#oregonoutback2015

It’s been a month since I completed the second Oregon Outback with a couple of friends and numerous others.  This may have been the last Oregon Outback as apparently people couldn’t literally take care of their own sh*t and treat places, including small town hospitable citizen’s barns, as their own, see post here.  This is a route that I hope to complete again and in part I’m writing up my own thoughts on this to show that most of us care enough about this route to treat it right.  

A year ago the Oregon Outback popped up on my radar thanks to the blowup on social media and the subsequent blog posts on popular sites like the radavist, velodirt, and cyclocross magazine.  In case you’re not familiar with the Oregon Outback route Donnie and Gabe from Velodirt/Oregon bikepacking and a few others have been scouring the gravel roads of Oregon and beyond for bike routes and then generously posting them online for all to view and ride.  It’s a huge service to the cycling community to get great quality routes without having to do the mapping or preriding to determine quality and feasibility of these huge routes on your own.  The Outback is a 364 mile route from the South side of Oregon to the North linking mostly gravel trails and forest service roads from Klamath Falls to Deschutes State Game Area.  You pass through only a few small towns and it’s supposed to be about being self sufficient on the bike, enjoying the company of the open sky and maybe seeing a few cows and buzzards.

Initially this ride was was like so many other big ideas I’ve had in the past I’d think to myself “I’d love to ride that some day” and not really follow through or the triumvirate of work/family/life would get in the way.  But this time a few friends, Braden and Josh, wanted to do it too... Josh and I managed to clear the weekend with the spouses while Braden just held himself accountable to be free.  

Planning for this trip wasn’t too hard and made much more simple because the route was set, I had plenty of lightweight gear, and there were enough blogs to reference for extra info. Our time frame was three days if Josh and I were to spend Labor day with respective families, the spouses were adamant about this. I tried to bike as much as possible, ordered some frame bags, bought a little bit of new gear because my old stuff just wouldn’t do (or that’s what I told my wife), and in general tweaked my cyclocross bike into a bike packing worthy steed on a budget.  The basics were adding some strap on bottle cage mounts, swapping 35mm tires for 40mm WTB Nanos, putting a 34t small ring up front paired with a 12-28 rear cassette, and yeah that’s really all I did.  A couple Revelate bags and a stuff sack on the handle bars and my rig was all set.  Gear wise I kept it pretty simple and light knowing three days of riding 120 miles/day plus 14,000 feet of elevation would be the easier for it.  All told my bike was around 45 lbs.

Clothing: one set of bibs and ss jersey, rain jacket, knee warmers, long sleeve jersey, wind proof full fingered gloves, down vest, buff, two pairs of socks, t-shirt, running shorts, and flip flops.

Water: two 20 oz bottles, 48 oz Nalgene and a spare collapsible bladder.

Camp gear: Big Agnes Fly Creek 2 fast fly set up split between Josh and I, MSR Pocket Rocket Stove, small fuel canister, 32 oz pot/mug, spork, 3/4 Big Agnes inflatable pad and a 30 degree Montbell sleeping bag.

Food: numerous bars, chews, Nuun tablets, chia seeds, block of cheese, jerky, nuts, oatmeal, instant coffee, tortillas, and more.  Really I carried too much as the towns are perfectly spaced for restocking on a three day trip.  

Logistics: We rented a car in the Dalles and then dropped a car at the Deschutes Game Area and drove down to Klamath Falls to our hotel.  Unfortunately we couldn’t get a room at the Maverick where most people stay so we settled for a slight head start by staying 3 miles East at the Majestic.  We also figured it might be quieter and a better nights sleep.

Day 1

Josh, Braden and I planned on riding in three days we were joined at the hotel by Steve and Nathan who were planning on riding the route in 4 days.  That morning we packed up and slowly rolled to coffee and then a porta-john and then to the OC&E trail.

Pretty quickly on the trail it was a real amateur hour as we had tires rubbing frames, loose bags, and small tweaks to make.  The faster riders from the Maverick soon caught us and we wondered if any of them would break the sub 24 hour barrier it was rumored that they were going for.  We soon hit the gravel sections and as we shed layers and opened and closed cattle gates others slowly caught up to us.

Rain threatened and a light drizzle turned into pouring rain.  The large rocky gravel and plentiful pot holes along the route mean your body gets pummeled, combined with the cold rain was an real experience.  At one point we took a small break under a cedar tree.  It didn’t shelter us from the rain much but it made us feel better for some reason even though we were standing in cow sh*t and there were intestines hanging from a branch.  

Back on the trail we had some periods of sun and I think enjoyment of some nice gravel sections.

And then our first mechanical.  Braden’s front rack disgorged a screw and sent Braden flipping over the handlebars it was a shame Josh and I were ahead and didn’t get to see it.  Others did and told us great stories about it.

After a quick repair and checking the map to make sure we still had 20 some miles to go before our first turn we were off again.

Sun and rain were a little intermittent for a us for a while but we certainly enjoyed finding some pavement after mile 70.  Not sure who was grammin who here.

The Forest Service roads on this route do not disappoint and for a while we thought we were in the clear from rain.

We met plenty of awesome people on this trip and these boys from Swift were at the least interesting...They told us horror stories of the “red sauce” to come, brutal 6 inch deep sandy redness that at best we could hope to travel at 6mph through and there would be miles of it.  Walking might be the preferred method for some, anathema to cyclists normally.

