Bob on Cycle Oregon 2009

Day 7 Route

“Along the Applegate”
"How fitting to end the week with another historic and ruggedly beautiful ride. Today we head into the Applegate Valley, through which the famous Applegate Trail offered emigrants a safer route to Oregon. Start with a warm-up climb through oak, madrone and pine, then take on smooth rollers past vineyards and dairies in the valley. Choose the more- or less-hilly option into Jacksonville, and finish triumphantly in Medford. What a week".

This was our last riding day. Because we didn't have to hurry back to Medford to begin the long drive to the Bay Area, Jeff and I took the long option. We were happy we did. The scenery was terrific. Jeff had ridden on some of these roads before but not in the sequence we were doing them today. Our first two rest stops were at the Bridgeview Winery - Applegate Vineyard and the Valley View Winery. We didn't sample the wines. My legs turn to rubber when I sample wine on a ride.

The main climb of the day was up Sterling Creek Road. It was steep near the end so I got into my lowest gears and spinned up the hill. (One rider that passed me complimented me on my cadence while she was struggling in a much higher gear). Jeff got up to the top before me and waited. We both flew down the descent until we hit the Jacksonville city limits. Jeff warned me that the police camp out just past the 25 MPH limit sign and give tickets to bicyclists for speeding. Sure enough, there was a police car just ahead. We had already slowed down.

The route took us through the middle of Jacksonville (for the merchant's sake) and out to our final rest stop at the Cascade Christian School. I decided to sample the nectarines that we had seen uneaten at most of the other rest stops. They were not close to being ripe. No wonder there were so many left over.

We hopped back onto our bicycles and rode the final 6 miles to the finish line in Medford. We said goodbye to Christie, Jim and Steve who were finishing their lunch. Then we went through the lunch line and got our overcooked barbecue chicken. After eating, we called Connie to ask her to pick us up. Then we found our luggage, got into the van and rode back to Ashland.

By the time Jeff and I cleaned up, Ann and KD arrived. We went to an early dinner at the Great American Pizza Company for dinner and had some Ashland Amber and a huge Mediterranean pizza. We topped that off with ice cream at Mix after picking up KD and Casper for their evening walkie. When we got back to the Lynn's house, we tried to carry on a conversation but we kept dozing off even when Chloe played some of her original musical compositions on the piano. So it was early to bed.

You can take a simulated tour of today's route by clicking here.