burke gilman trail - Seattle, WA

pavedwave · burke gilman trail - Seattle, WA

The longest, most continuous, and mostly scenic path through the Seattle area is the 27-mile Burke Gilman trail.

This time of year its pretty well covered in leaves, which means the trail is rarely dry. Still, its hard not to get out and just ride.

pavedwave

Yep, with 5--7 days of straight rain, I've decided this year to stop thrashing so hard on my woodcore decks...

I've gone to the OTHER SIDE Twisted Evil

Belegnole

Ah, yes....bikes......they do have their purpose...

How much of the Burke Gilman trail is two lanes? That's great! Ours are not nor are they that long, but I'm glad we have trails at all. The thing is we have quite a few and it appears that the long term plan may be to hook many of them up. Now that would be great.

pavedwave

Actually this is the only spot on the whole 27 miles of the Burke where the lanes are split, and it just goes for about 1/4 mile. But it's a pretty wide trail otherwise. Right now the leaves are as or even thicker in places than these pics from last year show -- so I'm still clocking a lot of bike miles.

As for being glad to have trails, I'm always counting my blessing, the fact I ended up in a house near a trail like this, plus work near the trail, is just dumb luck.

The city has long range plans in place to connect some trails here as well, but I think it's a good idea to look into the planning meetings and attend, you'd be surprised sometimes how some neighborhoods don't care to have trails and will successfully fight against them -- this just happened to one section of the Burke (Lake Forest Park / Sheridan Beach specifically) but fortunately Cascade.org, the org that puts on many bike events annually, raised money, awareness, and got lawyers involved to overturn that neighborhood's ban on improving the trail. Effectively that neighborhood did delay the planned improvements by 2--3 years, bunch of crotchety old bastards!!

LDPanda

My normal routine is about 5 miles, all pumping, after work most days. Today i went the opposite direction down the trail and went about 10-12 miles on mostly unfamiliar territory. I didnt pump the whole way, i did more of an ultraskate prep, alternating between pumping and pushing. It was great other than a nasty run in with a cattleguard. It tossed me but i landed on my feet so whatever. It was a blast, it made me rethink joining the seattle crew on the gilman for the ultra, rather than just doing greenlake the whole time. Im still not sure which ill do, but it at least seems possible now. Anyways, it was a good sesh.

pavedwave

Nice! It's all about the pacing out there. One of the ideas I follow is kind of a standard of marathon training-- you set your goal to a certain location and make it there and back, regardless of the pace. Take whatever time you need, but just get the muscles and brain used to the idea of going the whole distance, whether its 2, 5, 10, 20 miles.

Oh yeah, and the more you go east, those cattleguards will continue up to around 130th. Fun, eh? I've done the bail a few times myself, especially when weighting far forward on the board and having a biker on the left. I usually try to ride diagonally across, without freaking out any approaching bikers in the process. So what I usually do is look behind, (to gauge their speed of approach) then glide over slightly to the left side of the trail --this visually tells the biker coming from behind to slow down-- then make a sharp turn just before and shoot across the cattleguard diagonally from left to right.

And in the case where there are just too many bikes and you have to hit the guard 90-degrees "head on" I just bounce the board hard right before, and glide over the bumps. Since there are about 10--15 of those guards, you'll get lots of practice!

pavedwave

Another good place to spam with the cattleguard vid

Link

Actually -- I just wanted to blog about yesterday's ride home. There's this turnout about a half mile before my exit before the steep hill going back up to my house. The Shoreline kids call it "Z-turns" and go sliding there all the time. Well yesterday there was a group of about 12 kids sliding Z-turns, and I ran into them just off the Burke on the commute. They were all congregating, getting ready to skate the trail further to ride to my hill (they call it "Cliney hill" after Daniel Cliney) so we all shot down the trail together.

It was an instant stoke-fest. A minute earlier I'm strapped into my headphone groove, solo for 11 miles, and now riding home with one kid out in front pushing like a demon, and another dozen groms stringing out behind, pushing and pumping their boards like mad. A bigger crowd than any ultraskate to date, all pushing down the trail. No doubt the bikers who passed us were wondering wtf was up!!!

And the thing that really impressed me to their credit, these kids were all really aware of their presence on the trail -- they stayed for the most part single file, and were really good at shouting out the bikers coming from the back and from the front. A lot of these guys showed up at the Lake Forest Park city hall a month or so ago and voiced their concerns to the LFP city council. I hope they can keep each other in check and stay cool on the trails and streets -- they seem to have the right intentions, it'll just be whether they can keep everyone else informed and out of getting really stupid or injured, especially the downhilling stuff.

