jeff400650

I am doing this ride. It will be my first ever multi day organized ride. Looks to be a fantastic event. Anyone here ever done it? Any tips or input?

The Classic ? Cycle Oregon

CliffordK

Whew... Just missed it

I haven't ever done the ride, but when I was at Crater Lake last year, I met a couple of guys that just finished the ride. They had a blast, but it sounded like a HUGE Procession. Lots of evening entertainment. Lots of ride support.

I'll probably be up at Crater Lake either Sept 9 or 16, so I think I'll just miss the Cycle Oregon group.

I've done a few chunks of the ride, but not the whole ride. It looks like a good route.

jeff400650

I'm ready to be enveloped by 2200 other riders who are doing 70 hilly miles a day for 7 days.

79pmooney

I've done it 7 times, riding it 6 and traveling with the camp crew once (2 weeks after I was hit by a car; no way I was getting on a bike with broken ribs). It's an amazing event and far more than just a ride. Far more than just a ride with great services, signage, food, showers and entertainment. CO was founded and never strayed from its mission to bring awareness, business and improvements to the struggling rural communities its founder was seeing and reporting on as the up-state reporter for Portland's big newspaper. The towns we travel through love us, unlike any other ride I have ever done.

A couple of tricks that will make life easier: Get a really big bag. REI carries huge sailor style duffle bags (almost certainly spurred on by CO demand). Adhere to the 60 (or is it 65?) pound bag limit. High school kids will be loading it into the trucks. Pack it so nothing can get damaged. Mark your bag at each end with distinctive tape. Note the truck it got loaded into. (There will be three trucks with color designations. At the next days camp, each truck will unload the bags into 3 lines, 2 to 3 bags deep with just the bag ends showing. There will be 20 bags looking like yours on your truck.) If you are porta tent camping, ie if you rented a tent, skip the above re: the baggage trucks.

Bring clothesline and clothespins. Some laundry soap. (Don't count on more than a bucket and cold water for wash.) Bring 4 pairs of good shorts and a fifth. (Laundry isn't always possible on the schedule you plan. By day five, this ride starts becoming a little like family. The usual levels of "proper" matter far less. After 4 days of maybe hard riding, clean shorts matter far more.

The blue rooms (porta potties): CO provides over 100 and their crew does an amazing job. But there will be lines and messy ones. All CO vets know - you use the facilities any time they are free. Whether you need to doesn't matter. (When the line is around the block you will be very glad you did!)

Bring a towel, keep it as clean and dry as you can. Towels for rent are provided as a service by the local communities. They may sell out before you get there. The community might number 12 inhabitants. There might be no community at all.

There's lots more. Watch others, ask, listen.

Ride the options. Far fewer riders. (Well, I'm guessing a lot will do the rest day up and around Crater Lake. After all, isn't that the point?) The options are often amazing roads and places. (This year most of the non-rest day options are gravel. That is new. I'm going to bring 35c tires and throw them on for those 3 days.)

Most days, it is not hard to to arrange to ride with or without others. I do both depending on how I feel. I've gotten to ride alone in amazing country many times. (Did a 16 mile descent without ever seeing another rider.)

When you see a guy with an orange-bronze old/classic Peter Mooney fix gear, come up and say hi. Or ask at the Rider Services trailer for Ben the fix gear guy. (Maggie, the woman with a pink wig will know exactly who you are talking about.)

Come ready to enjoy it all!

Ben

jefnvk

Meh, I know nothing about this ride, but have done many mass rides. Usually after 10-15 miles, you get strung out enough that you aren't really enveloped, and after 30-40 you can often find yourself alone (at least for a couple hundred yards).

Looks like a fun event though!

jeff400650

Sounds great. Can't wait. Thanks for all of the input.

I just hope I can actually ride an average of 70 hilly miles a day for 7 straight days...

indyfabz

This is a reprise of a previous edition (except for a different start/finish location). IIRC, the route they used in 2007. I did it that year. (Have done a total of four.) It's a beautiful route, but also hard.


Bring foul weather/cold weather gear and clothing. It was below freezing when we woke up in La Pine. It was also campfire cold at the top of Aufderheid. (Lunch was at a U.S.F.S. campground with a nice fire going.) And at that time of year it can do anything at McKenzie Pass and around Crater Lake. On the flip side, it ended up being pretty darn hot by the end of the day from La Pine to Diamond Lake.


