cover photo compliments of www.facebook.com/CycleOregon album "Cycle Oregon 2015 Day 6"
Cycle Oregon 2015 totals:
415.03 miles total
7 days of riding
16,680 total feet climbed
Lessons Learned:
1.) I really, really like cycling
2.) I really, really like cycling-themed vacations
3.) I only had about 4 or 5 weeks of 100+ miles training since May, which was fine for this ride, but I would do best training more for a more challenging ride
Things I would do differently next time:
1.) bring handwarmers
2.) bring a pee bottle
3.) bring 3 waterproof packing bags; one for dry, clean things, one for things that are clean but not quite dry, and one for things that are wet and/or dirty. I had oodles of small bags on this trip, and they just made things more difficult to organize
4.) only bring fenders if rain is certain. They are big and hard to pack, and didn't really provide much benefit. Few others brought fenders.
this and cover photo courtesy Steve Rogers
Suggestions to the organization:
Every overnight had a booth hosted by the host town's chamber of commerce. Some even had special Cycle-Oregon letter cancellation stamps. But, there were no postcards or letters to buy. I planned on buying a bundle of post cards every night and mailing them to friends and family. I even brought dozens of stamps and post card stamps, but no postcards were to be found. I didn't want to buy post cards while riding because they would just sit in a jersey pocket for hours soaking up sweat. By the time I set up camp, showered, did yoga, and ate, any stores in town selling post cards would be closed.
Deep Thoughts:
1.) Not many deep thoughts. Most of my silent riding time was filled with song lyrics and focus on pedal stroke.
2.) Community. Many popular vacations of these times are focused on building communities of like-minded people. Cycle Oregon is an instant community built of people who share a mutual love for health, fittness, the outdoors, environmental preservation, and progressive-pro-social activisim. There are other popular vacations like Burning Man that also collect people together to form a common unified bond. ComiCon and other conventions are taking out the country and multi-day music festivals have taken over live music sales by storm. Why just go see one concert when you can go to a whole festival and form and unique, close community of "your people" whole share your same passions and interests? I would say "community-themed" activities out sell the traditional family vacation, though I have no statisical proof. I noticed even traditional vacation destinations like Disneyland are building theme days like "dapper day" that bring the attendeess closer together. How do we better create community at home? Why is it I can ride up behind someone at Cycle Oregon and have a meaningful, intimate conversation, but when I ride of behind someone commuting to work and say, "Good morning!" More two thirds of my acknoledgements are ignored or met with mumbles and grunts?
3.) When I lived in Oregon, I viewed Cycle Oregon as a lofty vscation for the wealthy. I never thought I would be one of these people. It's obvious cycling as a sport is mostly made up of upper-middle-class professionals with children of high-school age or older. After some observations, I felt like wealth wasn't so much the limiting factor, but financial stability. Looking at this large group of older and physically fit riders, I felt that stability aside, luck must have played a bigger role in thier success than wealth. The riders couldn't be ridng on cycling-destination-vacations year after year if they were plagued by cancer, or a developmentally-disabled child, or a timely loss of job. I looked at all these riders, and knowing the crazy cancer rates and cost of health care, I saw everyone as being one illness away from ending it all.
Cycle Oregon 2015 Day 1:
Baker City to Farewell Bend State Park
66 miles
3.5 hrs
17.4 mph average
36 mph max
72 average cadence
1435 ft climbed
4372 max altitude
135 average pulse
163 bpm max
Spinach frittata for breakfast, hardboiled egg snacks, orzo feta sundried tomato salad and rye bread sandwich for lunch, amazing smoothie afternoon snack, Mexican fiesta for dinner.
Lots of chatting, lots of stories, post-ride dip in the snake river, yoga under the trees, pre-dinner wine and social, presentation from a geologist/cyclist.
Unexpected treat: the amount of Oregon country fair vibe at Cycle Oregon
Highlight: an entire days' ride that was easier than sitting on a couch. Seriously.
Lowlight: I swerved, then he slithered backwards, I tried to avoid it...but I rode right over a snake. I certainly killed him. I could feel the end of him bounce against the bottom of my shoe as my tire bumped over him. It was awful. My first vehicular road kill. He looked like an Eastern worm snake.
Cycle Oregon Day 2:
Farewell Bend State Park to Cambridge, ID
54.6 miles
3:36 hrs.
