Recording Our Journey

One of the great things about bike touring is that you travel fast enough to see new scenery every day, but slow enough to take it in while cruising along on a bike.  It differs from riding in a car where you really need to stop to appreciate anything, and from hiking where you travel so slowly that it's better to use other means of transportation to skip over the less scenic sections (few would hike through the Central Valley to get to the Sierras).

Cars, Bikes, and Roads

This week I read a couple of articles in the New York Times about biking, the first was about initiatives in Copenhagen to support longer distance commuting with bike highways.  The second was about how some bikers are using helmet mounted cameras to help protect themselves from aggressive motorists.  I thought that it might be interesting to write about our experience sharing the road with cars during our trip this summer.

Lorenzo's new route

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Here's my tentative route! I will be following Adventure Cycling's TransAmerica route to Yellowstone. I will be trying to update when I can, but I'm not sure the computer has reached Wyoming yet.

The Future for PortlandCruz

Thank you, everyone for all the kind thoughts and wishes over the last few days. Matt broke out of the hospital Wednesday afternoon and has been doing well. Yesterday we went back to ACA to plan some more tours and to hang out with some of the coolest people around.

Tonight he and I head back to Sacramento on a train after we watch The Dark Knight Rises. From there I'll pedal myself back to Santa Cruz, stopping in the Bay to visit some friends. Lorenzo is going to keep going but along a different route. Instead of going North to Glacier, he'll be heading South to Yellowstone, then heading East, sweeping by Mt. Rushmore and Badlands and eventually getting into Michigan.

I'll keep updating about my short adventure back and we'll let y'all know about Matt's healing progress. Thanks again for all the kind thoughts and support. The adventure isn't over, it's just on pause.

Matt's crash and Gabriel's Farewell

Bike touring and blogging are an interesting yet challenging combination.  On the one hand each day tends to offer a multitude of interesting, exciting, and humorous experiences that can be written about.  On the other hand biking all day leaves little time to chronicle the experience in a blog, particularly when camping without access to a computer.  Gradually our technique for telling our story has evolved and I thought that the last few blog posts have been collaboratively written in a story telling manner.  However, the writing style that I am most comfortable with is still a first person narrative, and so that is what I want to use now to write about Matt's crash and how it impacts my experience with the tour.

Detour: St. Patrick's Hospital

After visiting the American Cycling Association on Monday morning we headed North East towards Glacier. About 20 miles in Matt hit a snag in the form of an SUV moving at highway speed.

Although very scary, Matt's high spirits maintained and suffered only a tib-fib fracture and ankle dislocation. His bike took the brunt of the impact. We're hanging out in Missoula for a few days until Batman comes out. At that point Matt will head back to California, Gabriel will be back in Virginia and Lorenzo and Ryland will be somewhere else, yet to be determined.

All is as well as can be for the situation at hand. Matt's healing up and the folks at ACA have been extremely helpful and kind.

PortlandCruz lives on.

Get On Up, It's Bikesled Time, Cool Runnings!

Day 22 - Clarkston, WA to Wild Goose Campground (Lowell, ID)

The smell of mounted deer and drying roses filled our nostrils as we rose in the basement of the Becker elders, Sue and Roger. At 69 and 70, respectively, these two lead amazingly active lives: riding horses, rose pruning, square dancing, motorcycling, snowmobiling, and hunting. Sue cooked a light breakfast of 18 eggs (with cheese and sweet walla walla), a loaf of bread, homemade preserves, and a pot of coffee.

We mounted our steeds and rode all of 200 feet before Ryland asked Matt "Why does your tire sound like that?!"

Hot, Flat and Sassy

Day 19 Continued

After leaving the pro mountain biker/nascar/shop owner Markee's we made our way through town to Jack's first relative - Liz and John. By the end of the day, the heat got to all of us...some more than others. As we merged onto the freeway, and crossed the bridge from Kennewick to Pasco, Lorenzo took an 'off-road' option to get to the bike path over the bridge. Ryland and Matt en trail witnessed the best part of the day as Lorenzo gracefully negotiated a sloped soft shoulder leading to a 10 foot tall fence blocking any possible entrance. Halfway there, Lorenzo biffs it and eats gravel...

