Summer Tour of the Willamette Valley - Portland to Eugene, Oregon Aug 5-7
 

Those that have little else going in their lives that they have the time and inclination to read through my wordy missives on bike tours planned and persued may remember the 2019 Last Winter Tour of the Willamette Valley. 7 brave souls decided that a late February bike tour in Oregon was something they couldn't pass up after spending most of the winter huddled up "safely indoors, insulated from the elements, growing belly fat and dreaming of warmer days" as @northbend wrote a few years back. We were lucky and hit a late winter window of three consecutive sunny days. It was cold, but we dressed properly and had a great time. This time we're betting that there won't be a heat dome over the PNW, so hot that our tires would melt into gooey asphalt and causing heat exhaustion. Word was sent out to the original 8 (one dropped out at the last minute due to injury), some said yea, some nay, others were invited. Cheap, skanky motel rooms were reserved, two to a room, and Amtrak tix were reserved for the 3 hour ride back. We'll take a leisurely 3 days to travel 160 miles. There's a good chance that beer will be on the menu both lunch and dinner like it was Cino Lite.

Almost all will be sporting vintage bikes because, well, we're all of a certain vintage and either don't know any better, or firmly believe nothing could improve on bicycles built before 1987. Besides, this is essentially a flat ride, you could do it on a 3 speed (many have).

I'm always amazed at how many people I can cajole into doing these bike tours I've organized. Right now I've got 8 booked for the full monty, with one more that will ride 2 of the days, and another that will meet us at or near Corvallis for the third day and assume harbor pilot duties.

The route:
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I'd go if I were there.

Yeah, I thought of you, right up your alley, also knowing you've already spent a buncha chits on your trip out here.

Wow, that sounds like fun. But once again, work interferes with the important things in life . . . . :(

Have fun, kids. ✌️ I usually took the 99W through/past Dallas, to avoid all that traffic through Salem itself. 🤔 But there must be close to a zillion different ways to go. 😉

Have fun, stay safe, drink LOTS of fluids. Too bad I'm out of town (well not too bad, it's the timing that's wrong...). Looking for some tires dipped in the water pics!

I'm going with whatever recommendation Salem local @johnnyace recommends. It's good to have current, local knowledge, that way if it breaks bad I have someone else to blame. ;)

We're hugging the Willamette River the entire route, might have a detour or two to do some of this:

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Yakima Canyon, 2019 Magical Mystery Tour of the PNW

I’ll do my best to deliver good weather from afar, but no promises.

Since they're staying the night in Salem, the planned route is best. 99W through/past Dallas would add another 20+ miles to the trip.

Since I won't be meeting you on Friday out by Hopewell, check out my super secret option of going from Hopewell Rd. > Spring Valley Rd. > Zena Rd. > 221 (which becomes Wallace Rd. as you get closer to Salem). This would be in lieu of going directly from Hopewell Rd. onto 221. Spring Valley Rd. is quiet and pretty scenic, with a little bit of hill climbing, but not too bad. Zena Rd. is flat and straight, like doing a time trial. And you get more shoulder on 221 after Zena Rd.

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Spring Valley Community Center Country Garden Club

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Spring Valley Road

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Quintessential scenic farm/wine country

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Spring Valley Road descending down to Zena Road

Introducing the riders
 

Here's the gang I've got signed up.

First the recidivists from the 2019 Last Winter Tour of the Willamette Valley
Bob Freeman, Northbend Washington (no BF handle, posts often on the CR list)
Bob's a big hitter in the C&V community, a HOF collector. He has over 100 beautiful vintage bikes, most of them are fully restored. His more or less annual Ride and Show is covered in this recent post.
Bill Wayne, Portland/Dundee Oregon (no BF handle)
Bill's an old college buddy of Bob's at Whitman College in Walla Walla Washington. After graduating oh so long ago he spent some time at UC Davis learning the grape growing and winemaking business. He's a somebody in the famous Oregon Pinot Noir varietal growing region. Last time we did this he was pushing at the front every day.
Andy_K , Beaverton Oregon
Andy is a regular poster here. Besides being Intel's Chief Compiler Architect he moonlights as my publicist, bike chauffeur and beer sommelier, among other less important functions. He's also a famous cyclocross racing record holder. We quickly bonded as friends due to our common heritage of growing up in Redneck, USA. He's got a large selection of C&V bikes overflowing from his garage, many of which have been defiled with modernish components.
Me, Portland Oregon
'nuff said

