Categories
Bicycling

Where does this all go?

Categories
Bicycling

Epic PDX Joyride

A new boardwalk system in the Bethany neighborhood of Beaverton starts the ride.

I want to tell you about a great ride I discovered after living in Portland for a handful of years. I love it for many reasons. Living near Beaverton, I don’t have to drive anywhere to start the ride. It has it all: road, gravel, dirt, steep ups and downs, scenic flats, pretty sights, ugly sights. It really epitomizes adventure biking in Portland for me in a ride out my front door.

The boardwalk ends in a non-motorized path beneath the power lines.

The start is in Beaverton off of NW 143rd Avenue. Newly installed boardwalk extends over a wildlife area. After the boardwalk the path continues onto a paved non-motorized vehicle path. Then this path turns to a wide open single track. It was muddy on this day in January – a good time to test your knobbys.

Muddy. What is that huge circular building?
The dirt ends at NW Springville Road. Turn right and follow it towards Forest Park.

The ride on NW Springville Road towards Forest Park is a long climb that starts flat but finishes pretty steep. The cars are sparse on weekend mornings, but they can be fast and worrisome to a slow climbing sitting duck of a bicyclist. There is a decent shoulder most of the time. I use a rear view mirror and I am always making a plan on how to bail off the road if needed when I see cars here. I would say in the whole of the ride, this is one spot to be particularly vigilant of cars, and not to be aggressive but defensive.

Nice views from undeveloped plots as you climb towards Forest Park.

You know you are getting close to the top when the houses disappear, and the empty plots disappear, and then the forest thickens on both sides of the road.

NW Springville Road: plenty of room to bail if need be, most of the time.
Looking back: I probably saw less than 5 cars during the entire climb on NW Springville Road. Sunday morning is a low-traffic opportunity.

When you get to Skyline you are near the top.

Make left on NW Skyline. Climb to the continuation of NW Springville on the other side and make right turn into it.
NW Skyline to NW Springville. Entering Forest Park.
Here come’s the mud and a steep descent into Forest Park. I use compact drop handlebars with an oversize diameter on top. I have one layer of gel pads on the tops and a triple ply of gel in the drops wrapped under tacky padded bar tape. They look super chunky, and they are. They make it easy on the hands under most bumpy circumstances.
I’ve got my PNW dropper post bottomed out to keep my center of gravity low on the descent. I control my speed by riding my brakes the entire time – cable actuated hydraulics (TRP HY/RD). If you descend too fast it’s easy to lock up a wheel braking through the mud, which can lead to losing control and falling. So I’m not in a hurry.

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The non-motorized path next to Highway 26.
Riding over Highway 26 on the pedestrian overpass to the Sunset Max Station.
Back in Beaverton.