Winter Bike Touring in Oregon and Nevada

Curtis in Mt Hood National Forest. The snow got too deep to ride later this day, and we ended up getting a ride over the pass from a driver in a Suzuki Samurai.

The Suzuki Samuri was small but very capable.

The driver had a dog who Curtis befriended.

I have not done extended cold-weather bike touring until now. Anticipating this trip, I was looking forward to two things: 

1 Being able to carry butter without it melting

2 Being able to carry chocolate without it melting

One of my new favorite snacks is honey roasted peanuts and chocolate chips. I empty the peanuts and chocolate chips into a bag, shake the bag, and put some of the mixture back into the peanut container. The container is nice because you can open it, pour the mix in your mouth, and close it again without taking off your warm gloves.

Homemade trail mix.

Butter is great. Olive oil, which I've used in the past, just freezes. I started the trip with a partially full bottle, but eventually threw it away because I just couldn't use it. 

Potatoes and onions seem to be degraded by repeated freezing and thawing. I've been eating lots of meat, because I know it's always been kept cold enough. Sadly, peanut butter and eggs freeze solid.

Often when biking, my plans are centered around water access. The cold weather changes this. It's difficult to prevent water bottles from freezing, and when it does, you can no longer use the water or the bottle. So sometimes, carrying less water and just melting snow has been the better move. Also, outdoor spigots are mostly turned off, so it can be harder to find places to fill up. 

We passed through Ashwood, OR and the kind people there let us stay in the grange hall.

Hand-warming fire in Ashwood, OR.

I think sleeping on dry ground is much warmer than sleeping on snow or wet soil. After sleeping on snow, you can see where the snow melted around your warm body. Much heat is lost through ground contact. 

Here, Curtis is laying down dead shrubs to try and provide some additional insulation. We've already cleared the snow in a tent-size area.

This is the following morning. You can see frost around the heads of our sleeping bags, where the air is more humid from respiration. I couldn't apply sunscreen in the morning because it was frozen solid and didn't come out of the tube.

Curtis experienced worse and worse back pain. He also got sick. We took a detour and stayed in a hotel in Bend, OR.

Curtis drove a rental car back to Portland the following morning.

The situation reminds me of my first long bike trip, in 2018. My riding partner Elijah got really sick after a week and had to go back home. Without Elijah to update his blog, I was inspired to start this one.

Similar to what happened in 2018, I'm sad that Curtis was suffering and bummed that he couldn't continue. I'm enjoying the bike trip, though. So I'll continue riding south alone, for now. Maybe Curtis will rejoin me, maybe I'll meet someone else, maybe I'll get to Argentina alone, maybe I'll go back to Oregon. I don't know. 

This is the rock of Fort Rock State Park. Day two of riding alone. 

From this picture it might be possible to tell that my bike is facing north. The snow melts on the south-facing slopes, which can be seen in the background. 

Here is a room full of beautiful pottery at Planet X Pottery in Nevada.

I went to the middle of Black Rock City, of burning man festival. There wasn't another person or living thing there. Impressively desolate.

Parts of Nevada are very empty, but beautifuly vast.

This road along the power lines was just deep sand. I was barely able to keep riding.

This road was bordered with huge sagebrush. It has rained earlier, and the sage was very aromatic, it smelled floral. I ran into private property signs and fences, so I backtracked and got the privilege of riding this road a 2nd time. 

Map of the first three weeks of riding. 

Stay tuned for a post about a naturally-occuring composite material, bike maintenance in a hot spring, and more.