BCI - Ride Reports, Miller

Ride Reports List

by Jim Luparello

Oregon 2002 was so fulfilling, I decided to do this tour again. I won’t go into all the trials and tribulations of getting to Oregon. I will say one advantage of going on one tour is you learn what not to bring. So this adventure begins on arriving in Madras, Oregon.

What an outstanding showing of BCI power with approximately 16 California members attending: Joe Raines, Sonia Triana, Jo Wilson, Jacqueline Ledbetter, Jim Luparello, Richard Anderson, Dick Bird, Izzy Leybovich, Larissa Leybovich, Penny Poorman, Tommie Kozlov, Wayne Broadhag, Dennis Miller, Stephen Devore, Bill Kramer, and Christina Norton.

Day 1 Madras to Prineville: The scenery this year lacked the green forest of last year’s tour, but I got to see the other side of Oregon. Talking to a rider that lives in Oregon, he says that most of Oregon is high desert, arid, rolling hills, and canyons. Also, absent this year was my favorite sag driver with speakers mounted on top of the car blasting out motivational music. Life goes on so snatch those precious moments when you can. Wayne and I rode through canyons and high desert as I visualized Indians on horseback riding the plateau above us. With all of Wayne’s electronic gadgets I wasn’t worried; we could outrun them. We rolled into Prineville at 11:30 a.m. with temperatures in the mid 70’s to set up our tents. Tonight’s dinner will be ribs, salad, with peach cobbler and ice cream

Day 2 Prineville to Paulina: The next morning we were packed, loaded and ready to eat at 6:00 a.m. The local Knights of Columbus cooked our great breakfast. I made it a point to talk to as many Knights as I could. Wayne and I got a lot of good nature harassing from the Oregon group about California’s election. One rider informed us that one community in Oregon has so many California people there that Oregon ceded it to them (ha).

Temperatures were around 78 degrees, with sage and juniper hugging the landscape. Another fairly easy day with 56 miles and elevation gain of 2,030 feet.
While temperatures in California were in the high digits we were enjoying 78-degree weather. We rolled into Paulina gathered our duffels, pitched our tents and enjoyed our wonderful hot & cold showers.

Walking over to the only pay phone in town I stopped and talked to a Pastor repairing his church. He lives in Redding’s and comes and donates his time fixing the church up. His wife teaches music and he is a general contractor. He told me the worst attendance at the church was 5 people and the best was 32 people.

Returning to the campground I sat under the awnings set up for the riders. A sudden gust of wind came up and picked up three large awnings with people scattering everywhere. Underwear was flying in the wind, Penny’s tent flew and Jackie’s bags moved over in the tent. Dinner tonight will be Chicken with a surprise desert.

Day 3 Pauline to John Day: This was going to be a difficult day with an elevation gain of 4090 feet, 80.9 miles and 6 summits. The Kiwanis Club put on another wonderful breakfast. Warm friendly people who are willing to talk to you for hours. We started riding by 6:30 a.m. through mostly farmland with a few ranches. We didn’t see any people out of their homes, but somehow the cows were always watching us. Roads were rough asphalt with fresh oil sprayed on repairs. It stuck to your tires as you tried to veer around them. Dennis caught up with us after leaving an hour later. At one of the rest stops we met Mel Counts former Lakers player. He is about 7’2” tall and his bike frame was huge. We were blessed with perfect weather again during this strenuous day. At the junction of 395 Dennis made a left and started yelling at us. When we got closer Dennis claims there was a bull standing in front of an open gate with no cattle guard. Wayne and I couldn’t verify this so we thought Dennis was full of ----? Our downhill descent was so awesome we attained speeds of 35+ mph.

Camping tonight was on a city baseball diamond with beautiful green grass. Dinner tonight was Beef Tips. This is another day Dennis kept racing up to the top to take a picture of you struggling towards the summits.

Day 4 John Day “REST DAY”: Breakfast was served by the Kiwanis Club. True small town friendship was evident everywhere. This would be our free day where we could tour, lay back or tackle Strawberry Mountains as Dennis and

Penny did. My plan was not to ride but to talk to as many people as I could. My first stop was at the local drugstore. which stocked just about everything. Next I found a Java & Tanning business. Ordering my vanilla latte I found out the owner use to live in Garden Grove. She says in these small towns you have to have more than one business to survive.

I rode over to the Kam Wah Chong & Co. museum for a tour. A wonderful older lady who really enjoyed her work led the tour. This museum was about a Chinese Doctor who practiced medicine during the 1800’s. The doors were lined with metal as well as the windows. This served two purposes: During this time Cowboys liked to shoot Chinese for fun. With the doors locked it also preserved many of the fine objects in the house.

Day 5 John Day to Spray: Ate another wonderful home cooked breakfast as we bid farewell to John Day. We had a terrific tailwind as we rode out of town averaging 20+ mph with little effort. We followed the John Day River (or should I say creek). We passed through some awesome canyons that took you back many centuries. We stopped at the Museum and looked at many fossils (I didn’t see anyone I knew). Dennis again caught up with us averaging 19+ mph after leaving ½ hours after us. Temperature after our second stop was hovering around 90 degrees.

Day 6 Spray to Antelope: A very difficult day with 5,310 feet of climbing in 66 miles. Everyone got up earlier this morning so breakfast was served at 5:30 a.m. Dennis found out the hard way never brush off your chair in the dark that has been sitting under a tree. Our meal today started with pancakes, ham, eggs, and oatmeal. We started riding at 6:00 a.m. but the Sun Gods would get even with us today. After two summits the temperature hovered around 98 degrees. We passed the town of Fossil, which actually had a coffee shop. As we started the third summit climb of 8 miles with 6 percent grade the temperature was 98+ degrees with no wind, and no shade. People were running out of water, but the sags came by and gave us water. Jason Swan one of the sag support drivers gave a good explanation of sag support. “They provide sag to help people in distress that might otherwise spoil the day for them or even the week.” It’s what we pay for and as one BCI member put it so well we have nothing to prove to anyone here.

Tommie and Larisa were the only two BCI women riders who completed this day by bicycle. Tommie said: she expended 2,378 calories less one cobbler this day. Our campsite tonight was at a schoolyard that was suffering from drought. Tonight we feast on Salmon.

Day 7 Antelope to Madras: Our last easy day with 41 miles, blue skies and a return to civilization. Only in America can you see the pioneer spirit and a coming together of people. On this tour I got an opportunity to see another portion of Oregon. I also, bonded with other BCI members, and saw friends from last year. I got a chance to see small-town life as it actually is. I saw neighbors working together enjoying a slower pace of life. I’m grateful to the communities we visited with treating us so well. This is our America to enjoy so next year let’s increase our BCI participation by 100%.