You asked, we answered: why are your rides so early in the morning?

Photo by Ryan Georgi

You asked, we answered!  

Now that our major riding events season is in full swing, we’re taking a moment to answer some of your most frequently asked questions about how we plan our events. So give it a read and then check out our lineup—we still have plenty of awesome rides on deck.

First up: Why are so many of your rides on Sundays, and why so early in the morning?

If you’ve been on any of our major riding events, you know that we love to highlight routes through the region’s most unique and fun communities. While this provides for new and engaging riding experiences, it also means that lots of different people—from business owners to government officials to neighborhood residents—need to be in the know. And as you can imagine, that takes a lot of planning! 

We work with many different community partners to make each riding event come together, and at the end of the day, we schedule events based on the day and time when it is most accommodating for everyone impacted. This often means that riding events are held on weekends and during early morning hours to try to minimize impact on local traffic and neighborhoods (plus early mornings help us stay cool on those warm summer days). 

If you participate in other sporting and recreational events around the city, you probably know that Saturdays are packed full of scheduled events all year long. We often ride on Sunday mornings to help alleviate neighborhood congestion and spread the fun across the whole weekend.

A good example is the Emerald City Ride. We work closely with the Washington Department of Transportation to coordinate the closure of major highways and thoroughfares such as the I-5 Express Lanes. But in order to ensure that riders have this uniquely unforgettable riding experience, we have to abide by strict rules surrounding the days and times allotted for these types of closures. The I-5 Express Lanes, for example, can only be “loaned” to us on Sundays (Cascade actually pays user fees for each of these one-time events), and must be clear by 10:30 a.m. in order to guarantee a regular 11:00 a.m. opening time (another good reason to get an early start). 

So even though you might need to set an alarm, we hope the early morning wake-up call is worth the effort. Our major riding events bring out the best and brightest bicyclists from all over, and we look forward to riding with you each and every time.

If you’re on the lookout for a non-Sunday event, you might check out Flying Wheels on Saturday, June 2. Not a morning person? Try the Seattle Night Ride on Friday, June 29. And don’t forget, Free Group Rides happen every day of the year! 

To learn more about the behind-the-scenes work at Cascade, read on!