We decided to try to beat our longest ride record. The farthest we’d ridden previously was 70 very flat miles on the Coeur d’Alene trail in Idaho. This time we’d be riding a bit more hilly route from Banks to Birkenfeld and back. We’ve ridden from Banks to Vernonia and back on multiple occasions so we knew we could handle that 40 miles. It was the other 40, beyond Vernonia that we weren’t sure about.

After following their journal since shortly after they started I couldn’t pass up the chance to meet the Millers as they neared the end of their cross country ride. To make that happen we packed up our bike and headed to Coburg about 6:30 last Saturday morning. We parked at the Armitage County Park and started pedaling east on the TransAm. It’s a good thing I was curious enough to buy some ACA Maps a month or so ago otherwise the task would have been much harder.

We went on our first bicycle camping trip on Friday night. We went to Champoeg State Park,  toting 4 full panniers and our tent. It was a lot harder to ride our tandem when fully loaded than usual. We rode over 25 miles each way. It was a rather warm day for May - over 80°.

We’re heading out to ride the Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway from south to north. We’re driving down to Eugene with Brian and he’ll drive the truck home. Then we’ll be on our own for the next five days.

Ready to load the bike. Let’s hope we survive this.

A nice paved trail that runs east out of Cottage Grove, along Dorena Lake and ends out at Culp Creek. It’s fairly flat with only a slight climb as you approach the dam from town. At about mile 15, in Dorena, you can stop at the little Kirk and Family Mercantile if you forgot to bring a snack. There’s plenty of parking at Bohemia Park just south of the trail head in Cottage Grove.

This is a great spot for a picnic and everyone enjoys seeing the curved trestle. From here it’s about 3.5 miles to climb roughly 450 feet up to where the trail crosses the road into Stub Stewart State Park. It’s also the section of trail where you’re most likely to come across horses since the parking area is setup for horses.

The Marine Drive path runs along the Columbia River north of the Portland airport. It’s a nice level path mostly separated from the road. We generally park at the M. James Gleason boat ramp. It costs $5 for parking but that seems like a reasonable price for easy parking and a decent restroom. Today though we started from Walter’s apartment on N Wygant and rode down the 205 path to Marine Drive.

A crisp clear day to ride the Banks end of the trail.

The easiest, most peaceful, most scenic, most enjoyable 15 miles we’ve ridden. You can coast almost the entire way except across the trestles and through the tunnels. We enjoyed it so much that Jeff and I rode it twice. And though the second time was a bit cool and rainy we still enjoyed just as much. If only vacations could last forever.