Portland is such a great city for biking. I know, this is not a newsflash. Portland has Platinum level status as a bicycle-friendly community (one of three Platinum communities in the United States) and Oregon is #3 in the rank of bicycle-friendly states in the U.S. Pretty cool. Anyway, we took our bikes downtown and did a nice 16+ mile ride today. Here are some shots from the route:
The ride we did was a nice loop around the downtown part of the Willamette River, starting near OMSI (the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) and going north along the east side of the river, over the Steel Bridge, past the Portland Saturday Market on the west side of the river under the Burnside Bridge (Note: Saturday is perhaps not the best day for riding this trail next to the river as it is packed with peds going to and from the market. But hey! Great day to go to the market!), and all the way down to the Sellwood Bridge. Crossing the Sellwood Bridge is a little tricky (narrow sidewalk!) so walking your bike might be best. Plus you can enjoy the view a little more if you're less worried about falling into oncoming traffic. Bonus!
After we crossed the Sellwood Bridge we headed out the Springwater Corridor trail for a few miles, then back, catching up with the path that led us back around the river to our car (car, being the green dot on the map below).
It was a beautiful ride without much elevation gain, so aside from the peds along the waterfront it was a nice relaxing ride. Our Bike Fridays sure get a lot of attention! The other day we took Kevin's bike, and the instructions for packing, and managed to get it nicely packed up into its Samsonite roller suitcase without any snags. His is the larger bike, so if his fits, mine will fit. Nice to have a practice pack so we know how it all works before doing it for real for our Italy trip in a couple weeks!
