Village. Around us, cyclists with enough foresight to their bikes to the event were zooming downhill, past the poor suckers who drove. more ›

The other day we asked if there was anything special you could do to set off the arrow for turn-only lanes if you're on a bike. And yes, there is. (See also comment #9 by eldan.) more ›

"How I spent my Sunday" by Todd Bates more ›

RETURN TO THE '80s: The B-52s are playing at the Showbox at the Market tonight. We hope you already have your $50 (!) tickets since the show's sold out. If you're into that kind of '80s thing though, you can get your fill at "I Love the 80s" at Club Noc Noc with DJ Shane. Tonight is sure to be a love-shack bonanza. more ›

Why can't Seattle get a bike-sharing program of our own, a la Washington, D.C.'s new "SmartBike DC"? Our city has a dedicated (at times, frighteningly dedicated) cadre of bicyclists who will shoot down objections that Seattle's just not bike-friendly. If we can embrace Zipcar, as undoubtedly Seattle has, we should be able to get a "SmartBike Seattle" program up and running successfully in no time. more ›

It's Earth Day. Down here in the Seattlest news room we thought that, along with giving up meat, disposable coffee cups and plastic bags, we'd offer some unsolicited advice about how you can help the planet the other 364 days of the year, too. But, when a friend who happens to be a real live Seattle native and an inveterate bike commuter approached us with a better idea abut spreading the gospel of bike commuting, we figured why not let Dayna do it for us? more ›

If you ever ride your bike outside your neighborhood, you're going to want to have a copy of this map. We can tell you that over the years since we started commuting by bike, we've relied heavily on ours. With all the new lanes being painted and the new pieces of the Burke-Gilman Trail, staying up to date on the most bike-friendly routes is going to be key. more ›

We were impressed by this morning's Times article about the need to increase bicycle safety on the city's streets. more ›

WSF is still dead to us, but Governor Gregoire could make our "holiday card" list if she keeps it up. First the viaduct course correction, now she's scrounged up $100 million to pay for three new ferries. Budget, schmudget! She's all action! Plus, the Port Townsenders, come January, will be reunited with their cars on ferry trips, says the P-I:

Pierce County has agreed to loan one of its boats to the Washington State Ferries, beginning in January, to resume car service between Keystone and Port Townsend.

Seattlest has found a reason for everyone to welcome bicycles on the city's streets. The origins lie in Virgin Vacations' (has anyone asked The Name Inspector to do a write up on Richard Branson's desire to cater to virgins?) naming of the world's 11 most bike-friendly cities. Unfortunately, Seattle didn't make the list (Portland came in at number 2), which uses five criteria created by The Bicycle Friendly Communities Campaign to judge a community's bike... more ›

Seattle's infamous Bicycle Hobo(TM) tipped us off to this cool Halloween scavenger hunt thing going on this weekend that we hadn't heard of previously, evidently called the Mess-Man's Messquerade. Here's the run down from the site: more ›

It's not often that a play comes along that unites both senior citizens and the people who want to kill them. If your parents are elderly, this may strike you as "fair and balanced" theatre. more ›

Over the weekend, we made three trips to the new Stumptown Coffee on 12th Ave (next to Cafe Presse). We're not actually coffee geeks, it just worked out that way. (These people are coffee geeks.) We're more of a cafe geek. If you aren't familiar, Stumptown Coffee is based in Portland, and this is their big move into the Seattle market. (Edmonds' ZuKafe claims to have been their first Puget Sound wholesale account.) more ›

That headline was designed to hector Seattle because we know how awful it is for this part of the world to be compared to New York City. But showing Seattle how New York does something better seems to produce results (the M's notwithstanding). This time they're creating truly bike-friendly streets. more ›

With a Freedom Fries eating contest. Here is the relevant flickr set for last night's contest, evidently won by bicycle hobo associate identified only by the alias "Michael." Here are the rules for the 9/11 Eat Off Commemoration that apparently took place at Red Robin: more ›