My love for bikes as an adult started when I purchased an old school Raleigh hardtail mountain bike during college when I lived in the Washington DC area. I couldn't afford a car and frankly, I didn't want a car since parking always seemed impossible. The bike got me to and from work over the years and soon I became a dedicated bike commuter, eschewing even the metro. When I started bike commuting, Washington DC had little to no infrastructure and over the next 10 years, I saw the efforts of great organizations like the Washington Area Bicyclist Association successfully advocate for protected bike lanes. By the time I quit my life as a lawyer, I could bike from SE to NW for a 7 mile commute with 90% of my route protected from vehicles.
When I moved to Oregon, I bought a little Honda Fit, primarily for adventures and still relied on my bicycle to get around town. Despite Bend's reputation as a "bike town," there was no real infrastructure for people who bike. It seemed like most people just gave their road and mountain bikes rides around on their cars. I decided I'd rather be a part of the solution rather than just complain about it, so in 2017, I joined the board of Bend Bikes, a scrappy grassroots organization that advocates for the safety of people who bike.
Fast forward over 4 years later, I find myself the president of the board. As a part of revisioning Bend Bikes, I decided that for the first time in the history of the organization, we needed to have a real board retreat like other non-profit organizations. Only we were going to break the mold of traditional non-profits... and so our board went on an overnight bikepacking trip for some bike joy and bonding.
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North Star route designed by the amazing folks over at Good Bike Company in Prineville made for a perfect overnighter. Short enough to be accessible to everyone on our board as a day ride or overnighter, just enough climbing to make it fun for the more experienced riders, and a posh campground with running water, pit toilets, and a camp host who sells firewood. The gravel was mostly perfect, not too dusty, and very little washboard except a small section on the second day.
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| Perfect fall weather, blue skies, empty roads, cool rock formations, and the best of company! |
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| All the bike talk at camp. |
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| Our neighbor in camp loves bikes... and came over and gave our group two bottles of wine as an excuse to examine our bikes! |
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| We didn't realize the campground had firewood, so we each carried a log just to ensure this moment could happen. |
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| Views of Steins Pillar and all the sexy bikes. |
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| Just like around town, a little chill won't keep us off our bikes! |
A few tips for cycle tourists:
- Check in with the folks at Good Bike Company if you have any questions about riding in the Ochocos! The owner is super nice and has all the intel. If you are doing a weekender, parking next to the courthouse is just fine. Otherwise, you can park at the Chamber of Commerce and even check in with them so if you don't come back, they will keep an eye out on cars that seem to be there longer than planned.
- We camped at the Wildcat Campground which has a pleasant host who sells firewood. While the campground is first come first served, the host told us that he never sold out the campsites during the 2021 season. Each site has a limit of 6, but there is a great secluded walk-in group campsite that the host did not tell us about... but if I had to do it again, would choose to stay there. The individual sites are $15 and the group site was $35.
- Call ahead to check when the campground is open if you want to rely on the water pumps! This year, the campground was open until October 15th.
- While there is a fair amount of dispersed camping around this area, this was such a dry year that Mill Creek was barely running and there was no water this time of year for filtering.
- Riding the last section on Highway 126 into town was the worst part of the ride, but we stayed close and it felt pretty safe to ride single file as a huge crew.
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