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4fun
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I was there yesterday (didn’t ride) and my friend was telling me about the trails in the Issaquah area, Tiger Mountain to be specific.  The previous time I was in Seattle I went to Wenatchee, but that’s a longer drive.  I’d venture to say that’s going to be the closest to Seattle proper but I’d be interested in what others say.

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9 minutes ago, AntonioGG said:

I was there yesterday (didn’t ride) and my friend was telling me about the trails in the Issaquah area, Tiger Mountain to be specific.  The previous time I was in Seattle I went to Wenatchee, but that’s a longer drive.  I’d venture to say that’s going to be the closest to Seattle proper but I’d be interested in what others say.

Thanks

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Lived there for 30+ years. Confirmed, Duthie and Tiger are some of your best bets but very different places. Evergreen is an excellent resource. 

Tiger is spider mountain but with 200' to 1200' of elevation and no lift. You could easily spend all day here riding up the forest road and bombing down. MTB Project/trail forks has good maps.

Duthie has a little of everything. XC, Groomed Flow, Short Downhill, jumplines, etc. Spend 30mins or 6+ hours. MTB Project/trail forks has good maps but honestly, it's almost impossible to get lost, everything starts and ends at the central hub. Watch out for 5-13yo groms who make you look bad because they've been riding daily this summer on their $6K bikes while their soccer mom's idle in the parking lot reading the latest Oprah book club book. I'm not bitter. 

Depending on where you are based out of also check out:

  • Paradise valley conservation (Mostly XC)
  • St Edwards Park (XC/ All Mountain) 
  • Galbraith (Near Bellingham, closer to Canada)

Bike rentals aren't as common. The only place I remember was this place, they needed a hefty CC hold to send the bike out though. https://www.kirklandbikes.com/articles/demo-bikes-pg67.htm 

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I was born and raised up there (Enumclaw). Mt Rainer Park (area) has some awesome stuff, and only a couple hours out of Seattle. I think they even have bike rentals now in Enumclaw.

Check these areas out...if anything you get and awesome view if it isn't raining..and the plus side of that. Even if it is raining, you can still ride!!

https://www.evo.com/travel-guides/bike/washington/south-cascades/410-rainier

 

 

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3 hours ago, RedRider3141 said:

Lived there for 30+ years. Confirmed, Duthie and Tiger are some of your best bets but very different places. Evergreen is an excellent resource. 

Tiger is spider mountain but with 200' to 1200' of elevation and no lift. You could easily spend all day here riding up the forest road and bombing down. MTB Project/trail forks has good maps.

Duthie has a little of everything. XC, Groomed Flow, Short Downhill, jumplines, etc. Spend 30mins or 6+ hours. MTB Project/trail forks has good maps but honestly, it's almost impossible to get lost, everything starts and ends at the central hub. Watch out for 5-13yo groms who make you look bad because they've been riding daily this summer on their $6K bikes while their soccer mom's idle in the parking lot reading the latest Oprah book club book. I'm not bitter. 

Depending on where you are based out of also check out:

  • Paradise valley conservation (Mostly XC)
  • St Edwards Park (XC/ All Mountain) 
  • Galbraith (Near Bellingham, closer to Canada)

Bike rentals aren't as common. The only place I remember was this place, they needed a hefty CC hold to send the bike out though. https://www.kirklandbikes.com/articles/demo-bikes-pg67.htm 

Thanks for the info!  Duthie looks like it has some trails that both me and my wife will enjoy. Looks like EVO might take bikes to the trail for you!

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33 minutes ago, 4fun said:

Thanks for the info!  Duthie looks like it has some trails that both me and my wife will enjoy. Looks like EVO might take bikes to the trail for you!

Awesome! Make sure you spend some time on the skills area (drops, jumps, skinnies etc) in the center pavilion area. Then you can come back after drinking the kool-aid and push for one at brushy! 😉 

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Thanks for the info!  Duthie looks like it has some trails that both me and my wife will enjoy. Looks like EVO might take bikes to the trail for you!


Definitely. Rode there 3 weeks ago and took a friends newbie 14 yo son on his first real trail ride there. His mom had to buy him a better bike he had so much fun. When you get to the big open area at the top of the fire road there’s a big map that has all the trails color coded by difficulty. SUPER well marked and it all loops back to the open area.

As stated above there was a grom riding camp going on and those kids were hucking off stuff twice their height like nothing! The XC stuff is fun swoopy up/down without any rocks etc. there’s some fun optional obstacles on the XC to hop on if you want. Or take it up a notch on the jump lines. It was a bit wet so I only rode a few lines. Some of the raw wood was slick as snot!

Btw from parking area you ride path along highway 200 yds to a fire road, then up road 2/3 mi to open area.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Just now, AntonioGG said:

What are you packing it into? Bike case/bag or bike box?

Renting an EVOC travel case from BSS. That's another curveball. I won't have the case until the night before.

I'm actually more concerned about all the other crap I want to bring. I've never been to that part of the country. I hear I should possibly pack some rain gear.

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It's still not rainy season but you should bring a light jacket/sweater for the evenings.  You may get rain though nothing heavy.

For packing, don't overweigh you bike bag.  I put only bike clothes in there and bike parts.  Air Alaska charges $75 more than standard if you go over 50lbs.

I took rotors off because I've had friends that had them bent. I also packed a few of the bike tools that are needed to re-assemble.  Worst case, take it to a bike shop to put rotors on if you have center-lock (not practical to carry the big wrench/torque-wrench IMO).

Leave a note to TSA inside the bag with your name, cell phone number, and to make sure to tighten all the straps (velcro and buckles) if they have to remove the bike for inspection.  They will open your bag, and they did not re-tighten the straps on mine on my trip back so from now on I'll have to leave a note.

It's easy to pack the bike in the bag.  You can find a video of the process if you google it.

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1 hour ago, notyal said:

Renting an EVOC travel case from BSS. That's another curveball. I won't have the case until the night before.

I'm actually more concerned about all the other crap I want to bring. I've never been to that part of the country. I hear I should possibly pack some rain gear.

Borrowed an EVOC for my trip.  Much easier than my old Thule box. It took a bit of extra time initially but less than an hour.  My bikes kinda long even for the XL bag so I unbolted my rear der and ziptied it to the chainstay.  Der was pressing up against the bag and I didn't want my hanger bent. Didn't have a rotor issue, but not a bad idea if you have the time.  I always carry full size tools to tear down re-assemble. Too easy to screw up a bolt with pocket tools and you may not have time to go to a shop when packing to return if you do have issues. Pack extra zipties, painters tape, etc. to keep stuff from rattling around.  If you have any fear of scratching your frame, cheapo pipe insulation from Home Depot works great.

Do NOT leave CO2 cartridges or chain lube in the bike bag.  TSA guys are trained to look for them and will pull everything out to get to them. The Austin guy specifically asked if I had either when I brought it to the oversize luggage checkin.

The trails there are pretty rain proof, so definitely bring rain gear and extra riding gear with the assumption your stuff will get wet.  Super humid, so things don't dry out so quick when hung up. It was showering and fairly overcast 2 days of my trip and my camelbak & shoes were a bit damp the next day.  

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Good point on the CO2 cartridges.  I've lost a few like that.

Yeeah, derraileur...  I've taken mine off and bagged and taped it to prevent issues with my old bike box.  I recently bought the EVOC chain cover (for road bike) and with the bike strapped in place the derraileur seemed fairly safe and it survived without damage but I was a bit nervous.

One more thing, my road bike has Di2 so out of precaution I removed the battery (Li-ion) and carried it on.  If you're bringing lights, don't check the batteries in.

 

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