Cycling in Oregon

May 25, 2016

Last weekend, I traveled to Oregon, the farthest west I have ever been in my life. Just south of Portland, in Champoeg State Heritage Area, I attended an Adventure Cycling Leadership Training Course.

Driving up to the mass of tents and bicycles leaning against picnic tables and trees, I knew I was in the right place! Aside from the dreamy riding in the area, quiet country roads, and a beautiful bike path through the woods, the training course helped me learn to think like a leader and understand how they do.

Of course, we listened to lectures, and we also did role playing. How do I convince the angry campground manager that our group will not destroy her campground? What can I do when the participants are tired, hungry, and soaked from rain for three days in a row? 

We also worked through a cooking rotation of grocery shopping on a budget and choosing healthy, quick, filling foods to keep hungry cyclotourists happy. Plus, we tackled some tricky team building activities. Tricky? You’ll need to take the course to see what I mean.

All in all, the prospective Adventure Cycling leaders and I had a great time.

My favorite part of the leadership training was the long ride on Sunday! We viewed beautiful agricultural land in the Willamette Valley with cows, horses, hop farms, and fruit orchards. What really struck me about Oregon was how green it was. Everywhere it was green!

We stopped along our route at the Heirloom Roses garden. I wanted to stay there forever, smelling the roses, smiling at their sometimes bizarre names, like Carnival Glass, or Tipsy Imperial Concubine.

Heading east back to Montana on my drive home, I stopped at Multnomah Falls. I didn’t have time to stop and chat with a group of bike tourists, but it made me think of how beautiful the Columbia River Gorge tour would be, cycling straight into green.

Photos by Emma Wimmer.

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