How I Spent My Summer Vacation: Cycle Oregon IX
September 8 - 14, 1996
By David M. Pearson
I arrived in our starting and ending community of Lakeview, OR. I’m still not entirely sure why it’s called Lakeview since there aren’t any lakes within view of this particular town. It is, however, the hang gliding capitol of the West. I got to see a few of them flying about in the hills just on the east end of town. It took me about 7.5 hours to drive down there. It took a while to find the place where I was supposed to park because the signs weren’t very well placed (if at all). I eventually parked, and picked out my homestead for the night in Left field of the high school baseball diamond. There were already hundreds of tents set up on the football field. I found a nice spot with not too many people around me. The tent went up easily, and I went off in search of a new pair of batteries for my camera in the "Tallest city in Oregon." (that’s elevation-wise since the tallest building in town is only 2 stories.)
I found my batteries and also bought some sunscreen since I had left mine at home in my hast to shove (litterally) every thing that I would need in my duffle bag. I had only been gone for about an hour, and my little cove had already been invaded by several more tents crowded around mine. (I have photos. Hopefully you’ll get to see them some time.) It is a small world, after all as my neighbor happened to be in my cycling club back in Champaign. Kooky, no? His brother lives in Portland, and invited him out for the event. This would be the last time that I saw him. I mean, there are 2250 people on this ride, and another 150 or so volunteers. And that doesn’t count the sponsors. (my number 1283. The numbering was done by alphabet by last name, I found out later.)
Dinner was supplied. BBQ’d chicken. MmMMm. Then I cruised the mobile bike shops that were nearby. They followed us everyday providing free bike maintenance at rest stops and our nightly campsites. They also brought along a lot of merchandise from their stores to sell. They didn’t seem to be giving us any special deals, but they had a lot of things that people needed. Heck I even bought a fleece Cycle Oregon coat. (Not that night, of course. I spent 3 days weighing the pros and cons of the purchase since it was rather expensive. In the end, I bought it anyway, and I’m glad that I did. I made a much better pillow than my Illinois sweatshirt. And it got rather cool at night.)
Opening ceremonies were at 8pm that night, so we went to hang out and listen to the all the people involved with the ride speak about safety and what lay ahead. Then there was local entertainment, but I was really tired from the drive down and not sleeping the night before due to staying up late doing laundry and packing. So I hit the hay. My sleeping bag is a 0 degree bag from REI w/ hood. It was nice and comfy warm. I slept alright for my first night sleeping on the ground with snoring and farting strangers all around me.
I got up at 6am the next morning. I didn’t hurry since it was a short ride for the first day. A meager 54 mile ride to Paisley. I had a leisurly breakfast (all meals are provided. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner) and read the Cycle Oregonian (The Oregonian is one of the sponsors, and they put out a small paper just for us on the ride. It’s pretty cool.) I chatted with a couple who were just one of the many people riding tandems for the week. This was their 3rd CO. I packed everything up after lunch and tossed it on one of the 5 semi’s carting our crap around for the week. You just put your bag on the truck, remember what truck it’s on at the end of the day, and dig it out when you get to your night’s destination. (I have a picture of this as well.) I then departed for the first day of riding. I rode briefly with an older woman from Portland (the average age of the tour was 42 years old, and I never did see many people my age, and no women my age that were unattached.) and chatted for a little while until she stopped to remove some of her layers from the cool morning. I continued on into the forest preserve we would be riding through. This first day of riding took us over 16 cattle guards, but the forest roads were great. ODOT could take some lessons from the National Forest Park Service. On my way into the first rest stop (Clif bars,All Sport, bananas, water, and bathrooms. Who could ask for anything more), I met my first fellow Intel employee. He was probably in his 60’s, and he had ridden all 9 CO’s with his wife. After the break, I was on my own for a while. The surroundings were beautiful. Big wooded areas mixed with stretches of ranch land. We had some awesome downhills. I swear the 4 motorcycle cops for the OSP were clocking us. I heard later that someone was going so fast and so close to one of them that they took the mirror off the cop’s brand new BMW. The officers were along to make sure that motorists gave us some respect on the road. (I also have some pictures of them doing radar checks on the roads). We had a nice lunch of beef sandwiches on a rancher’s land and chatted with real cowboys. The rest of the way into town was on a nice rolling road following the lazy Chewacaun River. Just outside of Paisley was a swimmin’ hole in the river. I didn’t stop since it was still fairly cool in the morning. I rolled into town around noon, assisted in unpacking the luggage truck (which is not an easy thing to do in cycling shoes, let me tell you that right now), and set up camp. While I was setting up my tent I discovered that I had left the rainfly back in LakeView. So I checked with Rider Services. Nobody had turned anything in yet. Fortunately, it didn’t rain that night.
