I am about to be moving to Beaverton, Oregon with my girlfriend in mid July. I don’t know anybody in Oregon, so anyone in the Beaverton/Portland area who wants to take some rides or kick it, let me know. I’m pretty stoked about getting out there and looking forward to doing a lot of cycling and getting into some camping, maybe some backpacking. Also, any advice on nice/cheap apartments near the MAX in that area would be great.

Great, hope your move goes well, I'm sure you'll enjoy Oregon, the cycling is fantastic!

You'll want to join the Portland Velo Club, they have many group rides, and it's a great way to meet other riders. Bookmark their website, it will keep you up to speed on cycling rides and races in the area.
http://portlandvelo.net/

You might also enjoy looking at Bike Portland web magazine http://bikeportland.org/

Welcome, Joe. I'd volunteer to show you some routes, but the timing doesn't work out very well. My wife and I are expecting a 'new addition' in mid- to late July.

The Velo would be a good group for you as most of their rides are in that far west side of the metro area.

Thanks for the help. I'll check those sites out; group rides sound like a good way to go. Good luck with the family addition, dtrain; Have you been practicing your Lamaze? I have been doing a lot of job searching and apartment hunting in preparation for the move. I think I’m going to get a Long Haul Trucker as soon as I get out there.

Yup, I've got the breathing down (I think).

Here's one other area group:
http://www.pwtc.com/


And some additional routes:
http://www.blueberryrides.com/maps/map2.htm

Are you into road cycling or mountain biking?

I can tell you about some good commuting roads in Beaverton, but outside of that I'm pretty much a newbie. I've done a couple of great organized rides though.

Check out Summit to Surf (http://tour.diabetes.org/site/TR?pg=entry&fr_id=5051) on July 26 as a potential head first initiation into Oregon cycling. Then there's Cycle Oregon Weekend (http://www.cycleoregon.com/default_weekend.htm) August 1-3.

I’m pretty much just into commuting and road riding. Some advice on routs would be awesome, though I don’t know exactly where in Beaverton I’ll be living yet. About how far is it into Portland from Beaverton, any routs you might suggest? I’ll get a good bike map when I get out there; I do have a greater Portland area map now though, so if you point out some routs I should be able to look ‘em up. Thanks for the help.

welcome to Oregon, sorry about Beaverton

;)

Well if your gonna be biking/using MAX then the 'tron isnt half bad. About a 20-30 minute max ride from downtown.

I'm about 20 minutes southeast of you, so no help with routes, but im sure there are a good many members on that side of town that can help you out.

I commute 4 or 5 days a week to Beaverton from NE Portland.
My Std route: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1277173

I can help with a number of variations on getting Downtown. This is the easiest, but in good weather, I'll go via Hewett and Montgomery or usethe Zoo path. The Portland Velo is definetly the club for you. Great ride choices and the club is so large they have 4 or 5 speed groups. If you're feeling tired, just stop and wait for the next slower group!

Check the apartments near the Beaverton Creek MAX station, they look ok for a few month to rent.
Not sure of the name but if you are interested I can check. PM me.
Benvenuti
Paolo

The big problem with Beaverton, and particularly the area between Beaverton and Hillsboro, is that so much of it was planned by housing developers. There are surprisingly few roads that go anywhere. Most roads head into a housing development, loop around the cul de sacs, and then take you back where you started.

The good news is that a few of the roads that don't do that are pretty decent. One thing you'll need to get used to when you move out here is that a lot of the roads on the west side change names depending on where you are. I say that so you can make sense of what follows. Obviously, until you know where you'll be living and where you'll want to go, specifics are only so helpful, but knowing which roads are good for biking might help you pick a place to live.

If you're going through Beaverton, there are a lot of roads that aren't suitable for bikes. The road to use going west-east through Beaverton is 6th Avene/5th Avenue. It starts right around Murray and goes through Beaverton, ultimately connecting to a MUP that takes you toward Portland. Take a low traffic street to this one and you're on your way.

Going north-south, Murray Road is a workable option. There's one particular stretch (between TV Highway and Farmington Road) that is bracketed by dangerous intersections, but if you're careful, Murray will get you where you're going, and most of it is pretty nice to ride on. To the south, Scholl's Ferry Road is a nice ride between Murray and 217. To the North, Cornell Road is good from Murray westward.

The main road I use for my commute from Beaverton to Hillsboro is Jenkins/Baseline. It's a nice ride with good bike lanes from the Nike Campus at Jenkins and Murray all the way to Hillsboro where it passes near several Intel campuses (to name the two big employers in the area -- your interests may vary depending on your line of work).

When I head into Portland, I take a different route than PdxGecko indicated. I can't say if it's better, not having tried the other way, but it's a route I like. I start down 6th/5th and go across a MUP to Chesnut, then swing down to Elm Street. Hopping across Scholls Ferry and down 92nd for just a block, I get on another MUP which swings past the Portland Golf Course and takes you to the intersection of Oleson and Garden Home Roads. From there, I take Garden Home, which quickly become Multnomah Boulevard. I take that up to Captiol Highway (by way of 31st) and take Capitol to Terrwilliger Boulevard (by way of Cheltenham. Terrwilliger is an amazing downhill that offers you some of the most stunning views in the city before dropping you off at the west end of downtown. There's a slightly flatter alternative that stays on Multnomah until it skirts I-5 and then wind over to the Willamette waterfront.

Anyway, here's the real treasure of Portland area route planning:

http://www.metro-region.org/index.cfm/go/by.web/id/15341

It's a Google Earth plug-in with a Bike There! map of the Portland metro area. I could have just given you that and skipped what I said above because it graphically tells you all that and more.

Someone should mention that bikes on MAX are not the dream combinations you'd think they could be. Each MAX train can only hold 8-10 bikes (by TriMet's count), and by the time they get to Beaverton at peak hours, they've typically got 15-20 bikes on them.

I've been riding the rural areas south and west of beaverton for years. There are gem rides and climbs galore off the beaten paths. Riding w/ the Wheelmen and Portland Velo will introduce you to the main routes/rides and are fun in their own respect.

I can't guarantee anything since I've got a 10 month old daughter, but give me a PM when you get here and can take you on a few gems.