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'I can't believe how those little bikes GO!' - most commonly heard phrase by a BF owner in the passing lane
BF Homecoming/Cycle Oregon 2003 PHOTO GALLERY shot by Hanz Scholz, Tim Link & Lynette Chiang.
More great campsite & finish line photos shot by Theresa Scholz. Spot yourself!
Can you stand more photos? says Ruthy Kanagy. Of course you can!
SHARE YOUR COMMENTS on the BF Homecoming/Cycle Oregon Forum.
WHAT A BLAST! Between 77 and 82 BF owners converged on Cycle Oregon 2003 for the first ever BF Homecoming held in conjunction with a major event. The exact number of BFs in attendance is uncertain because folks kept popping up telling us they were BF owners and how come they didn't hear about it? Aha, perhaps you'd changed your email address or told us never to darken your mailbox again!
A vicious rumor started when a paceline of BF fastfolk led by Co-Founders Hanz & Alan Scholz rocketed past the seething mass of 2300 riders to complete the 60-100 miles a day in time for a leisurely brunch at the next campsite.
'Bike Friday must have brought in pro riders to show off the bikes' was a comment heard at dinner by New World Tourist owner Teresa Ojeda.
A full story on the event is below. Meanwhile, enjoy the Photo Gallery above, and please share your comments, links to your own photo sites or philosophical navel-gazing about the event on the BF Homecoming/Cycle Oregon Forum, also above. If you have any great shots, send them along and we'll add them to the gallery.
Stay online, and thanks for joining us!
The pic shows our campsite with just 15 of the 77 folk who signed up - the rest were standing in line for their tucker or the toilet or... photo by Lynette Chiang
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Note: the views expressed in this story are not necessarily those of Bike Friday, in fact, they'll probably need to lie down when they read it. Lynette Chiang takes full responsibility for her own posturings.
'COME ON, I'll show you the wife oil.' Wife oil?
Tim turned around to see a father pulling his young daughter towards something clearly intriguing behind a bunch of cyclists. Look, there's the wife oil! The crowd thinned and there it was: the cooler-than-thou frame of a Trek Y-Foil road bike.
Ah.
With 2300+ riders, Cycle Oregon 2003 abounded with machines designed not only for keeping-up-with-the-Joneses, but blowing them to Billonga willoughby (a mythical place somewhere in the middle of the great Australian nowhere) with a 57-mph smirk: carbon fiber this, titanium that, fluorescent wheels laced like cocktail umbrellas, wheels with barely a criss-cross to keep them from going pear shaped, funny handlebar extensions that let you make like a missile.
There are always a proportion of wacky bikes at events like these, and I saw one true collectible: an immaculate Pederson. This quirky old machine has a frame like a tripod fallen over and a hammocky leather seat. Sensibly thought inauthentically, it was geared for A.D. rather than B.C., using a SRAM Dual Drive hub. It was piloted by a well-spoken gentleman raising funds for a charity in Tanzania. On the head tube he'd lashed an African mask, as had his two team mates. Why, he even asked me to come to Tanzania with him! But this year, arguably the most prominent subculture was the 77-strong Bike Friday Homecoming critical mass.
Right from Day 0, our little wheels generated comments like 'Hey buddy, what is all this Bike Friday mania?' and are you going to be able do the whole ride on that little bike?' Later, in the passing lane: 'I can't believe how those little bikes GO!' And even later: 'Bike Friday must have brought in professionals.' The wide perception is that little wheeled bikes are slow. This event - helped by our faster riders - would hopefully challenge that perception and help keep the little wheels rolling off the line.
But let's rewind a little.
This year, Bike Friday owner, former Specialized executive and all round nice guy Jerry Norquist took over the handlebars of Cycle Oregon, now in its 17th year. Some people have ridden every Cycle Oregon since it started.
'Do your 2003 Homecoming at Cycle Oregon,' he urged. 'Camp together, show bikes, have fun.' We invited interested folks to come to Eugene the day before departure to check out the factory, ride the wetlands bike path, eat Quizno's toasted sandwiches and partake of nut-studded ice cream bars at the Euphoria Chocolate factory, where Bike Friday's earlier incarnation, Advanced Training Products, use to live. Then, prepare for an 8-hour chartered bus ride out to the starting point at Baker City.
