Cycle Oregon

“A trip without a map is just a commute.” Bay Area to Bend to Baker felt like a long way to come to ride some bikes, but many folks have come from even further away. The highlight of this year’s route was meant to be touring through Hell’s Canyon and a layover day at the pristine Wallowa Lake. The conditions had other plans…

Sunday 13 – Day 1 Baker to Farewell
Warm, downhill, with a tail wind.
65miles, 1600ft 60º – 90º 
Long miles but very fast; 30mph, 40mph… Some good time on wheels in pace lines with a few freight trains. Our climbing legs show how all that work training pays off. Quick bursts of power launching over the rollers – that torque – is fun, but mostly just an easy effort with a tail wind helping out.

Monday 14 – day 2 – Farewell to Cambridge
A change in plans.
54miles, 2500ft 54º – 70º
Jay going like a possessed freight train, can’t slow him down. Hitched some wheels here and there. Highways and plains, mostly felt like a transit day. Arrived early into camp to set up as the clouds settle in.

And then the rain comes… we get the bikes tucked into the alcoves of my tent. The mood gets even heavier with announcements about route changes. Due to fires and evacuations in Halfway we can’t get through to Wallaowa lake. This is as far as we’re able to go and will be home base for tomorrow at least, then we retrace our route back to Baker and reset. There’s so much rain, the entire camp is a giant soggy puddle.

Tuesday 15 – day 3 Cambridge to Oxbow
Out n back.
82miles, 5600ft 41º – 70º
Wake up into the clouds and mist and cold. Leave the tent up to dry, roll out in layers of gear. Wet roads, slowly slowly up to the summit. Screaming decent down toward the reservoir and lunch as the sun peeks out. Second lunch way out past the power station… We at least got to see the start of Hells Canyon. Turning back, exchanging pulls and covering ground… saw a Bear in the brush near the road. That long steep climb up from the reservoir was very quiet, everyone doing their work. Quiet like church, up into the pines was an amazing moment. Jay launched the rockets off the summit back to camp, even at 30mph against the headwind I couldn’t catch him.

Wednesday 16 – day 4 Cambridge back to Farewell
The long highway climbs.
54mi, 2000ft 46º – 77º – 64º (part sun)
Wake up to a deep chill, snow around on the mountain tops. Roll out and it’s not long before the legs wake up. The rest of the day is spent hammering past huge chunks of riders. Floating up the hills. Farm lane rollers toward Weiser were great again. Smooth, wide, no traffic… Wonderful. A little tailwind out of Weiser had us crushing upwards of 30mph. Trading pulls with Jay along the river, then back in the engine room for the freeway segment. That freeway was scary and sketchy though, would rather not do that again.

Thursday 17 – day 5 Farewell back to Baker
Oh this sucks.
52mi 2700ft 48º – 55º – 43º (rain, wind)
Started off well. No rush, nice warmup up and over the hill into Huntington. Then we hammer. Fast freeway sections, pulls and trains. Good solo scramble up the long mountain hill over the train tracks. Then the weather went to hell, again… 20% chance of rain on the course is not no chance… So cold, so wet. The wind… Absolute misery on the grind back into Baker.

A turning point.
This is the tipping point… Another wet rainy night and we’d have tapped out, packed up and left early. But the sun came out, and there’s a dry forecast into the next few days. The new route map shows a decent ride tomorrow… We met a few new peeps in the next tents; Dave, Lucas… We decide not to bail; this is what we signed up for, so we’re going to stick it out.

Friday 18 – day 6 – Baker to La Grande via Elkhorn and Catherine
A brand-new day.
77mi, 3200ft 32º – 48º – 63º – 70º
Damn cold 32º morning, weak cold sun. Amazing route though… Long rolling foothills wiggling northeast-ish across the plains. Snow up on the mountains ahead. Nice climb into the trees, up the mountain. The best riding of the trip so far. Rapid descent to a peaceful parkside lunch, and an even more rapid group hammering along at 34mph back into the valley… Abandon all the layers as the heat picked up in Cove; whole different climate out here. And then the ridiculous headwind, echelons and pushes from Dave trying to coax our small group back home.

Saturday 19 – day 7 – La Grande to Baker (again)
58mi, 1800ft 48º – 59º – 64º – 68º
Legs were in get-home mode. Dropped the group on the climb from Union. Dropped the group on the fast descent into North Powder. Then regrouped for the long meandering miles along the farmlands, me and Lucas working to pull Jay back home. The finish line with clanging and bullhorns and foam hands.

Wash up, pack up and start the long trek home… Overnight in Bend where we spend the evening eating everything on the menu at 10 Barrel.

Sunday 20 – day 8 – Bend to home.
We stop in Sun River for an easy pedal around to loosen the legs before the infinitely-long drive back to California. What an experience. Covered a lot of ground, adapted to changing conditions. Ate a lot of pizza. Have so many notes for next time; how to manage camp, what to bring, what not to bring… optimizations for the next sortie.