Preservation note Tom’s original wording and sequence are retained. Higher-quality family copies are used only where their relationship has been verified.

May 25 to June 3, 1997

I am tired of the rain and cold, although it's been kind of nice the past 2 weeks, so I will leave Portland, Oregon, by bike on May 25, 1997 for SUNNY California. My route is as follows:

Day-1 to Salem (OR), 62.5 miles...
Day-2 to Eugene, 70.95 miles...
Day-3 to Roseburg, 77.31 miles...
Day-4 to Medford, 99.98 miles...
Day-5 to Weed (CA), 82.52 miles...
Day-6 to Red Bluff, 107.6 miles...
Day-7 to Sacramento, 150.07 miles...
Day-8 to Santa Nella, 114.0 miles...
Day-9 to Kettleman City, 103.81 miles...
Day-10 to Tulare, 63.18 miles...

I plan on returning to Portland in June. On Aug. 3, I will join Adventure Cycling on their "Sound to Sea" tour. Next will be Cycle Oregon X which starts on Sept. 7.

Day 1

The first day of my tour is now completed! The ride ended up being 62 miles instead of the 55 that I had scheduled. One flat tire made for the extra couple of miles, I had to go to a bike shop to pump it back up to full pressure. I rode I-5 down to Salem with a headwind, the weather being overcast. As of right now I am feeling great!

Day 2

Today ended up being 71 miles for the day. I was able to fit it all in to 5 hours and 30 minutes. There was no rain today while on the ride, but a cool and sunny morning until about 2 PM when it warmed up. I met a bicyclist named Jim and we rode for awhile. He invited me to stay with him and his wife, and I accepted.

Day 3

The third day was 77.3 miles , which lasted 6 hours and 3 minutes. I started out in the rain at 7 AM which lasted for 20 miles. Then the sun came out and humidity started to set in. By the time I got to Roseburg it had reached 83 degrees and very muggy. I arrived at the motel and around 5 PM and it started to rain again, so I decided to order in from an Italian restaurant, that would bring me a delicious meal, spaghetti and meatballs, french bread, and a great salad.

Day 4

Today was considerable longer than the previous 3, in that I traveled 100 miles (a "century" as I like to call it). It took around 8 hours to accomplish the task in the pouring rain. While crossing a bridge I blew a tire. I had to walk the bike with the front tire in the air across the bridge, to change it on a narrow shoulder. I was splashed repeatedly by the passing vehicles only 19 miles from my destination, Medford. I was so saturated everything had to be hanging or spread around the motel to dry. The heater had to be cranked as high as it to go, turning the room into a potential rainforest. Some things dried more quickly than others. But after a nice shower, I went to Hometown Buffet for dinner as all my stuff dried. When I returned most every thing was dry.

Day 5

The 7 hr. 23 min., 83 mile ride was slower than usual because of the extra weight on my bike. The road surface was so bad going down on the California side, that I had to go slower than usual. There was a head wind going from Yreka to Weed. There is a permanent wind sign to warn people of the wind that can go either direction. See you tomorrow.

Day 6

108 miles, I rode in 8hrs. and 25min. I left Weed at 6:45 AM, the air was crisp and cool. At Pollard Flat I had a mammoth breakfast, where the ham hangs over the side of the plate. They also have GREAT pancakes.

Day 7

Today is the day I have been waiting for as it would be a new route for me. Should I take 99E or 99W? After talking to the bike shop owner in Red Bluff, I decided to take 99W. The mileage for the day should be 139 miles I thought. I got a early start, 5:23 AM, as I expected it to get hot. Again, I would have a head wind for over 120 miles. As I reached Corning it started to rain, very lightly. This would be a good place for breakfast. After eating, the rain was gone for the day. The road was long and flat with very little to look at. As I approached Sacramento I could tell that the expected 139 miles would be exceeded. The day turned out to be very nice with the temps reaching the low 90's. As I pulled into the motel my mileage was 149.3, so I rode around the block to make it 150.07 miles, in 12 hours of riding. Not a bad day for this 60 year old.

Day 8

I slept in today after yesterdays 150 miles, leaving at 6:55 AM. The temps again would be in the high 80's to the low 90's; my kind of day. I would get back on I-5 today (Interstate Highway 5) and see if I have any problems with the CHP (California Highway Patrol) as I did last year. In my front bag I had the letter from the CHP saying that the 2 Officers who gave me such a bad time last year were wrong, and that I-5 was open to bike riders. Over the next two days on I-5, six CHP cars would pass me. They gave me no problems and in one of the cars was one of the Officers from last year. As he passed me he must have just bit his lip and kept on driving. Turning south on I-5 I had my first tail wind of the trip; it was great. The miles for the day turned out to be 114. There is a very good chance that I broke a front axel today. Thanks for quick releases I just clamped the axel together and kept on riding. I will look at the axel when I get home. (The axel was not broken but the cone on the left side had tilted, making a clicking sound)

Day 9

Another easy day, as I just headed south on I-5. The tail wind was still there; covering 104 miles in 7 hours and 39 minutes. Temps in the mid 90's.

