Rainy Weather Biking at Colonnade Mountain Bike Park

The Seattle rain is going to be hanging around for awhile, but it doesn’t mean you have to hang up your bike for the winter.  Even those not-so-hardy souls can enjoy a little mountain biking beneath the I-5 freeway at the Colonnade Mountain Bike Park.

In a moment of sheer genius, the community came together to turn this former stomping grounds for drug use, homeless camps, and trash dump into the first-ever urban bike park gives.  The space gives mountain bikers a place to both learn and ride the different terrain typically encountered in natural habitat.  While not completely changing the freeway habitat, during the day, at least, it’s attracts a much more law-abiding element.

Named Colonnade, after the columns holding up the I-5 freeway, the park covers 7 1/2 acres, and has about two acres of trails, plus a wide range of Technical Trail Features.  Although officially part of the City of Seattle Parks Department, the Colonnade was funded and built by the Backcountry Bicycle Trails Club (BBTC) and other community groups.

The Novice Area (Phase 1) is open and offers a half mile tight & twisty Cross Country loop trail with some intermediate/advanced options.  Named Limestone Loop, its features include:  tight switchbacks, ladder bridges, log rides, skinnies, steep rock chutes, teeter totters, rock step-ups, and a very cool long ladder bridge roller coaster that really bucks.

The second phase of the park focuses on more flowing advanced trails and offer features like jumps, berms, wall rides, progressive drops, rock chutes, skinnies, pump track, trials area, and a couple of sessionable practice areas.

There are enough features and options that you can ride the trails and experience the features in hundreds of different ways.  Trails span a variety of riding styles and skill levels, so you riders can find something to satisfy their interest and meet their skill level.  In fact, the variety is so great that you can choose a different work out experience every day.  How do these sound:

• Tqalu Trail a dual interpretive/skills building trail
• Fisher Line, a pump track, and an upper practice area near Lakeview Boulevard
• An advanced hillside switchback loop
• Jump lines featuring K-line and Nicks Kicks
• Zeb’s Grotto a trials riding area
• An elevated structure section featuring Cyclone and The Octagon Of Death
• A rock jumble descent named the Waterfall
• Downhill/Freeride lines including The Offramp, Holy Chute, and Pips Hips

Remember to wear a helmet and know your skill level and limits.

Location: Colonnade is located between the Capitol Hill and Eastlake neighborhoods, under the I-5 freeway, below St Mark’s Cathedral, where Lakeview Boulevard runs underneath the freeway and turns into Boylston Avenue (map).

Photo credit: Melissa & Bryan Ripka via flickr