Oregon = Awesome Cycling!

I've always thought the best place on the planet to bicycle tour is Oregon, and that notion has been re-confirmed.  My 1984 Tour from Tacoma to San Diego was so incredible, that at the end of the tour I didn't want to stop.  So the next year I quit working and went traveling for two more years.

The gold mining dredge at Sumpter, OR.

I traveled down the Oregon Coast that year, and rode across Oregon on US 26 the following year.  Both routes have seen some significant population increases in places, so parts of my routes from those years are no longer places that I would want to ride again.  

For a couple of days smoke once again obscured our view...

But our route for the past few days has been awesome.  It isn't as scenic as the routes that I rode in the mid-80s, but two thirds of our route did not allow commercial traffic without a permit, so we might see a half dozen cars go by in an hour.  And since it is miles from everywhere, camping is generally free.  It is an amazing feeling to ride for days without thinking about someone who intentionally drove by too close, or any of a dozen other near daily occurrences that detract from our experiences.

And to top it off, we met a couple near Heppner, OR who had a home built teardrop that had a ten speed bicycle painted on the back!  They were traveling with a second couple who were tent camping.  The two men would bicycle from campsite to campsite, while the women would hang out together, breaking camp and setting things up on the other end.  They have been doing this yearly since 2014 (if I got the story right, they had been traveling for the month of August this year).

The guys hit the road earlier than we do, so we didn't attempt to ride with them.  We had planned on more mileage than normal, in order to set up spending a weekend near Maupin, OR, so Alea and I opted to split our day by riding in 15 mile increments.  I had the first shift.

I normally take my time on long days, but with two bicycles out on the road in front of me, it was tempting to see if we could catch up to them.  I wasn't hopeful, as I suspected they might have an hour's head start on us, but I figured by the end of the day we would overtake them.  I rode at about 80% of race pace for about 14 miles, then Alea told me they were just ahead.  I kicked it up and gobbled them both up within a mile.

Around that same time, a Trek Travel van passed by, which I presumed was followed by a supported tour group.  It wasn't long before the lead group showed up, and then there were stragglers for several miles behind and finally a sag wagon bringing up the rear.  Without a doubt, it was the most touring cyclists that we had seen on any one day in over two years.

On the road from Condon to Fossil, waiting for Alea to catch up.

We are camped tonight in Fossil, OR at the county fairgrounds ($25, full hook-ups, showers), which is the only campground until we arrive in Maupin tomorrow, where are hoping to stay at one of several free BLM campgrounds for the weekend.