So when we got to my hill (well, Cliney's hill I guess Very Happy

) they all parked at the first sharp corner and took turns spotting and sliding the corner. Then while I was yakking there a few minutes, Panda Dave goes pumping by on the trail below so I shouted out and we watched for a while.

It was just a great buzz and great vibe to end off the day and the commute home, seeing a growing group of kids out shredding it up.

A slice of the action off my cel phone... I think the kid that's shreddin this corner is Ryan

SkateKi

this is my toast to the burke gilman-sammamish river trail. the trail has been a part of my life since i was in elementary school. first it was on bikes, then it was on roller skates, then as a runner. and then, in july 2001, i started skateboarding it.

it was total fate. i won $4000 playing blackjack at a local casino, and on a whim i bought an arbor 36 inch cruiser with kryptonic wheels at REI. that was pretty much everything i knew about skateboarding right there. arbor deck. kryptonic wheels. i also knew how to tic tac.
the next thing i knew i was out on the sammamish river trail, pushing and tic tac-ing. buffooooon. but i was was totally fascinated. within 3 days i was locked in to a crazy idea. i wanted to ride the whole 27 mile trail without ever touching foot to ground. i doubted it would even be possible, with the steep hills and all, even for the best skaters in the world. but i still wanted to give it a shot.

i rode lots. 4-8 hours a day for pretty much the whole summer. it turned into a philosophical study for me. i was writing and sketching all the time. i studied skateboarding through math, music, and aikido. i ended up with a skating technique that blended geometry and rhythm in relation to a rider's center of balance.

i got a sector nine and it felt like a basketball court compared to my little arbor. my friend ashton mey started riding with me, and he had a libtec. those were the boards we rode for 2 seasons i think. we did our share of testing equipment, but most of our time was spent testing out forms and motions. in 2003, we hit what was then a major milestone of riding 3.5 miles (from 60 acres soccer fields to wilmot park). The seattle times heard about our feat, and came out to do a feature story on our quest. it was supposed to be a story in the "lifestyles" section, but it ended up being on the front page of the saturday morning newspaper.

after the article came out, ashton and i got blasted pretty bad on some of the skateboard sites. i got a few names hurled at me and i felt like an idiot. the emailers pointed me to the websites where we were being chewed down. that's how i learned about things like slalom and pumping. jp read the article and contacted us through the reporter, gina kim. james said he wanted to come out and see what we were doing. pretty soon he and i were skating regularly.

the next thing i knew we were pumping 60 inch flexdecks and randall 180s with no bushings. gooooofy, even if it was a necessary part of the evolution. but i was still a long way off from reaching my goal. this was too much board for me. and then there was Big Mama. that's what we called the toughest hill on the trail. over the years i was starting to wonder if we could ever get over it.

that's when james totally turned it up a notch. the guy is brilliant with networking and technical stuff. big skills. he talked to people and tested stuff and figured stuff out. you could see him dialing in to these new truck possibilities and wheel possibilities and deck possibilities. he had a zillion boards in his garage, and one day he brought out a board with a short (27 inch?) wheel base and carver c7 trucks. i don't remember what it was, but i think that board was the first board to conquer big mama. that was a pretty big deal to me. it really meant something to make it up that thing. it took several breakthroughs over several years to finally crack it.

i don't remember the exact time frame here, but we eventually moved from the carver c7s to the carver cxs. and we both had custom insect boards made. mine was a 46" giant insect dragonfly. it had a 33.5 inch wheel base and i was riding purple 3dm avilla 75mm slalom wheels. i had 2 favorite boards at the time. my giant insect, and james' sweet little c7 pumper.

that summer there was a big inline skate marathon that ran on the burke. it was a perfect chance to make an attempt at riding the trail without touching. i thought about riding james' board for the attempt, but ultimately decided to ride my insect. that thing was a whole different beast to get up big mama. it wasn't until the final day of lance armstrong's 7th tour de france victory that i felt like i really had the hill tamed, clearing it 7 times in a row. at that point i knew i was in great shape, and the event was fast approaching.

on race day, the start was one of the toughest parts. the starting line was crowded, and in the first half mile there were a couple bottlenecks before the racers had spread out. i had 2 escorts on bikes on the day of the race. they carried water and powerbars and extra batteries for my tunes.

big mama is just past mile 10 on the trail. as i approached 9.5, i remember thinking how much it would suck if i didn't make it. but i booted that thought and focused on the line i was going to take up the hill.

even as i was accelerating into the hill, i knew i had it. the adrenal rush alone was enough to get me over. i ended up taking a much cleaner and straighter line than i had intended. i remember thinking my form wasn't pretty as i pulled myself over the upper segment of big mama, but there was never any doubt that i wasn't going to make it up. the only obstacles left on the trail were traffic lights.

