Randonneuring in Oregon, on the Oregon Randonneur Bike

On Saturday I joined the Oregon Randonneurs' ("ORR") 400km Lebanon/Dee Wright Observatory Brevet, in near perfect weather.

This was the first time I have ridden a brevet in Oregon (Portland, Oregon being my hometown and where my parents still live). It also was my first brevet on the custom, purpose-built "Oregon Randonneur Bike" that Bob Kamzelski of Bantam Bicycle Works built for me last year and I initiated at Cycle Oregon 2015.

Vincent, who came to Hokkaido for the 1200km in July, made the trip from Seattle for this one, and I joined him and another SIR member, Audunn, for dinner on Friday evening near the start.

Of course, brevets are unsupported long-distance events, usually very spartan. Some Audax clubs go out of the way to provide some refreshments, or a manned "control point", a snack or a cup of soup at the finish.  Of course, the longest and largest events provide more -- meals, showers and sleeping facilities along the way. I was told the Oregon rides are at the spartan end of the spectrum.  The pricing (free entry) certainly matched.

Indeed, this ride had only 8 participants on 7 bicycles (one tandem), including 3 from the Washington-based Seattle International Randonneurs club, one from the east-of-the-mountains Desert River Randonneurs and myself visiting from Japam.  (There was another Oregon ride the same weekend -- a 600km -- and both were styled as "makeup rides" for anyone who had missed another earlier in the year).  The ORR representative who staffed the ride emailed us in advance to warn that he would be joining the ride, so riders would need to show up  at 5AM sharp or be left without a card (but also, no worries, if we lost or rode without a card -- it would all be figured out in the end).  It was a welcome relaxed approach to the brevet rules, in contrast with Japanese "a rule is a rule" bureaucracy.

The ride had two challenges for me: first, nearly 3800 meters of climbing, and second, extremely limited opportunities to get food and water en route.  No 24 hour 7-11 or Lawson convenience stores. No vending machines by roadside in the middle of nowhere like in Japan.

Elevation profile for the initial 260 (out of 400) kilometers - 3 long climbs, 2 of them with over 1000 meters elevation gain.

We started at 5AM sharp from Lebanon, Oregon, a town on the eastern edge of the Willamette Valley SE of Albany (which is South of Salem and North of Eugene).  It was still pitch dark, unlike a 5AM start in Japan.  After a warm up stretch on dark country roads, we eventually started a long climb up a paved National Forest road that peaked out at km 96 or so at around 1250 meters elevation.  I was a bit worried that with US Route 20 to the south closed down temporarily, there might be extra traffic on this road.  I needed have worried. There was almost no traffic.

Dawn at the reservoir East of Sweet Home, Oregon

Ward and Audunn climb ahead

Who is that big shadow?

View from the top toward the East

Along the climb, which paralleled a reservoir then creek, there were many families camped -- trucks and SUVs, tents, tables and cooking gear all visible, with the occasional boat or dog.  I rode with Ward and Audunn of SIR until about the 70 km mark, as the road turned up and I fell back.  As usual, Vinny started slow and then just got faster and faster.

Inside the restaurant at Marion Forks. The river runs just beyond the patio in back.

The first control was at the restaurant at Marion Forks.  It was only when I got there (11AM) that I recognized the name or place -- I had driven by it many times on the North Santiam highway en route from Detroit Reservoir to the Sisters/Black Butte/Bend area.  I was looking forward to an early lunch, so was a bit disappointed to see Ward and Audun settling up as I entered.  They had had some pie and stocked up and were heading out.  I sat down and ordered meat loaf.  They were out, so I switched to a hamburger.  As I was waiting for my burger, Ron and Kathy pulled up on their tandem, with Bill. They got their brevet cards signed and headed back to the bike.  What, no food?  Kathy explained that the following weekend they were doing a series of 3 rides out of Baker City, each of which required that you carry all the needed food (and water). This was a training run for them and they were fully stocked on the tandem.

I was still waiting for my burger a few minutes later when Vinny pulled in around 1125AM and showed me how it is done. Instead of ordering from the menu, he asked the waitress "what do you have that is fast"?  After rejecting a few choices, she finally suggested a sandwich.  He ordered one to eat at the counter, and one to go.

