Field Trip to Cycle Oregon

We had, of course, heard about Cycle Oregon.  Two thousand riders canvassing a different route across Oregon every year for the last twenty years.  We had heard talk about a well oiled machine.  Rumor had it that they were so good, the minute you thought you needed to hit the can, there was an empty Honey Bucket right behind you.  We had heard about the performances, the incredible support services, and the beer tent open every night.   It was just about enough to make a loyal RAGBRAI rider bristle with envy.  So when they invited local Oregon bike businesses to represent at what they were calling the Made in Oregon Bike Expo, we eagerly agreed to come.

At this point you are probably thinking to yourself “I hope this isn’t a post about an expo.  That would be the most boringest piece of blogging on the entire internet.”  And I assure you that I am not going to bore you with details of conversations with all the amazing people we met, or how cool it was to meet some of the other builders that showed up.

What I do want to write about is Cycle Oregon, because we were absolutely overwhelmed by just how incredible this event really is.  First of all the rumors are true: the place runs like clockwork, the ride we went on was absolutely beautiful, and there is just a lot of camaraderie to go around.  But what is really amazing is that the ride was originated as an economic shot in the arm for rural Oregon communities, and on top of that their proceeds go into the Cycle Oregon Fund which provides additional funding for small rural communities.  The site for the expo was Diamond Lake which from a grant from Cycle Oregon recently restored the trout population which had been ravaged by an invasive non-native.  And as everyone relaxed after a day of riding, they got to make the statement “thanks to you joining the ride, we were able to make this lake viable again.”  The expo was amazing, but we left feeling as if we had just left in the middle of a birthday party. With a little luck, next year we might just become Cycle Oregonians.