After this section it really started to pour so the camera went away and suffering for real set in.  We were cold, wet, tired, and just wanted to be in camp.  Unfortunately we had another 40 some miles to go if we wanted to hit our goal of 140+ miles for day one.  While we did hit pavement and knew that the small town of Silver Lake was just ahead we hit what for me was the most miserable section of road.  Ironically on an off road bike packing trip this section was paved and really nice except for the expansion joints/ cracks that were every 40 feet or so.  These cracks were 4-6 inches wide and a couple inches deep meaning your freezing, wet, miserably calorie  deprived body was bone jarringly jolted every 30 seconds for miles.  We could have missed this part of road had we been on course but we missed one turn.  Finally the road turned decent and we could see Silver Lake ahead.  We grabbed calories in the form of hot dogs, candy bars, canned peaches, and topped off water bottles for the night.  Some people had reserved motel rooms here and we enviously eyed them as we slowly cranked the legs around and got back in the saddle headed towards Fort Rock and the National Forest that lay ahead.

Another 20 miles and darkness caught us but we were able to find a site just inside the National Forest and Josh and I set up our camp. We had pulled ahead of Braden shortly after Silver Lake and were getting a little worried that he hadn’t caught up yet as we ate dinner.  Luckily we had cell service and he texted us that he was going to spend the night in Fort Rock with the guys from Swift and a few others.

Day 2

The morning had a slight bit of dampness on the tent and there were a few clouds but nothing looked too ominous.  We later found out that just five miles South at Fort Rock they were absolutely dumped on.  We ramped ourselves up for the dreaded “Red Sauce” that we were to start our day with but all the rain blessedly tamped it down and tamed it for us. Josh did some stretching to prepare for the “Red Sauce” and then wasn’t all that impressed with it.

A little pleasant pavement before more gravel on on the way to Crooked River. (thanks Josh for taking the camera for a bit)

The Crooked river section was glorious for the views and great road.  Prineville had been the goal for lunch but 70 miles of gravel and hilly roads was too much.  We settled for lunch along the river at about mile 50 on the day.  Josh attempted to silence a squeaky chain with salmon oil to not much success.

We got into Prineville around 2:00pm if memory serves me right.  A stop at the Good Bike Co. to silence Josh’s squeaky chain and for me to tighten a loose spoke and leave a message for Braden who was somewhere behind us.  Very friendly folk at that shop.

Then we climbed Skookum!  Seriously most of the climbs on this route are paved and awesome if you like climbing.  The road was was mostly empty of traffic, the sun was out, and temps were perfect.  We passed some guys from Team SHJ (no idea what that stands for) and Patrick rode with us for a bit.

At the summit the roads turned back to gravel and we had a decision to make.  The National Forest only went on for another few miles and it was mostly private land ahead meaning legal camping would be scarce. It was camp now at ~110 miles for the day or try to push until one of the small towns 20+ miles ahead.  We decided to take it easy and camp. Then we bombed down the gravel roads until we found a likely spot by a creek to set up with plenty of day light and time to relax and unwind.  Soon after Braden caught up with us and regaled us with his adventures from the day including rainstorms and a bar fight the previous night that he witnessed. Dinner was around a campfire (in a fire ring) and we turned in for the night pretty early.

Day 3

At some point during the night we were joined by a few other riders making morning breakfast and pack up more communal. As we broke down camp for the last time spirits were high and packs were light. I had totally forgotten about one of the funnest parts of backcountry bike packing, stream crossings!  First thing in the chilly morning we had three.  Josh was skilled enough to just blast though them, Braden listened to my advice to ride as fast as possible through while I attempted to photograph him.  It didn’t end well and I missed the shot of Braden biting it.  From there on Braden and I resigned ourselves to wet feet rather than chance a full body ice bath.

The rain the past few days meant the next miles of road would be filled with muddy ruts and left them feeling like a cyclocross course.  Combined with the small rolling hills, gently curving road, sunshine, and high spirits of the last day this was some of the most fun riding of the whole trip.  It didn’t last long.

The climb out of Ashwood like so many of the hills to come looks small when seen on the map.  By the time you’re at the top you’re wondering why you still have so many miles left when it seems so late in the day, the legs are already aching and gnats are circling and biting.

If you're Braden you just grin and bear it.  What else is there to do?

We had more farmland and rolling hills to cross.  Pretty glorious riding really with Mt. Hood off in the distance and while tired we knew the small town of Shaniko was up ahead.

Shaniko is for Cokes!

Josh and I debated titles...

After Shaniko we knew we had a bit of highway riding before the last rolling miles of gravel to our car.  The highway wasn't too bad and pace lining made it go fast.  But then the rolling hills of gravely doom appeared.  It’s hard to quantify or describe how much these hurt.  It’s day three, you’ve put in over 300 miles total and all that’s between you and the end are these hills that on the map are loosing elevation (insult to injury that).  It doesn’t feel like downhill especially with the brutal headwinds beating you down and the loose gravel refusing to provide a decent line.  But we volunteered for this we reminded ourselves.  There were ever so brief sections of road that felt great before returning to the drudgery of gravel.  No really we were having fun, I mean we were encouraged by cows riding alongside and the glorious fields of grain.

Finally we hit the last downhill road section, steep and curvy, warning signs for trucks to brake, it should’ve been super fun but that headwind meant you had to pedal downhill to keep moving.  Then the downhill took us to the river valley and our car was a few minutes away.

At the parking lot we found the guys from Team SHJ and gladly took them up on their offering of PBR and reminisced about the just completed route.  

All in all it was a total blast and one the best rides of my life.  It hurt at times sure, but riding across an entire state with great company in inclement weather is not to be missed!

few pix from my recent trip to and from seattle to oregon and the oregon outback (2015)