Milwaukie Hidden Routes Ride

Posted by Jonathan Maus (Editor) on July 12th, 2007 at 4:33 pm

July 19, 2007
6:00 pm

@ Milwaukie City Hall, 10722 SE Main Street, Milwaukie. / Event Website

Every neighborhood in Milwaukie has its secret places…

We’re going to explore most of them.

Come on the Milwaukie’s Hidden Routes ride and see the nooks,crannies, alleys, and cut-throughs of Milwaukie. We’re going to ride nearly every legal shortcut through Milwaukie’s neighborhoods. Thisis not a ride for the faint-hearted. Bring a mountain bike, or put wide knobbies on your road bike and bring a patch kit or a spare tube. We’re going to see brambles, grass, dirt, gravel, hills, thrills, and hopefully no spills. (90% 0f the ride is paved)

If you’ve never ridden in Milwaukie, here is the basic topography. Milwaukie is cut in half by Hwy 224 and the Union Pacific Railroad mainline. Biking around Milwaukie (and from Milwaukie to Portland) is further complicated by a number of hills. The main features in “Milwaukie Proper” are “The Plateau” and the 34th Avenue hill (between 224 and Lake Rd).

Especially troublesome is the NE corner of The Plateau, which has only a single road connecting the upper portion with the lower portion.

Well, there are some sneaky ways around that, and up, down and around many of the other areas of Milwaukie as well. Come look and see - I promise the shortcuts will not be boring!

Here’s the route map for the ride:

There are a couple of steep descents on this ride, a fair amount oflow hill climbing (at least 4 ascents up to 200′ elevation changeeach).

Start time is 6pm, Thursday, July 19th. Repeat performance on Wednesday, July 25th, also at 6pm, for those who can’t make the first ride or want to ride it again. 16 miles, approximately 2 hours.

Live far to the north in Portland? No excuse - Milwaukie City Hall sits right next to a Tri-Met transit center. Take buses 31, 32, 33,70, 75 or 99 to get there from downtown Portland or the NE side. 28, 29 and 152 will get you there from the Clackamas Town Center area.