Published: Saturday, June 21, 2008
Cycling guide gives paved trails a spin
50 routes, 1,500 miles: At a recent reading, a fan approached the Seattle outdoors writer Bill Thorness and asked him to sign a trail guide.
Thorness was taken aback, not by the request, but by the state of the worn book. It looked inflated. Was it waterlogged? He asked what happened.
"She said, 'I've ridden every ride in the book,'" Thorness recalled. "I was just floored. She had torn it apart, like Rick Steves tells his guide book users. She just put it back together. Of course, I signed it."
On Wednesday, Thorness plans to appear at the Alderwood REI for another presentation from his book, "Biking Puget Sound." The guide provides input on trails from Olympia to the San Juan Islands that exclusively use paved trails and roadways.
To gather material for the book, Thorness drew on 20-plus years of experience biking in the Seattle area, requested biking clubs in other counties for input, and rode each trail, travelling more than 3,000 miles.
In the end, the book highlighted 50 routes, including several in Snohomish County, ranging from about 10 to 50 miles, for a total of about 1,500 miles of trails. Thorness ranked each in difficulty based on its length, the degree of elevation a cyclist climbs, and whether or not the route pits cyclists against motorists.
"A lot of people don't like riding in traffic, and that is a challenge, whether you're an expert or a weekend rider," Thorness, 48, said.
The book, which first saw print in spring 2007, went into its second printing from the Mountaineers Books in March -- not that Thorness has a big head about it.
"I'd like to think it was my storied prose, but people want rides like this," he said.
Reporter Andy Rathbun: arathbun@heraldnet.com or 425-339-3455.
Thorness was taken aback, not by the request, but by the state of the worn book. It looked inflated. Was it waterlogged? He asked what happened.
"She said, 'I've ridden every ride in the book,'" Thorness recalled. "I was just floored. She had torn it apart, like Rick Steves tells his guide book users. She just put it back together. Of course, I signed it."
On Wednesday, Thorness plans to appear at the Alderwood REI for another presentation from his book, "Biking Puget Sound." The guide provides input on trails from Olympia to the San Juan Islands that exclusively use paved trails and roadways.
To gather material for the book, Thorness drew on 20-plus years of experience biking in the Seattle area, requested biking clubs in other counties for input, and rode each trail, travelling more than 3,000 miles.
In the end, the book highlighted 50 routes, including several in Snohomish County, ranging from about 10 to 50 miles, for a total of about 1,500 miles of trails. Thorness ranked each in difficulty based on its length, the degree of elevation a cyclist climbs, and whether or not the route pits cyclists against motorists.
"A lot of people don't like riding in traffic, and that is a challenge, whether you're an expert or a weekend rider," Thorness, 48, said.
The book, which first saw print in spring 2007, went into its second printing from the Mountaineers Books in March -- not that Thorness has a big head about it.
"I'd like to think it was my storied prose, but people want rides like this," he said.
Reporter Andy Rathbun: arathbun@heraldnet.com or 425-339-3455.
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