Best Bike Cities: Making the Case for Bellingham
While you'll find bikes in every city, town, hamlet and village you visit, not all of those places can be classified as bike-friendly cities. Bellingham, on the other hand, is a paradise for biking, from the mountains to the sea—which also happen to be destinations you can bike between here. Whereas Bellingham got its start as a scrappy city hallmarked by heavy industry and hard, dirty work, its modern era has been defined in no small amount by its recreational opportunities and the active lifestyle that goes with them. It didn't earn its reputation as a bike-friendly community instantly, but it did come by it honestly. With that reputation comes visitors, and those visitors need bicycle-friendly hotels—and that's where we roll into the picture. We'll get to that in a minute, however. First we must take a trip to the mountains.
Bellingham, WA Mountain Biking: Galbraith or Bust
When talking about mountain biking in Bellingham, Washington, one name looms larger than life: Galbraith. In the same way that Mt. Baker is a bucket-list destination for snowboarders, Galbraith Mountain and its trail system is the mecca that brings pedal-powered pilgrims to Bellingham. It features over 65 miles of singletrack that snakes through some 3,000 acres of lush Pacific Northwest forestland. But the numbers don't tell the tale. As with so many world-class mountain bike trail systems, the network on Galbraith has come about via the herculean volunteer effort of folks who not only build and maintain trails in their spare time, but also work with landowners, government organizations, environmentalists and other recreational users to be forward-thinking stewards of the land on which they ride. They've been at it for some three decades and these days their efforts are organized under the umbrella of the nonprofit Whatcom Mountain Bike Coalition. When you talk about Bellingham, Washington mountain biking, you're really talking about Galbraith; and when you're talking about Galbraith, you're talking about the work of the WMBC. Bellingham owes its status as one of the most bike-friendly cities around to the sheer luck of being in close proximity to natural wonder that is Galbraith—it's within biking distance of the Hotel Leo—and the sheer amount of labor and advocacy that has gone into making and maintaining it as a mountain biker's paradise.
A Mountain Bike Town By the Sea
As stunning a jewel as Galbraith might be, not all mountain biking takes place in the mountains. In recent years, Bellingham has opened a broad swath of its once off-limits waterfront to the public, and in doing so has burnished its bona fides as one of the best cities for mountain biking by building a pump track and skills course. The WMBC pedaled its way into this project as well, in partnership with the Port of Bellingham, and where once was an unsightly environmental waste site is now 20,000 square feet of the banked turns and berms that make up the pump track. More recently, they expanded the waterfront offerings to include a skills zone with wood features and skinnies, as well as three large jump lines. The waterfront bike park is free, open to the public and can be enjoyed by everyone regardless of age or skill level. As is the case in many of the best bike-friendly cities, the pedal-powered attractions do not stand alone. The bike park is adjacent to Trackside, an outdoor beer garden pouring pints courtesy of local Kulshan Brewery, and features a rotating cast of food vendors as well as a stage for live music. Best of all, it's less than half a mile from Hotel Leo—hop on your bike and you can be testing the jumps in under five minutes.
Hotel Leo: Your Bike-Friendly Accommodation
There's a difference between hotels that allow bikes and a hotel that is a true cycle-friendly accommodation. Most hotels are the former. The Hotel Leo, however, is the latter. We take a lot of pride in Bellingham's status as one of the country's great underrated mountain bike towns. When you check into our hotel, you need not park your bike out on the street (Bellingham may be a mountain bike town, but property theft does occasionally happen here) as the Hotel Leo offers a locked bike room for your two-wheeled steed. We also understand that mountain biking can be a dirty sport and so we welcome you to make use of our bike wash facilities to keep your bike clean (or cleanish—we're not here to judge). Because we take our designation as a bike friendly accommodation seriously, we're hard at work on a new bike room that will come complete with repair stands where you can keep your bike in tip-top shape. If working on bikes is not your thing, the Hotel Leo is nearby any number of bike shops, including Trek Bicycle, Earl’s Bike Shop and Fanatik Bike Co. Living a pedal-powered life can work up a healthy appetite, and Hotel Leo is surrounded by some of Bellingham's tastiest fare. Treat yourself to a pizza at La Fiamma, a bowl of gumbo at Bayou on Bay or tacos and margaritas at Black Sheep. Of course, you need not leave the hotel to satiate your hunger and slake your thirst when Amendment 21 has what we believe to be the best lineup of burgers in town, a beer and wine list that is proudly local and craft cocktails poured by our expert bartenders.
No matter how you measure such things, Bellingham adds up to be among the best cities for mountain biking and the Hotel Leo is pleased to be your bike-friendly accommodation for the duration of your stay. Make a reservation and plan to pedal on in today.