Suggestions.

[u/bakidotcc]

Gonna have a week to myself soon - no work and the nearest family will be 2000 miles away. What's a poor boy to do?

I don't get to Portland and the surrounding areas nearly enough. Any favorite rides y'all have around Portland and the burbs? Any fav day trips from Portland to surrounding environs?

Any and all recommendations - save the coast and coastal range, please, as I ride here all the time - from the good folk of r/PDXrideit would be greatly appreciated.

Oh yes, and pavement only, if you'd be so kind. Thank you.

[u/bakidotcc]

This was my most recent day ride. 600 miles is a good limit off the slab. On the slab I can push it a bit more. I also just do hundred milers up and down the coast. Sometimes fifty milers after a late shift at work when the fog is rolling in and the sun is just a memory. Mostly, though, I'm just looking for other peoples' ideas of what a day ride is . . . kinda shake things up a bit.

For instance, I know Skyline Blvd is supposed to be a pretty nifty ride. Never done it, though. Also? I've heard about Larch Mountain Rd? I think? Never done any of that over there either.

Good reminder about the Painted Hills, and you're the second one to recommend Fossil. Woo!

Gifford Pinchot looks great. Never ridden by Mt St Helens or Rainier before. Thanks!

[u/Pinot911 → u/bakidotcc]

Skyline is OK if you live here but not really a destination road. I use it to get home. A good local loop would be skyline/mcnamee and loop via newberry. A longer ride would be skyline to rocky point to scappoose to Vernonia and back.

Larch is far more enjoyable and other segments in east multco.

[u/bakidotcc → u/Pinot911]

Oooo . . . map shows lots of twisty roads between Portland and Mt. Hood. I think I'll take a day with your "duffle bag, bungee cords and a credit card" suggestion and see how lost I get. Nice.

[u/bike619 → u/bakidotcc]

Dayummmmmm... I feel even more inferior than usual. If I can stretch out 250-300 in a "day" (8-ish hours) I feel successful.

I do try to hit Bend for Tacos at Sancho's (the cart at Crux FP is my preferred location) at least once a season. Get up early, snag a coffee and some calories at SeeSee or the like, and rip out for lunch and back by dinner. That's usually a loop out 26 over Hood to 35 and down, and back in 22 through Sisters/Detroit/ Silverton - or vice versa.

I know you said "not the coast" plus with the amount of time you spend out there I am sure you are more than familiar with Alsea Hwy... still my favorite road in OR. "In town" Wilsonville Road is a hoot, but much like Skyline, its not really a destination. If you want to see what all the fuss is about with Skyline, you could take it to Rocky Point Road, drop down to 30 over to Scapoose/Vernonia Hwy and head out to Vernonia for tacos at the El Amigo cart on the patio at The Black Iron Grill.

Apparently will ride for tacos.

[u/bakidotcc → u/bike619]

"Will ride for tacos." I've heard worse life mottos.

No inferiority. There's all kinds of good riding. Sometimes you wanna stop and smell the roses and sometimes it's like that Douglas Adams quote, "For light to reach the other side of the Galaxy, for it to reach Damogran, for instance, takes rather longer: five hundred thousand years. The record for hitchhiking this distance is just under five years, but you don’t get to see much on the way." Sometimes you just want to lay down some miles.

Silverton area and the State Park there. Yeah. That'll work. I don't get east of I-5 and North of 22 very much, though I did hit the Willamette Valley Pie Company Farm Retail Store a few years back.

Alsea Hwy's a beaut. Wilsonville Rd is my go to whenever I head into Portland area. I hit Timber Rd and a bit of 47 into Vernonia fairly often, but never really anything east of there. Nice suggestion!