I amended my order to add a turkey sandwich to go.  His sandwiches arrived before my burger!  He got the check and settled up while eating, ... so I followed suit.

In any event, we headed out at the same time and were together on the first few climbs, until he pulled away. I saw Vinny again at the last water stop before the climb to McKenzie Pass/Dee Wright Observatory (the Ollalie at Mckenzie Bridge campground), and as he descended from the pass while I still climbed.  He finished in around 21 hours, way ahead of my 23 hrs 45 mins.

The stretch after Marion Forks was for me somehow by far the hardest.  We climbed up almost as high as the pass we had come over, then had a long descent punctuated by some intermediate climbs.  But the entire stretch of 50kms was the shoulder of a busy road, and with direct sunlight and warm temperatures.  The heat was nothing like Japan, but it was still mid-day heat and sun, with speeding traffic nearby, and already nearly 2000 meters elevation gain and 150kms under the belt.  I was very happy to finally, just after 3PM, reach the entrance to the climb up to Dee Wright Observatory and realized that the winding road had little traffic and plenty of shade.

Now the main event!

I was tired and hot on the climb, despite the shade and moderate (for summer) temperatures.  At least I knew it would just get cooler as I climbed.  And I had filled 3 bottles at the Olallie campground, so would have plenty of water.  Right?  Well, I started climbing around 500 meters elevation and would be going to 1600.  By 750, I had already used 1 1/2 bottles as I slowed from exhaustion.  I pulled off at a campsite/trailhead, borrowed an empty picnic table in a "day use" area and lay down for a good, 10 minute nap.

A beautiful view lying flat on my back.

Before I left I approached a family campsite wtih 3 huge coolers.  I asked the mother if they had any spare drinking water.  She pulled out a 500ml PET bottle of water (the kind they sell at Costco?) and handed it to me.  Saved by the kindness of strangers. With this reserve and the cooling weather, I regained my confidence.

Around 1100 meters elevation, Ward and Audunn passed me heading back on the descent.  A bit further it was Ron and Kathy on the tandem, riding with Bill.  And not far apart Vinny, just as I started the long (10kms?) flattish stretch at the top toward the pass.

Finally a (mostly) flat section around 1400 meters elevation.  ~10kms and 200-250m up to the pass.

It was 6PM by the time I got to the observatory at the pass, and I sat down for some food, rationing my last bottle of water sip by sip. I was a bit worried about the headwind, VERY stiff at the top of the hill, that I would ride into on the return (fortunately, it was not a problem beyond the very first stretch).

Getting closer to the pass now. Lava flows abound.

The cue sheet required us to answer a question about the sign on the door to the restrooms at the observatory monument. There was an unmarked building that LOOKED like a restroom, but without any markings, and with a sign on the wall, not either of the doors.  The night before Audunn had said something about needing to ride a few hundred meters beyond the pass ... so I took a spin down the East side to see if there was another parking lot and more obvious control point and restroom. There was not, so I climbed back up, investigated and confirmed that, sure enough, the unmarked building was the restroom and the sign on the wall must have been the one intended.

North Sister and Middle Sister, from near McKenzie Pass

A nearly identical view.

In any event, I was still at the summit when Paul arrived, the last of the 8 riders. I was delighted to have some company and we rode relatively close together as far as the next control, 40 kms down the hill at the McKenzie Bridge General Store.

Is that South Sister just over the ridge on the descent back to McKenzie Bridge?

The store had very limited choices for food that could be eaten on the spot. Lots of junk, and some groceries and frozen food that required preparation. At least there was yogurt, an ice cream bar (my body craves milk products at this point in a long ride) and hot coffee.  On a second trip into the store I ventured into the "courtyard" out back, which I realized was where the restaurant is located.  Next trip, I will head straight for the restaurant, and ask for something fast.

But for now, there was not a moment to waste.  Paul told me to go on ahead as he wanted to keep to a deliberate, steady pace -- a tortoise to my hare -- and I rode alone the last 145 kms of the ride (except seeing Paul once more, coming into Coburg as I was leaving).  It was a fast 60 kms stretch on the highway along the McKenzie River to a turn off to Camp Creek Road.

