Moving to Portland...

[Steven Parrish]

Moving to Portland this coming March from Boulder, CO and looking to get some info on places to ride, people to ride with and generally the feel of the Portland MTB scene.

Spent a week up there this past April, but stayed on the streets and rode through town, so didn't get any terrain riding in.

[noparking]

1st thing you'll need is a car b/c there is no riding in Portland.

[Steven Parrish]

Not certain what response I expected there, but yes alright I do have a car. Where might be good suggestions for ride areas?

[Vancbiker]

You're likely to get these type remarks when asking about Portland and Mt. biking cause it does suck. There are really no decent rides closer than about 30 minutes drive. Plan on an hour drive for anything good. Get your mud/wet gear together too. In March, trails are usually pretty sloppy.

I would recommend just using the "Search Forum" function and use Portland as the search term. You'll get loads of info cruising the resulting threads.

[Snake Muesl]

Welcome to Portland.

As noparking asserts, there isn't any "in-town" or even very close to town options for pure mountain biking. There are a few spots to spin on dirt and Powell Butte offers some decent trails in a network. The frustration level in Portland can be pretty high due to the status of our bike friendliness that does not always include mountain bikers, despite a huge park at our doorstep.

But, mountain biking is for the mountains right? The Cascades are not the Rockies, but they are mountains. Anywhere from 1-2 hours in the car gets you to a lot of great options.

To the west is the Tillamook State Forest and trails such as Wilson River, Gales Creek, Browns Camp, Hagg Lake and a new network being built at Stub Stewart State Park.

To the east Mt Hood offers great challenging terrain and features an awesome new trail system brought to by IMBA and the BLM called Sandy Ridge. That's only an hour away for me in NE Portland. Further up the mountain there are a few trails around Government Camp and hopefully a full-on lift assisted park will be built soon at Timberline Ski Resort. There is still some legal wrangling over that one.

Around the east side of the mountain south of Hood River (wind surfing/kite surfing mecca) there is some great trails located off of FS RD 44 such as Surveyors Ridge, Eightmile Creek, Fifteen Mile Creek, Dog River, Lookout Mtn and Gunsight Ridge among others.

Head north and east into southwest Washington and there are some more classics. The Ape Canyon/Plains of Abraham Ride is spectacular. See this thread: Ride Report - Mt Saint Helens (Ape Canyon / Plains of Abraham). The Gifford Pinchot National Forest also includes one of the Pacific Northwest Classic River Trails in Lewis River (along with the McKenzie River Trail, The North Umpqua Trail and the Middle Fork of the Willamette). Not to mention Falls Creek, Siouxon Creek and for the truly adventurous the Dark Divide area (Sasquatch country!) traversed by the Boundary Trail.

Also in southwest Washington there are a couple of local groups that have built tight networks of sinewy singletrack on some stashes of private timberland. Seek out the Growler's Gulch and the Stella crew for a guided tour.

For weekend getaways, head to Oakridge for an extensive network of trails on the Willamette National Forest. I recommend attending one of the two Mountain Bike Oregon events to get a taste and meet a few hundred of your brothers and sisters. There's still room for the event this August!

That puts a scratch in the surface. I'm sure I missed a lot.

Once here in March, you won't be able to saddle up and rush right to many of these trails due to snow pack. Despite our lower elevation than Colorado, we get a pretty heavy snow pack that can linger sometimes into June. But there are plenty of lower elevation trails to ride. I ride Wilson River in the Tillamook year round and Sandy Ridge is always good for a fix most of the winter and spring.

Check my signature for links to some of the local clubs and mtb organizations.

Cheers!

Charlie

[poppa#1]

Nice reply Charlie...

[free-agent]

Welcome, Steven! The riding is a bit farther away than a lot of cities, but Portland is a great place to live. A good place to meet other riders and get the lowdown is at the Northwest Trail Alliance meetings. NWTA is the local IMBA chapter. The meetings are on the last Tuesday of each month at Hopworks Urban Brewery (on SE Powell Blvd) starting at 6pm . The best part is that the first ten pitchers are free, so come early and hang out. I run the meetings so let me know if you have any questions. nw-trail.org
Cheers!

[Gemini2k05]

Is there any legit DH/FR stuff reasonably close to town? Or are there any DJ spots in town?

[noparking]

Is there any legit DH/FR stuff reasonably close to town? Or are there any DJ spots in town?

Define close... Scappoose would be one of the closest.

[Gemini2k05]

Define close... Scappoose would be one of the closest.

Within 20 minutes from the suburbs? Something you could od for an after work type ride?

[pulley]

I am in the same boat. May be moving to Portland from Phoenix in January. I'm really hoping there are some aggressive AM trails within close proximity. I will moving near Oregon health and scinece university what is the distance (drive time) to closest/best trail system by car?

[Khartik]

Within 20 minutes from the suburbs? Something you could od for an after work type ride?

For DH/FR trails the closest to town, other than Scappoose, for after work would be Stub Stewart which has short session-able freeride trails. The next closest is Ravens Ridge(Timber,OR), it is a DH style trail and pretty much requires shuttling.

After that you are looking at places like Sandy Ridge(Brighton,OR) and Thrillium(Camas, Wa), they are both about a 1 hour drive. Then there is Blackrock(Falls City, OR), which is almost a 2 hour drive.

[elistan]

For DH/FR trails the closest to town, other than Scappoose, for after work would be Stub Stewart which has short session-able freeride trails. The next closest is Ravens Ridge(Timber,OR), it is a DH style trail and pretty much requires shuttling.

