(Photos © J. Maus)
Last week I met up with Jim Parsons for a ride on the West Side. We wove our way through the bowels of Beaverton, (confronting mega-arterials at every turn) and eventually made our way into beautiful unincorporated Washington County. I always learn a lot when I let Jim lead me on a ride, and this time was no different. Check out the photos and notes below to see what I mean…
One of the best parts of riding in Beaverton are the hidden routes that weave between housing developments. I have no idea how novice riders would know where these bikeways are; but if you can find them, you can find sweet little spots like this bridge and pond…
This is an all too common site in Beaverton: Big and wide roads with lots of cars and little to no room for anything else… (It’s a nice bike lane if you can get to it!)
The look on Jim’s face below really says it all about riding out there. We had just spent some time on Tualatin Valley Highway where a man had been hit and killed and we were trying to crossing SW Farmington Road just a block away. Jim’s a very experienced rider, yet look at the caution in his face… It’s no wonder most people would never consider biking in these areas!
But then, a bit further west on Farmington, I saw something amazing… A bi-directional bikeway physically separated from motor vehicle traffic via a curb. It wasn’t perfect by any stretch (you’ve got to be very vigilant at driveways and intersections), but it was a welcome bit of bikeway infrastructure. Jim and I could chat and ride with comfort side-by-side on the shoulder while cars came right at us in the opposite direction…
And then, slowly but surely, we left the big box stores and their vast parking lots behind and the land turned rural. With a left turn on SW Clark Hill Road we hit the jackpot…
From Clark Hill we took Scholls Ferry to Roy Rogers Road into Sherwood. Even though we were riding on very high-speed road with significant traffic, there was no denying the beauty of the surroundings. Birds, wetlands, and gorgeous open space…
Back in Tualatin, we hopped on TriMet’s WES commuter rail and took it back into Beaverton where Jim and I parted ways and I took the MAX back into downtown Portland. It was my first trip on WES and I was impressed. The car was full of nice people, the service was speedy, and there was plenty of room for our bikes…
I’d like to spend a lot more time on the West Side. There’s a lot of work to do to make it a nicer place to ride… and there are a lot of nice places to ride.