Flying in from out of town? Here’s your guide to exploring Spokane and North Idaho on two wheels.
By Justin Short
Once upon a time in the early days of Kendall Yards, there was a bike shop called Monkey Boy Bikes that catered to a mobility-oriented crowd. Think Dutch bikes, baskets, and the like. They even rented bikes, and being centrally located and barely a stone’s throw from the Centennial Trail, I thought for sure the shop would thrive with people flying into town, taking a bus from the airport to grab a bike for the weekend. But that didn’t happen and Monkey Boy quickly vanished.
Today, it appears Spokane may be ready to support this business model. Spokane has a vibrant enough bike culture to sustain 14-ish shops. But until the 2020 pandemic and the recent e-bike boom, the bike industry as a whole struggled to appeal to the casual observer. Now, mass numbers of people who typically had a rotting carcass of a Huffy collecting cobwebs in the garage are buying e-bikes and actually riding them.
However, an e-bike isn’t necessarily easy to lug around when you’re on vacation or traveling for work. That’s what Scott and Brenda of North Division Bike Shop were thinking when they opened Hillyard Bicycle last year. The shop is just over spitting distance from the Children of the Sun Trail, a veritable bicycle superhighway that connects to the Centennial Trail where riders can safely explore Riverfront Park, Riverside State Park and all the way out to Lake Coeur d’Alene almost entirely on separate bike paths and bike lanes. Not to mention, Beacon Hill, Spokane’s MTB park, is a 10-minute ride out the shop door.
Last year, Hillyard Bicycle hosted a Children of the Sun Trail Celebration. Group rides departed on the trail, road riders heading north, mountain bikers heading over to Beacon and gravel riders getting lost on urban gravel until we all returned for snacks and a speech from the mayor about the city’s commitment to accessibility, bike infrastructure and the renaissance going down in Hillyard.
How do you get to Hillyard Bicycle from the airport? It’s a 20-minute Uber in light traffic, but you can avoid the pinch of surge pricing and take the bus. It’s around an hour with two or three transfer options.
To go farther afield, call Silver Valley Shuttle at (208) 660-8821. Yes, you have to call them. They can take you to destinations along the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes in Idaho’s Silver Valley. In Kellogg, you can rent bikes from CDA Bike Co. and Silver Mountain Sport. They have rigs for slaying trails at Silver Mountain, lolling on the Trail of the CDA’s, or dropping jaws at the scenery on the Route of the Hiawatha just on the Montana side of the border. Don’t worry, you cross back into Idaho in the middle of a mile-long train tunnel.
In Wallace, Idaho, check out the new High-Voltage E-bikes, Spokehouse E-Bike Rentals, or Bike Wallace. Whether you ride to Harrison, Idaho, from farther up the valley or the shuttle drops you off there, check out Cycle Haus Bikes and Brews. You have to call them too…for bikes anyway. They will make coffee and sandwiches for you with no reservations.