After that you are looking at places like Sandy Ridge(Brighton,OR) and Thrillium(Camas, Wa), they are both about a 1 hour drive. Then there is Blackrock(Falls City, OR), which is almost a 2 hour drive.

depends on what side of town for cold creek. less than 40min from the NE. closer than stub or ravens.

[pdxmark]

Forest Park(Novice to advanced)
http://www.forestparkconservancy.org...n-bike-map.pdf
2nd largest inner city park in US; 60sq/ml. Some trails are more technical than others.

Powell Butte(Beginner to Novice:Cali smooth)
Portland Parks & Recreation :: Powell Butte Nature Park

The Lumber Yard(Beginner/Novice/advanced to OMG)
LUMBERYARD MTB - Lumberyard MTB
'This is not outdoor', this is an indoor bike park. It recently opened and needs your money!
[Free, shameless, plug]

I have the next couple days off. Going to check out these newer trails on PB this forum just told me of.

Thanks guys, enjoy!

[Gman086]

O yeah, you just have to know where to look: Meldrum-Bar-Dirt-Jumps Photo Album - Pinkbike
Great DH too but no way no how do I disclose that on the forum. Too many liberal enviro freaks that want to keep everyone out of the woods here. PM me when you get to town.

Have FUN!

G MAN

[Gemini2k05]

O yeah, you just have to know where to look: Meldrum-Bar-Dirt-Jumps Photo Album - Pinkbike
Great DH too but no way no how do I disclose that on the forum. Too many liberal enviro freaks that want to keep everyone out of the woods here. PM me when you get to town.

Have FUN!

G MAN

Thanks. Yeah I've built my fair share of DJ's in Socal with essentially sand for dirt and having to carry out camelbaks and sun showers full of water to the jump site, so I'm ready to work. I imagine the DJ scene up there is a bit nicer. Glad to see they have a ray's style place. The possibility of dealing with a real winter scares me. I'll pm you if I end up moving there.

[pdxmark]

1st thing you'll need is a car b/c there is no riding in Portland.

Just today I rode through P-town like I pay $12k in taxes a year. From Hawthorne & 40th, right through Uptown yuppyville, blasting Danny Brown out of my portable JVC Bluetooth Speakers(it has left/right speakers, not that cheap mono sound), to Thurman St.. Than I crawled all the way up to the Firelane, to Wild Cherry Trail, where the climb got steeper. I took Wild Cherry to Dogwood and bombed down Dogwood. Fun, but short. I than went north to Alder Trail and couldn't take the climb after 100ft, so I walked it. Once at the top I had to stop myself from going back down it, because I was on my way to brake destroyer 'Firelane 1'. Went Northwest on Wildwood, taking my time and enjoying the view so I wouldn't hit any hikers, because you are not supposed to ride on wildwood. When I got to F1 I took a break, ate a Powerbar and drank some water. Got on my safety gear and said "work is down there". When I got to work I had an hour to spare, so I took a nap.

We live in a city though, and it's the new millennium, so we can't really expect many unofficial trails to exist inside urban growth. And since most of the rich people here ride Tour, there is not many lined pocket voices giving MTB attention; but hey, at least the city just gave us 38 acres inside the city to develop an "off-road" bike park... 38 acres, can you wait till its built, maybe you fine people could help us with raising money for building it. THe city gave us the land and permission to develpoe for said reason, the city wont fund the build and it wont build itself... So if trails and technical is what you desire, imagine a Colonndale Park in PDX, but 38 times its size!

Home - Build Gateway Green

This is the most detailed map of FP I can find, and there are still trails missing from it. Mostly in the Linton Park area, where the better trails are.
Forest Park Index Map


Here, you all can help the bike park by putting this on your bookface.



Donating is awesome! I gave $50, and within the last week I got people to promise upwards of $480 when the crowdsource fundraiser starts.

[Gman086]

I'm really excited about Gateway and hope to start building soon!

Have FUN!

G

[pdxmark]

I'm really excited about Gateway and hope to start building soon!

Have FUN!

G

Hope will not build the park, we need $125,000 for building and our only source of this money is donations from people like you, and volunteer work during the build phase, and our own pockets. If you're really excited about this, as I am, get in contact with Build Gateway Green, care of Linda Robinson, tell her you want to volunteer. Do what you can to raise money for the park. Share the video on facebook and other social sights. Be proactive and do what you can to help!

This park WONT get built without the help of Portlanders!



Home - Build Gateway Green

[Gman086]

Done that already...

Have FUN!

G MAN

[pdxmark]

I need to contact Sarah today and get more fliers. I've been doing door-to-door with the fliers, and I stop every BMX and MTB I see and talk to them about it. Actually made a couple ride partners doing so. EDIT: Also got some promises for donations when indiegogo fund raising goes live.

Lets get'r-done!

[Jaybo]

Portland extended area has some awesome mountain biking but the town of Portland is not very good for mountain biking. It is around an hour for any decent riding. Boulder sounds great!

[pdxmark]

Portland extended area has some awesome mountain biking but the town of Portland is not very good for mountain biking. It is around an hour for any decent riding. Boulder sounds great!

What is "decent riding"? I live in Hawthorne and can ride my bike 20 minutes to all kinds of 1 or 2 mile long down hill lanes, intermediate to advanced. Of course, if you are lookling for any kind of 2.3+ mile downhill, yeah, you'll have to get in a car and travel for 35 to 45 minutes.

Best DH lane in PDX(Novice/advanced); Dogwood to Leif Ericson, to FR1. 2.1 miles long. Steepest and most technical descent in the city; that I've found in 15 years anyways!