As you may have noticed from the advertisement on Seattle Bike Blog, Cascade Bicycle Club’s 2023 Ride for Major Taylor is Sunday. And the ride has two completely different route options that both start at the White Center Bicycle Playground: A shorter 26-mile loop around West Seattle, South Park, Burien and White Center, and a longer (and much hillier) 65-mile loop around the East Passage of Puget Sound via Vashon Island, Tacoma, Federal Way and Des Moines. The longer route includes two ferry rides.
So if you have never biked to Tacoma, this is a great opportunity to experience both options in a supported group ride. And hey, you can support a great program while you do it.
The club’s 2023 Bike Everywhere Breakfast is also coming up May 4 at the Sheraton Grand hotel downtown, and they have secured a great headliner: Dongho Chang. Seattle Traffic Engineer from 2012 to 2021, Chang did a lot of work to shift the city’s transportation culture to take safety much more seriously.
Bike Month Breakfasts in past years have served as launching points for major city initiatives, including the 2nd Avenue bike lane. It is both a major fundraiser for Cascade as well as a showcase of downtown business support for bicycling.
It feels like Cascade is back to operating at full strength after a couple tough years without many of the major events that define the large organization. And it’s coming at a vital time for Seattle, which is developing a new major transportation plan and will need to pass a major transportation funding measure in 2024. This also feels like the first full Bike Month in many years. What started as Bike Week a half century ago has evolved over the decades into a packed schedule of biking events and encouragement efforts spanning the month of May and culminating with Bike Everywhere Day May 19. With many people returning to offices, it should be the biggest such day in years. The schedule still isn’t quite at the level it was before the pandemic, but it’s getting there.
More details about the breakfast from Cascade:
The 2023 Kaiser Permanente Bike Everywhere Breakfast is just around the corner! Join us bright and early on May 4 at the Sheraton Grand Seattle for our annual celebration of all things bicycling. It’s going to be a great time and you won’t want to miss it!
We will have an amazing program with keynote speaker Dongho Chang, a presentation of the Doug Walker Award, and a great conversation about how we can work to build a bikeable future. Spaces are filling up fast, so be sure to register now and save your spot.