I went into "town" (the whole place had 250 people.) There were a whole bunch of people sitting in the shade of the store on the main drag, so I joined them watching people ride in. Everyone was already drinking having purchased beer in the store. (we also had a beer garden provided by Full Sail Ale Brewery following us around every night) I then went on a tour of the 2nd largest ranch in the West. I don’t remember the acreage, but it was pretty vast. I watched a horse shoeing demo. I got some great pictures of the ranch and horses with the mountains in the distance and long stretches of grazing land. Then it was back to town for dinner, and that evening’s entertainment - Linda Hornbuckle, a blues/soul singer. She was awesome. We danced from 8.30 to a little after 10 when they made her stop since you could hear her all over the community, and all over the campground nearby that we were staying at. She rocked. She used to play at the Candlelight room in downtown Portland a lot. Then it was off to bed because the next day was the first of the 3 optional centuries.
I arose early along with 2000 other people to head off on the first 100 mile ride. (Actually, it was 102 miles with the loop.) across vast ranch land and baren dessert. You could see for miles in every direction. With the mere 600 feet of elevation gain and the flatness of the surroundings, if everything that we could see were replaced by corn, I would be back in central Illinois again. The big point of interest (aside from the Kitty Litter factory (I don’t think it was Gritty Kitty) (and ironically enough, this was not the location of a water and potty stop)), the big attraction, and the only large rock formation to be seen, and the reason for the optional loop, was Fort Rock. It is a large collection of molten rock formed by vocanic eruption around 12000 years ago when the whole area we are cycling through was covered by water of the vast lake in the basin. It was named Fort Rock by a rancher many many many moons ago who thought it looked like a fort. Also ancient sandles were found in caves in the rocks that were dated as the oldest documented life on the North American continent. Personally, I thought it looked like a great place for an open air ampitheater because there is a break in the rocks at one end. They could call it Fort ROCKS! There’s plenty of parking. I’m sure some of the larger stadium bands would come. No one else seemed to think it was a good use of an archaelogical site. D’ohwell. They’ll come around some day. To be honest, I have no recollection of what I did that night in Silver Lake. I probably went to bed really early because I was really tired. Oh wait, that was bike rodeo night. The bike techs from the different bike shops competed in "foot down" (they ride around the ring and try to knock the other guys off their bikes), Chariot races, bike limbo, and Truck pull. It was fun to watch. Those guys have no regard for their personal safety. I rode from Fort Rock with two people I met on the ride - Larry, whom I had been riding with since the beginning of the loop, and Karen whom I had met the night before at dinner. Both 30-somethings from Portland and California, respectively. I continued to run into Karen over the next several days, but never saw Larry again. That’s what happens when you ride with 2000 other people.
Day 3 brougth a 74 mile ride towards the mountains. It was beautiful. Our lunch stop rocked…literally. They brought a jazz/soul band down from Eugene to play for us on the back of a trailer in the middle of the Fremont marsh forest preserve. I got my picture taken with Smokey the Bear too! (I couldn’t find anyone with a lighter. I wanted to get a picture of me down on my knees with Smokey’s hands around my throat with the lighter lighted. I thought it would be funny anyway.) There was a long stretch of flat land through the marsh at the base of the mountains that serves as a resting place for thousands of birds who fly over the area as part of their migration route. There were canals on either side with lilly pads. (no frogs that I could see.) We ended in Chiloquin, a town of ~ 300 steeped in Native American culture. This was one of my favorite towns on the tour. After I got into town, I set up camp in right field at the school and headed for the beer garden to hang out. I sat down with a couple of the volunteers for the Oregonian who were knockin’ back some brews in the heat of the day. I took a tour of one of the largest hobby train setups in the US. It’s a scale train that you can ride. The guy has over a mile of track, and he is expanding. And all he wants for admission is a $2 donation. It was well worth it. Then it was time for dinner…Mmmmmm. Chicken burritos. Then back to the main entertainment area where the beer garden is for the daily announcements. Before they began, the locals were showcasing the culture of the Klamath Indian tribe with dance and stories of their creation and how they were taught how the land came into existance. It’s always interesting to listen to Native Americans talk about their beliefs…to me anyway. Then announcements followed by musician David Wilcox. It’s just him and his guitar singing sort of folksy pop. He records for A&M. If you ever happen to see his albums, I recommend it. I enjoyed his music. He also rode the tour with his wife and child. (He was riding a sweet Proflex rully suspended mountain bike with slicks for road riding.) I stayed for his whole show, and I saw a skunk walking across the street on my way back to the tent. (What kind of luck do you have if a skunk crosses your path?)