PacNorWe: Land of Crushed Souls, Wheat, and Jack's Relatives

Adventure Day 18
Hood River, OR > Roosevelt, WA

We awoke to the smell of blueberry pancakes, pineapple and instant coffee. Our hosts, the owners of Mountain View Cycles, graciously cooked us a regal morning feast suitable for King David. We ended up leaving at a leisurely 10 o' clock, in 95 degree heat. What would come later we could have never prepared for...

Gorging ourselves on sweet things

We took off from Portland this morning, sadly leaving our compadre, Jack, in the driveway of our warmshowers honeymoon suite we've stayed in the past couple of nights. Jack will take a train back to Santa Cruz tomorrow and couch surf until he hopefully finds work and rests his knees a while. We love and miss you jack. Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Our host Jennifer escorted us through the maze of bridges and bikeways that make Portland, and cut us loose just before we hit the Columbia river. We turned our wheels east and set our course for Clarkston, WA where we'll pick up our order of Big Sur bars and blaze on to Missoula.

Tonight we are camping in the backyard of the owners of the Mountainview Cycles in Hood River, OR. How we ended up here is an even better story.

We leisurely made our way east today, stopping at a great view of the gorge, filling up on snacks and water at a bike event fill station while sharing our story with passersby. Past Multnomah falls, we have less than 25 miles left for the day when one of Ryland's rear panniers pops off his rack after hitting a few bumps. The pannier hits the ground, rolls at high speed and flies off a 40ft ledge onto highway 84 where immediately it was strike by a truck traveling ~50 mph and sent it another 100ft down the highway. Lorenzo managed to retrieve it and returned a peanut buttery pannier ripped and broken but mostly intact with his sleeping bag taking most of the impact. The peanut butter jar couldn't take the impact and exploded inside, covering everything. Fortunately our resources at hand allowed us to keep moving and make to a bike shop in Hood River before.

But wait there's more...

Five miles before town, Matt's tire explodes on the side of the hwy. a quick tube change gets the whole crew to Mountainview Cycles where ryland needs a new pannier and Matt a new tire. The owner, Julie, whose been running the shop for 19 years, took care of us and sponsored us with water bottles, cages, and is going to warranty Matt's tire. As if that wasn't enough she invited us to camp on her property up in the hills. 2 acres, open grass, trampoline.

Today has been sweet. Sleep under the stars tonight.

Where did Jack go?

Before we made it to Shasta I was having trouble with my knees. Since my discomfort was getting progressively worse with each day of riding I decided to take some time off the bike and recover. Some of you noticed that I was not in the group pictures. Over the next week I was taken care of by my Mom's former college roommate Diane Carter near Portland, OR. My hope was to rejoin the rest of the guys when they caught up to me in Portland, and continue on this cross country tour. Unfortunately, this is not going to happen. Today as I rode from the Carter's house to our new warm shower destination, my knees told me that I would have to leave the group. It is too bad that I have to drop out. Unless, we can find a side car attachment, or Gabriel decides that I am more important to carry than all of his gear. So long Portlandcruzians. Have a nice ride and stay safe. See you back on the best coast.

Jack

A few pictures from recovery week at the Carters. Thanks for keeping me company!

Down to the Valley- Eugene OR

Ashland found us in the hands of the Family Boehnke. We were fed, beered, cookied, and given all the comforts of home. Susan went across the states in the 80s for the bikecentennial, that makes two we've met, with Donn King back in Santa Rosa. The bike keeps us moving but the people we meet keep us grounded.

