About Cycle Oregon
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One of the innovative elements Cycle Oregon has added to the event in the past few years is the Green Team – a dedicated group of volunteers that makes sure we leave the smallest footprint possible in the out-of-the-way places we visit, and the planet as a whole. While 2,000-plus people on the road for a week generate a lot of stuff, the Green Team works to direct that stuff to the places it can be recycled, reused or returned.
To get a little feel for what this team does, we talked to volunteer John Milliken. Here’s what we learned.
What is your role on Cycle Oregon, and how long have you been doing it?
I’ve been on the Green Team for one year.
How did you come to be involved with Cycle O, and has it evolved over time?
I met Jonathan Nicholas back in the mid-90s after I rode a tour of Vietnam from Hanoi to Saigon. I traveled internationally for work, and was up and down the West Coast until 2009. Home base is now Portland, and so I re-connected with CO.
Tell us the details of what you (and your team, if applicable) do.
I’m a recycle team member for rest stop number two – our job is educating riders and local volunteers on recycling event waste (our target is 80% recycle-reuse-return).
What skills or traits are important in your role?
I am a LEED-accredited professional (green designer-builder), and I transferred those skills and philosophy directly to my volunteer work with CO. I’m supporting CO’s effort to “get off the grid” with photovoltaic panels on our vendor-supplied shower/kitchen and supply trailers.
My most important skill is that I engage and encourage riders, fellow volunteers, local folks and CO staff in recognizing that we create a sense of a mobile community, which fosters a connection with the communities we visit.
Why is what you do important for riders, and how does that impact your approach to doing it?
What I do, how I present myself and how riders/volunteers/staff perceive what I do is critical to the mission of CO. Though this is a bicycle event, I sense that the staff and volunteers are all aware on one level or another that this event transcends simply being a tour. The secret of the success and longevity of this event is that each of us focuses on the details of “getting it right.” That attitude is, in my opinion, what makes CO more than a well-run, highly enjoyable bike ride. Call it “Zen and the Annual Bike Tour of (a Piece of) Oregon.”
What would a rider be surprised to know about what goes on behind the scenes on Cycle O?
Most of the riders I engage with, either in my role as Green Team or registering riders, do understand the tremendous amount of coordinated effort and energy that goes into putting CO on the road.
Why do you keep coming back?
Bottom line, it combines my recreational hobby – biking – with a very personal sense of self-worth.
How would you describe Cycle Oregon as an event to someone who’s never heard of it?
The best bike-centric event of ambassadorial goodwill – and it imbues a sense of well-being to all participants. Ride it!
Tell us about a favorite moment and host town from along the way.
My favorite episode was last year in Waitsburg, Washington. The local high school social studies teacher sent her students out to interview riders who represent many U.S. states and even foreign countries. The freshman students had a script of questions, and they learned how to approach and interview us, and learn and exchange information and perceptions. I was amazed to see that all three of the Waitsburg school buildings had been expertly re-habbed over the past 5-6 years – which is a testament to wise investment and knowledge of where the future of their community resides.
What year has been the most memorable for you, and why?
I thoroughly enjoyed last year as a rider on the Weekend Ride, and got the chance to get in about 100 miles during volunteering time off on the Week Ride. Most importantly, I met and enjoyed the company of great folks like Bob Manfull, Ingrid Nylen, Gerta Eck, Steve Schulz, Roger Sanman, Sam Lee, Tom Dorzweiler and Lea VanLue.
If a charming town, in a spectacular setting on the beach, with four of the top-rated golf courses in the world right next door, can be considered a hidden gem, the city of Bandon fits the bill wonderfully. This little slice of coastal paradise is going to be an eye-opener for Cycle Oregon riders – whether they’re Portlanders used to popping over to Cannon Beach or Seaside, or visitors from across the country.
Just ask Julie Miller, with the Bandon Chamber of Commerce. Raised a city girl, she moved to Bandon and “took two years to acclimate – and now I wouldn’t ever go back.”
A lot of people have that experience with Bandon, Julie says – even the ones who don’t stay. “We’re kind of hard to get to,” she admits. “But once people come here, they fall in love with it.”
Maybe that’s because Bandon combines the coziness of a small town with the lure of a revitalized old town district, all on one of the prettiest stretches of coastline in America.