On Camp Creek Road there was no traffic, after midnight now, and I could incredible stars, the milky way visible together with thousands of others. Perfect temperature; my body not complaining.  What a joy.  This is the kind of stretch that brought me to randonneuring back in 2010, and it is always welcome.

I made excellent time to the next control at Coburg, as my Garmin track shows.  Well, actually, my aging, always buggy Garmin Edge 800 crashed just before Coburg. It seems to have deleted my recording for this entire stretch in doing so. Anyway, I just needed to "bring it home" the last 60kms, which began with a straight, flat stretch of around 20kms.  I was thinking I could finish by 4AM or so, but then the road headed into foothills.  A few short climbs set me back, and I ended up rolling in at 4:43AM.  At the all-night gas station where we got our proof-of-finish receipts, the guy manning the gas pumps seemed to have full knowledge of what I was doing and who I was with.  He asked about the other rider, and I assured him "Paul should be along before long."

And then it was done.  No celebration.  The early riders already packed up and gone, somewhere. Vinny and Audunn back to eat and sleep again at their hotel.  I loaded up the car, got some drive-through food and coffee at the local McDonald's, napped for 30 minutes, and drove back to Portland, where I showered, bathed, and went into a deep, delightful recovery sleep.

I've Seen Fire and I've Seen Rain - Cycle Oregon 2015

Day 6 between Cove and La Grande

Day 4 between Weiser, Idaho and Farewell Bend State Park, Oregon

On Saturday I finished riding Cycle Oregon 2015, a week-long ride that attracts 2200 riders (and sells out almost immediately when applications open in early February).  The ride visits small towns and rotates annually among different parts of the state.  This was originally planned to give the largely Portland-based group of riders a chance to see areas of Oregon they might not otherwise get to, and to raise money for charities to meet local needs. (The ride, in its 28th year, now attracts riders from all over the U.S. and, this year, 8 foreign countries, so is much less focused on Portland-based riders, though they still form a large core).

Day 4 Again

Dawn at camp, Day 6

This year's ride was planned to feature the Hell's Canyon area along the Oregon/Idaho border, including an overlook way down into the deep canyon -- which is deeper than the Grand Canyon.  My first memory of Hell's Canyon is from watching on TV Evel Knievel's attempted rocket-powered motorcycle jump in ... 1973, just a few years after Apollo 11 landed on the moon.  Now it seems like before I was born, and a kind of more innocent era of daredevil stunt. This year's Cycle Oregon was named, appropriately, "Hell on Wheels".  Previous rides have been named "The Magnificent 7" (for 7 tall mountains on the route), "Going Coastal" (for a ride in the Oregon coast area), and similar themes.

Day 6 high point -- 1273 meters elevation.  Matched/exceeded only on Day 4.

Ride Director Steve Schulz joins "Karaoke from Hell" night with his rendition
of Garth Brooks' Classic "I've Got Friends in Low Places"

Ian Madin, Chief Scientist of the Oregon Department of Geology, offers evening lectures.
Want to know about Columbia River basalt?  Great floods of the past (no, not Noah's flood, the Missoula floods)?
Worried about the Cascade Subduction Zone potential for an M9.0 Quake?  Ask Ian! 

Cycle Oregon's Priority Activities

Cycle Oregon actually made NEWS in the region this year when an 18,000 acre wildfire flared up just outside of Halfway, Oregon, the planned overnight stop at the end of Day 3, forced a complete re-routing of days 3 to 6.  (Actually, the fire was man-made, so "flared up" is a bit too passive a term.)  This route change involved a herculean organizational effort, and came off pretty much without a hitch.  Imagine the logistics involved in moving, feeding, showering, and disposing of waste from, an army.  That is Cycle Oregon -- an amazing logistical feat.

Day 3 "option" ride out of Cambridge and to the southern (dammed) part of Hell's Canyon
We start the longest climb of the trip.

