I have resumed biking to work after a long, cold, wet winter during which I gained back nearly all the weight I had lost while on the South Beach Diet. You’d think that after my “Riding in the Rain” experience last January that I’d be hardened enough to endure all sorts of weather, but let’s face it: I’m not a big fan of discomfort. “No pain, no pain” is my motto.
Loyal readers of this site will recall my pathetic, whiny posts about the “mountain stage” of my commute, which covers the 1.2 mile trek up 8th Avenue NW at a grueling, constant uphill slog (which I previously reported was a 1.75% grade, but have subsequently learned is actually a 2.4% grade). In truth, though the weather was a contributing factor to my sloth, it was that last leg of the day that really planted my expanding ass firmly on the metro bus seat and not on my bike saddle for the last several months.
I just knew there had to be a better route, and I believe I finally found it!
Now, I understand enough about geography and trigonometry and cartography and all that stuff to realize that I still have to climb the same overall vertical distance regardless of my path, but I needed to find a way to spread it out and eliminate that final upward spike. So, like Henry Hudson, I embarked on a quest to discover what I came to refer to as “the Northwest Passage” — the ultimate easier route between work and home. Unlike Henry Hudson, however, my exploration consisted of browsing Google Maps while sipping a delicious cocktail. As I said, I really don’t like discomfort.
After eyeing a rather promising route involving University Ave., Ravenna, Greenlake, and 83rd, I decided to try it out on my actual bike. And, for the last few days, it’s indeed proven to be considerably less awful than my former route. But is it the best route? And how can I determine that?
Enter a useful Google Maps mash-up called GMaps Pedometer. This tool allows one to draw an arbitrary path over a Google map and calculate its distance. This is considerably more useful to me than Google’s built-in driving distance calculator, since I don’t drive to work. What’s more, the site also can display a graph of the various elevations over the course of the specified path.
According to GMaps Pedometer, my former bike route is 5.6 miles and, of course, contains the dreaded mountain stage.
Old Route
Check out that last mile or so. Harsh!
My new route, however, not only eliminates the crushing ascent of 8th Ave NW at the end, but shaves 0.8 miles off the trip!
New Route
Still a 200+ foot overall climb, but more distributed.
I tried plugging various other routes into the tool but nothing so far is any better in terms of distance and grade. The new route has the disadvantage that it’s entirely on streets, but most of them have a bike lane (the one on Ravenna is particularly nice and wide). The trip around Greenlake is pleasant, and the final leg is on a quiet (and reasonably flat) residential street. There is a short stretch on 83rd just west of Aurora, however, that rises at a 15% grade and that makes my legs burn, but it’s only two blocks so even I can handle that.
Now, where’d I leave my martini glass…?
