Missing
I have a Burke-Gilman Trail-shaped hole in my heart.
It’s not the whole thing; just the part from 25th and Blakely through Lake Forest Park, the part I nowadays skip by riding up from Montlake through Lake City and down the 522 to 175th and Bothell Way.
It’s not so bad on the ride out to school from home; time-wise, it doesn’t really take me any longer than staying on the trail did. Pedaling past all the car dealerships in Lake City isn’t as pleasant as cruising by Lake Washington to be sure, but I don’t mind it too much since it’s generally still light out when I’m doing so.
It’s the coming home that sort of sucks, especially the grind up Lake City Way from the Lake Forest Park Shopping Center. That’s where I all too often yield to the temptation to wait for the bus downtown, even on nights when it’s not raining and an extra ten or twelve miles of riding would be a good way to pass an hour or so.
It’s been this way since summer, when construction crews began work on the trail; the signs say they’re going to be done December 15; from the looks of things, it may be sooner than that.
Paving is completed from Log Boom Park in Kenmore at least as far as 175th. You get to ride on new asphalt for about 20 feet before the detour begins. This has only served to whet my appetite for the rest of the newly-restored route.
I’ve often thought, over the past nine years of riding the trail four or five days a week, that were it not for its existence, I probably wouldn’t be so consistent of a bike commuter from Seattle to Bothell. These past five months of detour have done nothing to dissuade me; I think I can hold out, though, for another month or so, and my cycling heart to be whole once more.
It’s not the whole thing; just the part from 25th and Blakely through Lake Forest Park, the part I nowadays skip by riding up from Montlake through Lake City and down the 522 to 175th and Bothell Way.
It’s not so bad on the ride out to school from home; time-wise, it doesn’t really take me any longer than staying on the trail did. Pedaling past all the car dealerships in Lake City isn’t as pleasant as cruising by Lake Washington to be sure, but I don’t mind it too much since it’s generally still light out when I’m doing so.
It’s the coming home that sort of sucks, especially the grind up Lake City Way from the Lake Forest Park Shopping Center. That’s where I all too often yield to the temptation to wait for the bus downtown, even on nights when it’s not raining and an extra ten or twelve miles of riding would be a good way to pass an hour or so.
It’s been this way since summer, when construction crews began work on the trail; the signs say they’re going to be done December 15; from the looks of things, it may be sooner than that.
Paving is completed from Log Boom Park in Kenmore at least as far as 175th. You get to ride on new asphalt for about 20 feet before the detour begins. This has only served to whet my appetite for the rest of the newly-restored route.
I’ve often thought, over the past nine years of riding the trail four or five days a week, that were it not for its existence, I probably wouldn’t be so consistent of a bike commuter from Seattle to Bothell. These past five months of detour have done nothing to dissuade me; I think I can hold out, though, for another month or so, and my cycling heart to be whole once more.
posted by Professor Dave at 2:41 PM
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