Category Archives: Permanents

Permanent Route Updates

In Sammamish 3515 was rerouted to avoid private roads. A couple of No Trespassing signs have gone up since this route was created.

Catching up with changes that everyone probably knows about already

In Factoria 3227 and 541 were rerouted onto the new bike flyover. On routes that go eastbound here I recommend climbing Eastgate Way to avoid the construction zone: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/35652417

The construction zone on West Lake Sammamish Parkway is passable to bikes. 3227, 541, 3502, 517, 2173, and 2292 were put back on the Parkway.

1015 was restored to the 520 trail at the Microsoft campus.

In Issaquah a number of routes were updated for the new connection of the East Lake Sammamish Trail to Gilman Blvd.

As always, you should update the routes on your gps unit to ensure you have the current version.

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New Surface Type feature in Ride with GPS

If you have used Ride with GPS recently you may have noticed the newly added Surface Type feature which attempts to depict unpaved vs paved roads. For example:

The dashed portions of the route trace and elevation profile are unpaved road or trail.

Surface Type is encoded in the route file when the route is created or edited. So older routes may not contain Surface Type data, or only portions that were more recently updated will have this data.

Unfortunately this feature relies on, frankly stated, flaky data. From RwGPS:

We’re using imperfect data to infer the actual surface type of a route, but are striving to improve the quality of this data as folks like you submit inconsistencies. We’re excited about this new tool and will be constantly improving it so that we can provide a robust and reliable source of surface types.

We are utilizing surface data from Graphhopper (our routing engine from OSM and also the same one that all of our competitors use) that identifies surface types based on a number of variables (residential vs. highway, lane count, speed limits, rural vs urban as well as a few other factors) to provide any type of hint as what the surface of a path is. Truth be told, only ~10% of the world has actual surface-type data that is recorded on this source, so it’s a bit of a guessing game to get all results 100% right. 

Right now, we’re inferring the surface type from the road classification. “Unclassified” roads are currently listed as paved in our Route Planner, this is likely why you are seeing some inconsistencies. In some cases we’ve found this to be the best option, in other cases, this is the wrong inference, so we’re trying to work through all those surface-type assumptions we are making to come up with the best solution.

At present it is very common to see improperly classified roads and trails.

If you are inclined to help improve surface classification, here is how:

1. You can update Surface Type information on OSM, which is the main source we pull from. Once Surface Type information is entered in OSM, it will be updated on our system within a few weeks. For more information on OSM Routing data as well as information on how to submit edits to OSM, check out the following link: https://ridewithgps.com/help/edit-routing-data

2. You can edit Surface Type data on any route – https://ridewithgps.com/help/surface-types#change-surface. This only updates surface-type information on your specific route.

I’ll emphasize the second option only changes the surface type in the route you are working on. Like other custom-edited items like manually added cues, it is lost if that portion of the route is resnapped.

From my perspective as a route developer and maintainer, this feature’s frequent glitches just add more work. You can turn it off in your personal account like so:

1. Log into your account on the website> Click More> Edit Profile (see image: https://s3.amazonaws.com/rwgps/screenshots/2021Mon16-26242.png

2. Click RWGPS Labs> Toggle on or off to enable or disable (see image: https://s3.amazonaws.com/rwgps/screenshots/2021Mon16-27242.png). 

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Chehalis Western Trail Construction

Contributed by Josh Morse

Thurston County is improving a section of the Chehalis Western Trail (CWT) between Lacey and Rainier. The CWT is closed now between 89th Ave SE and 103rd Ave SE with a scheduled reopening on September 15, 2021.

Thurston County Project Site

There was not an obvious detour instruction on the trail.  When riding from the north (away from Olympia/Lacey) the following route will bypass the construction and rejoin the trail:

  • Ride east 1 mile on 89th AVE SE to right turn on Rainier Rd
  • Go 0.9 miles to Right/south on Stedman Rd
  • Ride 2.8 miles on Stedman Rd to left turn to rejoin CWT. 

The reverse works for the return. The detour adds about 2 miles each direction. 
There is a good size shoulder on Rainier Rd, less so on Stedman Rd but traffic is lighter than on Rainier Rd. 
Olympia/Lacey Area Trails Update- Impact on:

  • 100k Permanents 2985 and 3056
  • 200k Permanent 749

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Permanent Route Updates

Robert Hendry designed a new route, 04176 PTQ-Pretty Flat for this Side, 100 km. Flat Earth Randonneurs will be disappointed to learn the route is in Jefferson County, which is mostly unflat.

