Vancouver to Lake Oswego?

[dirtygirl1]

Hi There,

I have recently moved to the Portland area. We currently live in Vancouver and I work in Lake Oswego.

I purchased a 'Bike There' map and have mapped out a decent route from Vancouver to LO. I am curious to know if anyone else has done some or all of this commute? There may be shortcuts that I don't know of. It's dark when i ride to work and back home so i don't feel much like investigating alternatives.

Any suggestions?

Dirtygirl

[Kitsune06]

OMFG. If that's as far as I think it is, you're going to be on your bike forever. I just ride from Hillsboro to near-Portland (SW Portland, near Scholls Fry and Hall) and I'm riding for a solid hour and a half.
good luck, though. I'm rootin' for ya

[dirtygirl1]

yah, it takes me about an hour and 30 give or take 10 minutes; each way. It is 44 kms (I haven't converted to miles yet!) each way -- a great workout! I don't need to do any other training during the week!

[shoe]

Hey - just wanted to say "good job" in regards to your long and potentially complicated commute. I've lived a couple of places in Portland and work in Salmon Creek, on the north side of Vancouver. I've found only a couple of sketchy dark sections (like around the I5 bridge/Jantzen Beach/Delta Park area), and I've only been harrassed a 4 or 5 times in the last 2 years of doing this ride (always in Vancouver, which has a generally lower level of understanding and acceptance of the "sharing the road" notion).

Has the "Bike There" map been useful? I'm pretty sure it saved my life when I first moved here. Some side streets through residential neighborhoods can shorten a lot of those routes, but it does take some extra experimenting (i.e., getting lost). At least the Bike There map can show where the bike lanes are - a bonus, I think. Do you also have the Clark County bike map?

I have to admit that I've never ridden from Portland to LO - I'm thinking you must get a couple of nice hills in there! You must get to eat whatever you want, with that commute. I'd be curious to know what bike you're riding this winter...?

OK, I'm saying a whole lot of nothing - if you have any specific questions about the stretch through Portland or between PDX and the Couv, let me know.

Kudos!
-shoe

[KristenT]

Be careful of the Bike There map... it's generally pretty good, but there are some streets they've got marked as good for bikes that just plain aren't!

One example: McDonald St from Hwy 99W in Tigard to Hall Blvd. I'll ride it in the morning sometimes, but never in the afternoon, it's just too dangerous. I think it's more dangerous than Hall Blvd, which is a major thoroughfare.


Hey, have you checked the bikeportland.org forums? They've got a bunch of people who at least go from the Couv to places in Portland, and they may have some advice for you as well as the folks here.

Kt