[Abby and Amanda in DC]
Photo: Ditty Bops
Photo: Ditty Bops
Back in May I posted about The Ditty Bops and their cross-country bike ride to promote their new album “Moon Over the Freeway.”
The band is now up in Seattle where they play a concert tomorrow night and from there they’ll ride down to Portland. They’re scheduled to play The Aladdin Theater (3017 SE Milwaukie Ave) on Tuesday night (9/12).
I heard from Abby (one-half of the duo) and they’re looking for some route suggestions and they’re also looking for people to join them on their ride out of town the day after their show. If you’re interested, stay tuned to their official bike tour blog where they’ll post more detailed times and meeting places.
Well, I haven’t gotten around to posting my Portland-Seattle route on The Long Haul yet, but here’s a rough description of what I like to do.
It’s kind of a cheat: take the passenger ferry from downtown Seattle to Vashon Island, and ride south on the Vashon Highway. Beautiful, rural riding, good roads, moderate traffic. Awesome bakery in Vashon Village, too. This way, you start out with nice riding, rather than having to penetrate all that sprawl to the south of Seattle. At the south end of the island, take the ferry to Point Defiance and you’re in residential Tacoma.
Then wind your way around downtown, and cross I-5 at M street. Head south on M street, then Sheridan, Ainsworth, and finally Spanaway Loop. This will take you to 7 briefly, and then onto 507. Take 507 all the way to Centralia. Now you’re on the StP route, and you can just follow the dan henry arrows to Portland, which roughly means taking 507, 603, and 411 to Longview.
If you keep following the StP route, you go across the Lewis and Clark bridge and take highway 30 into town. If you’re feeling muscular and want something quieter and more scenic, you can take my route on the Old Pacific Highway on the Washington side.
I’ll put this on their blog, too.
Er, I guess I won’t — they don’t have comments enabled. Well, I’m sure you can pass my suggestion along to the band, Jonathan.
When I first heard about the Ditty Bops I thought they were pretty cool riding their bikes on tour through out the country and their blog is pretty funny. But I saw an ad for them and their tour, and it was sponsored by of all companies…Nissan!! I lost a lot respect for them because of this.
Don’t be so pompous, Jordan! Artists need someone to pay the bills and thanks to their well publicized bike travels, Nissan just financed a great deal of pro-bike publicity.
Subaru helps underwrite Discovery Channel Pro Cycling and some guy that inspired tens of thousands to get bikes. How about New Belgium Brewing? Should riders boycott Tour de Fat because New Belgium products could fuel DUI, spousal abuse, and alcoholism?
And although it is possible, (http://www.digave.com/videos_rock_band.html) hauling band gear accross the country on a bike is not fun w/o a support vehicle.