And it all started with a shipwrecked Irishman. Although the earliest white settlers established a site called Averill in 1853, it was George Bennett and his sons who washed up from Bandon, Ireland, in 1873 and soon after changed the town’s name to honor his hometown. Within 10 years there was a post office, a sawmill, a church and a store, cheese-making was ongoing, and the Corps of Engineers began building a jetty. In 1896 the Coquille River lighthouse was built, ensuring safer passage for ships and proving a boon for the local economy.
Although devastating fires in 1914 and 1936 (the latter burned down 484 of Bandon’s 500 buildings) set the town back, the strength of the local cheese factory, cranberry growing, a woolen mill and the shipping business kept Bandon bouncing back.
And then a man decided to build a golf course nearby. Bandon Dune Golf Resort’s first course opened in 1999, and it now encompasses four golf courses –all four ranking in the top 15 of Golf magazine’s “Top 100 Courses You Can Play.”
So more people have discovered Bandon – but it still retains its small-town character.
“It’s amazing how uncrowded it is here,” Julie says. “You can walk the beach here and sometimes be the only person out there.”
That small-town status also means that Cycle Oregon coming to town is a pretty big deal.
“For us having Cycle Oregon stay here is a huge boost,” Julie adds. “It’s not just the number of people coming through – it’s also the recognition for having the layover here.”
And boy, will they have some fun things ready for us on that layover. You’ll get a complete list in your Rider Handbook later this summer, but here’s a sample: horseback riding on the beach; agate-hunting and a chance to turn your find into jewelry; deep-sea charter fishing and an evening river cruise; a guided nighttime beach walk with a campfire and s’mores; birding at Bandon Marsh; wine and “dessert fetish” tastings…
And how about this one: “You can crab right from the dock,” Julie relates. “Drop a ring in the water, go get a beer, come back and give your catch to Tony, who will cook ‘em up for a dollar a crab while you drink your beer.”
Sounds like the good life, eh? Julie says the locals have a real appreciation for the life they enjoy. But it’s also a life of limited resources and self-reliance. “We take kind of a duct-tape approach here,” she explains. “We make do with what we have.”
That’s one of the reasons the locals are so excited about what Cycle Oregon brings to town – including money, which will be put to good use. Cycle Oregon funds will help with everything from purchasing lights for the local baseball field to buying a new furnace for the Odd Fellows Hall so the gals in the local quilting club can make more quilts for military personnel and children in crisis.
Julie sums it all up: “We’re extremely excited, the whole community. We’re going to roll out the red carpet for Cycle Oregon.”
Ken Chichester
This month’s Route Talk covers two days: our layover day in Bandon, and Day 5 from Bandon to Powers. Master route planner Ken Chichester explains why you definitely should not miss the layover ride, as well as what to expect as we say goodbye to the coast on Day 5.
DAY 4: LAYOVER DAY – BANDON
Why did you choose this route?
For a layover day option ride from Bandon, there are three choices. We used the available roads north of Bandon to arrive in town the day before. We’ll ride the one available road heading east that’s safe for bicycles when we leave Bandon the next day. That leaves a route south of Bandon – a loop ride to Port Orford and back that has quite a bit to offer.
What planning challenges were involved with this route?
Because the options for a loop route in this area are so limited, there weren’t many planning challenges. There is a road leading east from Langlois that looked attractive on the map, but exploration showed that the road turns to gravel, and part of the road is actually privately owned. Once that potential route was discounted, the only other question was how to limit the amount of time spent riding on Highway 101. Those who choose to ride on this day will be off the main highway for nearly five miles at the beginning of the ride, and a little over five miles at the end of the ride.
Can you provide a brief point-to-point description of this route?
The route leaves Bandon traveling south on Beach Loop Drive, which provides wonderful views of the ocean, with small state parks and viewpoints along the road. Riders will then turn onto Highway 101, continuing on the state highway to Port Orford for lunch, and then returning on the main highway until nearly back to Bandon. The traffic volume on Highway 101 should be moderate, requiring cyclists to pay attention when passing other cyclists and, when not passing, riding on the shoulder as far to the right as practical.
