Sunday: Thousands of people will bike on I-5, I-90 and SR-520 + Still time to register – UPDATED
The 2017 route, from Cascade.
For just one morning, the I-5 Express Lanes through downtown Seattle, the main deck of the 520 Bridge, a path through Bellevue and the I-90 Express Lanes will be filled with thousands of people on bikes.
It's hard to over-hype Sunday's Emerald Bike Ride, the second year for Cascade's newest major event. You don't have to be a bike ride kind of person to be excited for this. Biking on major urban freeways, including two different floating bridges, is a rare experience you don't want to miss.
If you register online, the adult non-member cost of the full ride is $40. Note that online registration ends tonight (Wednesday) at midnight (UPDATE: Cascade has extended the registration deadline to midnight Thursday), but you will be able to register in person at the start line Sunday morning for $10 extra. Discounts for members and youth.
Though the route may look long to people who do not usually go on big rides, you will be hard-pressed to find a flatter route through our hilly region. But freeways have been engineered with billions of dollars worth of work to be flat and direct. You will be shocked how fast and easy it is.
If 25 miles is just too long for you, you can register for a shorter 11-mile trip up and down I-5 from the stadiums to the U District and back.
The 2017 ride starts and ends at the south side of Safeco Field.
Here's the schedule for the day, from Cascade:
- 5 a.m. Safeco Start Line/Finish Line with info booth, exhibitors and hat giveaways open
- 6 to 7:45 a.m. Course open for 25-mile riders to start
- 7:45 to 8 a.m. Course open for 11-mile riders to start
- 8:10 a.m. Access to I-5 Express Lanes closed to riders
- 8:40 a.m. Full 25-mile loop riders must be off I-5 Express Lanes
- 9 a.m. Access to SR 520 bridge closed to riders
- 9:20 a.m. I-5 Experience riders must be off I-5 Express Lanes
- 9:45 a.m. Riders must be off SR 520 bridge
- 10:20 a.m. Access to I-90 Express Lanes closed to riders
- 11:20 a.m. All riders must be off the I-90 Express Lanes
- 11:30 a.m. End of ride and all route support ends
- 12 p.m. Finish Line closes
- 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. After Party at Pyramid Breweries Seattle Alehouse