Shuttlecock

I'm in the Seattle neighborhood for work. Specifically, I'm staying in Greenlake area with my sister and commuting to "a large software company" in Redmond every day.

The commute is great.

I've not taken any pictures so that's lame, but it really raises the bar on the quality of the prose here... and the title'ing.

Anyway -- there's a giant lake between Seattle and Redmond. A guy can ride from Seattle to Redmond if he's into it -- by going north over the lake via Burke-Gilman (good: easy for direction following, off-street path, flat. Bad: well-used by many walkers with dogs on long leashes, super-monotonous/boring in it's flatness). Or, a guy could go over I-90. The route here is a bit more diverse, sort of convoluted, but lots more options for fun, and there's something really cool about crossing Lake Washington on a sparkly day on I90.

The most direct route, would be riding over the 520 bridge. But there's no bike/ped allowed there. So, this software company has a bike-specific shuttle bus that leaves Montlake every 1/2 hour on weekday mornings. You ride up, load your bike on a big trailer that holds 12 bikes, and lounge in a company-provided bus.

I was slightly disappointed that they didn't serve coffee and have a freshly pressed newspaper for me, but I suffered through it.

The shuttle is so great. There's a return service in the evening too.

Another great thing is that I've been riding Alex's super-fly Travel-Gifford. Man, I love 26" wheels. I may or may not have ridden down a flight of shallow stairs this morning when I took a wrong turn off the Burke-Gilman to get to Montlake. And if I did, I felt not a shred of guilt or worry about potential damage to those burly-assed fat tired 559's.

The plan is to take the fun way back tonight via some dirt. This is a classis Alex route.

I will take photos. Alex is due for a flat too, so I'll be sure to get that on film.