Fifteen miles from the start is the unincorporated community of Langlois (according to old-timers it is pronounced “Langless”), where we’ll pause at the community library for a rest stop. On this section of the coast, cranberry bogs are abundant. Cranberries have been grown commercially on the West Coast for a century, and Oregon now ranks fourth among the states in cranberry production – tops among Western states. Most are “wet-picked,” meaning growers flood their bogs with water and then use mechanical harvesters to loosen the floating berries from the vines.
After leaving Langlois, riders will pass Denmark (yes, a community did exist here, founded by Danes) and the Sixes River before arriving at the Cape Blanco Highway turnoff. For another spectacular view of the ocean, the five-mile ride to the end of the road at the Cape Blanco State Park and lighthouse is well worth the effort. Cape Blanco is the most southern of Oregon’s lighthouses, and is the westernmost point in Oregon. It was the first lighthouse in the state outfitted with a first-order Fresnel lens, in 1870. Two of the lighthouse keepers were James Langlois and James Hughes, stationed at the Cape Blanco Lighthouse for their entire careers, which lasted 42 years for Langlois and at least 33 years for Hughes.
Hughes was the second son of Patrick and Jane Hughes, whose 2,000-acre ranch bordered the lighthouse station property. The ranch is now part of Cape Blanco State Park, and the Hughes’ home, a two-story Victorian built in 1898 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, remains standing and is open to the public for tours. This home is down a short road about a mile before reaching the lighthouse access road.
After returning to Highway 101 from Cape Blanco, a four-mile ride leads to Port Orford, the oldest town on the Oregon coast and the most westerly in the 48 contiguous states. Rather than going directly to the lunch location by staying on Highway 101, the route takes a short detour, going straight onto the street with the large hand-painted “viewpoint” on the pavement, for a view of the harbor. The natural harbor at the north end of Port Orford Bay has one of only two ” dolly docks” in the U.S. and six in the world, where boats are lifted in and out of the water by cranes and parked on large, custom-made trailers on the dock.
Lunch is at the Battle Rock Wayfinding Point Park, with an ocean view and access to the beach. The park is named for a battle between the first landing party of white settlers and a local band of natives in 1851, which was the beginning of the settlement of Port Orford.
For those who might want to spin up a pretty steep hill for about a mile, a visit to the Port Orford Heads State Park is available. The park houses a Coast Guard lifeboat station and free museum with a wood lifeboat on display. (Watch for the sign, and take 9th Street from Highway 101 to get to the park.)
The return to Bandon is again on Highway 101, with another rest stop in Langlois at the Blanco School grounds. Prior to arriving in Bandon, the route leaves the highway, traveling on county roads to return to the overnight camp.
DAY 5: BANDON TO POWERS
Why did you choose this route?
The second reason for the week’s route is the Glendale to Powers Bike Route – so we needed to get to Powers. The most direct route to Powers from Bandon is by using state highways, but the primary highway from Bandon is heavily traveled, with many curves and no shoulders. A secondary county road parallels the main road on the other side of the Coquille River, leading to another state highway just north of Coquille.
After arriving in Coquille, a series of county roadways are used to avoid the heavily traveled state highway to arrive in Myrtle Point. From Myrtle Point, the only road available to get to Powers is a state highway.
What planning challenges were involved with this route?
The use of North Bank Lane to avoid Highway 42S was obvious, and using Highway 42 to arrive in Coquille is the only option. The challenge for this day was finding the best way to get to Myrtle Point on county roadways (avoiding the state highway) from Coquille, without road signage, or with confusing signage. We believe we’ve selected the best roads from among the array of choices.
Can you provide a brief point-to-point description of this route?
To avoid the busy highway leading to Coquille, the route travels north on Highway 101 across the Coquille River, and leaves the state highway near the Bandon Dunes Golf Course entrance. This road, North Bank Lane, follows the Coquille River through farmland to its end at Highway 42. We need to travel on the state highway (with wide shoulders) for four miles before arriving at Coquille’s Sturdivant Park for a rest stop.
After leaving the city park, the route travels through farmland in the Coquille Valley through the small community of Arago and then to Myrtle Point for lunch. After lunch, the only roads available leading to Powers are state highways. The highway leaving Myrtle Point can be busy, but has good shoulders for the 2.5 miles before turning onto the Powers Highway.
The state highway leading to Powers has low traffic volume, and continues to follow the Coquille River. We have one stop at the Coquille Myrtle Grove State Park before finishing at Powers County Park. This state park is in a myrtle grove and has a sandy beach along the Coquille River. From this last stop of the day, it is only seven miles to Powers.
