Bike Around Portland: Bridges, Neighborhoods, Poetry and Roses

It's all about the bike ride! We like to spend more time riding in the neighborhoods Portlanders love, but always stopping to smell the roses. Start in the inner Eastside, where we will safely fit you for a bike and helmet, ready for a sweet 8-11 mile ride through a pretty residential neighborhood, to our favorite rose garden, into an art-heavy industrial district, across the sexy Tilikum Bridge, and onto Portland's waterfront. From there, it's a trip along the edge of downtown and more stories, before we head over another bridge back to our shop!

You'll visit most of the city's quadrants, ride over two bridges, and along the Willamette River. We'll visit almost-secret beaches, read poetry written in sidewalks and rocks, see public art of every shape, color and texture. And have you tried some of the city's best doughnuts or ice cream? We’ll tell you our favorites! All along the way, we'll tell the stories of the city we love.

Bikes, helmets and water provided.

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Pass By: Cartopia, 1207 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Portland, OR 97214, USA

After fitting for a bike and helmet at Around Portland Tours' shop, we'll head out to the streets of Portland for a slow-paced ride through the inner Southeast Portland neighborhoods. We'll ride into the Hawthorne District, past one of the original food cart pods, and one of the newest.

Stop At: Ladd's Addition, Between Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard and Division Street from 12th to 20th avenues, Portland, OR 97214

After taking off from the shop, we'll ride into Ladd's Addition, a pretty neighborhood designed in a labyrinth style, and visit one of the many rose gardens there.

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: Clinton Street Theater, 2522 SE Clinton St, Portland, OR 97202-1239

The Clinton Street greenway is part of our experience, and we stop to show off one of the original streetcar stops and our favorite spot (in times when the theater is open) to see funky, artsy, and cult movies.

Duration: 5 minutes

Stop At: The Solterra Building, 959 SE Division St #130, Portland, OR 97214, USA

We'll ride the bike path along the Orange line of the MAX light rail, which has a variety of beautiful art pieces, from word play along concrete barriers and in the sidewalks, to the gorgeous mural by Irish street artist Fin DAC -- a mural that must be seen to be fully appreciated!

Duration: 5 minutes

Stop At: Tilikum Crossing, Crosses the Willamette River, Portland, OR 97201

Our favorite bridge to ride across is the Tilikum Crossing, one of the most unusual bridges in a city focused around its Willamette River crossings! We'll take the slow route onto the bridge, get counted by the device that monitors the number of cyclists to cross each day and each year, and stop for photos and some history on Portland's newest bridge, and the only one like it in the world.

Duration: 5 minutes

Stop At: Portland Aerial Tram, 3303 SW Bond Ave, Portland, OR 97239

From the Tilikum Crossing we'll head to the South Waterfront neighborhood, past the docking for the Aerial Tram, Portland's newest mode of transportation, and learn why we have this beautiful bullet-shaped transport -- and how much, exactly, it cost us.

Duration: 5 minutes

Pass By: Blue Star, Portland, OR

BLUE STAR CURRENTLY CLOSED. We will stop at another doughnut shop or ice cream. [Do we love doughnuts? Yes! We'll stop by Blue Star, one of the more culinary-inspired doughnut shops in the city, and you are welcome to try them out!]

Stop At: South Waterfront Greenway, 0848 SW Curry St, Portland, OR 97239, USA

One of our favorite hidden river spaces, the South Waterfront Greenway is one of the many links in the city's amazing river access.

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: Poet's Beach, South Waterfront Park, Portland, OR

We could wax eloquent about Poet's Beach forever! This little sandy beach was created by the Human Access Project, a program that seeks to connect us more tangibly to the river, so we take better care of it. What’s more, the poetry along the beach, written by local students, captures our hearts and minds.

Duration: 5 minutes

Stop At: Riverplace, 1875 S River Dr, Portland, OR 97201, USA

We'll head down the Willamette River, passing one of the most interesting housing and retail developments from the 1980s, and learn how this project attempted to change the course of urban design.

Duration: 5 minutes

Stop At: Tom McCall Waterfront Park, Front Avenue, Portland, OR 97205

We'll ride through the Tom McCall Waterfront Park, and learn how what it *used* to be changed Portland in a big way; and how our reluctantly hippie governor in the early 1970s changed it back.

Duration: 10 minutes

Pass By: Hawthorne Bridge, Main to Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard, Portland, OR 97204

We'll ride under the Hawthorne Bridge, and learn why this iconic structure might go up and down, with no big ship underneath it.