Cascade Bicycle Club ride leaders are offering in-city social rides for conference attendees. Pick up a Cascade Courier at the conference or visit www.cascade.org for other local rides occurring during your stay. Other shorter walks and rides are available that you can enjoy while at the Pro Walk/Pro Bike Conference. Free area maps are available at the Local Information table in the Grand Foyer if you wish to take self-guided tours.

BICYCLE RIDES

For the bicycle rides listed below, ride space is limited to 20 participants. Riders should sign up in advance for rides. You may also pre-register for rides by emailing Serena Lehman at
serena.lehman@cascadebicycleclub.org or by signing up at the Local Information table during the Conference.

Rides will last about two hours and riders must be ready with helmet and bicycle at the start time, just outside main door of Westin. Mechanical help is not available at the start. Please make sure your bike is in proper working order. If you need to rent a bicycle, there is a list of rental shops at the local host committee info table, and also available on-line at the Pro Walk/Pro Bike 2008 conference web site: http://www.bikewalk.org/2008conference/.

Monday, September 1, 3 p.m: Parks and Views: We will cycle south through the International District to see the new Chinese gate; over the hill through the bike tunnel on top of I-90; down through a park to Lake Washington Blvd., with a stop a Seward Park for views of the lake and Mount Rainier.

Tuesday, September 2, 3 p.m:  Saltwater Views and Fish: We will cycle on the waterfront trail past the new sculpture park, then over Magnolia hill with sweeping views of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains.  We will stop at the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks to view the Pacific salmon navigating the fish ladders on their spawning route and the boats passing through the locks.

Friday, September 5, 3 p.m:  Commuter Routes: Start on Dexter Ave. and cycle over the Fremont Bridge, Washington State’s busiest bike bridge.  Cycle part of the Burke-Gilman Trail used by thousands of commuters going to the University of Washington and into downtown.  We will return past the new Mountain Bike Park under the I5 freeway.

Friday, September 5, 3 p.m: Green Building Ride. Join us for a tour of some recently-constructed “green buildings” in downtown Seattle. Nathan Miller of the Cascadia Region Green Building Council (www.cascadiagbc.org) and Cascade Bicycle Club ride leaders will make several stops at eco-friendly buildings downtown and provide short discussions to highlighting sustainable design practices.

Saturday, September 6, 2 p.m: Spokespeople ride!. Please join SPOKESPEOPLE for a fun, low carbon, community ride. We meet at the south end of Wallingford Playfield and ride on the road to an adjacent urban center. On September 6 we will ride to the Green Lake PCC to get a free donated piece of fruit, after stopping at the Seattle Tilth Harvest Fair at the Good Shepherd Center. All ages and skill levels welcome! We've invite our friends attending the National Pro Walk-Bike Conference in Seattle to ride with us too! All rides include expert commuters and can offer encouragement and model good road riding techniques for new, returning and reluctant cyclists. For more info, see: http://www.cascade.org/EandR/Activities_Calendar_RDetail.cfm?eventID=11006

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LOCAL WALKS

Seattle is a great city for walking, and the Westin Seattle is centrally located. Here are a few walks you might want to try; check the local host committee information table for other recommended walks in the area.

The Space Needle
It’s an easy walk to the Seattle Center and the Space Needle, vestiges of the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. Within two blocks of the hotel you can catch the monorail train that will take you
directly to the Space Needle. Or, to stretch your legs, head northwest from the Westin on 5th Avenue for approximately 9 blocks. Join Denny Way, and then turn right on 4th Avenue.

Kerry Park
If you’d like some spectacular Seattle skyline views without the expense of going up in the Space Needle, try Kerry Park. It’s a bit further, but it’s a great walk. As with the Space Needle walk, leave the hotel and head northwest on 5th Avenue. At Denny Way, turn left and walk past the Pacific Science Center on your right. At 1st Ave. N., turn right and walk north to Mercer Street. Turn left and go one block to Queen Anne Ave. N. Walk up the hill about six blocks and turn left onto W. Highland Drive. Continue until you hit Kerry Park. You’ll get an unsurpassed view of Elliott Bay and central Seattle, and with luck, you’ll have the backdrop of Mount Rainier.

The Central Library
One of Seattle’s newer attractions is not far from the Westin: the Central Library. This is a piece of architecture you won’t want to miss. There are selfguided and guided tours available in the Central Library, which is located at 1000 Fourth Avenue. From the Westin, turn southwest on 5th Avenue and cross Olive Way. Continue for six blocks until you reach Spring Street. The Central Library is between Spring and Madison
Streets. When you see a lot of glass, you’re there.

Pioneer Square
In 1853, Seattle was founded in the area now known as Pioneer Square. This area of about ten square blocks has been designated as a National Historic District, and plays host to pubs, art galleries, cafes, and much more. There really isn’t a square to Pioneer Square. The area sits, from east to west, between 2nd Ave and the Alaskan Way Viaduct, and from south to north, between Columbia St. and King St. It is easy to get here from the Westin – the square is part of the Seattle Metro ride free zone; any bus traveling south from downtown will get you within a few blocks.

There’s a lot to see here, but we’ll just list three items of interest. There is an iron pergola that was designed to shelter passengers waiting for the cable car that used totravel along Yesler Way. The original pergola was constructed in 1905 at a cost of about $25,000.00 When an 18-wheeler missed the corner and took out the pergola in 2001, the historical oddity was rebuilt at a cost of $3.5 million!

Nearby is the Tlingit Totem Pole. The original totem pole was stolen in 1899 by some of the leadingSeattle citizens from a Tlingit village in Alaska. It was destroyed in 1938 by an arsonist. The city attempted to purchase a replacement pole from the Tlingits, who accepted payment and then thanked Seattle for paying for the stolen one. The current totem was provided by carvers contracted by the USDA Forest Service.

Also in the Pioneer Square district is the Smith Tower, once the symbol of Seattle until it was replaced by the Space Needle. At 522 feet high and 42 stories, the Smith Tower was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River from its opening on July 4, 1914, until the Kansas City Power & Light Building was constructed in 1931.

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