It all started when we missed Kim and David’s Austraheid ride on Labor Day in 1995. The Austraheid is pass on Highway NFS 19, from West Fir to Rainbow near Eugene, Oregon. This route crosses from the Willamette River to the  McKenzie River.

Jim and Glenda Galaba agreed to doing it again. Over the summer through the e-mail connection and long distance phone calls we finally completed the planning. We even coerced some long time friends from Pasco Washington to join us. Jim and Mary Kay Brittan joined Jim and Glenda with their daughter Sadie and Judy and I in Eugene on Friday, August 29, 1997 for a four day version of the earlier ride. Sadie drove the van to sag our camping gear (and a whole bunch of stuff we really didn’t need.)
After a quick lunch in Eugene we worked our way out to Jasper through the Eugene trail system and a gauntlet of tar and hot asphalt in the outskirts of Springfield. We regrouped and struck out again for Lowel and crossed Dexter Lake on the covered bridge. Now the highway no longer crosses the covered bridge. By carrying your bicycle, however, you can cross the Willamette on the historic covered bridge. The original ride continued on to West Fir. We chose to backtrack along Highway 58 to Dexter and camped overnight in the RV park there. A small cafe at the entrance to the park served up hot platters of  pasta.
We had a restful night, punctuated at intervals by passing trains. We were up early and back to the cafe for breakfast. We were delighted by a variety of omelets and banana nut pancakes and packed away enough fuel for a double century. After a leisurely morning of breaking camp we made quick work of the 23 miles to West Fir. Judy and I stopped for a photo shoot on “The Office” covered bridge in West Fir, so by the time we rode up, Todd, a local, was already clamoring over Mary Kay’s Counterpoint, Presto. Before the afternoon was over several of us had ridden Todd’s Danish made recumbent. It was really a delightful afternoon catching up on the history of the community and the West Fir Lumber company. The covered bridge, a remarkable bridge for it’s heavy duty design and perfect condition, became known as “The Office” bridge because the Lumber company office was at its East end. The “Office” is now the West Fir B&B Lodge. Our hosts, Kenneth and his wife were a delight. They told us the lore of the 1992 “Cycle Oregon” ride which crossed the Austraheid, Highway NFS 19, from West Fir to Rainbow. Those lucky enough to have stayed at the B&B had a huge breakfast and rode to the top at 3,746 ft with ease. The masses who breakfasted on the skimpy fare at Oakridge arrived like the survivors of the Donner party ready to eat anything.
We did compensate for the short day by riding to our supper in Oakridge. A new Mexican Resturant served up a delicious and hearty fare along with a duet of authentic Mexican Troubadours. Their repertoire included the delightful “Spanish Eyes.” The “Macerana” almost had us dancing, but I barely recognized the “Beer Barrel Polka.”
On Sunday morning we were all to breakfast by seven. We started with an exotic fruit cup and vanilla and chocolate yogurt. Scrambled eggs, sausages made special to their own recipe with mushrooms and stewed tomato crested with a cheese melt formed the main course. There were two flavors of scones washed down with coffee, tea and juices. By the time we finished, our water bottles were full of clean cold water and waiting on the hall table. If this is what heaven is like I’m ready to go now. By eight we had the sag wagon stuffed and were ready for our four bike mass start. Galabas ride a Co-motion mountain bike with a soft ride beam for the stoker. Dinsmore’s have their coupled Co-motion with 700 mm cross tires. Jim rides an aluminum Trek with the slimmest of road tires and Mary Kay rides the Counterpoint, Presto, recumbent. Jim Brittan hammers with the best of them in his Tri-Cities club, but on these rides they ride as much a team as any of the tandem riders. On the steepest inclines Jim provides a smooth steady push with one hand on the back of the Presto’s seat. As a team they swoop past us in dignified grace.
It is 32 miles to the top. We start at just over 900 ft and top out at 3,746 at Box Canyon Guard Station. The thirty miles are gentle one and two percent grades with an occasional pull at six percent. The two miles are an unrelenting eight percent. Yes, Kenneth’s breakfast did us proud. We all made it at our own speed and our own time. Then we celebrated with Sadie at the Box Canyon Guard Station with lunch. I remember inhaling two ham and cheese sandwiches and chugging a bottle of water before slowing down and savoring nearly a dozen of Glenda’s home made cookies.
The downhill, of course, was delightful. After the steep top portion where we had to brake carefully. We had several miles where we could just lay on the wind and hold an easy thirty miles per hour controlled decent. The pavement was new and smooth, and the traffic was sparse and considerate. A couple short pulls around Cougar Reservoir brought us to the dam where we regrouped again. We started another steep decent to the flats around Rainbow, then followed the back roads to a covered bridge across the McKenzie river to our camp ground.
For supper we tried to take the camp host’s advice and all piled into the sag wagon to try out the “Finn Rock” dining establishment. After a lengthy drive and some careful retracing of our route we finally came to the conclusion that they really did mean the tiny “Finn Rock” store which only served a small selection of hamburgers, cheeseburgers and hot dogs. Alas, while we stood there pondering our fate the owner walked out and tipped over the “Open” sign. We were doomed to return to Rainbow and eat at the “Rustic Skillet.” It had received a thumbs down from the same camp hosts who had recommended the “Finn Rock” as gourmet. Although our waitress was a bit overwhelmed and our meal a bit slow, we were served some very nice halibut and other hot and tasty entrees. We decided they were unjustly maligned.
The first three days were sunny and bright and the temperature hovered around seventy in the mid day. Monday dawned overcast and coolish. But as the ride developed we were treated to another wonderful day with broken clouds and mid sixties for the temperature. We broke camp quickly and were on our way by seven thirty. We all rode the six miles to Blue River, including Sadie on her cross bike. Breakfast at the cafe there was wholesome and wonderful. A variety of omelets and a house special called the McKenzie which was eggs and mushrooms over an English muffin with hash browns. The 52 mile ride into Eugene went fast under ideal conditions. We were ahead of most of the holiday traffic. By the time the RV’s and boats were streaming by we slipped off onto the bike route down Camp Creek road.
We disbanded in Eugene and made our way back into the insane world of freeway travel. However, nothing can take away the memories of the quiet grandeur of the tall Douglas Firs, Hemlocks and Ponderosa Pines. The sound of moving water is always refreshing, whether it is the chuckle of the roadside brook as you ride by, or the roar of the McKensey river just across from the camp ground all night at Rainbow. The Austraheid is worth riding again and again.