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Cycle Oregon 2019

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Jwrags

Jwrags

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Overall, the route this year was much harder than last. The summary of my week was 437 miles and 29,000 feet of climbing. The highlight of the trip was the ride around the rim of Crater Lake. For those who want to do it, apparently the park service closes the road for two weekends in September for cyclists.
 

Tom K.

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Well done! I heard from several friends that the first two days were horrible weather.

IMO, the ride around Crater Lake is the single most beautiful road ride in Oregon.
 
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Jwrags

Jwrags

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@Tom K. , the ride around Crater Lake was spectacular that day. Not a cloud in the sky. The first day was the worst, with cold (47*) rain for the first 37 uphill miles. Fortunately, it dried out for the downhill. It rained hard that night in camp but my tent stayed dry. The next morning was damp, but no rain, as we road over the old Willamette Pass road but sadly the clouds were low so we could not see the mountain views. We got a little rain on day three as we got into Lapine but the rest of the week had great weather.

The route this year obviously scared a lot of people off. The numbers were way down, only 1500 riders this year compared to the normal 2000. That is a $500,000 hit to the budget. I think that CO is learning and adapting to the aging demographic, though, as they have already announced next year will have more layover days and more choices for routes, short vs long. I would love to see an extra layover day or two because one of the worst things about the ride is packing up every morning, especially when there is a long day ahead. It will be interesting to see what the route is next year and if there numbers go back up.
 

slowrider

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Yeah you just don't want to miss any corners on that road.
 
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Jwrags

Jwrags

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Yeah you just don't want to miss any corners on that road.
The downhill into Sisters would be much more fun on a freshly paved road. There was a bad accident on the final downhill on the last day coming back into Oakridge on one of the crappy forest service roads.
 

slowrider

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Eastside Santiam grade would be scary fast at the bottom. Willamette westside is a good 5 mile 6% roll. Lots of wrecked iron over the cliffs and that tunnel in the Winter oh my.
 

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