Oregon to Colorado, USA

April – May, 2011

20 days / 1400 miles

This trip was kind of a “last hoorah” as an unmarried man, and an opportunity to see some remote pockets of the country. I flew to Portland, OR and visited my brothers there, then got a ride from one of them over the (very snowy) pass to Warm Springs. I was booted out of the car there and made it to a motel in Bend on the first night. The next day I had the greatest tailwind in history and made it all the way to Burns, but stayed in a motel again due to the cold, nasty weather… a habit I’d repeat a lot on this trip. Riding south through the wide open spaces was mostly really nice. I rode on Interstate 80 between Winnemucca and Battle Mountain, which you’d think would be scary, but I actually found it less stressful than some of the other main roads with tiny shoulders and less-friendly ranch/mining traffic.

Shortly after arriving into Cedar City, UT, another snow storm rolled in and I was forced into a double rest day there, not that I minded much. I decided to push on the next day, but still got hit by more snow over the top of the climb and all the way into Bryce Canyon. But, then the weather cleared and the rest of the ride was really enjoyable.

Highlights of the trip were riding through Southeast Oregon and Nevada, Route 12 and the Burr Trail in southern Utah. Both Route 12 and the Burr Trail are amazing to cycle tour… highly recommended.

Starting this route in April is not advised (I got snowed on a few times), but I also used it as a ridiculously long training ride for what used to be called the Dirty Kanza (now called Unbound Gravel)… which I made my first attempt at a few weeks after finishing this in June of 2011. (It was nearly 100 degrees on race day and I only made it halfway. I returned in 2012 and successfully completed the 200 miles in a little over 16 hours!)