Portland folks - where should I stay?

[Turkle]

Hi, all. Looks like I'll be on vacation in Portland, OR in July with some friends. I'm planning on bringing a bike and taking advantage of some of the beautiful riding out that way. We'll be renting a big AirBnB together.

I'd like to stay somewhere that I can just jet out the door and get in a great ride.

What neighborhoods should I be looking in?

Thanks!

[Clean39T]

Originally Posted by Turkle

Hi, all. Looks like I'll be on vacation in Portland, OR in July with some friends. I'm planning on bringing a bike and taking advantage of some of the beautiful riding out that way. We'll be renting a big AirBnB together.

I'd like to stay somewhere that I can just jet out the door and get in a great ride.

What neighborhoods should I be looking in?

Thanks!

What other goals do you have for the trip (work, food, etc.) and what type of riding do you want to do? Ex. - lots of climbing but relatively short rides, mixed surface, all-day epics..

[zennmotion]

This place got rave reviews:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-g1wl_gKXA

[Turkle]

Originally Posted by Clean39T

What other goals do you have for the trip (work, food, etc.) and what type of riding do you want to do? Ex. - lots of climbing but relatively short rides, mixed surface, all-day epics..

Thanks - we are all foodies for sure, but aside from that, we're just tourists! I'm the only cyclist so I'm going to need something that's doable solo. I'd take any kind of road rides, I don't have a gravel bike so that's out, but my road bike takes up to 32s so I could deal with some rougher roads.

I'd take anything that you can do on a road bike, ideally in the 40-50 mile range!

Thanks much.

[hypnos]

I recommend getting out of Portland and heading down to the Willamette Valley. Beautiful area for cycling and many top shelf wine producers. I’m an oenophile, so our 2018 visit was particularly joyous. Enjoy your vacation.

[Clean39T]

Originally Posted by Turkle

Thanks - we are all foodies for sure, but aside from that, we're just tourists! I'm the only cyclist so I'm going to need something that's doable solo. I'd take any kind of road rides, I don't have a gravel bike so that's out, but my road bike takes up to 32s so I could deal with some rougher roads.

I'd take anything that you can do on a road bike, ideally in the 40-50 mile range!

Thanks much.

I’ll have some recommendations for you shortly then.. and might even play tour-guide if my neck holds up.

Short answer: anything close-in eastside or westside is going have you close to food and close to riding.

[gospastic]

I’d probably second Dan’s recommendations. Although I’m down in Milwaukie, it’s not hard to meet my friends that live more north. I’d probably be up for a ride if you’re interested.

[Turkle]

Thanks folks - just got back from family time this weekend, catching up on all the posts and PMs.

[pdonk]

When I visited 6 years ago we stayed in an AirBNB just south of Ladd's Addition. Division Street in that area had good shops, easy access to a grocery store. I'm sure things have chnaged, but we enjoyed that area.

In terms of riding, Dan is a great tour guide, it he offers to lead you on an urban coffee ride, take him up on it.

If I was to be able to go for a longer outside the city ride, I'd head to Hood River and Lyle area, the scenery there was amazing and the back roads we drove on would be nice to ride.

[Clean39T]

Originally Posted by Turkle

Thanks folks - just got back from family time this weekend, catching up on all the posts and PMs.

I have some business travel coming up.. will work on the routes by the weekend.

[Clean39T]

Okay, Portland route recommendation time..

Before getting into specific GPS tracks and turn-by-turn directions, let's talk generalities.

Real riding in Portland starts on the other side of the rivers. Close-in, that means crossing the Willamette and heading into the hills. Out east it means crossing the Sandy and heading into the Gorge or the foothills of Mt. Hood, and to the South, it means crossing the Clackamas, Tualatin, and/or Willamette to get further outside the limits of sprawled suburbia and into farmland and forests. Amazing riding exists in wine country beyond the western edge of the Beaverton/Tigard/Wilsonville suburbs, it's just a bit far to get to from Portland proper without a long transfer through somewhat boring sprawl - unless you are driving out there or want to spend an hour on the MAX to get to Hillsboro to start your ride. There is of course some interesting riding in SE/NE Portland and plenty of coffee shops to visit - it's just not stuff that I'd prioritize an entire day or ride around given limited time visiting the area. If you just have an hour and you want to see more of the city, it's easy to map out a Mt. Tabor, Rocky Butte, NE/SE ramble, all in the comfort of bike lanes and greenway streets.

I'm going to focus here on riding in the West Hills since that's the most accessible option for someone staying close-in, and offers enough diversity and interesting stuff to spend a few days exploring without too much repetition.

By starting anywhere close-in on the East or West side of the river, you have plenty of options for coffee - some favorites of mine are Nossa Familia and Water Ave in SE Industrial, Upper Left near Ladds Addition, and Good Coffee in Slabtown/NW - plus Morse in Lake Oswego. Warm up the legs a bit, get caffeinated, and head for the hills!

Within the genre of West Hills riding, there are roughly three options or styles of rides to take in:

(1) the leisurely but somewhat climby jaunt to Lake Oswego (LO) that takes you on a multi-use path, up through a cemetary, winding through the high-rent district, and around a lake lined with bougie palaces -- it's a very approachable way to see some of the riding here and can be expanded into something with a frightful bit of climbing by going a little south, or simply have more miles tacked on by venturing further west or N/NW;

(2) the silly cutty mish-mash of 20% artisanal pavement climbs up down around and over the closer-in parts of the west hills, many of which are incorporated in the Ronde PDX rides (http://rondepdx.com/) - this is the stuff I love and never grow weary of riding - it's safe(ish) due to the low overall speed of traffic in these areas, it offers incredible views, physical challenges, and endless variety - and at times you can be a few hundred yards from a freeway and feel like you're in the boonies - it's the riding that makes Portland such a great place to be a cycling enthusiast;

(3) venturing further afield into the far reaches of the West Hills along Skyline Blvd, where you'll find wonderful views, swoopy descents, longer climbs, trolls under bridges, and delightfully unrefined convenience stores.. mixed in with suburbs, soccer moms, squids on motorcyles, and single-wides in the woods burning their trash - this is the other stuff I love about riding in Portland - you can get way out away from everything in under an hour, have a huge adventure, and be back in time for lunch.

So, with the appetite whet - up next are some solid options for rides that fall into each of those three categories.

[Clean39T]

Door #2 - the cutty mish-mash climby bash - never more than a few miles from home and yet so, so far away -- 50mi and 7K ft of climbing.. pass more than a handful of convenience stores -- and a couple water fountains.

https://www.strava.com/routes/3210500854256181854


More coming tomorrow.



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[Turkle]

Thank you, this is already amazing!!

[Turkle]

Also looking for recommendations for cycling clubs that might welcome an out-of-towner for a ride one day.

[gospastic]

I’m on Team Oregon. We have lots of weekly open rides. Very friendly people all around.