Day 10

It was my last day and I felt kind of down. I have never wanted any of my tours to end. Heading east I felt the head winds starting to pick up. At times the wind was so strong that I could only go 7 to 9 MPH. I was crossing the valley from I-5 to Highway 99 and the town of Tulare, home of my wife's sister and her family. Today was overcast with temps in the 80's. I stopped for lunch in Corcoran ( home of a very large California State Prison, which I could see from miles away ). As I reached Tulare and ½ miles from the end of the ride I had another flat, I could have cried. It's funny that last year in 1451 miles and 18 days I had no flat and on this trip I had 3. The day ended with 63.2 miles in 5 hours and 32 minutes.

Note

After reaching Tulare my brother-in-law, who loves his golf, and I played 18 holes on a different course each of the next three days. I was more tired from the golf than the ride.

Summary

This was my hardest tour as it required more effort than normal due to 7 days of head winds. The wind came form the south-west on this tour where on past tours it came from out of the north-west. Like they say "The worst day on tour is better that the best day at work." All in all it was a good ride.

Quick tour facts:
Total miles = 931.9
Total days riding 10
Average miles per day = 93.19
Total days it rained = 2
Total money found = $4.93
Shortest day 62.5 miles
Longest day 150.07 miles
Total Pepsi Points found = 35
Total tools found (box wrenches/screwdrivers) = 7
Total bandannas found = 3 (collecting now at 133)
Total flat tires = 3

Sad note

Before I left for the tour I took my 1994 Trek 2200 into the bike shop to have the wheels rebuilt. The current composite spokes made by Fiber-Flight were just breaking to often. In 29 years of riding I broke one spoke, on this bike I was breaking a spoke on every other ride (the spoke did not break it was the J-ends). The shop rebuilt the rear wheel over this past winter and I went 8 rides before a spoke broke . I was just tired of not knowing when the next spoke would break. So I took the bike in for a spoke replacement job. I picked out a very nice looking airfoil shaped, bladed, stainless-steel spoke, and left the bike .

When I got home I gave the shop a call and got their answering machine, with this message on it, "It's been about a week since the fire, we are trying to contact those who had bikes or wheels in our shop". I learned that my bike was burned to a crisp in the fire that destroyed the bike shop. I think all that might be left of the bike are the 3 main carbon tubes. As of now I don't know what the settlement will be. I had put more $ into the bike then the bike cost. It was set up the way I wanted it, full Campy, triple chain-ring, aero bars, time peddles and shoes and many other nice to have extras. This was my retirement gift to my self. I always rode faster when I was riding the Trek, it was fast. Goodbye

Pictures from my tour

On day 8 as I was heading for Stockton, Ca I came upon a sign that read " Road closed 2 miles ahead, bridge out. " As I was thinking about what to do a car passed me going towards the bridge, so I also rode on. After about a mile the car came back, so I knew I was in trouble. This bridge is about .25 miles long and crosses a wildlife area of mash and rivers. When I reached the bridge it had a full barricade with a very heavy duty chain going from one side to the other. After realizing that I did know the roads to get me around this closed road, I took a closer look to see if I could get through. On each side of the center barricades there were smaller saw-horse ones. I was able to push it over and lift my bike over. Now if only the other side was the same way. The bridge was ok for a bike to ride on and I could see no problems with it. On the other end I was able to do the same thing.

I stopped in the town of Thornton just south of the closed bridge and talked to the locals. They said the bridge was closed due to flood damage and may never open again. They also told me that there was no easy way around the area without covering many miles.

After a seven mile climb I was looking forward to a great downhill. The downhill lasted for about four miles, or until I hit the Oregon California border. In California the road turned so bad you just could not let your bike roll. It was bad enough that the shoulder was full of patches but about ever 10 yards there was a kind of a drainage trough which was four inches wide and running across the shoulder. To hit this trough at 40 MPH with a loaded bike could cause some damage to the bike, so I had to take it slow.

" Uphill is good for the heart and downhill is good for the spirit " TOB

The Siskiyou summit was the high point of my tour. The above downhill was on the other side of this summit.

The road kill was awesome. There were skunks, opossums, raccoons, porcupines, rabbits, snakes, mice, deer, rats and birds. There were more dead snakes that anything else.

As I rode along among the roadkill I was thinking about my tour in 1996 which was from Portland to the Mexican Border. Day 13 took me from Kettleman City to Pismo Beach. On that day west of Kettleman City while ridding on Highway 46 I came across a 4 mile stretch where I rode over millions of grasshoppers. The shoulder was just covered with them. Once through this area I had to stop and clean their bodies out of my gears and chain.

Portland to Tulare Tour