July 2025. Just south of the Canadian border, I intersected with Thomas Siffer, mid-journey on his ride originating in Vancouver.

As part of PNW Climate Week, he was merging forces that feel naturally aligned: traveling by bike and connecting with community. Teaching workshops about the science of climate change, and what we do when facing such a monolith, pairs well with being immersed in a shifting landscape at the pace of gears and pedals.

We rode to Bellingham’s Portal Container Village, where we hosted a local ride through Bellingham, highlighting infrastructure and where it might be improved, tracing the watersheds that shape our region, and stopping by WWU’s Outback Farm, lush with midsummer abundance. Then music and dancing, libations, new friends, and a flurry of bikes awaited our return to the post-industrial community hub.

The next day, freshly caffeinated at Café Velo and with new friends in tow, we rode the 100 miles to Seattle. Roads without shoulders gave way to the ever-lovely Centennial Trail, lined by thimbleberry bushes. Back to more pavement, more cars. The sun shone in Snohomish as side streets were closed for a community event, people milling about and existing for a moment outside of moving metal boxes. Life scaled back to the human level.

Cars and trucks whizzed by us on the roads that pave over this country, smooth and wide for fast transit. We ate from convenience stores along the way, in which the preserved foods are preserved further with plastic. The fuel, the asphalt, the plastic: all sourced from the likes of the local refineries that we rode past on our journey.

How can a few bikes compete with such forces at play?

Maybe they are not meant to. The lovely thing about bikes is they are a bridge, to others, to community, to the world around. They are one of the few things I can think of that are multiplicative in their nature. A little power goes in, and where you go from there can be to meet a friend down the street, or over multiple days to the state capitol, as Thomas did. Efficient elegance.

They are not to compete, but to connect.

So, let’s go for a ride. Let’s sip a coffee and maybe chat about how that coffee makes it to our mugs in the first place. Let’s trade gas station snacks for trailside treats. And along the way, let’s consider both the “what if” and the “what is.”

Who knows where it might lead?

See the rest of the gallery, here!