Allan Brettman

MCMINNVILLE -- Cycle Oregon Weekender riders got a glimpse of two distinct faces of Yamhill County agriculture on Saturday and Sunday. The two-day annual ride presented by the nonprofit organization was based at Linfield College, with hundreds of tents dotting the campus lawns. An entertainment stage and beer tent was set up in the shadow of Pioneer Hall, the four-story Italianate building that opened in 1883 and once housed the entire college. On Saturday, riders traveled west of the McMinnvi

DORA - Some Cycle Oregon days have a lot of distance, some have a lot of climbing and descent and some have gobs of scenery. The second day of Cycle Oregon 2016 had a little bit of everything. The day began with a fog hanging over a farmer's field in Camas Valley, in western Douglas County. Temperatures hovered near the low 30s. It ended about 74 miles later, with 6,141 feet of elevation gain, on the Oregon Coast in Bandon in Coos. And in the afternoon, temperatures rose to nearly 80 degrees.

Vistas that seemingly go on forever are a feature of Cycle Oregon routes that venture eastward. But this one is near Walla Walla, when the ride traveled into Washington. By ALLAN BRETTMAN The Oregonian | OregonLive Oakridge is the kind of place made for Cycle Oregon. Deep green Cascade Range foothills surround the tiny Lane County community. Streams and rivers course nearby. And a bonus: The town is the self-proclaimed mountain biking capital of the Northwest. There’s a flip

OAKRIDGE -- Somewhere between the riverside campground and the 4,800-foot top of the Alpine Trail, I wondered seriously why I was on this big yellow school bus. I peered out the window and over the edge of a gravel road, into a steep drop-off to the Middle Fork of the Willamette River valley far, far below. I said a silent curse. The bus veered left, and trail guide Mike Adamson, seated next to me, kept talking. "That's The Jedi," he said as we passed a Willamette National Forest trailhead. "

BEAR CAMP OVERLOOK - In September 1994, I was one of 2,000 or so people sweating, grunting and spinning up a road that seemed to have no end. This was my introduction to Bear Camp Road, a climb in Curry and Josephine counties that is so relentless that it has entered Cycle Oregon lore as one of the most challenging ascents in the event's 29-year history. I don't remember much from that day 22 years ago, only that my left pedal got unscrewed from its spindle (I managed to not fall over after it

The trip around Mount Hood on the Timberline Trail got off to a sunny start, stopping at a Zigzag Canyon overlook. By ALLAN BRETTMAN The Oregonian | OregonLive Twenty years ago, I first backpacked the Timberline Trail at Mount Hood and have gone back a half-dozen times since. Each hike had its own bits of drama. On the first trip, I hiked the 40-mile route around the mountain in two days (not recommended) and arrived at Timberline Lodge in the dark greeted by an early September sno