i don't know the exact milepost, but i think it is somewhere around mile 23 in the u-district. there, the trail crosses 15th and there is a long leisurely down slope that goes to a stoplight. i tried to time it right by carving down to it, but ended up running out of room a couple seconds before my light was supposed to change. one of my bike escorts laid it on the line for me, nosing his bike out into traffic and holding back honking cars as i crossed the street. it was absolutely perfect. the last mile was awesome. nothing but rolling. my family was there at the finish line. and i accomplished a 4 year old goal that completely stretched my imagination and redefined my understanding of what was possible.

as a skater, i love this trail. i've seen several segments of it go from fresh to faded pavement. i've ridden it with all kinds of crazy stuff- with gizmo trucks, with a board that was drilled sideways, with inline skating wheels... i've ridden in 100 degree weather and i've ridden into the winds of an accumulating snowstorm. with every ride i've gotten a deeper glimpse of what this trail is all about. interesting that in trying not to even set foot on it, i've gotten to know it better than i ever would have otherwise.

stocago

Nice post. Thanks for sharing.

Odiwan

I agree... nice post. Thanks for illustrating the development of LDP in a historical and personal manner. Great!

barefootboarder

pavedwave

Nice to see the slice of history again Derek!! Some months back someone had posted they would like to know the timeline of LDP, and it's a website addition I've been pondering how to build ever since. Well now I think I can pull our stories together and make one of those wikipedia timelines on LDP with amoeba, dinosaurs, and tadpoles crawling up on land and surfboards at the beginning and hairless humans pumping and surfing LDP hover-boards at the end.

For those who've followed the homepage from the beginning, Derek's record pump across the Burke has been there all along, his story's just never been fully told. There will also be a little more about our collaboration and years of Zen trail surfing in Jack Smith's book which should be out soon. Nearly ten years ago I'd have never known this trail would become such a bloodline between us!

I hope to plan on some cooler fall and winter skates again, destination-- Redhook? Smile

SkateKi

thanks everyone for the comments. it feels great to be a part of this community of pioneers. you guys seriously rock.

jo- nice call about the blackjack! i never thought about it in that way- that a lifechanging jackpot didn't have to involve loads and loads of cash. and the whole experience has completely changed my life. i'm sure there are several other people here who have had similar revelations with their own skating, including you with your spontaneous world record. awesome! those stories are my favorite things to read on here.

and jp- a redhook skate sounds perfect. would love to hit the trail or greenlake when you get a chance. and the amoeba timeline sounds pretty dang accurate. for several years i looked like the hunchback of notre dame on wheels.

and here's a blast from the past. last night i saw an adam colton vid on a LBL dancer, and the next thing i knew i had reassembled my 60" flexdeck and was riding the neighborhood in my skivs at midnight. i also resurrected my old arbor too. what a great discovery to find that i retired it way before its time...

again, great to be part of this community. thanks.

LDPanda

Yeah, i miss living right on the burke. Now i have to settle for a 10 minute drive to the cedar river trail. The CRT is ok i suppose, but it has so much less character than the burke. Wheras the burke is full of different scenery, ups and downs, a few interesting hills, urban, suburban, and rural conditions, the CRT is pretty much consistently the same thing. Its one long uphill on the way out followed by one long downhill on the way back. Its also almost completely deserted, which is nice for slashing across the whole trail and dancing around like a goof, but I miss having strangers talk to me about LDP and the occasional thumbs up or 'hang loose' sign. I plan on making the trip out to the burke on weekends for a change in scenery, maybe i can join you guys on a redhook run here soon.

SkateKi

hey Dave-
yeah, i hear you about the CRT. but that solitude is a dream most of the time. and if that trail is 10 minutes away, it's not much more of a drive up to marymoor...

LDPanda

Thats true, i hadnt even considered starting on the east side. Ill have to look into that, thanks.

pavedwave

SkateKi

hey guys-
i'll be riding from redmond to kenmore around 330 today if anyone wants to ride. also, it looks like we have a great week of weather. my schedule is pretty flexible this week too.

LDPanda

Where do you start from exactly, marymoore? I might be able to swing thru after work as long as i can still walk tomorrow, its been an intense weekend of slalom and downhill.

pavedwave

We might a hard time ollie-ing over this

http://www.flickr.com/photos/awil...9997534/in/set-72157623098656173/

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/...s/2010803389_weblandslide15m.html

SoloRider

I've got a chainsaw...

pavedwave

You'd have needed a bulldozer as well! Turns out this mudslide was right south of 147th on the Burke, which is my street/entrance for my daily commutes! So I grabbed some shots Sunday just before they cleaned it up. It was a lot bigger than I thought, several trees and huge mound of dirt covered the trail. It's all cleared up now, just gunky.