It may still be winter but if you’re anything like us you’re already dreaming up what bike shenanigans you’ll be getting into this summer. Well, save the date because we’re happy to announce that The 2024 Oregon Timber Trail Race and Tour will meet up for a group depart on Saturday, July 13th at Cave Lake in the Modoc National Forest. Learn more about this year’s event and start planning now. In the interim, we invite you to take a peek into the memory palace of Timber Trail alumni and board member Everett Ó Cillín as they reminisce on their experience setting out on the trail for the first group depart.

~ Cue the flashback sound effect ~

In March of 2021, I heard rumor that the Oregon Timber Trail would be hosting its first grand depart that July. I immediately started planning. Although I’d been touring by bike for nearly two decades at that point I was still only confidently mediocre when it came to technical mountain biking. I started training and with the help of some sweet friends was able to build out a full hardtail touring setup with hand me down parts and donated components. Most of my bags were already rackless and seamlessly transitioned to the new setup. Serendipity. If you’re curious about my setup for the 2021 Timber Trail you can check it out alongside all the other rigs from that year over on bikepacking.com.

After an incredible experience at the group depart for the Baja Divide in 2017 I was excited for another opportunity to play leapfrog out in the woods with a few dozen new friends. It didn’t even occur to me that I was signing up for a race until I went to register. I had no intention of competing for time, it’s just not my thing. I’ve always been more a fan of camaraderie and collaboration over competition, but I also know the two aren’t mutually exclusive. I filled out the form, entered into the non-binary category, and began feverishly researching the route. 

Several months later I was petting cute dogs and eating barbeque with my fellow riders at a county park in Lakeview.  The race organizers had gotten the community together for a lil’ meet and greet the night before the start. We got to chat up all sorts of folks who were in some way or another connected to the Timber Trail as they shared stories about their own experiences along the route, from stewards who worked hard to maintain the trail to regional bike shop owners who wanted to get to know some of the faces they would be seeing over the next few days and weeks. The next morning we piled ourselves and our gear into a series of cargo vans and headed south to the start point at Cave Lake. 

One by one we unloaded our bikes and made our way out to a little island-like thumb that jutted out into the lake where we mingled, got our portraits taken, and fussed about with our gear. As the last of us rolled in Gabe gave a tender heartfelt welcome to the group reading from a library copy of Home Ground. Pardon me for quoting my own Instagram post like a cringy elder millennial, but I remember the message being something like, “A trail is an intergenerational multi-species conversation. A community. A network of space and time connecting people, places, and ideas across a landscape. A chance to deeply engage with each other and the more than human world.” There was a lot of head nodding among the group as we listened and I felt a genuine sense of connection and community in that moment. That feeling stuck with me for the remainder of the ride and the sentiment continues to inform the way I travel to this day.

It was such a joy getting to meet everyone before setting off, it set the tone for the trip as a whole. Due to varying unforeseen circumstances (record high temperatures, wildfires, etc) a lot of us “scratched” from the race within the first several days but continued to ride. A celebratory act for some and bittersweet for others. I began to notice a sense of collective ease as riders found their own pace. I was lucky enough to fall in with a really solid group who managed to camp together most nights without even planning it. We rode when we wanted to, and stopped when we didn’t. Pushed ourselves when we felt a boost. We snacked and swam. Read each other’s tarot. It was a delight. 

I love riding with people, but I also need a lot of alone time. That's one of the reasons I love bike tour, it’s something we can do alone together. I spent most of the tour riding with Max Morales, Geo McGuts, and Conan Thai - each of whom wrote beautifully of their time on the trail so I won’t go into a full recap here. In fact, I got so sidetracked looking for those links that I no longer have the attention to finish this write-up. I think I’ll start planning my summer Hood Tier tour instead. Hope to see you on the trail this summer!