Saturday, September 8, 2012

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Click here to hear the early morning howls, yip & yelps of coyotes

We arrive in Bly, Oregon late Friday afternoon to check in and pick up our rider packets for Cycle Oregon. We’ve arranged for long term parking plus Tent and Porter service. Getting here early allows us a full free day to relax, walk around the campgrounds and familiarize ourselves with what to expect for the next 7 days.

Saturday is when the vast majority of riders come flooding into Bly to check-in for the event. Meanwhile, we have the time to walk down the street in the morning to have breakfast at the only restaurant in town-Coyote Ridge Cafe. It’s a small homey place staffed by the friendliest and prettiest bunch of girls in town.

We ordered some pancakes, bacon & eggs with hash browns and toast. The pancakes are delicious-both light and fluffy; the best I’ve ever had in my whole life! We ate more than half of them before I remembered to take some pictures of it. I also love eating bacon-it was thick cut with plenty of salty goodness!

While eating breakfast, I came upon a newspaper article by Lee Juillerat in the local paper-Herald and News about Cycle Oregon. The following excerpts are taken from that post-“Bly, with a population of fewer than 500 people is a classic host town for an event that began with the purpose of injecting much-needed economic boosts into Oregon’s small, rural towns. An added benefit to riders is the exposure to the state’s diversity of lifestyles. The event provides funds to volunteer groups in each host town and the Cycle Oregon Fund supplies grants to support bicycling in Oregon as well as the communities through which it rides. More than 2200 people are invading Bly in advance of Sunday’s start of the 25th annual Cycle Oregon and the town is ready. During their Bly visits, participants will find the streets along Hwy 140, which bisects the town, lined with decorated bicycles, part of a community wide contest that drew 42 entries.”

Now all we have to do is after breakfast is to walk around town to see all the exhibits of bikes-GREAT! This is what was seen around town:

Here are some of the bike displays-Click here to see more.

We get back to camp and see that a steady stream of cars filled with people and their bikes are flowing in. Bikes are parked everywhere and people are checking in and walking around the campground.

The volunteers are hard at work:

The locals are selling their products in the community tent area.

Other scenes from camp:

The day is winding down as dinner is being served in the dining area.

Live entertainment is from 8-9:30 PM daily. We have to try and get some decent sleep for the start of the week long ride. I’m looking forward to riding through Oregon to enjoy its beautiful natural landscape and quiet country roads.

Tomorrow morning, it’s on to Silver Lake-69.6 miles with 3860 of elevation.

~2200 riders

Click here to continue on to Day 1: Bly to Silver Lake

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Are we having fun yet?

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