Jim Moore - 75 Classic Rides Oregon. The Best Road Biking Routes

75 CLASSIC RIDES

OREGON

Jim Moore

THE BEST ROAD BIKING ROUTES

DEDICATION

To my wife Pam, who understands why I need to ride and fits it into our life.

To my son Dylan, who thinks riding with Dad is a treat; I hope you always will.

You two are my world, and its a world of adventure. Lets go find some more.

1001 SW Klickitat Way, Suite 201, Seattle, WA 98134

2012 by Jim Moore

All rights reserved

First edition, 2012

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Manufactured in China

Copy Editor: Kris Fulsaas

Cover and Book Design: Heidi Smets, heidismets.com

Layout: Jennifer Shontz, redshoedesign.com

Cartographer: Pease Press Cartography

All photographs by the author unless otherwise noted.

Author photo by Mark Riskedahl.

Cover photograph: The Oregon Coast offers some of the most spectacular riding opportunities in America, including this access road along rugged headlands to the Cape Blanco Lighthouse between Bandon and Port Orford. Phil Bard/Cycle Oregon

Frontispiece: On the Ride Across Oregon, youll pass through varying climate zones and terrain, from the golden wheat fields here to rugged Cascade passes and on to the Pacific Ocean. Greg Lee/Cycle Oregon

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Moore, Jim.

75 classic rides, Oregon : the best road-biking routes / Jim Moore.1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-59485-650-1 (ppb)

1. CyclingOregonGuidebooks. 2. OregonGuidebooks. I. Title. II. Title: Seventy-five classic rides, Oregon.

GV1045.5.O7M66 2012

796.6dc23

2012002267

Printed on recycled paper

ISBN (paperback): 978-1-59485-650-1

ISBN (e-book): 978-1-59485-651-8

With your purchase of this book, you also get access to our easy-to-use, downloadable cue sheets:

Go to our website: www.mountaineersbooks.org/75ClassicOregon.

Download a complete set of mileage cue sheets for all 75 rides in this book.

When you open the document on your computer, enter the code ORRideQ when prompted.

Its our way of thanking you for supporting The Mountaineers Books and our mission of outdoor recreation and conservation.

No author yet has been able to say, It was all me; I did this on my own. This book is the product of a broad group of wonderful people with a collective love of cycling, nature, Oregon, and the best things in life.

I am so thankful to be able to regularly combine my cycling and writing worlds; thats largely due to Cycle Oregon, Travel Oregon, and The Oregonian, which all let me write about and stay involved in what I loveand help me make a living in the process. Jerry Norquist, Tara Corbin, Ingrid Nylen, Steve Schulz, and Ken Chichester with Cycle Oregon have been wonderful to work with and have provided many resources and much support. Kristin Dahl of Travel Oregon and David Lowe-Rogstad and his crew at Substance have made the Ride Oregon website a rich resource and fun joint effort. Alex Pulaski and Laurie Robinson of The Oregonian buy my stories and let me claim to be a travel writer, which is a really sweet gig.

Thanks to my parents, Jerry Moore and Dee and Marty Rotto, for instilling a sense of adventure and wonder; to Jeff Welsch for talking me into my first real taste of riding in Oregon; and to a group of friends Ive shared two-wheeled adventures with: Steve and Diane Zipper, Mike and Erica Lurie, Mark Riskedahl and Melissa Powers, Mike Ruff, and Pat Lynch; theyve dragged me up many hills and made me a better rider. And a nod to my riding buds in the Portland Wheelmen.

Thanks to the folks at The Mountaineers Books for handing me this project on a platter, and to Phil Bard, who volunteered his time and expertise to try to make me an adequate photographer.

Forest Road 1828 plunges deep into the forest on the flanks of Mount Hood, rising steeply but serenely up to Lolo Pass. My friend Erica remains undaunted by the grade.

As I was reriding the very last route for this bookLolo Passmy friends and I stopped for a photo break. We were on a one-lane Forest Service road, surrounded by vast swatches of evergreen forest, and through a gap in the trees straight ahead, Mount Hood towered above the landscape.

It was a perfect summer day and a fantastic ride. I took in the scene and couldnt help myself: I yelled out, I love living in Oregon!

While I do love living here, what I really meant at that moment was that I love riding in Oregon. Id just finished crisscrossing the state over many months, revisiting dozens of routes and checking out a few new ones. And my culminating thought at that moment was simple: This is a stupendously good place to ride.

Call it a locals pride, but I just dont know of anywhere that offers a better variety and atmosphere for road riding. Within a few hours drive you can choose from a menu of cycling pleasures: Ride above crashing ocean breakers, high on a coastal cape; pedal smoothly through a silent old-growth forest; roll past fields of bountiful crops and majestic century-old barns; complete a scenic loop around a river in the middle of a bustling city; swoop down through a red-rock canyon in the high desert; spin on sagebrush-lined roads so wide open that you can see 10 miles down them; or climb a mountain pass next to the music of a rushing stream.

I want to share all these experiences with youso you can hit the road and experience them yourself. Whether youre a visitor trying to pick out the places you want to ride on a vacation, a resident looking to expand your in-state adventures, or even someone whos just decided to start riding, youre going to find rides in this book that will deliver the essence of Oregon road cycling.