This past weekend, a group of us went on one last training ride before the STP, which begins tomorrow. The Burke-Gilman is a multipurpose trail, with bicyclists sharing the path with walkers, joggers, inline skaters, sometimes even people on horseback. (Inline nitpicker’s corner: The horseback riders are on the Sammamish River Trail, which is technically a different trail from the Burke-Gilman even though the two connect seamlessly.) As you cycle past a group, you can sometimes catch a few words of conversation. Usually, those words are not noteworthy at all. “…said to her…” or “…opened up…” or “…whenever the…” Except when I passed one pair of walkers, I heard one of them say “…concentration camp…” Traffic alert

According to the Washington State Department of Transportation Construction Updates web site, “Crews will completely close SR 520 between Montlake Blvd. and 108th Avenue NE from 11 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday for the annual maintenance and inspection.” Curiously, this isn’t losted on the SR 520 Travel Alerts page.