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A few weekends ago, Rob and I thought we’d ride our bikes to Bremerton. You know, just a little weekend jaunt around Puget Sound.
Photo by Robert Kittilson
I’d done a little research beforehand, and I was a little worried about the amount of highway riding we’d be doing, as well as crossing the Agate Pass Bridge, which people kept calling out as scary (it’s actually not at all). Overall, though, drivers were really courteous and even the highway riding was on wide-shouldered roads that I thought were plenty safe.
It was an overcast day, but the ride was really lovely. It turned out to be about 30 miles from Bainbridge to Bremerton, with another 5 miles added on each way from our house to the ferry. It’s definitely one of my favorite local rides now.
View Seattle-Bainbridge-Bremerton Loop in a larger map
Have you ever ridden your bike on the ferry? Isn’t it awesome? Not only do you get to go up to the front of the line, but your bikes get the best view of all the vehicles in the hold.
Photo by RK
Chilly! Photo by RK
Best view in the hold. Photo by RK
We got off the ferry in Bainbridge, then took some roads that paralleled the highway. The Chilly Hilly, if you don’t know, is a ride that the Cascade Bicycle Club puts on every February on Bainbridge. (This year it’s coming up on the 24th.) Because of that, I was expecting to be really laid out by some gnarly hills.
The hilliness wasn’t actually that bad, even for this flatland Georgetowner. You’ll barely notice the hills anyway, because the scenery is SO BEAUTIFUL.
Photo by RK
What is this thing!?
As I mentioned, I was a bit worried about the highway riding and the Agate Pass Bridge. Once we’d left Fay Bainbridge State Park and joined the 305, however, it wasn’t that bad. The shoulder was decently wide, the drivers gave you plenty of space, and there were 100% fewer semis than I normally have to share a roadway with, so I was happy.
Agate Pass Bridge doesn’t have a bike lane, only a narrow sidewalk. You’re best off just riding in the roadway here–it’s a pretty short bridge and cars are used to dealing with cyclists. Because it’s a bit of a bottleneck they’re all going slower, too.
My advice is that if you’re not comfortable with cars passing you within a couple feet, just take the lane going over the bridge. You’ll hold somebody up by a few seconds at best.
Agate Pass Bridge (not a Rob photo–I take photos sometimes too!)
See? (Photo obviously by RK)
I wanted to stop and go take some photos from the bridge. It’s pretty obvious why it’s called Agate Pass–check out how green this water is!
Agate Pass
Photo by RK
We stopped in Poulsbo for lunch at Hare and Hounds Public House, where we got to overhear a local kid bragging to his girlfriend about shooting kittens with a 7mm handgun and how he got a DUI after drinking cognac. The beer was good (I had local Sound Brewery’s Reluctant IPA), the food was mediocre, but the local color was, um, priceless.
But seriously, though. Isn’t Poulsbo adorable? We stopped at Sluys Poulsbo Bakery and got danishes to snack on later. Rob had to stop me from buying dozens and dozens to devour in the bakery lobby.
Poulsbo
Poulsbo
The ride from Poulsbo to Bremerton was equally lovely–and almost all on back roads. The only thing I can complain about is the ABSOLUTE monster of a neverending hill that we found on Illahee Rd NE. Whenever I’m climbing a long hill, I try to distract myself by thinking about something else. Normally, I parse out dialog or plot details of whatever fiction I’m working on–you know, really try to get engrossed in something other than the fact that I’m climbing a hill.
This hill, however, was brutal. Every time you’d see what looked like a crest, you’d turn the corner and realize that it actually went on for twice as far as you’d already come. Eventually the only thing left in my brain was: “hill–oh god–hill–pedal–breathe–hill–oh god…”
The top of the Hill of Doom. Rob was ready to go before I was, because he climbed it like 20 minutes faster than I did. Also, how about that safety sign in front of the Fire Department?
In Bremerton, we stopped at Der Blokken Brewery for a well-deserved beer. I just checked out their website and saw that they’re women-owned with women brewers, which makes me really happy. I had (surprise!) the Sacred Hop Double IPA.
