Ride in the Rain with Madi and Tarrell

Whether or not you're participating in the Ride in the Rain Challenge, come out for a fun ride during Seattle's rainiest month. Ride leader Madi Carlson and Cascade Bicycle Club Development Director Tarrell Kullaway cannot guarantee rain, but we're crossing their fingers, looking into cloud seeding, and have some rain-related backup ideas.

Meet at the new Ballard Mighty-O Donuts (1555 NW Market St, Seattle, WA) by 11:00 a.m. for a half hour of coffee and fine-tuning of rain gear before 11:30 departure.

Our route will take us along the NW 58th Street Ballard Greenway, which goes by the Ballard Library with its rain-loving green roof. We'll walk our bikes through the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks and in the event it's not raining, we can feel the mist of water roaring through the spillway and pretend to get splashed by the Salmon Waves public art.

Our next point of interest will be the West Thomas Street Overpass, where we'll pause and lament how nice a view we'd have if it wasn't raining out. Then we'll circle the Seattle Center's International Fountain, Seattle's best human-made rain. We'll loop back via the awesome green bike lanes of Mercer, Westlake, and admire the new (or at least the paint marking out soon-to-be-new) protected bike lane in Fremont.

Our end spot is Peddler Brewing (1514 NW Leary Way, Seattle, WA), just a few blocks from our start point. Peddler and rain are best buds! The place is totally winterized now, with canopy and heat lamps outside, and still plenty of room inside. The food truck won't arrive until 3pm so if you don't want to hang out, we have some rain-related ideas for you in the area:

• Swift Industries (1415 NW 49th St, Seattle, WA, open 12-5) has great, locally-made waterproof bike bags.
• Dutch Bike Co (4905 Leary Ave NW, Seattle, WA, open 11-5) is the only place to get the adorable BikeCap saddle covers.

Here's the route: on Ride with GPS and on Google maps.