I had a three day conference to attend in Seattle so I took my bike and rode up on the Amtrak. I really liked bike commuting in Seattle. Yes, there were several really steep hills I had to climb each trip, but they just added to the fun. And while the traffic was heavy I never felt threatened or unsafe. There are many streets with bike lanes, and even more with sharrows. For the most part city the cars are going slow and seemed to expect bicycles as there were lots of them. A couple of times I hit the wrong street and had to ride on the sidewalk. I ran into some cops on bikes and asked them about it. They said "ride on the sidewalk, that's what we do". I didn't have to do this much, but it was nice to know it was an option.

I have subsequently made two additional trips to Seattle via bike and Amtrak. I've got the bike routes down a little better so that I can avoid the steepest hills and the heaviest traffic. There is no question that bike commuting is the way to go in a city lile Seattle. Much better than cars.