By popular demand (well actually one person asked for it), the canceled Summer 400 km brevet from Issaquah to Yakima Valley & back was turned into a permanent, 04180 Wet Side-Dry Side, 403 km. About half of this route is on the gravel Snoqualmie Valley and Palouse to Cascades Trails. Intermediate controls on the brevet were removed to allow one to free-route on even more gravel on the PTC east of Cle Elum.

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Permanent Route Updates

Route 00342 Bainbridge-Port Townsend, 205 km, has been added. The updated route is a synthesis and reworking of the original 342 and 2360 routes.

The new gravel route 04162 Hyak-Stampede & Tacoma Passes-Lake Easton, 103 km, is a trimmed-down variation of the 171-km 3907 Stampede Tacoma Gravel Lollipop.

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Permanent Route Updates

Mark Thomas created a new route, 04143 Table Mountain, 103 km, based in Ellensburg. This route climbs to an awesome vantage point north of Ellensburg.

01555 Olympic Peninsula Spin, 604 km, was reinstated. Due to the continuing Covid-19 closure of the Quileute Nation, the out and back to First Beach was replaced with an out and back leg to the Olympic National Park Hoh Entrance station. The route does not enter the park so no entrance fee is required.

In housekeeping notes, a few routes were not showing up on the overview maps. This oversight has been fixed and the routes should show up with the next autoupdate of the maps. Affected routes: 1017, 1234, 1306, 2300. (The maps are linked on the SIR RwGPS home page.)

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Permanent Route Updates

00187 Three High Passes of the Cascade Mountains, 256 km, was reactivated this week. If you are still dizzy from the 320 cues on the Spring 400 Fear is the Mind Killer brevet this route’s one right and two lefts should help you decompress. Following a route doesn’t get much simpler than this one.

01555 Olympic Peninsula Spin is deactivated. The Quileute Nation’s Covid-19 closure to outsiders makes La Push and First Beach inaccessible.

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Permanent Route Updates

00857 Marblemount-Mazama-Marblemount, 238 km crossing Washington and Rainy Passes in both directions was recently reactivated.

Routes deactivated

The NE 195th St pedestrian bridge across I-5, dubbed the “Tetanus Tube” by some wags, is closed for light rail construction. It should reopen in July if work stays on schedule.

Concurrently, NE 185th St is heavily affected by construction that will extend into 2022.

If only one of these I-5 crossings were closed or compromised, riders could detour to the other. But with both affected, the most expedient option is to deactivate these three 100k routes:

  • 02504 Seattle Lakes and Trails
  • 02596 Luck O’ the Drawbridges
  • 03065 Green, Gold, and Red

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Permanent Route Updates

This week 00751 Bremerton-Elma-Rainier-Seattle was reactivated after being rerouted in Puyallup for the closed Milwaukee Ave bridge.

A new route by Mark Thomas was added, 04119 Mann Up, 201 km, based on the recent Spring 200k brevet.

The North Cascades Highway is fully plowed. This looks like the weekend this year to bike the passes before the road is opened to cars. WSDOT post. Apologies for not having 857 Marblemount-Mazama-Marblemount ready to ride…there’s always next year!

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Permanent Route Updates

01306 Maltby-Granite Falls, 103 km, was added thanks to Jeff Loomis’ work.

Mark Thomas created a new route, 04104 End of Mann, 110 km.

Another new route, 04106 Tulip Tangle, 200 km, was also approved. Enjoy wandering about the Skagit tulip fields while wondering whether your gps is keeping you on route.

Factoria bike flyover and new SE 36th bike trail

The news about cycling on SE 36th east of the bike flyover is not good. At the east end of the new trail you must turn onto SE 36th to continue east. Due to construction of the rest of the trail, the road has been narrowed, eliminating the old bike lanes. A better alternative is to detour to SE Eastgate Way on the north side of I-90. After the new bike flyover, take the spur down to the traffic light, loop under I-90 on the sidewalk alongside Richards Rd, then turn east on SE Eastgate Way. These maps show options if you are headed east, or north/northeast. They are linked on the SIR RwGPS Library home page.

Online maps of the bike flyover and new trail are in flux. Last week I reported that in RwGPS, the new trail was plotted on the RWGPS map. Then the trail disappeared from the map. Now it is back. The trail is also plotted on the OSM map. (But not the OSM Cycle map.) The flyover and trail are not routable on either map at present.

West Seattle News

Starting Saturday April 10, the Spokane St Bridge aka Lower Bridge will be open on weekends to all traffic until 8 AM in the morning. Provided half of West Seattle is not enticed to drive to Snoqualmie Falls for breakfast mimosas, this should help West Seattle randos drive to far-flung morning starts. SDOT Blog (scroll down).

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