Six mile limit?

So, back in Seattle, I lived within easy striking distance of the Burke-Gilman trail, which, with it's eastside connector the Sammammish River Trail, gave me over 30 miles of paved, separate paths for biking. Here's a map, courtesy of the Seattle Bike Blog:

The path runs through neighborhoods, through two college campuses, through parks, by lakes, over rivers - every turn brings a new scenescape. The path is filled with walkers, runners and bilkers of all stripes, from iron men to stroke recovery patients.

I used to ride for fun a lot, and bike-commuted 13 miles (in nice weather) to my college in Bothell, from that big curve right above where it says University of Washington right onto campus. It actually took me to places I wanted to go, - not just recreation, but shops as well. I could jump on it whenever I wanted, and get in an easy ride or a long one, no sweat.

I miss it.

Bellingham is pretty much a biking mecca, but it's mountain biking - you know, like no-snow, wheeled skiing. Drag your butt and your bike up to the top of a cliff and go whee all the way down, trying (or not) to avoid roots, rocks, bumps and other obstacles. I know folks who do it regularly, who would do it daily, who do it when it's raining, who do it at nigh, who do it when it's raining at night.

I'm not interested.

Luckily, I live adjacent to the Interurban Trail and just blocks from the South Bay Trail, two of Bellingham's premiere bike paths. I don't want to sound ungrateful, but even this near-perfect location has two major flaws.

First, the trails are not paved - they are gravel. Spoiled by the blacktop of the Burke, I find the going bumpy and unstable, even on my hybrid bike - lord knows how anyone with a touring bike does it. I even had to buy fatter knobby tires.

But more than that, the problem is the trails don't go anywhere. Here's take a look:

A prime ride down the interurban trail to Larrabee State Park: six and a half miles. That's the whole trail.

A nice ride up the Bay Trail and then some more along the waterfront and in the marinas: sixc and a third miles.

Or the Bay Trail, through downtown and into Cornwall park: five and half miles, and about two of those are on city streets.

Speaking of city streets, this route to Whatcom Falls park is mostly streets, although I tried to string little pieces of trail together: a hair over six miles.

Anything that goes past these limits becomes pure mall-burbia car-country unpleasant and unsuitable for riding, at least for me. The core city streets are a little better, but I may have lost my stomach for riding in substantial auto traffic.

I even thought about taking the bus out to the county and riding the country roads, but all my peeps who live out here advised against it: no shoulders and crazy drivers.

I guess I learned a few things from this rumination. You can't road bike in a mountain bike town. I'm not as young (or perhaps as stupid) as once I was. The Burke spoiled me.

And Bellingham is about six miles big.