Southern Ride – Bainbridge Island

Alyse Nelson

Right now, I’ve been intrigued that my riding, running, and walking is more about the “journey” than the destination. I usually work full time in Seattle — one of those daily bike commuters on the ferry — but I’ve been home teleworking for about a month. This sunny weather has been a great excuse to get out for morning, lunch hour, or evening rides. I have more time to do so since I’m not spending time commuting. I wanted to share a few of my favorite routes – one I do for exercise on my road bike and some of my family-friendly rides I take on my e-bike – a cargo-style bike with a toddler seat. 

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For those times where I want to get some exercise, I ride from my house near High School Road and Weaver towards Eagle Harbor. I ride up the hill, turn right on Bucklin Hill and then continue to Lynwood Center Road. Once at the 4-way stop at the commercial center there, I turn onto Point White. I have a designated turnaround point near the beginning of NE Baker Hill Road (there’s already enough hills on the route for my liking!). Then I turn right when I return to the 4-way stop onto Pleasant Beach Road, roll onto Blakely Ave Ne and up NE Halls Hill Road. I roll down Rockaway Beach and then back Eagle Harbor back to my house. The ride is about 15 miles, and it’s gorgeous scenery. I usually have to stop a few times to take a quick photo on my phone. 

Another great “enjoy the journey” ride is to ride to Manitou Beach and around to Sunrise then up past Fay Bainbridge to Phelps and back via Day/Miller Roads. If you do this, there are great shore views and you can visit Frog Rock, complete with a mask.  

When I’m toting my toddler, we stay in the 1-3 mile range and take shorter journeys. A couple tips – my daughter knows roads with playgrounds on them, which we’re avoiding now, so I have selected routes where we won’t pass an enticing play structure. I also don’t make any promises – for example, we may ride to a beach, but if it has too many people, we won’t stop. So I just say we’re going for a ride, maybe pack her bucket and shovel in the bike bag, but don’t mention it to her so we don’t have a meltdown!

We’ve ridden from the house up High School Road (thanks e-assist!) to check out a hillside of those small white flowers that my daughter and I turned into necklaces before heading back home.  

We also have enjoyed riding to the Sound to Olympics trail to Winslow Way and down to Hawley Cove Park and then back up Ferncliff to High School Road. When we were there, we only saw a few other people as it was early morning before the mid-day nap. It was nice to get some extra Vitamin D and throw some rocks into the water. 

We’ve also just enjoyed cruising through neighborhood loops like up to North Town Woods or down Grow to just enjoy the ride. I love the slow pace of our cruise – my daughter will call out things she’s seeing and she is loving seeing so many flowers, dogs, and other cyclists along our route – with at least 6 feet of distance in between.