seattle, vancouver, other random places

[imfromirvine]

hey all,
I'm traveling back to my hometown, seattle washington, haven't been back since i was 2 months old. any good places to ride around just to get to know the city a little better? same thing with vancouver. i'm visiting and i want to know places to just cruise and enjoy the city a little bit. I'm also planning to fly with my dervish as a carry-on. any comments on that?
thanks

[coolhand]

I am here in Oregon so I cant recommend places to ride but the weather forecast is looking pretty good for the weekend. Lets hope it holds up.

Welcome back!

[pavedwave]

come out to Greenlake this weekend, there'll be a bunch of people cruising the lake from around 4 p.m. ALL freaking night - some will head over to the skatepark a stone's throw away, and others will probably go do some late night bombing runs

and check out northwestlongboarding.com for all the NW shizzle!

as far as carry-on just make sure to keep any skate tool / wrench in your check-in, mine got confiscated as a 'dangerous tool' last time. as for the board I look for the flight attendant with the biggest smile and ask them if they don't mind keeping it in their coat locker.

welcome back!

[spaceghost0]

If you are in the city proper, ride:

Mercer (from 1st near Seattle Center) This rides like a coin op game or something. You can ride from the top at 1st, or if traffic is too much, push the crosswalk button at the Center and then go. It stops everyone for a long time. The pavement is really nice and traffic only comes from behind and the left, so stay to the right, although carve all four lanes when you get the chance because its heavenly. You can blow through the lights on the right, though. Also watch for pedestrians (more so on weekends), timing is everything there and they can mess it up for you.

Dexter (Queen Anne) Three parts to this road. First is from Denny & Dexter riding North, a mellow hill. Then keep walking up to just past the Swedish Cultural Center and there's a small grocery and bus stop. Ride back towards Denny on this. Third part is to keep going North on Dexter and the hill eventually drops into Fremont at the Fremont Bridge. This portion is the steepest of the three, but has 3-4 lanes and can be mellower traffic wise. Best bet is mid morning or later at night (or weekend). This road is at the mercy of the winds, too, so the middle section will suck with a headwind but rock with a tailwind.

Taylor (Queen Anne) If you're feeling ballsy. Steepest doable run I found downtown, top of Queen Anne Hill. I don't recall the start street, but it bottoms out into Mercer after the QFC. Pavement is great on the top portion, and gets pretty fast. Nice with a headwind. BE VERY CAREFUL HERE. Blind turns in what is basically a neighborhood street, cars do back out. I learned this first hand.

Stone Way (Fremont) Catch this on a sunny Sunday and never look back. Awesome pavement, long road, never ceases to please. Great view of the lake and city too. If you're in the U Dist take 45th over which is a fun ride in itself going through Wallingford I think it is. Start at the Tutta Bella just below the light. Bike lane here for easy doings. Only on section to worry about at the gas station with a couple of lights and merging traffic. There's even a Subway at the bottom and you can get to Urban Surf by taking the bike path to the left.

The Ave (UW) Fun carving this up in a beer bottle costume late one Halloween. It's a pretty "hot" spot, lotso cops and a recent longboarder death, but they never got me. Great carving, and if you're good, you can steez out all the ladies watching you go by. Win win.

Memorial (UW) Start at 45th and take into campus. I've heard this is hot too, but never had any issues, steeper than the Ave I think.

5th Ave (Downtown) I don't know what cross street this starts getting downhill on, but just roll out from Westlake Mall and give it a go. Again, a sunny Sunday is great here, no traffic, carefully ignore lights, and blow right into the International District for some eats.

Interlaken (?) Only ridden this once, by accident. Check out the NWLB crew, they use it quite a bit.

There are a lot of garages in UW/DT as well, but again, I'll leave that to NWLB as those are better ridden in groups.

For Vancouver, I lived in Cascade Park (but didn't start skating til I left) so the only two streets I can recommend are Talton and 130th Ave, respectively. Both basically on McGillivray near Wy'East.

Sorry for the long essay, but these are spots near and dear to me and were my bread and butter for my college career. If you know more specifically where you'll be in Seattle I might be able to give some more routes or runs. I was on Cap Hill. HTH

[imfromirvine]

thanks for the quick replies everyone. And i'd love to go to greenlake (wherever that is, haha) but i'm all the way down in so cal . and thanks for all the info space ghost. I'm not too sure where i'm going to be in seattle but i'm freaking excited!!!! are the sidewalks pretty smooth in seattle?

[spaceghost0]

Sidewalks in Seattle go from good to horrible, probably like anywhere else. The streets can be better but even those are @#$%. Bottom line: 70mm or + wheel in softer 'thane. Building a city on hills causes lots of seams to shift, so even if the concrete is good, the spots where it joins may not be.

[TheEskimoMan891]

you talking about Vancouver WA?
or Vancouver BC?

[imfromirvine]

vancouver BC, and i just found out we're going to victoria as well.
anyone know the rules about jetblue and carrying on boards?

[jetpig]

definately hit up northwestlongboarding.com

all the nw shizzle is on there.

[jb_]

+1 for the 5th avenue run. 6th av heading north from near the freeway turnoff was nice too, if a little slow.

btw, i'm moving to seattle next year and am wondering where to live. what's a cheap, decent location that's within skating distance of the city centre? i was thinking of fremont, capitol hill, or queen anne. is fremont too far?