It’s nice to get out of Portland once in a while, and BikePortland’s new Washington County contributor, Tina Ricks, let us do that last week with her post about a policy ride with elected officials from Beaverton and Tigard.
Given the volume and quality of comments her post got, many of you enjoyed trekking along too.
“Free-agent” wrote in with a couple of observations about riding in the area, from someone who is new to it. It’s the kind of comment which sometimes gets crowded out by the fireworks of policy discussions and politics, but its calm, matter-of-fact tone seemed just right as we move into summer.
Here’s what Free-agent wrote:
This article is spot-on with what I have observed and noted from others during conversations, including my high school students. I recently moved to South Beaverton after having lived in inner SE Portland for almost 25 years. I see many people riding trails like the Fanno Creek Trail (we live two blocks away), but far less on actual streets. I see people often park their cars and pull their bikes off to ride them, rather than ride to them. I am hopeful for the future based on what I have observed over the past two years.
One positive I have noticed is that drivers are much more respectful here. I rarely encounter angry drivers.
One critique I have is the serious lack of off-road riding opportunities; it’s far worse than Portland and that’s saying something. The city is really missing out on having off-road opportunities sprinkled throughout the community that riders of all ages can access by paved trails and bike routes. There are plenty of areas around the city for things like skills parks, and other spaces that would make for linear off-road opportunities for riders of all ability levels (adjacent to the Westside Trail comes to mind). There is basically one place to ride off-road, Eichler Park, and it is in major need of an upgrade. I skimmed the most recent Tualatin Parks Trail Plan and it seems like mountain biking had yet to be invented when writing it.
Thank you Free-agent! You can read Free-agent’s comment in the context of everyone else who had something to say about riding in Washington County at the bottom of the original post.