Hmmm. So I know that Portland Bicycle Tours has rentals, though not sure about road bikes. I assume they do. You might also check with Western Bike Works and River City Cycles to see if they do. They're great shops. I have a spare bike, but I may be out of town that weekend, so that's not much help.

For scenic rides - depending on your time, I would highly recommend riding out in the Gorge along the old Columbia River Highway. Best done in the early morning before all the car tourists get out, but it's generally pretty safe! Great views of the gorge
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/27586073

Otherwise, there's great riding around Portland. Just be cautious, there have been a few instances of homeless stealing bikes right out from under people (literally). Here's a ride that I did around the city:
https://connect.garmin.com/.../activity/3777485315

And if you want some good hills, head into Washington Park and over to Pittock Mansion.

What area are you staying in?


Look at River City Bicycles or Bike Gallery. Both are good shops and have performance road bikes for rent. As for rides, there are a lot of good place to ride. The poster above mentioned a couple good ones above. Just depends on where you might be staying/starting from, how long you want to go for, and if you want hills versus flat stuff. Here is what I sent to another slowtwitcher awhile back who was looking for rides after moving to Portland....


Suavie Island
From the Northwest District get on Hwy 30 and head north. Hwy 30 has a nice shoulder but that shoulder isn't always clear of debris and it is kind of noisy with cars and trucks going by at 60mph. But you only have to be on it for 6-7 miles before you get to the bridge to Sauvie Island. When you get to the island you can go right and take Gillihan then Reeder road Sauvie Island Beach which is about where the pavement turns into dirt. It ends up being about 12 miles one way. Or you can go left on NW Sauvie island road which will go ~10 miles before you hit the end of the pavement. Or you can do a loop on NW Sauvie/Reeder/Gillihan which is 12 miles around. All or flat and have decent views.


Vancouver/North Portland.
Take 30 to the St John's bridge then use Lombard St to get to Marine Drive. You can cross over to Vancouver via I15. There is a bike/peds lane on the bridge. Crossing over is kind of a PITA since you have to stop at a few lights so it's stop-and-go riding for a bit. Once you get across, NW Erwin O'Reiger Memorial Highway and NW Lower River Rd are both nice out and backs. Flat and fast with little traffic. Another option is NW Lakeshore Ave which will give you access to a number of roads north of Vancouver.

If you decide not to cross the bridge, you can stay on Marine Drive and head as far as your hearts content. Marine drive in general is a pretty good spot. You can ride on the road or there is a bike trail that doesn't get used a lot so you can ride fast without having to pass to many pedestrians. It ends at the Troutdale airport. From there you can head south and get onto the Springwater Creek (SC) corridor which you can take back towards the NW district. That is going to be about a 60-70 mile ride. The only downside is that the section from marine drive to SC Corridor trail goes through a few stoplights and the SC corridor trail has stop signs every so often so it can be a bit of a stop and go ride. Now if you want a really good ride, once you get to Troutdale take the 'historic columbia river highway' west. There is an 800ft climb to the Vista House and a fun windy decent down. After you've dropped back down it's mostly little climbs and rollers as you ride past a number of waterfalls. You can actually ride this out a little ways past the Bridge of the Gods and Cascade Locks (though there is one section where you have to take stairs down from the end of a road to the bike trail). From Troutdale to the Bridge of the Gods and Back is about 70 miles.

Climbing near the NW
From the NW district take Cornell Road up to NW Thompson Rd then get on to NW Skyline Blvd and head north. Skyline is a fun place to ride. A bit more traffic than Sauvie, but for the most part cars were always good about giving me room. The further you go on Skyline the less traffic you'll be around. There are a number of roads that will drop you down to highway 30 so you can make a loop out of it. Newberry, McNamee, and Rocky Pt Road are all good ones to go up or down. Avoid Germantown rd and Cornellius Pass road. NW OLD Germantown road is fine though and has a steep climb on it. There are a number of other good roads that you can explore out that way as well.




Anyway, those were the rides I would often do. As well as more leisurely rides going along the Springwater Creek Corridor to Boring, OR and back. There is the Banks to Vernonia trial. It was fine, you can get a good workout there and the path is not very busy at all. Or the loop around Haag Lake. I didn't do the latter two very often since they were not close to where I lived. You could also check out the Oregon Scenic Bikeways. There are a couple near Portland. But it all kind of depends on where you are staying as I'm sure you don't want to be gone from the family for too long to fit a ride in.

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Matt

Thanks for the reply. We are staying in the Laurelhurst area of Portland. You're right about not being away from the family for too long; I'm realistically only going to have 1 day to fit in a 2-3 hour ride while our toddler is (hopefully) napping at the AirBnb. I don't know if I'm up for dropping $70+ for a single ride though.

Laurelhurst is right by Mt. Tabor which is good for quick rides if you have the bike for multiple days.

My recommendation is that you get a more gravel-y bike from river city which should be cheaper, and do your long-ish ride through Forest Park on the west side (ride the length of Leif Erikson to Germantown with a quick up and down of upper Saltzman) and then use it on the next two days early to hop right on over to Mt Tabor, shouldn't take you an hour to have some fun there!

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808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

what did you end up doing? I will be in Portland in December and wondering how to keep up my training while I'm there.