Our 2021 tour has official begun. We had two fully planned and booked tours cancelled over the last two years (2019 due to a cracked bike frame, 2020 due to covid). Anne, the master planner, didn’t want to lose all that work again. So we decided to mostly repeat the 2013 Oregon Cascades tour we did. The days would be the same, so it takes much less planning.

At least that was the idea. Road closures defeated those plans. Contingencies were designed, alternate routes identified. Fortunately all but one road is now passable. Today’s road.

Aufderheide is a beautiful road up through Willamette National Forest. At least it is, when it isn’t closed by a rock slide. The original closure order expired today, so we were hopeful it might be cleaned up. Yesterday a new closure was issued, this time until October.

We had explored various alternates. There are other roads through the forest, but they’re unmaintained and with unknown snow, downed trees, washouts, rock slides, etc. For a while we were thinking we’d spend our first “tour” day shuttling between cities to drive the bikes to Oakridge, then leaving the van back in Rainbow for our return, with varying rental cars, public transit, and taxis getting people back to Oakridge.

In the end, we decided to just bike it. We’d have to bike most of the way back west to Eugene before turning back southeast. It made for a long day on less awesome roads, but at least we were biking.

We started west on Hwy 126, which we had seen on the way to Rainbow had between nice and non-existent shoulders. But traffic was fairly light to start. The area is starting to recover from the McKenzie/Holiday Farm fire that started last September. The signs of the fire were everywhere. Hillsides of naked burned tree trucks. Empty foundations, maybe with a brick fireplace still standing. A few burnt out cars and boats.

The signs of recovery were also there. Trees being cleared. New house construction. Restoration of roadways, with new guard rails. Crews clearing burnt trees and loading them on logging trucks. A few hillsides were filled with stumps and covered with a thick layer of sawdust.

We were stopped by a few flaggers where crews were working, including one with a guy hanging from a crane to cut down a tree. This bunched up what little traffic there was, giving us nice car-free stretches for miles after.

As usual when biking on roads I’ve driven on, there were lots of new details invisible from the car. We passed waterfalls, river vistas, and a bridge foundation with no decking (maybe it had a wooden structure lost in the fire).

126 was the first 40 miles of the day, mostly downhill. The second half had traffic pick up, either as it got later or just closer to Eugene. The weather started cool and overcast, but warmed up and the clouds burned off. Just at the end, as we entered the more suburban Springfield, there were a pair of short hills to test our legs.

Then we got onto Weyerhauser, a multiuse trail that seemed to be a former road, maybe supporting the natural gas pipeline that seemed to be buried under it. It had a short but moderately steep climb. Anne (with both kids) decided to walk for a while, but I made it up. While I waited I chatted with a local cyclist (one of the few seen today). He gave some tips on local roads, including options for our afternoon.

When Anne arrived we decided it was time for lunch. Usually my goal is to get 20 miles behind us before breaking for lunch. Today we got over 40. Downhills help.

After finishing the trail (including a gate narrow enough we had to lift the trailer over it) we had about ten miles of nice shoulder and light traffic before crossing the bridge in Lowell to get to Hwy 58, where we’ll be spending all of tomorrow.

58 is busy with heavy truck and car traffic, mostly one lane in each direction, and without much shoulder for most of it. Our memory of tomorrow’s section is plenty of shoulder, but that definitely wasn’t true for today’s road.

We had an alternate, quieter road option, but it would have added more distance and climbing to an already long day. It also had something like 12 miles of gravel, which isn’t much fun for us.

The most substantial climb of the day took us up to the top of a dam. Once there, the road was mostly flat, with some slight downhill segments to make us feel fast and a tailwind to boot.

But even with those advantages, the day’s miles were taking their toll. The last twenty miles ticks down as pain in my feet grew. The road shifted to a slight uphill, which didn’t help.

But then we were in Oakridge. Our hotel is on the far side of town, with more uphill. But we made it, and packed everything into the room.

We found dinner and groceries for tomorrow. Now we just need to get everybody to sleep. Max has too much energy; he must not have pedaled enough.

I’m glad we decided to bike it today. Tomorrow will be another long day, though this time due to one giant climb instead of distance.