It seems like a good time to revisit this Portland to Reno bike tour post considering I've just spend the last few weeks in Portland. This tour stood in pretty stark contrast to the first tour I ever did crossing Nevada on highway 50. Green, green, green seems to be the theme of this ride. I also learned the benefits of front loading the bike on this tour.
The Team – Dan, myself, Greg, and Ed – Departing from Portland (click on the images to get a better view or go to my flickr page to get more photos from the trip).
It's taken me awhile to sort through the photos from our bike tour and I haven't really been all that motivated to do a thorough write up. Too busy relaxing I guess. But finally here is a smattering of photos from our Portland to Burney Falls State Park Bicycle Tour. We used the new Adventure Cycling Association Sierra Cascades tour map except for the first day when we connected from Portland over to the Mt. Hood area. Our improvised route to the official route was outstanding. The only problem we ran into was on highway 89 in northern California. Even though the map warned us of logging trucks and no shoulder I'm not convinced that it is a safe route for an organization to be touting as a bicycle touring route. Between the aforementioned logging trucks, RVers, and lack of a shoulder pretty every one of us had to bail off onto the dirt shoulder at some points during the ride. We pushed our way through to Burney Falls State Park which was a gorgeous place to wrap up the tour even if we ended up being about 2 days shy of rolling up to our own doorsteps. All told the trip was over 600 miles which was nothing to sneeze at especially when we were all carrying 40-60 pounds of gear. It was a great trip and we're already talking about a possible Oregon coastal ride next year. For me, I just need to stay fit enough to manage a credit card tour to San Francisco later this summer.
The views on the first day – Starting off with a bang!
Smooth Roads and lots of green.
I love that there was moss growing on the shoulder.
Dan's xtracycle handles the load.
First night camp – Ripplebrook
A little speed.
About to do a big descent with some snow in the background.
Smooth roads and no traffic.
We all took a bath in this river. It was so cold I think it took a couple of years off my life.
Greg with his Long Haul Trucker. This may be my favorite picture from the tour.
In Sisters, Oregon. Is that redundant given the bike rack?
Bend, Oregon, played host to the Cycling National Championships. Here they are setting up the stage as we rolled out of town.
I'm smiling because I thought we were at the top of the climb. I was so wrong.
Burney Falls – Where we called it a day.
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AuthorFor over 12 Years I wrote the Reno Rambler Blog covering everything from Bicycle Advocacy, Reno Politics, Popular Culture, and my experiences as a long-time cyclist. Archives
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