| Name: | North Portland rivers ride | 
|
| Description: | Monday was a first day when it was not supposed to rain, plus, half day it was sunny so I took off for a whole day ride while Shelly hanged out with her friend Steph. I set of going towards the center and crossed the Willamette river on Broadway bridge. Then I somehow wiggled through the Pearl District, catching a foto of a Czech made streetcar. Then I got onto St. Helens highway and rode northwest to cross the river back east on the last bridge - St. Johns. The approach and bridge itself had only a narrow sidewalk so I ended up riding on the road, fortunately it had 2 lanes in each direction. Not having a map of the northermost Portland, I ended up riding on several roads with bike lanes north and east till I got onto a path system that leads towards Kelly Park, which sits at the confluence of Willamette and Columbia. There I had a lunch and enjoyed the last sunny moments. Then I rode back on the path and then got to the path that go along the Columbia east. After some efforts I found the path that goes over the river on the I-5 bridge. This path is basically a walking path ca. 5 ft wide so it was not the most comfortable. In Vancouver, I rode a bit north to the downtown, which was nothing special so I turned around and rode for a few miles on a riverfront path. Then the path ended and I ended up on a freeway for a mile or so. Then exited on a small residential road that took me through a quite affluent neighborhood all the way to the I-205. The path on this bridge is innovatively located in between of the double 4 lanes of traffic so one breathes the car fumes no matter how the wind blows. But, it was a normal width and separated by solid concrete wall from the freeway to it felt quite good. Back in Portland I headed east a bit more first on a bike lane and then on a path along the river again. When the path ended I unsuccessfully searched for a path along Columbia Slough so I just headed south to find the path along I-84. This path was not very pleasant as it is right next to the freeway which was busy with rush hour traffic. I was glad when the path ended and I ended up on a fairly busy 120-something avenue. By mistake I first headed south but regained my direction soon and got onto no less busy Hwy 30, which however had a nice bike lane so it was not too bad. I headed straight west on Killingsworth St. almost all the way back to Shawn and Steph's house and in the end was happy to get there since the traffic was getting thicker and thicker. This concludes riding in Portland, there were good parts and not so good parts, the bike infrastructure definitely helps but there are still gaps to fill. | |
| URL: | TopoFusion Home Page | |
| ||
| ||
| Total Distance: | 56.29 miles (90.58 km) |
| Total Trip Time: | 5:20:26 (4:30:56 moving time) |
| Total Climbing: | 3103 feet (946 m) |
| Total Descending: | 2616 feet (797 m) |
| Average Speed: | 12.46 mph (20.06 kph) |
