The 26-acre Brock property in Lake Oswego’s Luscher Farm Area, a picture perfect site for close-to-home trail riding.
(Photo: Chris Rotvik)

Story by former Northwest Trail Alliance President Chris Rotvik.

It’s 2020. Tucked away in a semi-wooded corner of the 148-acre Luscher Area in Lake Oswego is Farr Bike Park (just 10 miles south of Portland), with trails designed by local builder Chris Bernhardt. Riders, many of whom pedaled in on BMX bikes and dirt jumpers, drop in to one of four lines — beginner to black diamond — and punctuate each run with the fist-bumps and bonding that flow like trails in this segment of off-road cycling.
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Oregon is ripe for more — and better — off-road cycling access. But it won’t happen unless we ask for it.
(Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

On February 27th the Oregon Mountain Biking Coalition (OMBC) will host its first annual lobbying day in Salem.

The OMBC launched in October of last year with a mission to, “Advocate for, create, enhance, and protect mountain biking experiences in the state of Oregon.”
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Karey Miles and Deann Garcia enjoying the fruits of their labor atop Winter Rim above Summer Lake.
(Photos courtesy Rebecca Hamilton/West Coast Women’s Cycling)

The Oregon Timber Trail – a new, 669-mile backcountry singletrack route that a rider can follow from the California border to the Columbia River – is a gem of an idea poised to become the definitive off-road cycling experience in Oregon.

Don’t miss the event this Saturday (11/17)!

And as a new trail that’s only two seasons old (it launched in 2017), it’s a gem that’s still a little rough around the edges.

“The Oregon Timber Trail is a new, unrefined route.” notes the OTT website helpfully, “and this guide is likely to be incorrect or lacking in some sections.”

Heartened by these encouraging words, four women from the West Coast Women’s Cycling team (Deann Garcia, Aliza Richman, Karey Miles, and Heather Van Valkenburg, along with Bill Garcia) set out to ride the trail from its southernmost terminus in Lakeview up to Oakridge, a 305-mile stretch that covered all of the Fremont section and about half of the Willamette section (the trail is conveniently separated into four “tiers” to make trip-planning easier).
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A packed room for the OMBC Summit held last weekend in Bend.
(Photos: Gabriel Amadeus.

Oregon is home to some of the best off-road cycling anywhere. From mountains to deserts, the coast, and rivers — the diversity of terrain is matched only by the amount of the hard-working groups that tend the trails and make sure the best places to ride stay open and accessible.[Read more…]

Now you can get some of this without having to drive.
(Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

Love riding the trails at the Sandy Ridge Trail System; but don’t love the hour or so drive it takes to get there?

Or maybe you’ve wanted to ride there but don’t have a car and/or are philosophically opposed to driving to ride?

You’re in luck, because the great Fat Tire Farm bike shop in northwest Portland has launched a new shuttle service. And to make it even better, they’ve got a fleet of awesome rental bikes you can use on the trails.

Here are the details:
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Just five weeks from now the first-ever officially-sanctioned Oregon scholastic mountain bike race will take place.
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Coaches at the first Leaders’ Summit held in Portland in mid-April.
(Photo: NICA Oregon Chapter)

If you know a young person in Portland who’s stoked on mountain biking, now, for the first time ever, they can sign up for a team through their school.

The Portland Metro Composite MTB Team is the latest evolution of the fledgling Oregon chapter of the National Interscholastic Cycling Association we first reported on back in December.

In April, over 30 volunteer coaches from throughout Oregon participated in the inaugural Leaders’ Summit held in Portland. Now they’ve fanned out across the state to build their teams in advance of the first races which are set to begin this September.

With a team of certified and insured coaches, NICA Oregon is ready to get rolling. All that’s missing are the students! Let me make sure the Portland area fields a strong team and does us proud! Read below the jump to find out about how to get involved…
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Fresh new singletrack to be ridden on the southern coast!
(Photos: Whiskey Run MTB Fest)

Register now to save your spot on June 9th.

[This post is part of a paid promotional partnership.]

You probably don’t know there are 11 miles of new, professionally-built singletrack trails open and ready to ride on Oregon’s southern coast just north of Bandon. And that’s why the Whiskey Run MTB Festival exists: to help you discover one of Oregon’s best-kept riding secrets. That’s also why we’ve teamed up with local businesses and tourism promoters to help spread the word about it.

The inaugural event is on June 9th and consists of a ride in the morning (three routes to choose from) and a big afterparty celebration at Bandon Brewing Company. The rides are lead by members of the Wild Rivers Coast Mountain Bicycling Association.
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Unlike many bike shops, River City Bicycles in southeast Portland has long had a reputation as a place where women feel safe and welcome. In 2008 the shop was named the most “female friendly” in the nation and they have sponsored many top women racers.

Now the shop wants to use mountain biking as a vehicle to help women build confidence — both on and off the trails. Their “Low Pressure Women’s Mountain Bike Series” is described as, “A stress-free, female led mountain bike event, clinic, and ride series through which we hope to build, educate and inspire a supportive community of women in our sport.” The series will include weekly practice sessions at The Lumberyard’s indoor bike park, on-trail clinics and weekly rides. There’s a launch party at the shop tonight (4/20) from 7:00 to 9:00 pm.

With help from Elaine Bothe of Wenzel Coaching and shop staff, River City is opening this LGBTQ+ friendly initiative up to all levels and all ages (sixth grade and over) of riders.

River City’s Lisa Luna told me this week that she put this together to encourage “positive self-talk” and to build women up from the inside.
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River View was the site of a big protest after cycling was banned in 2015.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

Portland’s Off-road Cycling Master Plan got a shot in the arm today from an influential city advisory committee.

The Portland Parks Board expressed strong support for the plan in a letter to Bureau of Planning and Sustainability Project Manager Tom Armstrong. The letter clears the way for Portland City Council to approve the plan — and to push back against those who are using false narratives to oppose it. The Parks Board has dismissed two of the main talking points of people trying to stop the plan: That that off-road cycling is incompatible with nature and that it can’t be done safely in an urban environment.

The letter (PDF), dated April 11th, comes after the Board received hundreds of public comments and hosted a special meeting on the plan earlier this month.

Signed by Parks Board Chair Patricia Frobes, the letter outlined a few relatively minor concerns and said the Board is “generally supportive” of the plan because it is, “a good conceptual road map for a city-wide system of off-road cycling.” And that system, Frobes wrote, should include even more places to ride. “Although the ORCMP proposes a good locational mix of bicycle parks,” she wrote, “it proposes no new urban off-road cycling trails on the west side. Further, the ORCMP does not adequately identify opportunities to connect parks to parks, parks to schools and parks to trails.”
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