{"id":13,"date":"2012-07-10T22:41:13","date_gmt":"2012-07-11T05:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dubrawski.net\/rich\/blog\/?p=13"},"modified":"2012-07-22T22:53:13","modified_gmt":"2012-07-23T05:53:13","slug":"tour-of-the-coeur-dalenes-day-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dubrawski.net\/rich\/blog\/?p=13","title":{"rendered":"Tour of the Coeur d’Alene’s Day 1"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Ride<\/strong><\/div>\n
Today I rode my 2008 Trek Madone Road bike 55 miles from Coeur d’Alene ID to about 8 miles into Washington.<\/div>\n
The ride was along the Northern Idaho Centenial Trail on the Idaho side, and onto the Spokane River Centenial Trail in WA.<\/div>\n
The ride from the trail entry to Post Falls ID was very pleasant. \u00a0The trail is well maintained and the abundance of trees provides a nice amount of shade.<\/div>\n
It helped that this part of the ride was early in the day (around 8AM) as the temperatures had not yet risen to the 97F they would reach by mid afternoon.<\/div>\n
The trail entry can be confusing to find since they are not readily marked on google maps. \u00a0There is a misleading adjacent trail near the Centenial, but\u00a0whereas the Centenial trail is paved, the nearby trail is a mix of dirt and gravel. \u00a0I met a gentleman as I rode from my Hotel to the trail entry who was\u00a0kind enough to direct me toward the entry. The best tip I can give here is to remember that the trail is on the North side of the river in Coeur d’Alene.<\/div>\n
\"Map<\/a><\/div>\n
I encountered Post Falls (The town immediately to the west of Coeur d’Alene) after about 11 miles and was dismayed to see the nice separate paved trail\u00a0dump out onto common roads at a major intersection. \u00a0A sign at the intersection directed that the trail continued across the intersection, picking up in\u00a01850 ft. \u00a0I rode across the intersection using the cross walks as directed, and started down the indicated road. \u00a0After not seeing a trail head entry\u00a0after about a mile, I tried experimenting with some of the residential side streets, hoping to find a local resident who may be able to direct me to the\u00a0trail entry like the earlier gentleman had. \u00a0Eventually I was able to query a driver who stopped and ended up turning back to reacquire the trail at\u00a0the last point I was sure that I was on it. \u00a0trying again, and paying very close attention to spot the small trail marker signs, I realized that on this\u00a0side of the freeway I had crossed, the “trail” is actually a bike path on the common road. \u00a0(I later learned from reading one of the signs on the trail\u00a0that they designate both class 1 and class 2 trails, with class 1 being the completely separate trail and a class 2 being a bike path painted on the\u00a0common road).<\/div>\n
I attempted to follow the “trail” through Post Falls, but missed the class 1 trail entry just past the Post Office. \u00a0Assuming that eventually the trail\u00a0had to pick up again near the interstate to the west, I followed a frontage road for awhile. \u00a0Eventually I was able to reacquire the trail near the west\u00a0end of Post Falls. \u00a0On that section of trail I met a very nice older woman named Shirley who was walking the trail (or at least part of it). \u00a0After a\u00a0brief conversation with her, I learned that the remainder of the trail would be mainly class 1, with a few inconvenient transitions at intersections. \u00a0The\u00a0inconvenient transitions were sometimes very nerve racking as the trail would end at a sidewalk and the rider forced to ride a way on the pedestrian\u00a0sidewalk until reaching the intersection. \u00a0Despite this, I must say that although at the time, in comparison to the Class 1 trail prior to Post Falls, this\u00a0is a nice and pretty safe route, using for the most part lightly utilized residential roads and routing around the heavy traffic areas. \u00a0For an urban trail<\/div>\n
it is not bad.<\/div>\n
After returning to the full class 1 trail, I began to feel quite relaxed. \u00a0The ability to ride on a trail completely away from cars is awesome. The trail is far from unused. \u00a0I encountered many groups of families riding,\u00a0individuals riding and folks walking the trail. \u00a0Since the speed limit on the trail is 15mph, and I was going essentially the speed limit, I only saw\u00a0people heading the opposite direction, but the mainly flat trail, with short staggered inclines where necessary make this ride very friendly for riders of\u00a0pretty much any level (adjust distance to your cycling fitness level). \u00a0The ride from Post Falls to the Washington\/Idaho border is not very picturesque.<\/div>\n
There isn’t much tree coverage on that stretch, and most of the trail hugs the interstate, so the views are rather bland. \u00a0This would be a bigger problem\u00a0later in the day during my return ride when the temperatures had risen into the mid nineties and the lack of shade on the trail along with the general\u00a0fatigue really took its tool.<\/div>\n
Crossing into Washington, things got interesting. Shortly after the border, the trail appeared to split off, one path continuing straight, and the other\u00a0bearing off to the right and back. \u00a0Again this is completely my fault for over thinking since had I just followed the path to the right, where a sign\u00a0indicated that there was a trail information area, I would have saved myself about 4 miles. Instead, I continued forward and after crossing a small\u00a0bridge, saw markings on the pavement that told me I was now entering the Liberty Lake Stateline Trail. \u00a0I followed this trail for 1.8 miles until it ended\u00a0at Appleway Rd. \u00a0At this point I turned back, and could see off in the distance a small family riding what appeared to be another trail on the other side\u00a0of the interstate. \u00a0I rode back to the branch point, and made the decision that I was here to ride, so rather than head back to the hotel, I took the other\u00a0path and was glad to have done it.<\/div>\n
The Washington side of the Centenial trail is called the Spokane River Centenial Trail. \u00a0The start of the trail for me was at the state line where it\u00a0took over for the Northern Idaho Centenial Trail. \u00a0About 2 miles in, after crossing a road, and riding on the “wrong” side of another road where a\u00a0very wide section is marked (look close, the markings are quite worn) as the bike trail, you get to one of the many rest areas. \u00a0This rest area has a\u00a0large parking lot (well large enough), some shade trees and picnic tables, and bathrooms. \u00a0I stopped for a break at this rest area since I had ridden\u00a025 miles by then, and took advantage of the situation to adjust my shoe cleat. \u00a0One of these days I will get that adjusted right and my rides will be much\u00a0more pleasant.<\/div>\n
I continued the westward trek on what first was a repurposed frontage road (restricted to non-motorized vehicles) and then quickly became a very nice class\u00a01 trail. \u00a0The first few miles into WA have just as little cover as the last 5 in Idaho, but eventually that changes for the better. \u00a0About 3 miles in, I\u00a0encountered another trail head, and almost immediately after, the trails begins to become incredible. \u00a0The Spokane River Centenial Trail hugs the Spokane\u00a0River. \u00a0There is plenty of tree cover, and great views of the river.<\/div>\n
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