Fanno Creek Ride and a Velodrome

Saturday Rachel went to her friend Rachael's apartment for the day while Ron and I went for a little ride along Fanno Creek. This is one of the creeks you here about every time their is flooding in the Portland area. On this day the creek is calm and sluggish, though we will have to deal with "some flooding". :)
We have about a mile of road riding to get to the Fanno Creek Path. Most of the ride will be on the path with only a few connections on quiet neighborhood streets or streets with bike lanes. There are some street crossings, some which are easiest done by walking a short distance to a signaled cross walk. Over all, it's easy to connect the sections together.
We cross 217 via 72nd Ave. overpass. There isn't a bikelane per se, but there is a sidewalk on the southbound side. Northbound has no bike lane, but it's an easy enough section to lane share. Most of this area is a business park and pretty quiet on the weekends. We hook up to the path along Fanno Creek about a mile into our ride.
Structure along path
Pond
We pass the Tigard Library and roll toward down town Tigard. The trail comes out near Max's Fanno Creek Brew Pub. We didn't stop, but last week we saw a lot of bicycles at the place. I'm thinking that is a recommendation in itself. We cross at the cross walk and find a path under highway 99. Last week when we rode this section a couple of cyclists pointed this secret trail out to us as the best way to connect up to Johnson Street that will take us to the next section of Fanno Creek trail. The connector is paved, but it's lumpy and very narrow...as in no room to pass, but no one was on it today, so a good connection.
Bridge under Hwy 99, Tigard
Ron

Johnson Street is a quiet neighborhood street and we are soon back on the path. I should mention all of the path is paved and most is very wide. It winds behind housing and through parks. It's not a path for high speed as there are blind corners and plenty of kids and dogs as users too.
Scenic park along path
We had some standing water to ride through where the trail passed under a street. The only hold up was waiting for one little Corgi to finish his cooling swim in the water. A family on the opposite side waited while Ron and I rode through. Later we'll hear whoops & hollars as kids roll through the water.
Fanno Creek Flooding
The path finally ends for good at Denny Road. We cross Denny and ride quiet neighborhoods, past the library, to down town Beaverton. Lunch is at Ava Roasteria, a little coffee house with deli and desserts.
Lunch at Ava Roasteria
We return by the same path exploring a few streets and side paths along the way. A really pleasant ride of about 20 miles altogether.
Kari
Fanno Creek Path
Oh, and it was a windy day. We had a headwind going to Beaverton, and of course it turned so we could have a headwind on our return to Tigard as well. How thoughtful!
>>><<<
After the ride we still had some afternoon to burn so we decided to track down (Ha!) the Alpenrose Velodrome. It's actually only a few miles from where we're staying, easily within bike reach, but as I was unsure of the bike-friendliness of the roads we opted to drive.
Okay, using a favorite Doctor Who-ism...Velodromes are cool! If we had come earlier we could have watched some racing. I'm glad we rode instead, but I do want to come back to watch the racing some time.
From the website:
Alpenrose Velodrome is one most exciting tracks in the United States. At 268.43 meters around with a 16.6 meter radius and a 43 degree bank, Alpenrose is also one of the steepest velodromes in the country. The steep banks make races on the velodrome interesting to watch and just plain fun to ride. Alpenrose is still home for the only North American Six-day race.
There was a couple with their son lounging around the velodrome, and sometimes riding the track. As long as there are no events going on the track is open to anyone.

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