Intro

Beginnings

Over 20 years ago, I had looked into doing Cycle Oregon, but couldn’t find anyone to do it with me.  I didn’t want to do it myself, especially after I read that the majority of riders would be older.

Fast forward to last year.  I’d started riding more regularly again (after almost stopping completely for a few years).  We had a group of riders at work, and I thought it would be fun to do Cycle Oregon.  I had one taker (Todd) who agreed to do the ride with me.

In January, we checked the Cycle Oregon website and found that the route would include Crater Lake, and soon registered to ride.

Training

We basically started training in April, continuing our weekly Friday lunch rides (about 21 miles), and adding longer weekend rides here and there.  Training picked up after Memorial Day, with long rides pretty much every weekend.  However, a July/August family vacation paused my training for almost 4 weeks.  That vacation included hiking and backpacking, though, so I wasn’t too concerned.

We picked up with training when I returned, culminating in our longest training ride of the year, 71 miles on September 1st.  It wasn’t as much training as we had hoped for, but we thought it’d be enough.

Last-Minute Issues

Just over 2 weeks before the start of the ride, I strained my right calf while playing basketball.  I was worried this would impact my ability to ride, but I rode 2 days later without much issue.  I couldn’t walk without a limp yet, but I could ride.  I skipped basketball the next two weeks to avoid aggravating it, and it improved to the point where I didn’t even notice it while cycling.

I had another scare the day before the ride.  I was in my car, waiting at a red light to make a right turn, when BAM! Someone rammed their car into mine from behind.  I couldn’t believe it.  I checked the damage:  a broken rear tail light, and the spare tire had fallen off the underside of the car.  Worried since this was the car we were going to take to Oregon, I went to a local body shop.  They assured me that the car was still driveable, and that I could bring it in for repairs after my ride.  They temporarily patched up the tail light with gobs of tape.  The spare tire would have to sit inside the car, but we were otherwise good to go.

Getting to Oregon - September 6th/7th

Friday after work, we left the Bay Area around 7:15pm, arriving at a motel in Mt. Shasta City around midnight.  After spending the night there, we drove the next morning to Oakridge, Oregon (about 3 hours, 15 minutes away).

After lunch in Oakridge, we drove to the Cycle Oregon long term parking and dropped off our bags.  Then we biked the 3 miles over to registration, where there was a mass of activity.  After checking in, we found our tent (among a sea of others).

While others milled about, we decided to go for a little spin.  I wanted to stretch my legs after all that driving.  We went for a little 21 mile ride to the Hills Creek Reservoir.  The roads were great, hardly any traffic (car or bike), and the scenery was great as well.  Forested roads next to a pretty lake.  I was glad we did it.

After the ride, I took a shower (there are mobile showers provided), then we had dinner.  All meals are provided, including dinner and breakfast at camp, and water, rest, and lunch stops on the bike route each day.

We walked a long way over to the main stage (which was several blocks away for some reason), where a band was playing and then announcements were made.  This would be the routine each night.