Cycle Oregon X, Nyssa to Yachat
Sept 7 to Sept 13, 1997
It's a land of mystery and majesty, of pioneer spirit and pristine splendor. Oregon: five hundred magical miles from its border to its beach.
We are about to embark on one of America's most dazzling, and most diverse, journeys. In seven September days we will ride through seamless deserts and ancient forests, across volcanic peaks and verdant valleys, past rimrocked canyons and trout-choked streams.
At least twice each day we'll be welcomed by the kind of community that still believes in showing kindness to strangers.
This year route starts in Nyssa, OR on the border with Idaho and is as follows:
Day two and day seven we will have over 5000 feet of elevation gain.
Cycle Oregon set two new records this year, most rain and most dirt roads. Both records were not enjoyed by the riders. Otherwise it was a very good ride with family and old friends from past Cycle Oregons. Some highlights follow:
Day-0
Nyssa, we all dipped the rear wheel of our bikes into the Snake River with hopes of dipping the front wheel into the Pacific Ocean 7 days from now.Day-1
Ironside, 71.94 miles. It was hot and with a headwind. We camped on a cattle ranch; the road to the ranch was 2.3 miles of dirt (of course, we had to ride the 2.3 miles out the next day). This was the hardest first day of any Cycle Oregon.Day-2
Seneca, 81.98 miles. It was overcast in the AM and sunny in the PM, with lots of hills. We climbed over 5700 feet. Our camp tonight was on a golf course, but the greens were off limits.Day-3
Paulina, 71.27 miles. The weather today was great for riding, with some cloud cover. We camped on another ranch. There was a big thunder and lighting storm in the evening followed by lots of rain. Many people were caught in the rain and it was a long way to their tents. After living in the NW for 20 years I was ready for the rain and was standing in front of my tent 5 minutes before the downpour hit.Day-4
Prinevile, 57 miles. A very easy day was welcomed by all as we had only one hill. This was our first real town since we left Nyssa. We, The Brothers O'Brien, ate dinner out (thanks Baron) and then I took the team to DQ for their first Blizzard. The rain started again on our way back to camp. One good thing was we never had to put up or take down our tents in the rain.Day-5
Rainbow, 99.46 miles. Today was our century (100 miles) day. The first 50 miles to Sisters, our lunch stop, was flat and fast. After lunch we climbed over McKenzie Pass. About halfway up it started to rain. On the top it was very wet and cold. You were wet either from the rain or from our own sweat, if you wore rain gear. The decent was a nightmare as all we could do was coast downhill and freeze. This was the first century for Bill, Barry, Brandon and Jennette. We were all cold but happy as we road the 100 miles in 7 hours and 18 minutes. Our camp was in a field, the same field we camped in during Cycle Oregon 5.Day-6
Monroe, 81.59 miles. A dry day was welcomed by all. There were no hills to speak of as we came down from the Cascades and across the Wiillamette Valley. It was had a short distance over some dirt at a road construction near Harrisburg. We camped at the high school.Day-7
Yachats, 80.31 miles. As I suspected, this tuned out to be a very hard day with over 5200 feet of gain. We rode on Forest Service Road over the Coast Range. It was very steep and narrow with over 2 miles of dirt. It started to rain at 10:30 in the morning and did not stop until we got off the bus in Portland after the ride ended. It was not as cold as day-5, but we got wet. Near the top of the Coast Range there was a scheduled rest stop. When we reached the stop there were hundreds of riders standing around. The problem was that 3 riders had crashed on the way down due to wet roads and hairpins turns. To see how fast a crash can happen click on "More About Cycle Oregon" on my front page and see Day 7." Cycle Oregon stopped us all from continuing until they could get the ambulances to the riders. We had to wait for around 1 hour in the rain. Finally we got the ok to go in small groups. The downhill was 15 miles long and many wore the brake pads down to almost nothing, trying to stay under control. In all there were 7 riders who crashed. At the bottom of the hill Cycle Oregon had hot cocoa for us, it was most welcomed.With all the hills, rain and delays we did not get in until 6:30 PM. I learned later that there were still riders out at 9:30 PM. Our bus home was scheduled to leave for Portland at 8 PM so we had to hustle. Showers and dinner were skipped, bikes were packed and shipped, and dry clothes were put on. I should say the we put on our driest clothes as our luggage arrived in Yachats at 11 AM and left out in the rain until you could claim it.
We could not get to the Pacific Ocean to dip our front wheel in as we had hoped 7 days ago, without some risk due to the rain. No sense to take a risk this late in the ride, so pictures were taken with the Pacific Ocean in the background.
All our team rode well and had no problems, except for a flat and one tire going bad (there seemed to be a very high rate of flats on this Cycle Oregon). After arriving in Portland my wife, Lois, and daughters, Patty and Sandy, met us. Soon we were at my house, arriving around 1:30 AM. Sunday morning 15 family members went out for breakfast and then were off to the airport for those who were from out of town. Mike had left on Friday for Tucson, AZ.
We rode 544 miles, got wet, froze to near death, climbed very steep hills and loved every minute of it (well almost every minute). At the airport there were high-fives all around and a exchange of "can't wait until next year".
Pictures
MORE THAN YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT CYCLE OREGON
The following is a comparison of the six Cycle Oregons that I have ridden. All entries are in chronological order. All Cycle Oregons were 7 days in length.
Cost: $295, $337, $385, $435, $435, $559
Total miles ridden: 534, 442, 460, 449, 586, 544
Total hours riding: 39:12, 40:14, 44:07, 35:37, 41:27, 41:07
Average miles riding: 76.3, 63.2, 65.7, 64.2, 83.7, 77.7
Average hours riding: 5:36, 5:45, 6:18, 5:05, 6:55, 5:52
Average MPH: 13.63, 10.99, 10.43, 12.62, 14.13, 13.22
Max speed, MPH: 46, 41, 43, 43, 44, 45
Max elevation, feet: 4750, 7680, 5400, 6085, 7680, 6094
Min elevation, feet: 0, 500, 200, 1689, 2350, 74
Flat tires: 0, 0, 0, 2, 0, 0
Black gear marks on leg: 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0
Total calories earned*: 29910, 27194, 27841, 26977, 31466, 29807
Total calories eaten*: 20665, 19811, 28114, 27744, 25802, 25946
Average calories earned*: 4273, 3885, 3977, 3854, 4495, 4258
Average calories eaten*: 2952, 2830, 4016, 3963, 3686, 3707
Weight at start: 152, 148, 148, 145**, 150, 147
Weight at end: 152, 147.5, 148, 149, 150, 147
Resting heart rate, start: 50, 49, 48, 50, 48, 50
Resting heart rate, end: 47, 50, 46, 46, 48, 50
Training miles ridden,
May: 0, 0, 0, 546, 867, 1150
June: 156, 109, 250, 517, 1132, 773
July: 251, 330, 299, 817, 971, 901
Aug.: 163, 421, 380, 757, 1451, 1115
Sept.: 159, 139, 168, 31, 115, 76
Total training miles: 729, 999, 1097, 2668, 4536, 4015
Total money found: $2.10, $1.66, $2.02, $0.95, $0.37, $0.14
Total bandannas found: 4, 3, 3, 1, 0, 1
Rain days (riding): .5, Tr, Tr, 0, Tr, 2
Sunny days: 6.5, 3.5, 6.0, 6.0, 4.0, 3.0
Overcast days: 0, 3.5, 1.0, 1.0, 3.0, 2.0
* = As calculated from "The Diet Balancer(r)"
** = I was sick the week before this ride so my weight dropped to 145, my weight before getting sick was 149.
Tr = trace
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