Originally Posted by
CliffordK
Oh, one note about those rides:
Nieuw Ronde PDX
La Doyenne
Le Foglie Morte
The maps are deceiving. They are INTENSE rides. Every corner you go around changes from descent to climbing. And most are very steep.
50 miles on the hills are worth at least 100 miles on the level.
Hey--thanks a ton for all this terrific info. I really appreciate it. I don't belong to a club or group or anything, so I'm always just kinda flying by the seat of my pants. I totally agree about the general quality of the hills around here. I was talking with someone from Dallas (I'm a Texan originally) and I told him about my ride up the front of Mt. Scott and then down the extremely terrifying (I have a fear of heights I am trying to get rid of) backside on this ridiculous thing called Monner Road the other day. What a JOKE. Anyhow, the total distance on that ride from my place in the Pearl out and back was, like, 36 miles or something. My friend just kind of scoffed. I tried to gently explain the hill situation here, but, God bless him, he lives in DFW. Just not a hill guy. Maybe they have speed bumps or something.
But you sound like you like to climb. If that is true and if you ever have the opportunity, I would suggest tackling Mt. Scott from the back or east side and then coming down the west side. I've never gone up that way, but I might try it. I do believe it is significantly steeper than anything on Thompson or Cornell or Skyline. It's maybe like Hazeltine in Forest Heights, if you know that one. Anyhow, as I say, I can't comment on Saltzman. If you wanted to do this coming from the Springwater Corridor Trail, which might be fun, you would just go: Springwater onto Jenne Rd., moving southeast on Jenne to Foster. Left on Foster and then not long after, a right onto SE 172nd Ave. Cruise that for a bit past the 7th Day Adv. Church and then a right on Hagen. To a left on 162nd. Right on Monner. Say some prayers, then hopefully up Monner (no problem for you) and a right on 147th to roundabout, becomes 145th. Then left on King. Becomes Mt. Scott Bd. and takes you all the way to the bottom and becomes SE Flavel. Under I205 to 92nd, and then you can go where you want. The Springwater Trail picks up on 92nd, conveniently, 3 blocks to the right, if you wanted to take that back into town. Or whatever. Google mapping this shows how easy the nav part is. The riding part, not so easy, IMO.
Please do ignore every bit of this if you are not interested and I do apologize if I've wasted your time. Happy riding and be safe!!