15.21 mph average speed
36.6 max mph
72 average cadence
2363 ft climbed
3906 max altitude
138 bpm average pulse
165 bpm max
World largest sausage (bigger than Leavenworth!), eggs and a catered-coffee style berry muffin for breakfast. Caprese sandwich and hearty seed chips for lunch. Bananas, apple-peaches, and pirate's booty snacks, Amazing potato (it is Idaho!) and salad for dinner.
Casual morning, fiddlers and singers at rest stops, chatting with a lively woman named Carmel from Salem, easy ride, lots of evening rain
Unexpected treat: long talk about Burning Man with a guy who is friends with one of it's founders. His stories were unlike any other burning man stories I've heard.
Highlight: hay bale tractor ride to a hot springs with 10 of my newest best friends. We laughed and waved beauty-queen style at every local and cyclist we drove by. Then we sat in the melting hot pools and swapped stories and connected everyone by one or two degrees based on where they lived or had lived in the past. On the way back we watched country dogs sit happily in the backs of trucks.
Lowlight: Standing in pouring rain and finding out fires cancelled tomorrow's ride.
Fatigue-o-meter: none, though nights of poor sleep are showing
Cycle Oregon Day 3:
Cambridge, ID to Brownlee back to Cambridge, ID (fire re-route)
50.25 mi
4:07 hrs
12.19 mph average
35 mph max speed
70 average cadence
3760 feet climbed
4615 max altitude
136 average bpm
166 max bpm
Riding, laundry, geology lecture, music
Boring waffles for breakfast, farro salad with walnuts, chicken, and bacon (easily the tastiest, most unique, most fun lunch yet), foccacia bread, tortilini vinaigrette salad, hearty chips, free iced mochas at the finish, super flavorful herbed root veggies, Halfway's secret recipe tri-tip, salad (and they brought the tasty blue cheese back!), and a good Carmel cheesecake for someone who doesn't care for cheesecake that much
Unexpected treat: the number of very obese people totally rockin' it on the bike day after day. Hurray for breaking stereotypes!
Highlight: just as I was nearing the end of a six-mile hill, fatigue pulling my mind away and I start pedaling off to lala land, Sibley from Oakland invited me to draft behind Tom, a machine of a man with steam engine calves. He carried the two of us through the hill, past all the old labled farm equipment, into the finish with vigor and ease.
Lowlight: Seeing the results of a year of preparations Halfway put into having us in their town. They brought in a couple of skeletons they had on a tandem at the edge of town waving a sign, "we've been waiting for you!". They made signs, a color newspaper, and had special Halfway tee shirts printed. Would have been nice to visit Halfway.
Fatigue-o-meter: some mild general riding fatigue like I'm used to for a second day and mild hand numbness
Cycle Oregon day 4:
Cambridge, ID back to Farewell Bend State Park (fire re-route)
54.2 miles
3:44 hrs
14.5 average mph
31.5 max mph
68 average cadence
1813 feet climbed
3724 max altitude
139 average bpm
167 max bpm
Riding, cafe stop, yoga, geology lecture, music, massage
Oatmeal with banana, almonds, and soy milk for breakfast, and Earl Grey! They stocked more Earl Grey! Bagels with nutella and cream cheese and fresh strawberries for snack in Midvale, then a hazelnut latte, then ham and cheese sandwich on a croissant, Cole slaw for lunch, thanksgiving without the stuffing for dinner (who does that?!) With lemon bars for dessert. I love lemon bars so much, I braved the pouring rain to steal a second!
Unexpected treat: every rest stop is accompanied by at least one highly talented musician. Riders jump in and jam with them occasionally, or they sing whilst playing guitars/fiddles/tamborines/alpenhornes
Highlight: yoga on the grass, under the trees. The instructor is also a rider, and she chose the perfect restorative and invigorating poses for a cyclist. Then a massage to follow it up.
Lowlight: there is one spot on my leg, about the size of a nickel, that is very sore.
Fatigue-o-meter: considering this was gonna be the crazy hill climb day, and it was another easy ride, I don't feel like I've yet tested my limits or challenged my body.