We know how much it means when you’re out on the route and you see that sign: Lunch Stop Ahead. It’s a time to relax, refuel and refresh, and you may have noticed that it usually runs like clockwork.
That’s in large part due to the skills and effort of Jenny Soyke, Cycle Oregon’s lunch coordinator. To get a little insight into what she does, how she does it and why she does it, we talked with her recently. When you read her answers, you’ll understand why things run so smoothly – this is one organized and dedicated volunteer.
What is your role on Cycle Oregon, and how long have you been doing it?
On-course Lunch Coordinator – this will be my fourth year.
How did you come to be involved with Cycle O, and has it evolved over time?
My husband, Jeff Willensky, suggested we volunteer as a way of hanging out with cyclists together, because our bicycling abilities were diverging – he was getting better and going longer, and I was less able to, due to a back injury. We volunteered as a team for two years, then he just had to ride. I’ve continued to volunteer in the same job, last year with a wonderful volunteer co-coordinator, Mary Watts.
Tell us the details of what you do.
Arrangements for the on-course lunch stop sites have been made in advance by the Cycle Oregon staff. The lunch coordinators arrive at the designated lunch site by 7 a.m. on most days, meeting our local volunteer team – new each day – for the first time. We confer with the ride director for any special information about the community, the site, the resources and the volunteer team. We walk the site, look at entry and exit points, and consider the best flow through the site that will keep things moving to feed people efficiently and avoid traffic jams. We make final decisions about where all the components of the on-course lunch stop will go: bike parking, food, drinks, recycling, water bars, Blue Rooms, bike repair, music, seating, gear drop and parking for Cycle Oregon vehicles, our reefer truck and local volunteers – all strategically placed. We then mobilize the local volunteer team of about 20 people to unload the truck, and set up the lunch stop, ready to serve the riders from around 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 or 2 p.m. We then pack it all away, and try to leave the site as clean or cleaner than we found it.
What skills or traits are important in your role?
Organization, tact, patience, understanding of human nature, teaching, understanding of food and water hygiene, appreciation for cyclists, appreciation for our local hosts, and a sense of humor!
Why is what you do important for riders, and how does that impact your approach to doing it?
I want the riders to have a smooth, restful and enjoyable lunch experience with as little hassle as possible. My approach to achieve that is to focus on three goals: 1) easy navigation of the site by keeping bike parking in the periphery and out of traffic flow so riders can easily enter, exit and walk around to all components of the lunch site to get what they need; 2) I don’t want the riders to have to spend time waiting in lines, so we do our best to ramp up and serve faster when it gets busy; and 3) responsible handling of food and drinks for both safety and convenience. The importance of food, water and Blue Rooms is evident.
What would a rider be surprised to know about what goes on behind the scenes on Cycle O?
The amount of time spent by both Cycle O staff and volunteers preparing for this event, and the dedication of the volunteers, many of whom use vacation time from their “day jobs” to come and work their tails off for the riders without pay, year after year.
Why do you keep coming back?
Cycle Oregon is a great organization with principles I believe in: cycling, being outdoors, economic stimulation of rural communities, sustainability, and fostering the next generation of cyclists. Add to that the opportunity to have a “guided tour” of some of the most beautiful and interesting areas of Oregon and neighbor states, while traveling with and meeting a lot of interesting people. Cycle Oregon is a true athletic achievement for the riders, and I enjoy watching and learning from the athletes who take it on.
How would you describe Cycle Oregon as an event to someone who’s never heard of it?
Seven days of having fun outdoors in some of the most beautiful sites in Oregon, hanging out with cyclists, and getting to know the true blood of Oregon, the citizens of the rural communities.
Tell us about a favorite moment (or two) from along the way.
First: In Enterprise, Oregon in 2008, we were setting up the lunch stop and one of the local volunteers suggested blocking a street by City Hall with the Blue Rooms. “I don’t think we have permission to block that street,” I said. The group of local volunteers burst out laughing, saying, “Oh, we give you permission!” I learned something about rural communities. The volunteers helping us were the town leaders – that’s the way it works in small rural communities. Cycle Oregon was going to benefit the town, and they were going to do whatever they needed to do to help it happen. That’s the Cycle Oregon-rural partnership.
