With some of our favorite local rides off-limits now because they’ve been overrun by the legions of the homeless, Rachael has been getting bored from cycling through the small set she feels comfortable on: Sauvie Island, Oregon City, and along the Columbia. She requested that I come up with something new, and further specified that it should be easy to navigate, not too hilly, and of course about 42 miles long.
I came up with this loop over to the west side, piecing together the Fanno Creek Trail, the Westside Trail, and several connectors. And I rode it with her, partly to test it out for myself, partly to help her navigate it on the first time through, but mostly because I like riding with the other half of the team and we haven’t been doing enough of that lately.
Four specifications: new, navigable, flat, 42 miles. How did I do?
Not well. It started out well, in that it was definitely novel - especially to Rachael. It took us through Multnomah Village, the Westside Trail, and the northern leg of the Fanno Creek Trail, all of which are completely new to her. So that’s one.
Navigation was a challenge though, which both of us share the blame for. She’s trying out a new Garmin GPS device and hasn’t quite mastered it yet, and is still spending a lot of time staring at it, poking it here and there, getting frustrated, and taking it out on me because I’m more responsive than an inanimate object. My contribution was well-meaning enough but unfortunate: at the last minute I used the RideWithGPS ‘reverse route’ function to automatically redraw the route because the hills looked easier in the other direction. Unfortunately, the function reverses the route exactly, paying no heed to such technicalities as one way streets.
And, it was only a 37 mile loop. This deficiency was wholly on me, because I misdrew the route somehow and included a couple of miles where it doubled back on itself. I drew it as 42 miles, but halfway through the loop I was surprised to see that the distance to destination suddenly dropped by five miles. Which was fine with me, but not to spec. Once we finally returned home she compensated by adding on a five mile tail, because that’s what she does. Her choice, not mine.
And, it wasn’t flat - unless you think 3,000+ feet of climbing in 37 miles counts as essentially flat - which Rocky essentially doesn’t.
Still though, it was generally a fine ride. Climbing Terwilliger is always a delight, the ride through Multnomah Village was surprisingly pleasant once we sorted out the navigation, and riding Fanno Creek was like revisiting an old friend we’ve been away from for too long. The real surprise though was the Westside Trail, a delightful but tormenting ten mile roller coaster following the north-south course of a transmission corridor west of Beaverton. I think the only section we definitely didn’t care for was returning east along busy Barnes Road, but I think we can find an alternative for next time.
So, definitely a keeper. We’ll make some adjustments to the navigation problems, create a new, improved variant, add on five miles somewhere, and definitely try it again some day soon.
Leaving home, getting off to a slow start as Rachael wrestles with the new Garmin.
In Multnomah Boulevard, a pleasant neighborhood worth more than just this one photo. Maybe next time, when we’re in less of a hurry or less irked by navigation challenges.
At the north end of the Fanno Creek Trail. Another delight, one we followed for about five flat miles crossing one bridge over the creek after another. A very nice ribbon park full of playgrounds, great for families; but don’t you think they could place at least one restroom somewhere in those five miles?
On the Westside Trail. This is generally the look for the next ten miles - grassy, open, sinuous, following the transmission lines the entire way. And, like Fanno Creek, totally devoid of outhouses. Beaverton must have declared itself a loo-free zone.