If you feel you need somewhat of a rest, ride up to Crater Lake and ride back down without doing the Rim Road. There are sections which are usually in somewhat bad shape (ridden around twice during CO), and the views of the lake are not constant. The year I did this route they had a baked potato bar lunch at the point where you hit the Rim Road, and there is a nice view of the lake there.


Be extremely careful on the steep descent on the day to Dorena Lake. There were several crashes. One woman in front of me went off the road, bowled over a volunteer who was in a chair holding a caution sign and did a header into his car. Fortunately for her, the hatchback was open and filled with soft sided luggage because she hit face first. Probably the scariest crash I have ever seen. She's lucky that she walked away with only a shiner.


Dorena Lake is just outside the town of Cottage Grove. Hopefully they will again have a shuttle (actually a public bus) to take you into town. If you are a movie fan, Cottage Grove was the filming location of the homecoming parade scenes of National Lampoon's "Animal House." When I was there, there was still a restaurant sign that you can see every so briefly in the film. That night they showed the film in camp.


Aufdeheide out of Oakridge is a pure delight--until the climb, which gets pretty steep as you approach the top. Take you time on this one (stop for a photo op at Cougar) because if they camp in the same place (which I suspect they will), there is nothing to do in Rainbow once you get there.


You will do McKenzie the harder way in terms of climbing effort, but you will avoid having to descend the switchbacks. When we went the other way in '02, several people ended up in the woods despite warning to go slowly. West to east also allows you to enjoy this part, which is more scenic than the east slope, as you climb. Stop on the way up at the plaque in memoriam of the mailman who died in a storm while trying to cross the pass.


In terms of practicalities, don't be surprised if you have to stand in line for meals and wait for showers. Lines for breakfast start forming at least 10 to 15 min. before breakfast is served. I would try to shower and eat at off hours. The earlier you finish the better. You can avoid some lines and get the best choice of places to pitch your tent. Bring ear plugs if you are a light sleeper. You may end up next to a loud snorer. Also, despite being asked not to, people invariably let the pota pottie doors slam in the middle of the night. Camp as far away from porta potties as you can. You have been warned. Try to be organized the night before. It makes packing up the next morning quicker. I put what I plan to wear the next day in my seeping bag with me so it's right there. No need to rummage around in my bag for something.


Ride defensively. There will be times when you are in crowds, and you will have people of varying skills and fitness levels doing the event.


I have noticed that people tend to get a bit grumpy in the final days when the route is difficult. 2002 was the worst. We crossed the entire state--from the border with Idaho to the coast at Florence--in six days with one rest days in Sisters. With the long (114) mileage option on day 3, I think I averaged something like 90 miles/day, and most days were hot and hilly. (Everyone had to do a century going to the rest day in Sisters.) Definitely some grumpiness during the last two days.

jeff400650

Wow. Good stuff. Thank you.

CliffordK

That climb between Dorena and Steamboat is a good climb. Much worse heading south than heading north. But, I'd second it. Expect a steep descent with wicked switchbacks. Make sure your brakes are tuned. Hitting a car might be a good alternative over plunging into the canyon below.

I assume the route takes King Road W and E between Cougar Reservoir and just past McKenzie bridge, and avoids the worst sections of the McKenzie HWY (adding small hills, but nothing big). From Horse Creek Rd to 242, there are generally very wide shoulders along the McKenzie HWY..

The McKenzie climb is long, but a good climb. It definitely gets easier when you get close to the top, so don't get too worried about the 20 or so mile climb. The last 10 will be easier.

If you have time for a hike, there are some good waterfalls about halfway up the McKenzie climb (with a short hike).

jeff400650

I ride in Marin County, so I am very used to steep and twisty climbs and descents, but thanks for the warnings.

fantom1 

I did a 1,500 mile circle around Oregon.

The best tip I have (which may no longer be the case) is that the cafe at the gift shop at Crater Lake used to have free refills on their coffees and mochas. You've never really enjoyed an overly sweet mocha until you've had one after being on the road for a month, and cycled up Crater lake in near freezing weather with sleet. I think I must have had at least 15 large cups of the stuff haha.