News Tribune Adventure writer and novice cyclist Craig Hill is training to ride the 202-mile Seattle-to-Portland Bicycle Classic in one day and discovering the local riding scene and the sport’s nuances along the way. In his blog, he explores ideal riding routes, events, relays tips from the experts and helps you figure out if you’ll need to shave your legs for your next big ride.
Guest blogger: Rick Beitelspacher teaches junior high English in the Puyallup School District. You can contact him at tshirtguys@comcast.net.
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OK, first off, I'm not sure how I feel about RATS as the acronym for this blog, but it's going to have work for now.
In any case, RATS made history this week when I made the first bicycle loop on the new Soundview Trail with Rachel Couch of Pierce County Parks. The trail is part of the county's new Chambers Creek properties in University Place.
Rachel and I made the 3.3-mile loop in about 15 minutes and I was impressed by what I saw.
The trail is very short and very steep and winds through an awesome links-style golf course. The trail climbs back up the cliff with several switchbacks through the trees.
How steep is it? The golf course caddie master says a woman sneaked on the trail for a walk recently. The caddie master said he looked out his window about 400 feet above the golf course and saw the woman waving her hands at the bottom of the trail. The trail was too steep for her to climb back up.
In truth, for most fit people the challenge is barely moderate on foot or bike.
While it's too short to be a cycling destination on its own, the streets of University Place have good biking lanes and make it easy to add on some miles. And the county plans to add on to this trail some day.
The golf course opens in July, but the trail opens tomorrow morning.