Day 4 -- Oldtime Fiddlers Entertain at a Rest Stop
Weiser Idaho is home to the National Oldtime Fiddlers' contest 

Jeffrey's Community Hall and Shamrock Club, Day 4

The Snake River between Farewell Bend and Weiser, Day 4

Dammed area of the Snake River above Brownlee Dam, Day 3
These dams lack any passage for migrating salmon ... so there are none this far inland.
The reservoirs look dead in comparison to a flowing river ...

At the evening ride announcements in Cambridge, Idaho, we were told that we could not go to Halfway, nor to the following stop at Joseph near Lake Wallowa, since the fire had caused repeated highway closures and evacuation of homes.  We would miss the Hell's Canyon overlook.

As we all stood in an open field, in darkness, hearing this news, rain started to pour down from the heavens.  It rained pretty much all night, testing the seam sealing on my 35-year old tent's rain fly.  I managed to make it through the night warm, with only minor dampness that a towel soaked up before it could get to my (even older) sleeping bag.  It rained again the following night, but we had dry weather on the road.  Only on Day 5 did we get a few minutes' of rain showers while actually riding, though later or slower riders got more rain.  Despite riding on dry roads, the rain that first night in Cambridge apparently set a record for precipitation on a Cycle Oregon event. Unfortunately, the rain would not be in time nor in the right place to extinguish the fire and save our route through Halfway.

The Cycle Oregon website unofficially changed the name of the ride from "Hell on Wheels" to "Hell or High Water".  Given the lack of flooding (i.e. "high water"), I think James Taylor's "I've Seen Fire and I've Seen Rain" might be more appropriate.

Dinner tent in Baker City, Day 0.  A massive feeding operation comes off without a hitch.

"Option" section near Baker City, morning of Day 1

I enjoyed meeting lots of friendly people on this event -- people from all over the U.S. and some from abroad.  People of all ages and professions.  And I was glad to meet up for several dinners with Roy T. and "the gang", the nucleus of which is from the Portland Saturday morning ride that I joined back in February 2012.

Dinner at the Grand Geiser Hotel, Day 5 

Grand Geiser Cafe and Hotel's Skylight

Large volumes of beer were consumed.
Widmer Brothers ran out of IPA at one point, forcing participants to settle for amber ale, wheat beer
and a few other options, or move on to numerous wines.

You can find the GPS maps of the original planned routes here.

With the two hardest days cancelled and rerouted, I found the cycling was a nice "warm down" after PBP.  Not too challenging, plenty of leisurely riders and a few fast folks.  The randonneur bike proved very comfortable, and very fast.  I was passing large numbers of riders not only on the flats and descents, but even on the climbs!  And I appreciated different hand, foot and saddle positions vis-vis the bike I used at PBP. Other than swapping out the rear non puncture-resistant Grand Bois tire after some flats on Day 3, the bike worked like a charm.

The camping -- just setting up and sleeping/living in a tent for a week -- was more of a challenge, but still enjoyable.  The food -- was always plentiful, too plentiful, and quality was as good as could possibly be expected for this kind of mass event.  The daily entertainment and the "beer tent", pizza and Nossa Familia coffee were all very good.  This would be a great event to do with a partner or as a reunion for a group of friends.  It also would be a great event to keep doing into my 60s and 70s.  This year's oldest participant was 81.  Far less likely to collapse and die of heart failure here than at PBP!

"tent and porter" service including camp chairs ... for an extra fee
useful if you do not want to bring or pitch your own tent
...but no choice of location and packed in a bit like sardines

Lots of couples do this annually.  Lots of tandems.

On the outward leg of Day 3, climbing

PDX culture = bicycles and tattoos,  so why not a cycling tattoo?
This one looked quite nice -- much better than the Pantani or 力 tattoos
I saw in the Dolomites earlier this summer

Camp with view of the Snake River at Farewell Bend
Many riders swam in the river on warm Day 2.  Not on cold Day 4.

At one stop I counted 7 of these 2-part mobile shower units.
Hot showers.  And hot water for shaving etc. in the sinks out front.

Strawberries at a rest stop.

Lunch stop Day 2

Folk singer Kelly, at lunch stop Day 2. She was very popular with the gang.