I woke up the next morning to cold and a layer of frost on my rain fly. It was 31 degrees. I packed quickly and had a quick breakfast. It had warmed up to 34 by the time I hit the road. I drafted a tandem for the first few miles hoping to catch a break from the cold wind, but they lost me on a downhill, but I soon caught up with them again as we started our climb. Today was the 2nd of the optional centuries (actually 104 miles) up and around Crater Lake. A total elevation gain on the day of 3050 feet. I was grateful for the climbing because it kept me warm, and I was having a great climbing day. I just kept passing people all the way while singing selections from Marc Cohn’s first album. I felt a little bit of play in my bottom bracket, so I stopped by one of the bike techs to have it tightened up at lunch. Then I continued on my way up. At the rim, we had a rest stop with the best strawberries I have ever tasted. They also had postcards that we could fill out and send courtesy of the Rim lodge. I could only remember my parents address off the top of my head. Sorry. I really did want to send more. There were 2 climbs around the rim that were just unrelenting, but I still managed to pass many people. But it was all worth it when we headed down the other side of the mountain and into Prospect. It was 36 miles of straight downhill. I didn’t have to pedal from the lodge all the way down if I didn’t want to. It was awesome. I must have averaged in the high 20’s to 30mph all the way down into town. At town for entertainment, they had a blue grass band before announcements, but I went to bed right after announcements because I was dead tired (legs were ok) and the next day held another century option.
It was cold again the next day….The hardest day of the tour with a total elevation gain of 5200 feet and a mandatory 95 miles that everyone must do, and the optional 5 extra miles to earn our 3rd medalion for 3 100+ miles in a week. Of course I did it. My legs did me well again. I was climbing like a man possessed. I could have given Marco Pantani a run (he’s a rising star in pro bike racing for Team Casterama. He kicked all sorts of butt in the mountains in the Tour de France 2 years ago, but was unable to compete this year because he was hit by a truck while descending a mountain on a training ride. He will be back next year though since he only suffered a broken leg.) for his money. Although I started to fade coming in for lunch at a place called Lake of the Woods (just like Champaign’s). However, this lake has the back drop of Mt. McLoughlin directly behind it. Coming out of lunch there was another nasty climb that I had a little more trouble with, but still maintained my pace while singing "High Hopes" to anyone who would listen. The ride ended on a road around Klamath Lake which happens to be called Lakeshore drive, and we stayed in Moore Park where cougars are spotted on a regular basis so we couldn’t camp in certain parts of the park. I didn’t see any cougars though. Lots of pelicans. That was the first day that we had rain. It didn’t rain very hard or long and it cleared off by the night time. A local jazz/rock trio were performing that night. I watched them. The lead singer looked exactly like Stevie Nicks. By the morning, it was cloudy again.
I rolled out of bed late that morning as did most others since it was a short ride of 57 miles. I biked off at 8am. It sprinkled on and off all morning as we headed towards California. We actually used a road that straddles the state line. We rode on the California side for several miles and then headed back into Oregon for lunch to a Czechoslovakian province called Malin. I didn’t stay too long because it was a little cool, and I didn’t want to freeze up too much. I sand bagged the rest of the way into Bonanza. The town was founded on July 11th in the 18 hundreds some time. It’s a dairy farming and sheep herding kinda town. There was a lot of food to be had there to buy provided by the locals as well as the free meals provided by the tour. One woman was up 3 nights in a row baking 68 pies, and the booth right next door had hand-dipped ice cream. (Mmmmm. Ice cream) That night’s entertainment was provided by a "Swamp Rock" Creole type band called Etouffee. They rocked. There was an absolutely beautiful sunset followed by an equally brilliant sunrise.
The last day is a 78 mile ride with 3200 feet of elevation gain. It ended with a road that seemed to build itself as we rode on it into a nasty head wind. It was a long straight road into town. I met a woman from Beaverton who likes to ride the hills, so we exchanged phone numbers. Later that monring, I blew by her on a flat, and at the next rest stop, she told me to only call if I wanted to do a leisurely ride because she was doing 19mph when I strolled past her. The evening’s entertainment was provided by a 50’s band called the Hardtops. They were really good. Really fun to listen to and watch. Very entertaining.
I didn’t sleep well that night because it was really windy, and it starting pouring around 3am, and didn’t stop until after I had lugged my bag to the Jeep and trudged to breakfast. At least they let us eat inside that morning. I was joking around with 3 middle-aged guys about all sorts of things. Then I headed back to pack up my tent, and it had stopped raining by then. Then it was another 7.5 hour drive home, but I was treated to some great rainbows in the forests.
Well, that was a rather lengthy description. Sorry about that. Oh, and I forgot one of the most important parts. The stars! I could see all of them out there. It was awesome.