Cycling in Portland: All it's "cracked up" to be...

We were planning to drive to Salem and ride the Salem Bicycle Club's Monster Cookie ride, but the car conked out. Okay, that means it's a ride-from-home day. But the weather's not that great -- cool and a little drippy. It would have been easy to just go back to bed. But instead, we rallied and decided to ride east on the Springwater Corridor from Sellwood to Gresham. Now, I am usually willing to ride one direction on the Springwater, but pretty reluctant to ride roundtrip. Why? Because of the horrible bone jarring, butt bruising quality of the thing. In fact, the ONLY reason to ride it at all is that it is one of the very few east-west routes in the city.

Speaking of the city, are they serious about aiming to be a Platinum bicycling city? Does that mean you can lay asphalt for several miles but never return to check on its condition? Apparently that's the case here in the Rose City. Despite the generally terrible condition of the Springwater Corridor, there are spots that the city itself has destroyed and not bothered to go back and fix. One such spot is under I-205, where they tore up the pavement and left potholes and rough gravel. And that has been the condition there for at least a full year, if not more. Frankly, it's embarrassing to ride around this city knowing that the powers that be think they are in line for yet another bicycling award...

And women, please be careful about riding this route on your own during off hours. There are some pretty rough looking types that camp and otherwise hang out along this route between SE Bell/72nd and Gresham. If you must ride alone, make sure you're riding in the daylight and that other people are also out riding. I don't know of any incidents that have occurred, but I do have a sense of where it makes sense to be careful.

How do you know when you're out of the Portland city limits on the Springwater Corridor? Well, you know you're in another city (i.e., Gresham) when you notice that part of the trail has been repaired AND the condition of the path drastically improves. Thanks, Gresham! You've made it all worthwhile.

Signed,

Sometimes A Cycling Curmudgeon