Living in Sisters, Sunriver, Prineville

[Steve Scarich]

Hi All

Looking for some feedback.  I have lived on Eastside Bend for about 23 years; I am mostly a roadie with some not-too-tough gravel riding.  I am fed up with dealing with car traffic (I have been hit twice).  Most of my fave rural roads have much more traffic volume and are not so much fun (Deschutes & Alfalfa Mkt).  I am ready to leave Bend, but would prefer to stay in Central Oregon.  I am considering these three smaller cities.  I welcome your experiences (preferably those who actually live there), about getting out of those places safely on a bike, safety on surrounding roads, and access to gravel roads).  I generally ride about two hours  in the morning year round if possible. I have been loading my bike on my car and driving to the edge of town, but that just seems wrong.  So, any feedback would be greatly appreciated. 

[Robert Lasker]

We moved to Sisters a bit over a year ago for all the reasons you’d listed. We have riding roads, gravel and trails out our door and can ride year round. 

ROBERT LASKER  UX Lead  Geo Developer UX - Transportation & Logistics  Planet Earth  rlasker@google.com

On Fri, Jan 31, 2025 at 5:57 AM Steve Scarich <bobscr...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi All

Looking for some feedback.  I have lived on Eastside Bend for about 23 years; I am mostly a roadie with some not-too-tough gravel riding.  I am fed up with dealing with car traffic (I have been hit twice).  Most of my fave rural roads have much more traffic volume and are not so much fun (Deschutes & Alfalfa Mkt).  I am ready to leave Bend, but would prefer to stay in Central Oregon.  I am considering these three smaller cities.  I welcome your experiences (preferably those who actually live there), about getting out of those places safely on a bike, safety on surrounding roads, and access to gravel roads).  I generally ride about two hours  in the morning year round if possible. I have been loading my bike on my car and driving to the edge of town, but that just seems wrong.  So, any feedback would be greatly appreciated. 

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[Jennifer Jordan]

We live in Prineville. I would suggest looking at routes that are posted on Ride With GPS. There is the beautiful Crooked River canyon road route as well as many country roads with little traffic branching off of Main Street, including Barnes Butte, McKay Creek, Gumpert and Gerkey. 

After many years of road riding, I have pretty much switched to gravel and mountain for the reasons you mentioned. As a woman, my main concern is not feeling safe riding solo on remote roads. I have yet to find some roadies out our way after being here for three years, but I often view potential routes in the hopes that perhaps I will meet some roadies someday in my area. We have a great local bike shop, Good Bikes, who are also a valuable resource and very helpful.

Happy riding,

Jen Jordan 

Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 31, 2025, at 6:25 AM, 'Robert Lasker' via BendCycling <bendc...@googlegroups.com> wrote:



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[David Sailors]

Steve, 

I hear you. I lived in Bend for 23 years and had to move because there were just too many people for me. I moved to Redmond eight years ago for other reasons than riding but we have found some decent gravel routes here. 

I've pretty much given up on road riding anywhere unless it's with a small group. I've ridden in Prineville a fair amount and Jennifer is right about the routes there in Prineville.  

Personally I would look closely at Sisters myself. They have road riding, mtb and gravel routes and it's beautiful to ride in that area. 

Brad with Eurosports has lived in Sisters for over 30 years and he knows every connector to any route in that area, he also rides road, mtb and gravel.  

I hope that helps. 

Dave Sailors

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[Y Lind]

We moved out of Bend 6 years ago after being hit on my road bike and multiple close calls along with general overcrowding everywhere.  It's not the same place as it was 20+ years ago when we arrived.  We looked everywhere and settled on living in the county between Bend and Redmond a few miles from Tumalo.  It took us 3 years to find the right place but we could not be happier.  It's way more relaxed than Bend but close enough to Bend and Redmond to easily get there.  Redmond has changed a lot is now my preferred destination and where we would move if we wanted to live in a city.  It has most everything that we want and reminds me of how Bend was when it was still a great place to live.  Redmond is not the best place if you want easiest access to the Cascades and snow sports, however.

Yancy

On Fri, Jan 31, 2025 at 5:57 AM Steve Scarich <bobscr...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi All

Looking for some feedback.  I have lived on Eastside Bend for about 23 years; I am mostly a roadie with some not-too-tough gravel riding.  I am fed up with dealing with car traffic (I have been hit twice).  Most of my fave rural roads have much more traffic volume and are not so much fun (Deschutes & Alfalfa Mkt).  I am ready to leave Bend, but would prefer to stay in Central Oregon.  I am considering these three smaller cities.  I welcome your experiences (preferably those who actually live there), about getting out of those places safely on a bike, safety on surrounding roads, and access to gravel roads).  I generally ride about two hours  in the morning year round if possible. I have been loading my bike on my car and driving to the edge of town, but that just seems wrong.  So, any feedback would be greatly appreciated. 

--

[Ben]

Moved from Idaho Falls to Bend in 2000 and have seen considerable growth.  It's busier, yet there are also so many more trails and published routes (Dirty Freehub was mentioned) that didn't exist back then.  Dealing with the same dilemma our solution was to move from the north side closer into town - I am quite pleased with the outcome.  My five-year old car has 22k miles on it: besides being a dabbler in all the bike-wheeled sports, I'm also a commuter who runs errands per bike almost daily.  Bend has become convenient that way.  My wife and I can now walk or ride most everywhere, and from my personal perspective it has become safer with most things reachable either by bike lane or greenway (wish there were stats on that).  Just another perspective on solving 'the problem.'  Ben Groeneveld.

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[Kevin F]

I don't have input on where to move, but I would suggest giving one of the bike light/radar combos a try, there are several options. I use a garmin rtl515, I've found it will track up to 4 veh, gives speed and distance and it works almost seamlessly with my wahoo elemnt.

The downside is it chirps a lot (even from your riding partner), but it's reassuring knowing what's coming up behind and adjusting road position accordingly. Of course it won't prevent a collision, but gives you time to consider your "outs".

Good Luck.

[durtsurf]

If you're REALLY focused on year round cycling I would be looking at low elevation areas like redmond, terrebonne, etc. I would drive around and think about routes. Look for routes with southern exposure. Be on the south side of X butte vs the north side. Think about traffic. Consider gravel a bit more.  What a fun project to find the perfect spot!

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[Steve Scarich]

Thanks, but it's not just the getting hit, it is the constant fear/wariness about cars.  Some roads that 10 years ago had one car every 2 or 3 minutes like Alfalfa Mkt or Deschutes market going north now have 3 or 4 or more cars per minute.  Drivers are mostly respectful, but at that volume, it is not if, but when you will get hit.  Plus, riding the 2 or 3 miles to the edge town to start my real ride, is nervewracking.  Whoever thought that roundabouts were bike friendly was clueless. I used to see anywhere between 5 and 25 riders on my 2-hour rides; now, it is more like 2 or 3, sometimes zero.  Also, I would like access to nice, sane gravel right from town.  I know Sisters has that, wondering about Sun River.