Portland Rides??
 

Howdy everyone! I just moved to Portland and am currently living in the NE on Mississippi Ave. Seeing that the weather is now nice, I would like to get back into road biking. I am hoping that someone can recommend some good places to ride or good rides go to on. Preferably a few relatively flat ones (while I get in shape) and definitely some good hills. I suspect that forest park will be the best bet. Any road recommendations up there? to the east? I really like to avoid busy roads as much as possible and obviously enjoy natural scenery over subdivisions. Thanks for any help!

Uhhh... Forest Park ain't flat.

From Mississippi Ave. try heading north and west along Willamette Blvd. If there's too much traffic along Willamette (even with the bike lane) duck into the neighborhoods. Once you're past U of P, find the Peninsula Crossing Trail, take it north, find the trail through the sewage plant (it's pretty- no, really!), and keep going until you get to the Marine Drive path. You can take that path east as far as the airport. It's an OK path, it just tends to get clogged with walkers and skaters and such.

Pick up the Portland Cycling map at most bike shops or here:
http://www.portlandonline.com/transp...34809&a=181325

For a collection of longer local rides, try the Rubber to the Road books & website:
http://www.rubbertotheroad.com/?page_id=514

If you want hills, wait a year and join the De Ronde van Portlandia: http://rondepdx.com/ . Here's what you'll experience: http://www.opb.org/programs/ofg/segments/view/1728

A couple of web sites you might want to bookmark (if you haven't already done so) are the Shift calendar and BikePortland.

Also, once you get settled in and feeling comfortable, you might want to consider riding out to Sauvie Island. A nice day in April or May would make for a good picnic outing.

There's a portland meetup bike group at http://www.meetup.com/Rubber2theroad/, I'm a member and it's really good for finding out about rides.

I second Peninsula Crossing/Marine Drive for the flatness, plus the Shift and Bikeportland calendars.

Other good flat-ish rides using separated bike paths would be heading south the Eastbank Esplanade trail on the eastside of the river, which leads into the Springwater Corridor trail. Old rail bed so grades are gradual, with varying degrees of scenic-ness. The mid-section is a bit rough, pavement wise, and they are going to start repaving soon, so there will be detours. And if you don't feel like riding the whole way back, you can hop on the MAX either at Lents TC/Foster Rd (for the Green Line) or in downtown Gresham (for the Blue Line). And the Springwater connects to the I-205 Bike Path, mostly flat (except for that good up and down between Gateway and Parkrose/Maywood Park) but not really scenic.

Oh, and to nitpick: if you're living on or near Mississipi Ave, you are in NORTH Portland, not NE. There's a distinction.

Picky, picky... :lol:

FWIW: I did an east side loop yesterday with the recumbent gang. I hope y'all got out- it was a incredible day for riding: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ohpv/se...7623660706974/