Dead Indian Memorial Road out of Ashland took us 3000 ft straight up out of town, what a way to start the morning! A descent into Rogue River National Forest took us on a ride through forest country, wildlife refuge, and winding rivers. By lunch three of the four remaining were ready to call it a day, but a curious ground squirrel awoke us from a post lunch coma and we decided to press on. 50 miles and couple rain storms later we rolled into the small town of Prospect, OR population: very small. Most of the township were at a Anna's birthday party at the local saloon, so we rode through the quiet town up to our site at Mill Creek after stopping at the local gas/market for essentials: chips, beer, pastries and oatmeal. That night, we fell asleep to the light patter of rain on our tents and flowing water of the creek.

Sun filtered through the wet trees in the morning as we geared up for our ride to Mazama Village, our 'rest' day of 28 miles and 3500 ft of climbing. At the base of the climb, filling up on water, corn nuts, and M&Ms we met a solo bike traveler Harmony. She is on an adventure from San Diego, CA to Missoula, MT biking the Sierra Cascade route to Bend and connecting with the TransAm trail- look up Adventure Cycling Routes
We biked up the mountain with her and shared a site at Mazama Village. Dinner, Rogue River beer, and a warm campfire rounded out the night as we shared stories from the road and delicious anecdotes from Ryland.

The deep blue water of Crater Lake renewed our spirits and our legs as we dropped several thousand feet down from the mountain top. Following the descent, we rejoiced in the tailwind we had for most of the rest of the day. We stopped at a market/post office that had a fantastic soundtrack to get water. Got some info about nearby camp sites and settled on one a few miles up the road. The temperature plummeted as the icy winds swept across Odell Lake. We set up to sleep under the stars, but as the evening pressed on, there was a looming cloud, seemingly filled with water, being blown directly towards us. In a hurry we set up our tents, undercooked our rice, overcooked our bean/vegetable paste and call it a night.

We woke up to an even colder Odell Lake than we experienced the night before. Covered in shade and beaten by water-chilled wind, we freeze our way into our chamois and eat whatever we can manage. As soon as we get back onto Highway 58, the temperature rises 15 degrees. We climb a couple hundred feet crossing the Willamette Pass into Lane County. The rest of the day consisted of 4500 feet of elevation loss over 70 miles into Eugene where we came to Kurtis and Madison's home. The rest of the day consisted of drinking homebrew, making and eating pizza and listening to vinyl.

See you in Salem!
Matt and Ryland

Update from Oregon

On Saturday we left Ashland and headed up Dead Indian Memorial Rd. After about 18 miles of riding uphill we were pretty tired. When we stopped for lunch 33 miles in to the ride we considered staying there for the day. But eventually we decided to continue on. About 50 miles later after riding in some rain we stopped at Mill Creek Campground just a few miles past Prospect. We were all pretty tired and decided that Sunday would be a rest day.

On Sunday we woke up late, around 8, and left camp around 11. Then we biked about 28 miles to Mazama Village just below Crater Lake where we camped for the rest of the day.

This morning we got back on a regular schedule and left our campsite around 9 to head up to the rim. Once there we took in the sites at the lake before heading on our way.

Once we got on 58 we started looking for campsites and we stopped at Odell lake around 5pm. For at moment it looked lkke it would rain, but now the weather is clear. Tomorrow we head to Eugene, then Salem on the 4th and Portland on the 5th. Hopefully we will have more time for updates the next few days before we turn east for Maine.

Update from Ashland, Oregon

Where there were once five, there are now four. Another pedaling comrade lost to the abyss of Lassen National Forest in Northern California. After a soul crushing KOM decimation to the highest point of the tour (at least so far) Lassen Summit 8,512 feet - we watched our prolific climber, Jack, as his knees swelled to the size of grapefruits. 

Descending ~4000 ft down to Cave Campground for the night, we grabbed our headlamps and went out in search of more adventure, this time inside a lava tube big enough to fit a bus. 

Camping update

Tonight marks the end of day 6 of our trip and our second night of camping. Last night we were Salmon Lake just a bit south of Graeagle. We rode about 68 miles with about 7000 feet of climbing on Monday. Today we rode about 75 miles but there was more downhill than uphill. In Wednesday we will camp somewhere in Lassen and will probably not have cell service again. We are trying to update our location with SPOT (see the route tab) at least once a day. We don't use it all the time because of limited battery life. There might have been a problem last night but hopefully it is working now. We'll post with more details when we are somewhere with a computer that we can use.

