Cycle Oregon's 428-mile fall bike tour follows part of Lewis and Clark route

SALEM, Ore. — Lewis and Clark only could have dreamed of a camp-out like this.

Catered meals. Snack breaks and rest stops. Water from bottles, not creeks. Tents transported ahead each day to an established campsite. Hot showers. Free mechanical assistance. There'll even be a massage therapist.

The 18th annual Cycle Oregon will resemble Lewis and Clark's expedition 200 years ago only in that it will follow some of their footsteps through the Columbia River Gorge and in its name, "Discover Oregon: Lewis and Clark Bicentennial."

"They probably had about the same amount of horsepower, but we have more efficient machines to get there with our limited horsepower," said Ken Chichester of Salem, Ore., who will be riding in the weeklong event for the 14th time. "And they didn't have everything provided, start to finish."

Cycle Oregon is about two-thirds of the way to filling to its capacity of 2,000 for the Sept. 10-17 bicycle ride, which starts in Boardman and ends in Astoria. Anyone who procrastinates past mid- to-late April runs the risk of not being able to get in.

"With the big tie-in this year being the Lewis and Clark bicentennial, we wanted to stay as close as we could to the Lewis and Clark Trail," Chichester said. "That's pretty hard to do if you want to stay on paved roads."

Information

Cycle Oregon: www.cycleoregon.com/

Hence, Cycle Oregon will do some zig-zags to Condon and to Champoeg State Park — deviations from the Columbia corridor.

"I think it's going to be a great route with the whole Lewis and Clark thing, especially going up and over the old Rowena Road (the Historic Columbia Gorge Scenic Highway)," said Kay Weipert of Salem, who will be doing her 11th Cycle Oregon.

"These Cycle Oregon things really showcase Oregon — their choices of routes is really good — and the Columbia Gorge is like a masterpiece. It should be one of the Seven Wonders of the World, in my book."

The basic route is 428 miles, an average of 71 miles a day, with options that could extend the total mileage beyond 550.

Chichester, in evaluating the difficulty, picked the word "mediocre."

"There's no long hills, but the day we leave Corbett for Champoeg we go through the Bull Run Watershed, and there are a lot of short, steep hills," he said. "That'll be the toughest day."

The unknown factor will be the wind. On hot autumn days it can whistle down the Gorge from the east, providing a tailwind. On cooler days it blows from the west, hence a dreaded headwind.