Cheers! Photo by RK.
Der Blokken Brewery. Photo by RK.
The beer and wings were damn good. You definitely need to stop here if you’re in Bremerton. No one talked about shooting kittens. It’s a classy place.
Der Blokken is also a 10-minute ride to the ferry, so we left there about 15 minutes before the ferry was schedule. We got there in the perfect amount of time–no cold waiting in the drizzle.
Have any of you taken that route? Any suggestions or favorite stops you’d like to add? I’d love to hear about it for the next time we do it!
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Oh, this looks so fun! Tucking it away for future reference. Until mention of THE HILL (how long is it anyway, do you know?), I thought it would be fun on the family bike, but I think it’ll be a small-bike venture.
Neat to see your light little bikes tied to the ferry with their yellow twine. I’ve only used my sturdy lock for my old family bike or nothing for my burly cargo bike.
I’d guess THE HILL was about a mile long. You kind of go down into a ravine, then climb back out of it–you can see where I marked it on the map, there’s a big swatch that’s empty of roads (the ravine).
I don’t know for sure, but I’d bet that if you took another way you could avoid it entirely. I’m curious now to check it out.
Hello! What a great ride recap! I’ve been coming to Bremerton (up from Ventura area) about twice a year for seven years (to teach env. law for work) and I love it – a good friend of mine lived in Poulsbo. I’ll have to think about packing the Brompton next time! I’m usually busy hiking and going to Seattle Fabrics! I can’t believe that hill. And, I can totally understand the Poulsbo story (I actually like the independence of Bremerton better). I took a single girlfriend out and encountered the local color much as you did. Great trip recap – I can’t wait to come this summer and try this. .
You should totally bring the Brompton next time! It’s so lovely to ride around there!
Hi! So nice to discover your blog. I live on Bainbridge and have ridden to Silverdale but not all the way to Bremerton. It doesn’t seem like a safe ride to me, but then I haven’t closely looked at the route you took yet. I will. I did, however, have to take my car in to the dealership in Bremerton and set off from there on bike to Der Blokken and Silver City’s new taproom. I chronicled it, and also my brewery adventure to Poulsbo… and … some of my adventures around Seattle. I am going to follow your blog. Exciting!
Thanks for commenting–your blog is an awesome find for beer and bike lovers in the area! I went the route of blogging about bikes and crafts, but I could have easily blogged about bikes and breweries. Reading your posts made me feel like I was reading my alter-ego blog.
Very inspiring!
Hi Jessie,
Have you heard of the Tour de Pints? It’s put on by Flying Bike Brewery as part of Seattle Beer Week. I did it last year. This year their first stop is Der Blokken in Bremerton.
The group (which grows to, I don’t know, 100 or more?) I imagine will be much smaller for that first stop at Der Blokken at 9:30 a.m. Anyway, check out Flying Bike’s Facebook page for the event.
As I live on Bainbridge I would consider riding to Bremerton for this, but as I mentioned, I haven’t done that ride and feel like it’s not bike friendly. I was looking over the route you took. I also wondered about taking a different route from Poulsbo to Bremerton that looks perhaps a bit friendlier to me.
Anyway. Let me know if you and your guy, and any other friends would be interested in the ride. Of course, as you live over in Seattle, it would make more sense for you to just ride the Seattle to Bremerton ferry over with the group to start the Tour. Just thought I’d mention it.
That’s great, thanks for the heads up! I’ll have to check it out.
I’d also love to hear suggestions on the route we took–having never been to the area, we chose it entirely by studying Google Maps. I’m sure there’s better routing out there.
Thanks for this! We’re going out to Poulsbo (from Seattle) for a wedding, and were considering biking it (with a cargo bike and a 14-month-old). I was a bit nervous about Agate Pass Bridge, but it sounds like it’s not to bad. We’re going to go for it.
Good, glad I could help a bit! Agate Pass Bridge really isn’t bad–just take the lane and you’ll be fine. It’s short enough that it’s over quick, and the rest of the highway has a nice wide shoulder. Happy riding!