(September 10 – written by Dave)

In 2019 we rode Cycle Oregon as volunteers with the Nossa Familia Coffee truck. Fast forward to 2022 and we find ourselves back in the same jobs. The last three years have been nothing we, or anyone else, could have imagined. For starters, this is the first Cycle Oregon to be held since 2019 – Covid tried to kill Cycle Oregon but failed. On a more global scale, we’ve seen closed borders, open borders, more closed borders, vaccines and boosters, mask mandates, 5k lockdowns and even with all that, at least here in the USA, we’ve seen 2.7 years carved off the average adult’s life expectancy. What a shocker!

If there were an official motto for Cycle Oregon and life in general, it should be “Live now, worry later.” Or maybe “Seize the moment,” It’s only a bike trip, but woohoo, it’s a bike trip that we get to go on! You never know what you’ll be able to do next week, let alone next year. Get out there now, Woohoo.

Work on the CO Nossa crew is about the same. Get up most days at 4AM. Get the stand ready, make coffee and sell it to all comers. Break the stand down, clean and try getting on the road before they close the start line at 9AM. Ride like the wind to pass a few of the back markers, then race all the way to camp. Set-up for afternoon coffee sales. Clean up. Eat dinner and pass out about 8:30, just after the 8PM CO announcements. Get up the next day and do it all again. We’ll get to ride most of the ride. We’ll probably have to drive the van one day. We’ll work hard, have fun, see some of Eastern Oregon’s Painted hills and be part of the Nossa gang. We’ll be shattered at the end but can’t wait to get started. It’s great to be going on a bike ride.

Nossa Familia Coffee is a Portland, Oregon-based roaster that was founded in 2004 by Brazilian native Augusto Carneiro. Augusto has always felt a deep sense of pride for the work his family has done growing coffee in the highlands Brazil since the 1890s, and he formed Nossa Familia to bring his family’s coffee to Portland. Early on, all of Nossa Familia’s coffee was imported directly from his family’s farms. Over time Nossa developed relationships with coffee growers around the world, bringing excellent specialty coffees from Guatemala, Nicaragua, Peru, Ethiopia, and beyond.

According to the Cycle Oregon marketing team, “Cycle Oregon this year will be a week-long bike adventure through one of the most geographically diverse, awe-inspiring, other-worldly landscapes. We’ll ride on quiet roads among scenic rivers, sweeping farmlands, famous fossil beds, dense forests, and soaring spires. Oh yeah, and see first-hand why the Painted Hills has been designated as one of the Seven Wonders of Oregon. This is a ride for the ages.” We rode some of these roads way back in 1992 on our honeymoon tandem ride across the USA. We always said we’d come back and have more of a look around. So finally 30 years later, here we come.

We’ve been told mobile signal is pretty patchy out on the eastern side of the state, so blogging may be sporadic and may have to wait until the end of the ride. I’ll make daily notes and do what I can if and when we get signal. Stay tuned…