The road to PBP 2015: Bike to work day 2015

Bike to Work Day in Seattle is awesome. F5 network gear and Cascade Bicycle club team up to put "Commute Stations" all over the trails and routes. Stations have a variety of food, drink and swag items.

Yes, this isn't directly related to PBP but it's a big part of the Seattle bicycling scene, and I managed to get 40 miles in round trip today.

My goal is to hit as many stations as I can on the way to work, and today I stopped at 9 and passed by 10.

Left the house at 6:30 AM and just 5 minutes later, I'm at the first stop at the beginning of the I-90 trail.

Put on by T-Mobile, I scored a banana and a tube-fabric thing that can be a buff, a towel, a beanie, or a head covering. Very nice.

The clouds were parting and promising a decent day:

5 minutes later I'm at the U-turn by the east channel bridge on the I-90 trail at the second station of the day:

From here it's uphill as I head north on 108th toward downtown. 10 minutes later, I'm at the third station at the Marriott. Yes, when I got there nobody was at the table, they were busy putting out their sign. I got some more food and a luggage tag.

A mile more, up steep 2nd Street, and then we are at the 4th stop at the Bellevue Transit Center:

This was the best one of ALL of them, with lots of good food (got me an old fashioned donut), a wheel to spin for a prize, and generally a great vibe.

I had to get going, and wound my way to the 5th stop, a "DIY" station put on by a salon. Businesses can put on their own stops to spread the bike love and also advertise their services. This was put on by two engaging women:

I had some hot chocolate here, and picked up a little food pack with a juice box and some brownie bites.

Now a bit of a longer haul up to the 520 trail including some steepish hills, and after a bit of a ride, we are at a stop near Microsoft:

I got a nice assortment of energy bars here. As you can see, we have some serious cyclists participating today.

I didn't expect to see another stop on the 520 bike trail but there WAS another one "Kick Kids Cancer". I took a picture but didn't stop:

Now we are cruising down at 50 kph toward Redmond and the Sammamish River trail. A few miles down the trail, and we come upon another station by the soccer fields:

I met Cyndi Geislink (our transportation coordinator) here, and had a nice discussion about the Tour De Redmond T-shirts (which are the softest T-shirts ever).

Further up the SRT and we get to Wilmot Gateway Park where Woodinville Bicycle has sponsored a station:

Pushing on, take a right turn after the bridge and head north to the Cascadia Community college/UW Bothell campus where we hit the final station of the day:

Had a half cup of coffee here and picked up a danish for later.

And then another 15 minutes and we arrive at work, 2 1/4 hrs after leaving home. Normally I can do it in just over 1 1/4 hrs, so all the stops and 4 bonus miles added an hour to the trip. Here's all the stuff I picked up:

But wait, bike fun is not over! On the way home, we have the Redmond Bike Bash! Lots of bikes and food booths where you can get Zeeks Pizza, bacon wrapped jalapeno, Thai fried rice, and lots more, all for free. Beer and wine, $5.00.

Bike Parking: