For the PNW Folks

[bigbill]

I commuted for many years in the Kitsap County area. I have a Showers Pass Elite jacket and I'd use the pit zips to regulate the temps inside the jacket. I had two pair of rain pants cut off knicker length. Winter shoes with a neoprene cuff and low socks. No point in tall socks because they'll just wick more water to your feet. The best investment is a rain bike with fenders and long flaps since most of the water that hits you comes from the road. I rode on garden hose tires (Armadillo, Gatorskin) but I would use some 30mm tubeless now. Most of the punctures will come from debris on the shoulders which tubeless should handle while still giving a good ride.

Showers Pass makes some nice waterproof gloves that are warm. I like mine.

[72gmc]

Places I'd explore:
1. A halo around the Portland area ... but not really Oregon City for me, I've been visiting family there all my life and feel lukewarm about it (despite the people I love).
2. Corvallis
3. Kitsap Peninsula (bigbill is an expert)

I know many lovely people who live in the Tacoma area but I consider it a "visit" rather than "live" place.

[notsew]

Originally Posted by Clean39T

Say more. How’s the road riding?

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Nothing to see here!
Kidding (kinda)

We have an epic mountain bike scene anchored by Galbraith Mountain (you can check it on Trailforks) and local manufacturers like Transition, Evil and the former bike company, Kona.

There is a pretty active little gravel scene with folks that want to ride bikes, but don't want to be roadies. However, gravel comes in two varieties here, up and down. Don't come expecting miles of serene midwestern farm roads. These are roads for logging, and sometimes they let us ride them.

We are lucky enough to have a local CX series. It is very chill -- the uber competitive peeps skip it for Seattle's huge scene, but it sure is nice to be able to race CX all winter without spending 3 hours in the car.

The roadie scene is honestly a bit on life support. Gravel seems to have really sucked the life out of it. There are a handful of group rides, but they are petering out a little bit, a sunny day in the summer used to draw 50, now it's more like 20. There are dozens of us! Dozens!

I think the road riding is nice, and I do it a lot, but there are limited roads. If you want to ride 30-40 miles roundtrip from home, there are maybe 6-7 routes, realistically. On the plus side, a few of the roads around here are amazing (google chuckanut drive, Mt. Baker hillclimb) and for the most part drivers are very conscientious. I always feel pretty safe out on the road. Nobody is throwing batteries or cursing you out.

Most of the terrain is rolling hills. You have to work pretty hard to not have at least 1500 ft of elevation on a ride. Most of the roads are in pretty good shape. County roads are chipseal, that seems like less of an issue with bikes these days. Here is a ****ty, somewhat broken website I built that shows a smattering of routes: https://ridebham.com/category/road/road-routes/

Also there are no jobs, the houses cost a fortune, and the weather is cold, wet and windy 40% of the year. Summer is glorious.

To the main question of the thread. I commute by bike every day. Good gear is critical, but mostly you are talking cold and drizzle. Rare to have downpours. Other than that I mostly ride my bike inside Nov-March. I don't like to be cold. I spend most of the winter fantasizing about moving to California, it always feels shocking to me when people come the other way.

[fourflys]

Originally Posted by notsew

I don't like to be cold. I spend most of the winter fantasizing about moving to California, it always feels shocking to me when people come the other way.

I would love to stay in Sonoma County the rest of my life.. but I just can't see a way to do it unless I come into a lot of money soon.. even with a healthy down payment, the monthly payment on a $800k-$1m house would have me paying on it for 30 yrs and I just don't want to be 80 and just getting ready to pay off a house.. my goal is to have my future purchase paid off within 15yrs so I can fully retire by 65ish.. that's the downside to spending 30yrs in a small service where you move every 2-3yrs and never really get a chance to buy a home early one and keep it.. I just never wanted to be a landlord from across the country, too many horror stories..

[Jimbo251]

FWIW, I have lived in the Northern Valley for most of my life, from as far south as west Salem/Monmoth to as far North as Jantzen beach to east to Gresham and west to McMinnville.

My two cents is coming from Sonoma, your not going to like any of the 6 places you mentioned unless you like a lot of gray/gloom/rain/moss/mold etc. Literally from Mid Oct through May. That said all of the places are green and beautiful although too populated.

Have you considered Oregon east of the cascades? Or Sothern Oregon south of Roseburg?
You will find better climate in Southern Oregon. Housing is still decent as far as affordability and less people overall.

[fourflys]

Originally Posted by Jimbo251

FWIW, I have lived in the Northern Valley for most of my life, from as far south as west Salem/Monmoth to as far North as Jantzen beach to east to Gresham and west to McMinnville.

My two cents is coming from Sonoma, your not going to like any of the 6 places you mentioned unless you like a lot of gray/gloom/rain/moss/mold etc. Literally from Mid Oct through May. That said all of the places are green and beautiful although too populated.

Have you considered Oregon east of the cascades? Or Sothern Oregon south of Roseburg?
You will find better climate in Southern Oregon. Housing is still decent as far as affordability and less people overall.

appreciate the insight for sure, thanks!

I spent 3 yrs in the Bremerton area a few years back and have spent a total of 6 yrs (3 yrs each) on Kodiak Island in Alaska, so, hopefully, the gray/gloom/rain won't be too much of a shock..

as far as eastern Oregon (or eastern WA with the exception of Spokane).. well, from what I can tell from talking to folks and reading, looking at voting maps, etc.. not sure that's the political climate for my family.. we considered Ashland/Medford, but it looks to get quite a bit of snow in the winter and I have zero use for snow..

our oldest has settled in Olympia, WA (for now anyway, maybe going to Bremerton), so we are probably set for the PNW..

[72gmc]

High school buddy went to college in McMinnville and seemed to love it. That's all I have on that.

Nothing wrong with a little rain between October and ... May! It makes beautiful summer days better.

[Kirk007]

Spent 11 years in Eugene and close to 30 in Seattle area; 7 on Bainbridge Island and now in Poulsbo. Of your 6, if riding was the only criteria, I think Corvallis would be hard to beat and if you like a small town college vibe well its got that too.

I find the riding on Bainbridge/Kitsap peninsula ok but not great but maybe I'll change my mind once I spend more time riding out from Poulsbo. There are a lot of smaller roads with less traffic here than on Bainbridge, but most have very limited shoulders. The larger secondary roads with shoulders typically have 50+ mph speed limits and more traffic than I care for. But I'm picky; I hate riding on heavily trafficked roads whereas I have acquaintances who are quiet content to ride up and down 305 (the major road from Bainbridge west into Kitsap County and the Peninsula all day long. There's some decent mountain biking (if your not a hard core downhill adrenalin junkie anyway) and gravel riding nearby in Port Gamble Heritage Park, and riding out around Sequim and Olympic National Park can be nice.

I imagine the pull of having a son in Tacoma is strong and I think Bremerton is probably better than its reputation. There seem to be a good number of interesting restaurants popping up and there's a lot of rural spaces between Olympia, Bremerton, up to Silverdale, Poulsbo and Port Townsend.

The weather is challenging; I detest the winters more with each passing year but hey, with climate change maybe it gets better (warmer and drier) but it also means we have just had a drought declared and water shortages will be real in the future.

[mjb266]

Originally Posted by notsew

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Nothing to see here!
Kidding (kinda)

We have an epic mountain bike scene anchored by Galbraith Mountain (you can check it on Trailforks) and local manufacturers like Transition, Evil and the former bike company, Kona. .

Okay, Notsew has a pretty solid recap of the scene. I’ll add a little more. For folks in Bham proper, it seems like the same 5-6 road rides dominate. There is a loop to the south along the coast, another up the mountain, and a couple others around lakes. But the reality is there is a ton more in north and east county. Roads like South Pass and Rock Road and H street are all solid. The north county tends to be township and range grids, but the riding is pretty solid. Then there are roads further out to silver lake and mosquito lake. If you’re interested, lower mainland BC is also accessible, with Fort Langley a gem. I think most folks just get complacent because the most common rides are really solid.
As for the die off of road cycling, that’s a sad fact. To be honest, I stopped the local group rides too. I miss the social aspect of group rides, but also enjoy ticking off miles lost in my own thoughts.
As for the OP, the wages and lack of high paying jobs is a huge problem. We’re only here cause we got into the housing market 20 years ago. There are some more affordable options in Blaine, Everson, and Ferndale.

[mhespenheide]

Originally Posted by fourflys

we considered Ashland/Medford, but it looks to get quite a bit of snow in the winter and I have zero use for snow..

Medford gets 3-4" on average per year. That's very reasonable in my opinion. It's not zero, but not "quite a bit", either.

Ashland gets more, and Grant's Pass gets more. I'd definitely consider Medford and Corvallis, personally.

[fourflys]

Originally Posted by mhespenheide

Medford gets 3-4" on average per year. That's very reasonable in my opinion. It's not zero, but not "quite a bit", either.

Ashland gets more, and Grant's Pass gets more. I'd definitely consider Medford and Corvallis, personally.

Hmm, guess I figured Medford got more snow than that based on proximity to Ashland.. thanks!

[jimcav]

B.L.U.F: Summers are beautiful (really the best of anywhere the Navy or life took me) . Many of the "wet" days I rode, there were times during the day where the roads dried and there was no rain, but that was seldom when I was doing the commute. If you are there retired, you can probably pick the time to ride and ride several days a week without getting soaked (not likely long 3-4 hour rides, but certainly there were stretches of a 1-2 hours with no rain and drier roads). If not, I suspect you will be wet 8 months of the year.

I can only provide dated info for Kitsap (2006-8). I rode to work every day for 2 years. 8-months of the year was gloomy, and the road was either wet, or it was raining to some degree--but it was very rarely a hard rain. I used a few different windtex leg warmers to 3/4 to full tights, or pearl izumi amfib tights; and up top I had a Windtex vest, or a Descent rain jacket, or on the cold days my Assos 851 Jacket. (Cold meaning the 30's to mid-40's).

FYI I went down on black ice twice--both times the air temp at my house (Poulsbo) was 38--but there are little microclimate differences all around there.

I did not use fenders or anything. 90% of those 8-months I got wet to soaked--some degree of wet certainly. I also routinely got covered in grit from the semi-trucks blasting by--that is mainly Route 2 and lesser extent 305. I wiped off once at work or home (bike and self) because work had those brown paper towel dispensers in every bathroom (I used lots).

Have good gloves/shoes in winter--I used Specialized lobsters and Lake winter shoes--I tried multiple shoe covers and shoes, and the Lakes simply worked.

There are lots of nice routes up there as others have posted. I forget the hill coming into Bremerton area, but I hit 51mph on my Spectrum before realizing how fast I was going.

I rode Conti Gatorskins or 4000's the whole time. I think I got 2, maybe 3 flats. I tend to ride in the road, not the shoulder--especially in the morning, when there was far less traffic (I got to work by 7 am usually), but afternoon too (I left at 4pm daily).

I'm sure all is worse with drivers on phones now, so I'd rec. a Varia tail light b/c the increased flashing might make them take notice. I always rode with a Sprintech bar-end mirror.

I honestly disliked riding there when wet, but this was due to the confined times to commute ( a self-imposed vow I kept). I'd happily live there if I was abel to pcik and choose the time to ride.

[fourflys]

thanks Jim!

[mhespenheide]

Originally Posted by fourflys

Hmm, guess I figured Medford got more snow than that based on proximity to Ashland.. thanks!

Yeah -- Ashland is right at the foot of some 7000' peaks. Medford is only ~10 miles across the valley, but gets a lot less snow. Kind of rain shadow effect, as it were.

Just like Bremerton and Sequim get less rain than Forks.

[fourflys]

Originally Posted by mhespenheide

Just like Bremerton and Sequim get less rain than Forks.

plus less vampires and werewolves..