Kadie and Andrea Go to Portland: Hilly Ride

After watching the tour on Saturday morning, Andrea and I took our bicycles out and did a very hilly ride north of town. We started out on a paved multi-use path along Rock Creek. A nice thought, but at each busy street the trail ended abruptly with neither crossing signage nor ramp, and we were forced to play "Frogger" to cross, all the while searching for the next segment of trail. Ahhh, suburban "city planning".... Sigh.

However, we did finally make it past Hwy 26 and wove our way north through less and less gnarly traffic, til we were winding up, up, up and over old passes beside quaint farms and thick forests. Andrea kept track at one point and we climbed a steep (8 or 9%) grade for more than 3 miles without a break! It was tough, so I felt better as the only other cyclists on the road passing us were the following: 3 women from a local racing team, a triathlete, and a Cervelo team pro racer!

We lunched at the Helvetia tavern, where we enjoyed very hefty onion burgers and some fried onion rings before heading back toward Hillsboro. It was a really good ride!