Those who heard about the 2019 ride, and despite that have decided to join anyway
@johnnyace, Salem Oregon
John, Andy and I typically kick off the riding season with the spring Monster Cookie metric century that covers a chunk of the Willamette Valley Bicycle Route. He participated in the 2017 North Trask ride and lived to tell about it, and got a taste of Cino last year. Since Johnny lives in Salem, he'll just ride days 2 and 3 with us, and act as the harbor pilot to get us out of the tangled mess of roads around our state capitol. More importantly, he also knows where the best beer joint in Salem is.
@SquireBlack, Portland Oregon
Andy and I met Andrew just prior to the Magic Bus RV trip to Eroica California in 2018. He's a retired computer science professor. We quickly discovered that he has a knack for quality control. We parked the RV and tried to figure out how to unfurl the side canopy so we could sit around and drink beer in the shade. None of us could figure out how to work the damn thing until he piped in and said "why don't we read the directions?" The guy's a genius, I tell you. He took the UBI framebuilding course last year and he rolled his own frame. Maybe he'll ride it on this tour even though it hasn't been painted yet. I've ridden with him at Cino, Eroica California, and the Magical Mystery Tour of the PNW. He can ride forever as long as he can stop every 10km to water a tree.
@aggiegrads, Sherwood Oregon
I work at the same company as Steve. He's our self appointed bike czar - our company's large enough that he finagled a small budget to maintain tools, spare tubes, and commandeer a small section of a basement for lockers and a place to lock up bikes indoors. He gave his son a choice on his 16th birthday, either a used car or a new bike. His son chose wisely, so he's a A1 dad in my book. When COVID hit, prior to vaccines we socially distanced a S24O on the North Trask trail, and we often ride together with @Andy_K. Steve also volunteers at one of our local co-ops. He's recovering from foot surgery, so this will be a test ride for him.
Ben Ngan, Portland Oregon
Ben's a good friend and neighbor of @VRJAKE. I spent a good portion of this year's Eroica California ride with him commiserating about the lack of water on the course and trying to outrun turkey vultures on the Cypress climb. Over the past few years we've gotten some great rides together.

Our harbor pilot into Eugene
@CliffordK, Springfield Oregon
"Cliff is a quiet unassuming guy with a big motor", sez @northbend, who attended the 2019 ride. Cliff could do this ride in one day, and has in the past. Last time he rode out to meet us from his house in a small town just outside of Eugene and showed us a route that was much improved on what we had planned. He'll probably ride up to join us in or around Corvallis and point us in the right direction so we get to the train station on time.

Our group was limited by the number of bike hooks availiable on the Amtrak return train from Eugene - there are 10 in the baggage compartment. It's great to see a lot of trains in the US adding hooks instead of having to box up a bike. We're using 8 of them on this trip!

Well, almost nothing....

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Dang, I'd love to join y'all, if even for half a day. But I'm scheduled to work that weekend...

"Work" is a four-letter word, dagnabit.

Same as Jeff Wills. 😡 Hopefully the Fahrenheits drop down for y’all.

Long term forecast (for what they're worth) is for temps to drop next week. The hotter the day, the earlier we'll start. Prediction tomorrow, for example is a high of 100. At 7am it'll be 69 degrees, it'll be 91 degrees by 1pm. I always budget 1 hour for every 10 miles on a tour including stops. With daily mileage in the 50-60 mile range, we'll miss the hottest part of the day. Humidity on hot days in the Willamette Valley are quite low.

We'll make sure and keep hydrated, and I think we can manage our way through the day.

Reminder that there is always some audacious decisions made planning a bike tour when you plan months in advance. My plan if we have 110 degree days and/or forest fires nearby that create unsafe riding conditions is to just cancel. That's always an option. In 2019 the group did essentially the same ride, and there was a very real chance that it would be snowing during the ride. Organizing a bunch of people requires putting a stake in the ground on dates, we were audacious in thinking the weather would be fine to ride in, and were rewarded with 3 days of cold, but sunny weather.

OK Gugie I thought it was still triple digits on retirement countdown but I must have got my calculations wrong. Maybe we’re already seeing effects of the semi-conductor industry “relief” bill?

You guys have fun, pencil me in, as always, for the next one, but keep the eraser handy.

I'm still a working stiff, retirement is a bit dependent on the stock market, with a hard stop about a year from now. I'm hoping the gov'mint injection into my industry will jack up our stock stat.

Triple-digit temps, endless climbing, roommates who snore like a buzz saw, old bikes that have every manner of mechanical issues—what’s the fun part of this ride?

fify

Beer
We run out of beer

Would love to join in the fun. To far of a commute though.

Train's ready to leave the station
 

Looks like a warm ride coming up.

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it's a dry heat

The 2019 version started in late February when it ws freezing every morning as we left, so I guess it averages out. We plan on starting early every day so we can get a couple of hours of cool riding in, then a couple of warm ones, and finish off before the sun opens up full bore in the later afternoon.

For those of you who feel the need remind us, our wives have already told us to keep hydrated and to reapply sunscreen often.

Huret Jubilee BB guide!

You know, when @gugie was working his magic on this bike, I specifically chose not to have any bottom bracket cable guides added because I wanted to use a Huret Jubilee guide. It may be my favorite vintage part.

day 1
 

A pic from day 1

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north of Forest Grove