CliffordK

I drove down to California a few weeks ago... Whew... Gas prices JUMPED.

Then I drove to the Midwest... and gas prices plummeted.


I can't say much about Irvine. But, for Eugene (or Portland).

We have a "Rainy Season" and a "Dry Season". Not a lot of snow here, but it does hit occasionally.

It is pretty dry from about mid-June to late-September. Then frequent rain from early October to May.

Of course, there are good days, and bad days.

Eugene has a population of about 170,000
Springfield has a population of about 62,000 (Eugene's twin city).
Lane County has a population of about 375,000.

Eugene/Springfield has a wonderful river front bike path system, and a few other bike paths. But, depending on where you're riding, the river front bike paths can be handy commuter routes. Unfortunately the paths are aging somewhat, but the city has also invested heavily in bike bridges across the Willamette river.

I'm finding a number of residential streets that are also good for riding, not necessarily well marked, but some are. And, generally traffic isn't bad on many of the residential streets.

One issue that many cities have is that some of the main arterials out of town get hammered with traffic, and Eugene is no different.

99 North, 99 South, 126 West, and 126 East all are busy.

Nonetheless, there are often alternatives to the main roads that can get one away from traffic.

There is an active local recreational cycling group:

Eugene Gears.
https://eugenegears.org/

If you're into TT riding, the local TT course is just north of Eugene in Brownsville.
Revenge of the Disc.

Hmmm, it doesn't appear to have as much info online this year as last year... Hopefully the race isn't dying out.

The Bicycle Racing group is: ORBA: Oregon Bicycle Racing Association.

The local Velodrome Track is up in Portland, Alpenrose. It is a tiny oudoor concrete track with steeply banked corners. I think they regularly have races on Fridays, and maybe weekends.

A few century rides, and the "Cycle Oregon" annual bike tour.