Cycle Oregon Lite

About 12 club members headed over the Cascade Mountains to Central Oregon on the weekend of September 7, 8 and 9 to enjoy some late summer riding around Bend and SunRiver.

These rides have been offered in some fashion for probably 15 or 20 years. Bud Rice led them first as part of a camping weekend, and Susan Walker stole them from Bud! When Susan left, I took over just because I love the tradition of the rides so much. In recent years I added a third day to include one of Oregon’s scenic bikeways. That route is often the riders’ favorite of the weekend.

I have been fortunate to have my husband, Jim, join us on Saturday and operate a support-and-gear (SAG) vehicle. Sometimes that climb on the Cascade Lakes Highway from Elk Lake to the Mt. Bachelor summit is just too much. This year we had one rider who suffered from a health issue, and that distance and difficulty was more than she could handle. No problem. She rode quite a way at the beginning of the ride, then rode in the car with Jim for a bit, and then enjoyed the heavenly descent from Bachelor to SunRiver.

We had a resident of Bend join us on two of our rides, and she mentioned a ride out of Prineville, the “Crooked River Canyon Scenic Bikeway.” This got me to thinking about changing the format of the ride a bit to be more of an “Explore Central Oregon” – drop the Twin Lakes on Sunday and put this new ride into the trifecta of routes.

This is the first paragraph of the write-up at Crooked River Canyon Scenic Bikeway:

One of the great pleasures of riding in Oregon is discovering a generally spectacular but somehow lesser-known route – one you didn’t know about before a local told you to check it out. The Crooked River Canyon Scenic Bikeway is a prime example of that concept – a scenic, enjoyable and interesting route that might look like just another “up the river and back” segment on a map. But we’re the locals, and we’re telling you: This is a great ride.

I encourage you to mark your calendars and keep the weekend after Labor Day clear so you can join us next year. We all find our own accommodations; and you can certainly form groups to rent a house, or you can camp (maybe a little chilly!), or the basic motel room will suffice.

I’m already looking forward to it.

Ann Morrow, Ride Leader