Second: A rider approached me as we were packing up one day about 3 p.m., anxious and a little agitated, worrying that her family members coming behind her wouldn’t get to eat. I assured her that we know who’s out on the course, thanks to a great Cycle Oregon system, and that if we leave the site we leave bagged lunches and drinks at the site for those still out on the road. I know what it’s like to have a hard day and ride in late. She came back to me a few minutes later with an apology for her original approach and gave me a big hug and a thank-you.
What year has been the most memorable for you, and why?
Probably the first year, since Jeff and I were new to this volunteer job with Cycle Oregon, and every day was such a challenge. It was such hard work, yet at the end I felt like I’d had a vacation because it was such a complete change of pace and place from my usual daily life. And meeting all the wonderful people in this organization for the first time – that was really memorable. I can’t say it’s ever an easy job, but with each year, I have more systems in place and more insight to make it a little easier. This year promises to be memorable because I have ties to about half of the areas we’re traveling through, and I look forward to seeing them in the light of Cycle Oregon.
Is there a host town that really made an impression on you? Why?
I couldn’t single out one town without feeling I was neglecting multiple other towns who absolutely gave their all. Cycle Oregon experiences the “kindness of strangers” extended from our hosts to the whole moving town of 2,500 riders plus volunteers. The can-do attitude of the hosts and their delight in our presence moves me each day of Cycle Oregon.
There are few things more satisfying than putting the finishing touches on a worthwhile project. And through the years the Cycle Oregon Fund has been able to do just that in terms of funding, helping several noteworthy projects with the final infusion of cash to complete the task. If we’re not able to fund the entire project, it’s wonderful to provide the ending to what others have started.
Such was the case with the recently completed Harney County Community Center, recipient of a $35,000 Cycle Oregon Fund grant. Thanks to the collective effort of citizens all over Harney County, plus Cycle Oregon’s help, there’s a new hub for Burns and surrounding communities in this spread-out part of Oregon.
But let’s back up a bit. This all got started when former state representative Bob Smith and his wife Kay wanted to donate a building in Burns, which had no community center. Residents rallied behind the idea and formed the nonprofit Harney County Opportunity Team (HCOT) to see the project through.
“We didn’t have any kind of large facility the community could use,” says Linda Johnson, office coordinator for HCOT. “There was a definite need there for all of Harney County. With the Smiths’ donation of the building, we started building community support – and grant writing.”
A great example of that community support came in the face of a lack of complete funding at the project’s kickoff. The contractor on the project generously volunteered to start work and let the fundraising catch up to the costs.
As far as grant writing, Linda remembered when Cycle Oregon came to town in 2001, when she was director of the local Chamber of Commerce. “I understood a little about the grant process from that experience,” she says. “Then I was researching grants last summer, came across Cycle Oregon again and thought, ‘What a great fit!’ And we had such a wonderful experience when Cycle Oregon was here.”
The rest is a success story. The Harney County Community Center opened in December 2008 with the Chamber of Commerce as its anchor tenant, but it still needed plenty of work to be a finished product. The Cycle Oregon grant was enough to pay off the final financial piece of the project, the “Cap-Off Campaign,” and ensure some much-needed touches for the building, which now also houses a Visitors Center.
According to Linda and Bill Wilber, the Community Center board president, among the elements Cycle O’s funding will help are signage, window coverings that will lower utility bills (it gets cold in Burns in the winter), exterior lighting so the Visitors Center is visible from the highway, computers for meetings and for visitors to use, an expanded interpretive area/visitors library, new conference tables for more configuration flexibility, kitchen supplies and an enhanced sound system. That’s a lot of bang for the bucks.
“We wanted a hub for events, meetings and organizations,” Linda says. “The center has been very successful in meeting that goal. It’s getting a lot of use.” That includes hosting the Crane senior prom, weddings, event dinners and town-hall meetings. Citizens use it, as well as the Forest Service, the BLM and other organizations, and people coming in for events have a positive economic impact on the community as well.
“It’s become the hub for Burns and Hines, and also for outlying communities like Diamond, Frenchglen and Riley,” Linda adds. “When there’s a meeting, it happens here. It’s like an old-fashioned Grange Hall – a place where you can visit with neighbors, know what’s going on. It makes us feel like a family.”
