My wife and her girlfriend leave tomorrow for the “Discover Cycle Orgeon” bike tour. Are any of you participating or have you gone before? Here are brief details from their website http://www.cycleoregon.com/week/index.htm
When: September 10 – 17, 2005
Where: Boardman-Condon-The Dalles-Corbett-Champoeg State Park-Vernonia-Astoria
How: You pedal; we’ll take care of everything else. Beautiful campsites, gourmet food, hot showers, massage, yoga, cold microbrew, Oregon wine, live entertainment, and fully supported route.
How Many Cyclists: 2,000
How Many Miles: 425 (plus options)
Cost: $750
This sounds a lot more fun and satisfying than a triathlon…
We’ve done it twice, in the early 90’s, had an absolutely great week of riding, relaxing and seeing the sights both times. The route changes every year and eventually gets back around to some of the same places - this year I believe is similar to one of the years we participated. We’ll go back again someday when I can sort out a perpetual Sept. conflict with work. The “beautiful campsites” at that time were HS football fields or parks in small towns - the towns compete to be on the route for the modest economic impact of getting the catering job for the meals whether it’s dinner/breakfast in an overnight town or lunch in a pass-through town on the route. Every town has unique t-shirts, somewhat unique food (usually plenty of it), and a lot of local spirit. It’s not exactly roughing it, but it’s not the four seasons either - just a perfect mix of everything you need to do an epic scenic and challenging ride without having to carry your own stuff.