In and Around Portland

We arrived a week ago.  On Saturday morning we then picked up and put together the bikes that will remain in the Beaverton area. We also ran a bunch of errands.

Sunday, we did a short ride just to get Satish a bit acclimated to climbing some hills. We threw the bikes in the car and drove out to Hood River; this is a beautiful drive through the Columbia River Gorge. We also took a short bike ride on the Hood River to Mosier Scenic Historic Highway Trail. The trail was the old highway converted to the trail. The old tunnels are very cool. Take a look at the video  On the way back, we stopped at the Skamania Lodge for drinks.

On Monday, we did a challenging ride. I made this ride up when I first got the condo out here. That is when I realized a road is called “Mountain” Home Road for a reason. Lots of climbing.

Tuesday, we did an urban century. This is not really a century, but that is what the map calls it; we did something like 98 miles. We rode our bikes to the light rial and took the light rail over to Northeast Portland.  The ride starts out in Northeast Portland, heads west to North Portland, then South to see how the bertter half lives, down to the Springwater Corridor Trail; then out to Gresham and then over to Troutdale.  We had lunch in the quaint town of Troutdale.  Then we headed up the I-205 bike path for the final third of the ride in Vancouver, WA.

The next day, we did the two bridge ride; we rode from the condo, up into Vancouver, WA on the I-5 Bridge for coffee, then we rode across Vancouver to the I-205 Bridge back into Portland. From the bridge, we rode over to Podnah's for BBQ for lunch. After lunch we rode home.

Yesterday, we rode the Banks to Vernonia Trail. The trail is a 21 mile trail that is a “Rails to Trails” project. The trail includes about an eight mile gradual climb. And since it was an old railroad bed, there were some short, but steep switchbacks. We had lunch in Vernonia.

For those of you wondering and not following me on Strava, I have ridden about 600 miles so far this month.  No riding the next two days; the trip begins on Sunday.