Guests of honor included the Gilpins and Inghams all the way from Downunder, collecting their Twin Air Q tandems, the first editions of this brand new model. Like its predecessor the Traveler Q, it breaks down to become a single bike, earning it monikers like the Divorce Bike, the bike recommended by Co-dependents Anonymous, and the OH, TO BE SINGLE AGAIN bike...
Other guests of honor included the five Sat R Day owners from Japan. One of them, Hiroki Ono, brought his Bilenky tandem which allowed his girlfriend to sit recumbent-style on the front while he pedaled upright on the back.
'He'd turn up to the Japanese bike rides with no-one on the front, then one day, the seat was occupied,' said Sat R Day owner Dr Ruthy Kanagy, our fluent Japan Community attaché.
Being a warm and fuzzy inclusive kind of club, we let him on the bus with his Bilenky. Just this time.
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Day 0: Baker City, camping in a juicy grass field.
Jerry had acted on the feedback from past riders, so we knew we'd be spared from camping in dustbowls or stony quarries. Many had asked for shorter rides with long options, to allow for more socializing.
Local kids lined up with wheelbarrows and dune buggies to cart our baggage to our campsite. It was clear they'd been primed for our visit - make yourselves useful to the riders and Cycle Oregon will come back to your town. Cycle Oregon gives thousands of dollars to several participating communities each year in exchange for hosting this giant 'wheeled migration'. You pump up our tires, we'll pump up yours. One boy even offered his phone number at home in case we needed anything. He'll probably be Sir Hilton Hotels II sometime in the distant future.
Air Glide (with fire engine red Rohloff Speedhub + matching red bootie on his front suspension fork) owner and commercial property man John Chamberlain took full advantage of the offer.
'I got this kiddo to set me up a conference call in town,' he enthused as he pitched his tent, and dived inside to answer his cell phone. He'd packed a rather large bladder of chardonnay to celebrate the many deals he'd close while simultaneously covering 60 miles a day.
John's Air Glide is known around the factory as the 'Lorena Bobbitt' Air bike. He instructed us to whack off the piece of tubing that sticks up from the bottom bracket (which normally houses the optional front derailleur and extra water bottle cage) for 'aesthetic reasons.' This operation makes him look truly suspended on his bike, rather like being perched on a see-saw fixed in mid-air.
Pipe-smoking Tom Saville had driven from Arizona in his RV, roped off an area for us, and propped his Air Llama on the fence as a smoke signal to approaching BFs. On this trip he was riding his Sat R Day and generously offered his Llama for test rides. Such is the generosity and community of Bike Friday owners. He also brought his telescope for watching Mars and spotting anyone left on the course after dark. He was the only rider to be seen pipe smoking and riding at the same time.
Somewhere on the 4th day, before the summit of the first giant hill, the sag wagon plucked Tom bodily off the mountain as he was taking photos and the sun was sinking.
'I was just enjoying myself, taking pictures, and they said, you won't even arrive at camp by this time tomorrow!'
Cycle Oregon has rules, to keep people in one piece. The course officially closes each day at 6.30pm, and if through sheer doggedness, pride or misguidedness, you insist on continuing, they make you sign a waiver, tie a big yellow tag on your arm and it's gracias adios.
I am happy to report that our Japan Community attaché Ruthy Kanagy was swooped but refused to be swept. Ruthy had ridden her Sat R Day around Hokkaido, but that was along time ago.
'It was only two miles, they tried to scare me and tell me it was eight, but I could see the campsite.'
Was it worth it, I asked her later?
'I can now pedal home in a higher gear,' she said triumphantly.
Copyright 2003 Lynette Chiang. All rights reserved.
More little wheeled folks (but still not all!) - Photo by Hanz Scholz
Shortcut to this story: www.bikefriday.com/cycleoregon2003
For more information, follow this link http://www.cycleoregon.com.