Board Items
General Meeting January 18,2022 7pm Link:
https://zoom.us/j/98081668991?pwd=UDAyOHVmSHRFd0Q0NkZXT0ZvazFkdz09
Club Rides 2022:
April 16 Daffy
May 14 TBA
June 5 Peninsula Metric Century
July 16 Tour de Pearce
August 14 TBA
September 3 Headwaters Century
These are in addition to the weekly rides that are posted on the website.
New/Renewing Members
Mitch Dunlap |
Mary Neukom |
Stuart Scheuerman
2021 Donors Justin Raphael Ginger Phalen Douglas Dorr Steve Abarr
Thank you for your support this past year |
This month’s Trail
About the building ot the 6000km Coast-to-Coast Trail.
We have done quite a lot of the Washington segment. If you are familiar with the John Wayne Trail, it is part of the Coast-to-Coast Trail. There are still many gaps as you can see from the map and Bob points out.
The links: This month’s Trail:
The US is building a 6,000km coast-to-coast cycle path | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)
Local access: John Wayne Pioneer Trail: Hyak to Rattlesnake Lake Mountain Bike Trail, Riverbend, Washington (mtbproject.com)
For now, this trail is one to plan for some time after may.
Biking Along with Bob
Bob Myrick
A few years ago, the Rails to Trails Conservancy came to North Bend to discuss the possible routes from the Palouse to Cascades Trail to the Pacific Ocean. Should it end in Seattle, La Push or closer to Long Beach? After some deliberation, it was decided to use the Olympic Discovery Trail to get to La Push. Meanwhile, Forevergreen Trails, the Coalition, Pierce County, Thurston County and others are still pursuing a southerly route to the Ocean.
The Great American Rail-Trail is still a visionary project spanning 3,700 miles from coast to coast. It has huge missing gaps as I relearned this past summer. Maybe it will be finished in 50 years.
During my Pandemic year, I was wild camping near the Beverly Bridge project on June 12 when Pat and Shevonne Travers emerged from the sandy trail on the Yakima Firing Range. It was blowing 50 mph at times and they asked me for help. I put them in my camper truck and took them to their site at Wanapun State Park. Next day, I dropped then at a motel on Interstate 90. You can follow their dream trip at twoslowpokesonspokes.com. or friend Pat Travers on Facebook. Pat and Shevonne had to bushwack across Eastern Washington to find the trail in Idaho. In Montana, they decided to take a bus to South Dakota and so the story goes all the way to Iowa.
In Iowa, people who were sucked into finding the Great American Rail-Trail did find 28 trails to follow. Ohio was good too, but there are still lots of gaps.
In late July, two friends joined me in Port Townsend to ride with Adventure Cycling on the Olympic Discovery Trail to La Push. Of course, we found gaps, but Adventure Cycling had carefully laid out some safer road routes.
In August, my grandson Jack and I rode the Iron Horse Trail from Rattlesnake Lake to Easton. Of course, we met two Military Veteran medics heading west from the Snoqualmie pass tunnel. They told us to Easton was the best part of the Great American Rail-Trail. They had been coerced to try to ride across America along with several other retired medics.
In late September, five of us arrived at the Beverly Bridge to celebrate the grand opening, but it has been delayed to sometime this year. Washington State Parks is working hard to get a usable trail to the Idaho border.
My advice for long distance cyclists is to rely on the Adventure Cycling Association and their fine map sets. To explore the Great American Rail-Trail, I would rely on the regional guide books published by the Rails to Trails Conservancy.
WSDOT: Tacoma to Puyallup Trail Project
Conny Garcia Gaitan
My name is Conny, I am with the Washington State Department of Transportation, and I am reaching out to the Tacoma Washington Bicycle Club to share information about the Tacoma to Puyallup Trail project. The Tacoma to Puyallup Trail is a planned multi-use trail that will connect downtown Puyallup, Fife, and downtown Tacoma and complete the Tahoma to Tacoma regional trail corridor. We just started preliminary design for the route and want to hear from the people who might use the trail and hope to reach people who are not normally following these types of projects. I know that throughout the pandemic and as we are getting back to public activities, capacity has been stretched thin at many community organizations, so I want to be mindful of your time and share a short update about this community project.
Currently, there is no direct, off-street route between downtown Tacoma and downtown Puyallup for non-motorized travel. The Tacoma to Puyallup Trail is envisioned to bridge the gap and be a link to the larger network of trails in Pierce County. This trail will be a way for community members to commute between the two cities without a motorized vehicle or simply enjoy the trail and access outdoor activities.
We have a great opportunity right now because we are extending the SR 167 highway from where it currently ends at Meridian Avenue in Puyallup to I-5 in Fife. The trail is helping us connect as a greater Tahoma to Tacoma Community, so we are looking to keep the community at the heart of the trail. We want to have deeper conversations with communities we hope will use the trail as we develop the preliminary design and conduct an environmental study of the area where the trail will be located.
We want to ensure this trail is accessible to everyone and anyone. This is why we want to connect with the Tacoma Washington Bicycle Club, so we can not only share more information about the project, but also gather a diversity of thoughts, comments, concerns, and to answer questions. In March we will have an online open house that anyone can visit to learn more, and we can also provide a virtual group briefing in late February or early March 2022 at a standing meeting you may have. If the Tacoma Washington Bicycle Club is interested in partnering to share information, and if there is a virtual newsletter or a bulletin, we are more than happy to provide flyers, a factsheet or blurbs about the trail and the online open house as March approaches.
If you have questions, feel free to give me a call at 209.819.7479 or you can respond to this email. If you’re interested in getting regular updates, I can add you to the project email list so you can stay in the loop with the most up to date information.
That’s it for January
Walt
Happy Cycling! – Tacoma Washington Bicycle Club