Page 1 of Rewirement

 It has been a few weird months, and weeks... 

After considering and committing to a retirement date, I was sorting around for ride ideas and friends to go along. In March I was in a conversation with a certain cyclist friend (Brian) where I suggested a redux trip around the Olympic Peninsula. It was gently suggested there might be cool rides in Oregon. 

Taking the hint, I let the internet do some searching and among a lot of possibilities, I ran across Ride the Rim, two one-day events run on the second and third Saturdays of September. On each Saturday, the eastern 3/4 of the road around Crater Lake is closed to auto traffic, and +2000 cyclists check out the views from the rim, and ride down one valley and up to the next viewpoint... ~4000' of climbing in 34 miles. Somehow this ride caught my interest. I haven't seen Crater Lake since Nate was 2. And I thought a one day event is not enough good stuff for the effort to get there and back. If only there were a way to bike-camp to and from the event... hmm.

Now rewirement is a better description of deciding to make a life-change, especially for myself who has not been used to making big changes, hence 33 years at the same workplace. And since October I have been self-assessing if I'm on the right track. I think that assessment is the act of rewiring, making sure the new direction is a good one, and noting the positive feelings are not going away... Maybe too much introspection for those of you who have been lucky or unlucky to change jobs more frequently... sorry.

I did some mapping and planning of the route to Crater Lake. Climbing Willamette Pass from Eugene involves 4000' of climbing over 30 miles... as my friend Mark says, planning is the fun part... well, it does ignore the pedaling part. So I talked out loud to whoever might listen about the thought of maybe riding doing this combined tour and Ride the Rim event... and looked at a number of ways to do it. Take the train to Eugene, or Klamath Falls. Ride four (or two) days to the Crater Lake campground, do the ride on Saturday, and ride two to four days out to an Amtrak connection back to Seattle. The short route avoids the 4000'. But is it too short? And can I really do it after not riding much during the last few years of work/Covid.

I had a work trip in mid-April, to the Netherlands. The pass-off of some project information. During introductions, one of the contractors talked about hoping to visit the American West and some of the spectacular National Parks. I mentioned the undefined ride, noting the spectacular scenery at Crater Lake. And at the end of the work trip 10 days later, he reminded me that I should send him a photo from the ride. I was surprised I hadn't thought about the ride the whole time, I had almost forgotten. 

So over the course of another month, I decided to ride in from Eugene (the four day) 

and return in two, as the slightly shorter return path includes +6000' of downhill. 

And if two 75 mile days are too much, there are some fallback campgrounds along the way.

Test ride with full load...

So here I am a week away from the ride start on the 12th, and the fires are burning, here and in Oregon. As the days progress, the Cedar Creek fire north of Willamette Pass gets worse and worse. There is a fire 30-some miles northeast of us and we get the smoke too. This photo was taken Sept 10th at 5:50 pm.

That Saturday, the conditions at Rt 58 and Willamette Pass were hazardous for breathing, and I cancel the train ticket to Eugene. Instead, I rebooked to Klamath Falls and the 2 day ride in, starting with a train ride on the 14th.

And now, on the 13th, the train to Klamath Falls is cancelled! This is evidently due to the upcoming rail strike and disruption of the freight tracks that Amtrak operates on. By 9 am we determine I'm driving down. I will drive down to Klamath Falls the back way, east of the Cascades, and avoid Willamette Pass for now. The plus side? I can carry my camping fuel and swiss army knife with me... not an option on Amtrak.

I'll try to post daily, and that (hopefully) glorious picture of deep blue Crater Lake on Saturday.

I hope this finds you well.

John