Random horse later on Day 2
Unlike cows or sheep, horses tend to react ... move quickly and approach ... when you stop for a photo

View from my tent, end of Day 1 Farewell Bend.

View from camp at Farewell Bend

Jonathan Maus' Bike Portland blog has nice entries on the event, links to which can be found below at the bottom of this post.  You can find photos of my randonneur bike on Day One and Day Four, though I was hoping he might give a bit more of a "plug" to the builder, Bob K. of Bantam Bicycles. And the Cycle Oregon Facebook page (link below) has plenty of photos of happy riders.

Happy Rider with Randonneur Bike near end of Day 6 ride

Claiming a space to camp on Day 5 while I pick up my luggage

At the lunch stop on Day 6, at beautiful Catherine Creek State Park, my bike was approached by a Cycle Oregon official photographer, who said they were taking photos of riders holding up their bikes, for future promotional use.  He said that since my randonneur bike was the "most beautiful bike" at the event this year, they wanted to get a photo of me holding the bike. ...  I will let you know if I find it posted somewhere.

Day 6 was definitely the highlight, as our route followed an Oregon "Scenic Bikeway".  These routes are the best that the state has to offer for road cyclists.  There are 15 so far ... and I want to go back and ride them all, maybe some as part of a future Cycle Oregon, and some with just a small group of friends.

Cycle Oregon Facebook Page is here.

Cycle Oregon photo pool flickr is here.
And links to lots of other spectacular photos by the Cycle Oregon photographers are here.

Bike Portland blog reports and photos:

Getting Things Started
Day One
Day Two
Fire Forces Re-route
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
(No Day Seven entry as of this point, but see: Exploring Baker City and Environs

Final PDX Note:  Just-released figures show that 7.2% of commuting trips in Portland in 2014 were made by bicycle, a record number for the city and WAY better than the U.S.-based competition.  Seattle, Minneapolis, Washington, DC and San Francisco are all in the 3-5% range.  New York, despite the Bloomberg years, is still at 1.1%.

Oregon Randonneur - More Photos

I picked up the Oregon randonneur bike this morning.  Satisfied customer photo should soon be on Bob's Flickr.

It rides beautifully -- rock solid and steady, very stable.  How fast and comfortable is it?  Too soon to tell.  I only rode it a few blocks, had Bob adjust the seat to the proper height, and rode a bit more, before loading it into the car.  Tomorrow it gets a full test.  For now, some photos of the finished bike!

I could not resist the picket fence at this house across from Bob's shop for some photos.

Mafac "Racer" brakes work very well -- good stopping power, and plenty of clearance with fenders and 700x30mm tires.  Nice Swiss-stop brake pads.

Custom, handmade front rack, and decaleur.  The decaleur latches the Gout Watanabe front bag onto the bike.  It releases with a simple pull with one finger on the right-side ring.

Decaleur attaches to the quill stem

Rack and Supernova E3 Pro 2 light, powered by dynamo hub

SV-8 dynamo hub from Shutter Precision

Front view including the "B" Bantam logo

One of my favorite lights

Fork blades and crown are Columbus, the rest of the tubing is mostly
True Temper .8/.5 /.8 mm double butted (made in America)

Supernova rear light ... and internal cable routing!

Honjo Koken hammered fenders

Sugino crankset, avoids the need for an (ugly) Shimano crank to go with the rest of the groupset.

Chris King headset -- made in Oregon, actually made in Portland.

Beautiful sports leather bar tape from DiPell

The cockpit.  Nice map cover, plenty of room for hands around the edge of the bag.

Nitto "grand raundoneur" [sp] handlebars.  I think with this set up I will spend more time in the drops and out on the brifter hoods, and less on the tops of the bars.  But plenty of opportunity to move hands around in different positions to avoid numbness/nerve injury on long rides.

Wheels built by Bob.

Velocity A23 polished rims

Grand Bois tires -- a favorite with randonneurs.

S and S Couplers!

More beautiful workmanship

Bantam Bicycle #0023

I got some of Bob's business cards ... just in case I get any inquiries during Cycle Oregon