The San Juan Islands, with their winding country roads and Puget Sound vistas, are the most popular bicycling locales in the state. Of the four main San Juan Islands (San Juan, Orcas, Lopez, and Shaw), Lopez has the easiest and Orcas the most challenging terrain for bikers. Here you can pedal for as few or many days as you like, stopping at parks, inns, and quaint villages.
Other popular road-biking spots include Bainbridge and Vashon islands, with their easy access to Seattle; the Olympic Peninsula, with its scenic vistas and campgrounds; and the Long Beach Peninsula, with its miles of flat roads. Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane, and Yakima also all have many miles of easy paths for bicycle riding.
The region's national forests provide miles of logging roads and single-track trails for mountain biking. However, the state's premier mountain-biking destination is the Methow Valley, where miles of cross-country ski trails are opened to bicycles in the summer.
If you're interested in participating in an organized bicycle tour, there are a couple of companies you might want to contact. Backroads, 801 Cedar St., Berkeley, CA 94710-1800 (tel. 800/462-2848 or 510/527-1555; www.backroads.com), offers road bike trips in the San Juan Islands and on the Olympic Peninsula. Tour prices range from $1,698 to $2,698. Bicycle Adventures, P.O. Box 11219, Olympia, WA 98508 (tel. 800/443-6060 or 360/786-0989; www.bicycleadventures.com) offers biking trips in the San Juan Islands, on the Olympic Peninsula, to the volcanoes of Washington, and through the Columbia Gorge. Tour prices range from $1,044 to $2,668.