Cycle Oregon day 5:
Farewell Bend State Park back to Baker City, OR (fire re-route)
51.75 miles
4:08 hrs
12.48 mph average
33.56 max
64 average cadence
2607 feet climbed
4297 max altitude
134 average bpm
160 max bpm
Lazy morning, riding, yoga, lecture, bike mechanic rodeo, sleeping in the freezing Baker air.
egg omelet filled with ooey gooey American cheese that totally hit the spot even though it seemed so gross, crunchy asian cracker snack, peperoni sticks, pitas and hummous for snacks, tasty wrapped southwester-style burrito and chips for lunch (super tasty lunch, except it was at 10AM in the morning- the r-route didn't allow for better meal stop placement), penne pasta with Italian sausage, bread sticks, salad and tiramisu for dinner
Highlight: uhhhh...I guess getting to yoga early enough to have a mat and block of my own and being able to fully relax into each pose
Lowlight: long, cold, foggy, ride into the wind. As a neighbor said, "this is cycling at its worst." (A bit of an exaggeration, but it captured the moment).
Fatigue-o-meter: at the beginning of the ride I thought, "hmm, I'm more than a 3...is it a 4?" But then the headwind came in, and the delerium and dizziness took over.
Cycle Oregon day 6:
Baker City to La Grande (brand new route facilitated by the Cycle Oregon staff and ODOT in just couple of days due to the fire re-route)
78.73 miles
5:13 hrs
15.08 average mph
36.2 max mph
69 average cadence
2932 feet climbed
4282 max altitude
130 average bpm
163 max bpm
Can't bear to face the cold morning, a mechanic hopped up on maté from a gourd filled my tires with nitrogen, riding, tavern, lecture, kareoke from hell.
Uninspired breakfast (I just smothered everything with cream cheese), mixed dried fruit, strawberries, and fruit and nuts bar snacks, gross roast beef wrap and pasta salad for lunch, tasty teriyaki chicken, rice, veggies, whole wheat roll, fortune cookie and light berry cheesecake for dinner. My fortune cookie read: "You will bring Sunshine into someone's life this week."
Unexpected treat: just as I rolled into the finish line, a guy gushed with thanks! He thanked me for pulling him through the last set of hills and headwinds after a long day if riding. He was so thrilled, and so thankful. He was a seasoned Cycle Oregon veteran, but really appreciated my gusto. I hadn't even noticed I was so spirited. It was great to hear. We all have our moments when we need motivation, regardless of skill level. Often times a friendly "woohoo!" Is enough.
Highlight: Catherine Creek. Eating lunch next to it. Riding by it. Catherine Creek was easily the most beautiful part of the week.
Lowlight: cold
fatique-o-meter: after the difficulty of day 5, I expected the worst. However, there was no delerium or dizzienss this day. The only issue was tight hamstrings, making things like shaving legs difficult. Oddly enough, I suspect the tightness in the hams was brought to the surface by the yoga. Today was the first day I thought, "it might be nice to have a break from riding for a day," however.
Cycle Oregon Day 7:
La Grande back to Baker City (first day of original route since day 2)
59.5 miles
4:04 hours
14.61 average mph
29.71 max mph
74 average cadence
1770 feet climbed
3939 max altitude
141 average bpm
164 max bpm
blueberry blintzes filled with cream cheese and topped with real whipped cream and a coffee for breakfast (most exciting breakfast of the trip!), jelly belly jelly beans and pita chips and hummous for snacks, sloppy joe like sandwhiches with lettuce and tomato, cole slaw, and baked beans for lunch, dinner at Taqueria Yungapeti in Walla Walla, WA (I got the Walla Walla Burrito) and dessert at Blue Palm frozen yogurt (I got apple pie yogurt mixed with salted carmel yogurt and topped it with apple pie, carmel sauce, and strawberries)
mechanical: at the start of the ride, I noticed my water bottle cage lost a bolt, and an overly-caffienated bike mechanic found one for me and replaced it
highlight: riding up a long and winding road that peaked at an older, artisitcally engineered bridge. Looking up, I saw the line of cyclists pedalling along the road and with the impressive backdrop of large, white wind turbines turning gently in the wind and distant, colorful mountains beyond. The picture painted a perfect postcard in my mind. This and other scenes along the ride motivated me to pull a small line of riders enthusiastically through 25 miles of headwind.
lowlight: riding past an ambulance response to a fallen rider. As we passed, they hadn't gotten to the point of moving his head yet, but his eyes were open and he was talking. He bumbed the wheel of a person in front of him while going at a fast paced and slammed hard and lound on the concrete, said another rider who wittnessed the fall.
fatique-o-meter: I feel pretty darn good! I am ready to ride more and don't really want to stop. Every day or riding was still physically easier and less sore-making than a typical day of work.