Reminiscing after four days in

We're four days into our tour now; we finally have our full crew together, and the real adventure starts tomorrow when we will start traveling through parks and forests and camping outside during the night.  Today as I was riding I was thinking about how I came to be involved with this trip, and how we came to have so many people interested in following our trip online.  I had a chance to look at our website stats for the first time since the trip started this evening, and I saw that we've had over 250 visitors and over 2,000 page views.  I thought it would be interesting to share some thoughts about how I got involved with this trip and what how we've set up our web presence.  Read on if you are interested.

Day Two: SF to Santa Rosa

Our first day saw the four of us riding north on Highway 1, along one of the most beautiful stretches of coastline in California - known by some as the SlowCoast. From Santa Cruz we pedaled north towards San Francisco. We rode to the lighthouse on West Cliff Drive before leaving town, saying our last goodbyes and taking pictures as a group before our first leg.  Mile 3 Jack hit glass and sustained a flat, great start to our 80 mile day to the city! Headwind and fog stayed with us to Half Moon Bay where we stopped at the last New Leaf Market for a few months, hot food bar and carrot juice to keep us going. As we moved out of the Slowcoast and up Devil's Slide, things started to speed up. Soon the hustle and bustle of San Francisco rush hour surrounded us. Still calibrating to our loaded up bikes, negotiating narrow paths between cars and riding the city topography was tough on tired legs. Dinner, friends, and relaxation rounded out a good first day of Portland to Portland.

Day two was more eventful than expected. We started in misty/rain/fog and were soaked through by the Golden Gate Bridge. We made our way north toward Santa Rosa where we planned to camp just up past the city at Bothe-Napa State Park. Things took a 'turn' when blazing down Nicasio Valley Rd toward Petaluma, winding our way through redwood forest and out into stretches of oak-woodland, Gabriel hit a big pot hole on the shoulder and paid a visit to dust town. Scraped, bleeding, and a little disoriented, Gabriel's crash took us off our planned course for the day. We slowly pedaled into Petaluma and attempted to find a place to stay for the night. Searching warmshowers and asking local bike shops we finally made contact with a man Donn in Santa Rosa. He is president of the Santa Rosa Cycling Club and a big biker like ourselves. On short notice he let us into his home, bought us pizza and beer, and shared some stories from the road. Back in the 80s, Donn toured across the state on the Bicentennial Northern Route before Adventure Cycling was called by that name. He gave us a few tips for tomorrows ride to Sacramento. Thanks for all the support Donn!

Tomorrow 96 miles to Sacramento, past Lake Berryessa, where our fifth rider Lorenzo awaits. Keep cruzin. 

Top Ten Extreme Touring Memories

Last summer I biked from Santa Cruz to Portland, Oregon, traveling nearly 900 miles in nine days with many hills along the way.  Early on we joked that we were doing "extreme touring" and the longer we rode the more the label stuck.  Eventually everything became "extreme," and while it was a form of humor, there was also some truth in the sentiment.  Because of course there are many types of bike touring and not all of them should be classified as extreme.


I don't think there is any definitive classification for what extreme touring is, but I can think of a few general guidelines:

Portland to Portland Route

Our journey begins heading north out of Santa Cruz following the Sierra Cascade route to Portland, Oregon. Once we arrive in Portland we'll turn our wheels east and pedal for Portland, Maine. Here is our planned route across the northern tier of the US. If you know places to stay, sights to see, or good eateries/breweries along this route please post and tell us!

Thanks,
Cruzers

Read on to see embedded maps of our route.

PortlandCruz begins

Every story must have a beginning, and every blog must have a first post.  PortlandCruz is our story of biking five thousand miles across the northern U.S from Portland, Oregon, to Portland, Maine.