Bike-A-Thon

organized by Kavana Cooperative to benefit Bike Works

What is this?

A self-guided Bike-a-thon to raise money for Bike Works. Our goal is to raise enought to donate at least $40 per bike collected during our August 23 Bike Drive. This will subsidize Bike Works’ repair training program and let them include new locks and helmets with each bike they give away to youth from low-income families.

How does it work?

Step one: We mapped out several bicycle rides below. Ask your family and friends for pledges for each of these rides that you do this summer:

Dear Friend,
This summer I’m helping to raise money for Bike Works, a terrific non-profit in South Seattle that promotes bicycles as vehicles for change to empower youth and build resilient communities. We’re doing a Bike-a-thon and I’ll be riding some of the routes (you can see them all here). Would you be willing to sponsor me with $5, $10, or $20 for each route I complete?

ps. We’re also doing a Bike Drive on August 23rd. If you have bikes or bike parts you’re not using, I can come get them from you and bring them to be donated to Bike Works.
Thank you!
Love, Me
(You can copy and paste this into an email.)

Step two: Get out there and ride. If you want to do a different route than the ones suggested here, go for it. Have fun.

Step three: Report back to your sponsors and have them to donate directly to Bike Works using this link:

bikeworks.org/donate/

Please ask your sponsors to type ‘Kavana Bike Drive’ in the ‘What inspired this gift?’ box on the donation form.
Or, if you prefer, you can collect money from your sponsors yourself and send it all together using the above link (please remember to put ‘Kavana Bike Drive’ in the ‘What inspired this gift?’ box.)

Step four: Send us the result of your ride(s) with this form. Also: feel good about using the most efficient form of transportation ever invented, exploring our beautiful city, and furthering social and environmental justice!

Routes

SOUTH LAKE UNION - WESTLAKE - MAGNOLIA

This is one of our all-time favorite rides! Starting at Denny Park downtown you go through South Lake Union on a brand-new protected bike lane, then onto the fabulous protected bike lane that runs along Westlake (which opened in 2016). Next is the flat, serene and lovely Ship Canal multi-use trail, which is much less hectic than the more famous Burke Gilman trail across the water. Continue on protected bike lanes all through Magnolia to the entrance for Discovery Park, which is currently a bicyclist’s paradise because park roads are mostly closed to car traffic due to the pandemic. The fairly steep ride to the top of the park is well worth the view.

Click here for the route map

DOWNTOWN - SODO - WEST SEATTLE

Beginning at the Seattle Center, this route takes you down Second Ave, one of our city’s most important protected bike lane arterials (the last portion connecting Pike to Denny was finished in 2018). Next, weave through the fascinating industrial maze that is the Port of Seattle, across the bridge and out along a wonderful multi-use (walking and biking) path to the cool tip of Alki Beach.

Click here for the route map

CHIEF SEALTH TRAIL - BEACON HILL GREENWAY

This wonderful paved separated path opened in 2007 along a major Seattle City Light transmission tower right-of-way. It can get a bit hilly, but is worth the stunning views. The southern end is right near the Kubota Gardens, a hidden gem of a garden by master landscaper Fujitaro Kubota, now a pubic park.

Click here for the route map

UW - LAKE WASHINGTON BLVD - SEWARD PARK

This is the ride if you love trees and water! The UW campus, the Arboretum, Seward Park, plus a long stretch right along Lake Washington with lots of spots to jump in if you get too hot. Lake Washington Blvd does not normally have a bike lane or trail, but the city recently designated it a Keep Moving Street, closed to all but local car traffic through September 8.

Click here for the route map

THE BURKE-GILMAN

The famous Burke-Gilman Trail! This paved trail started as part of a nationwide rails-to-trails movement that, beginning in the 1960s, converted abandoned or unused rail corridors into public trails. The B-G takes you through a very wide variety of urban and suburban habitats – from the old industrial area of Ballard to the parks of Bothell. Perfect if you just want to ride and not worry about car traffic, complicated directions, or big hills.

Click here for the route map

BEACON HILL - MERCER ISLAND

This ride takes you on a seperated bike path from Dr. Jose Rizal Park at the northern most end of Beacon Hill, across the floating bridge, and onto Mercer Island. The I-90 bike path continues across into Bellevue, which can be a lot of fun to explore. But for this ride you loop around Mercer Island and back across the bridge to Seattle – or skip the loop and stop at Shawn’s Bakery for a treat! It’s marked with a star on the map.

Click here for the route map

CIRCUMNAVIGATION LAKE UNION

This route takes the path-of-least-resistance around Lake Union. There is very little elevation change during this route. The University Bridge is a slight climb, and you get a free descent after crossing the Fremont Bridge. The north and west sides of the lake have nice bike paths, on the east and south sides you’ll be riding on the streets.

Click here for the route map

FREMONT - INTERURBAN - EDMONDS

Head up north! This takes you on some bike lanes, a segment of the Interurban rail-to-trail separated bike path before veering off to head out to Edmonds. If you are feeling especially adventurous (and have some time), catch a ferry to Kingston and ride out onto the Olympic Peninsula.

Click here for the route map

DESIGN YOUR OWN

There are many great rides we don’t have listed here. A few places to begin your research:

Seattle Outdoors Bike Trails guide
Seattel Bike Map Online
Seattle Bike Map PDF download

Advocacy

Bikes are a crucial tool in the fight against global warming, economic uncertainty and COVID-transmission. In June, the International Energy Association announced that if we can hold our climate emissions to pandemic-level reductions in the next 6-months, it is possible that we can hold global warming to the critical limit of only +1.5C by 2030. Bikes are a zero-emissions, low-transmission risk alternative to potentially higher-risk options like buses and subways. Bikes also prevent traffic. Even the Wall Street Journal is reporting on bikes as “personal transportation.” Bikes are also the cheapest transportation available: a monthly bike commute is half the cost of a low-income ORCA card. Seattle needs to join this cycling surge, and the city should prioritize making biking a safe alternative to cars.

Seattle’s Bike Master Plan (BMP) is a community-vetted, city-wide bike network that would make bicycle commuting safe for all. Yet the mayor and SDOT keep cutting this plan. Local transportation advocates are pressing the city to build out the BMP with cones and bollards to create an emergency, pop-up corona-cycleway for COVID-safe errands and commutes. Interested in joining these efforts? Email Ingrid: elliottshapiro@mac.com.

About

This project came out of discussions in Kavana’s Seattle Green New Deal Action Group led by Rabbi Josh Weisman. Matt Offenbacher and Ingrid Elliot are organizing with help from: Julie York at Bike Works, Jessica Aronson Cook, Jeff Sprung, Jennifer Nemhauser, Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum, Liz Thompson ... and you! The illustration is an interpretation of Ezekial’s vision drawn by Matt.

Please email Matt or Ingrid with any comments questions, suggestions.

We’re also doing a Bike Drive!
Find out more here