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Ping Ben - Portland
Last Post 01/06/2023 02:23 PM by Orange Crush. 7 Replies.
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 01/04/2023 09:27 PM |
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The below is copy paste from someone on our BC gravel ride platform. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 01/04/2023 09:27 PM |
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I’m heading to Portland next week for work. I’m thinking about taking my gravel bike with me to fill the in between down time while I’m there. Never been to Portland.
I’m looking for recommendations on:
1) Donut shops
2) 1.5hr-3hr ride routes from downtown or from a drive to starting point. Strava links please
3) any cycling related activities that should be taken in - ie Weekly night group rides or such.
4)links to a gravel Portland group. |
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longslowdistance
Posts:2886
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| 01/04/2023 09:35 PM |
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| I hope you choose to share how you see PDX. This visitor last year and just a few years back saw beauty by any metric, and hard conflicts. Portland is livable by many metrics, and expensive (that goes hand in hand)
. The homeless situation is complicated. I appreciate the live and let live and more, and more we should support these poor folks' intentions. Truly. But frankly it's a sh t show. No I don't have all the answers. But what I see is that minimizing mental health issues in the name of libertarianism is a fail. |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 01/05/2023 10:52 PM |
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| Voodoo Donuts and Blue Star are both excellent donut shops. 🍩🍩🍩 |
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 01/06/2023 11:16 AM |
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| Ha! Suddenly I remember the Voodoo Donuts our son and his GF brought back across the border from their February climbing trip. Yes, they were good. They just came back from another road trip through Oregon (destination Nevada) but no donuts, just a non-matching rim on our car after they wrecked one hitting a rock :-( Two thumbs up though to two 19 year olds figuring out on the fly and in the dark using the car manual how to replace a wheel in the middle of nowhere, and finding a repair shop next day (the spare was a donut incidentally haha, not a proper full size). |
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 01/06/2023 01:32 PM |
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I'm not much of a donuts guy. Voodoo in Portland, yes. More blue collar, more like the Dunkin' Donouts back east is Sesame Donuts. I've never been disappointed there.
Rides - not a Strava guy so not much help there. Two rides I can recommend, one from close to downtown, the other from about 8 miles southwest of Portland.
The close one - Hills, some steep. Best to get Stave of GPS directions from someone who knows/does digital. (Probably any bike shop.) Ride up to and past the zoo to Skyline Blvd. Go north and west on Skyline to Cornell or Germantown or Newberry or McNamee, turn right onto any of those and descend! Cornell will take you down to 23rd Ave in NW Portland. The rest to highway 30 which is decent riding (and well used by those going to the coast). Cornell and Germantown will have the most and most aggressive traffic. Germantown is also has some steep, sharp turns. Cornell's sweeping turn at the bottom can be done fast. Newberry and McNamee are winding and variable. Traffic is light, especially on McNamee.
And the grander hill ride. Park at the mall on Barrows Rd. (Barrows and Horizon Lane.) West on Barrows a 1/2 mile to Scholls Ferry (Rt 210). Left/south. About 4 miles to the intersection of Scholls. (Espresso and treats at the nursery there.) And the choice. Keep going straight. A beautiful, gentle 1000' climb to the ridge to the Chehalems and turn right on Mountaintop Rd. There is traffic. No shoulder. time of day and week matters. Or turn right onto 219. In two miles, go straight when 219 bends 90 degrees right. In a 1/2 mile, turn left onto McCormick and take it up to Moutaintop and turn right. This is a much shorter and steeper climb through woods and old, rural Oregon. Very little traffic, all local.
Either way, take Mountaintop to the stop sign, cross and continue on Bald Peak Road. In about 3 miles you will pass the Park. Pull in, ride to the loop at the high point, stop and walk to the south. Great view of the Yamhill valley and old Oregon.
Continue down Bald Peak Rd, go straight at stop sign (only turn left if you want to go donw a hill way too steep to be fun or comfortable and want to do a bunch more miles). Stay on Bald Peak, bearing left at the fork in a long mile, do the glorious descent! and at 219, turn right and follow back to Scholls or left, then immediately right on to Farmington/ Rt 8. Cross the river and following 4-way stop and take next right onto Tile Flat Road. Follow to end, take left onto Scholls and at 2nd light, right onto Barrows. There can be traffic on that descent. I back off after the fork and wave cars past so I can do the next mile alone. It is steep, near straight and fast!
As far as other rides and groups - not much help. I'd contact River City Bicycles. I see rides posted on their board every time I go there. (Also Portland's best shop with a great collection of old, classic bikes.
The gravel standby everybody does - the Leif Erikson trail from the west end to NW Thurman. The trail started as an intended paved road to a suburb that was never built. There's a little pavement but it is so old that it really isn't. Road bike rideable but much better on gravel or cyclocross. Bikes and peds only and wide enough that others isn't an issue. About 8 miles and 800 feet or so of climbing. At the high point, you can go left up a shorter and quite a bit steeper climb up to Skyline. Turn right towards Germantown or left towards Cornell. (See above.) |
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 01/06/2023 01:33 PM |
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| And Portland perks and politics - that'll be another day when I'm in the mindset. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 01/06/2023 02:23 PM |
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Thanks Ben!
As to homelessness situation LSD notes, similar discussions hear in Vancouver. The original hardball approach didn't work but the soft gloves approach is also fail. No one seems to have the answers. |
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