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Wild Heart Cycling – Your Green Adventure Awaits
Take a vacation from the ordinary. Experience life up close and personal with a Wild Heart Cycling tour.
Bend, Oregon, April 2007 - Wild Heart Cycling, a bike touring company headquartered in Bend, Oregon, has an innovative idea: high end bike tours without the greenhouse gas-generating support van.
The owners of Wild Heart Cycling are passionate about our earth, and are committed to only offering vehicle free tours, the first cycling tour company to do so. Wild Heart Cycling offers vehicle free, fully catered bicycle tours - tours where guests carry their own personal belongings, while being pampered by guides on bikes. They forgo the greenhouse gases and smog associated with a support van. Over a touring season this amounts to thousands of pounds of greenhouse gases that were never generated. Additionally, having a sag wagon driving up and down the road diminishes the experience of Oregon’s beauty.
Their commitment to being green doesn’t stop when you get off your bike. They are foodies, so they provide delicious meals to fuel your body and tempt your taste buds. Where possible, they purchase the days food as they travel through some of Oregon’s small communities. Local produce will always be at the top of the shopping list, with the intent to give a boost to Oregon’s rural economy.
Wild Heart Cycling also offer shorter tours designed as a hub and spoke, staying at a central location and riding to a different area each day. As with their longer tours, you can be assured they will seek out the best places to ride, with a minimal carbon footprint.
Whether it’s rolling along an old logging road or smooth sailing down a road, Wild Heart tours are fun, challenging and scenic. Traveling with a maximum of ten cyclists per tour to foster friendships and eliminate crowds, their tours explore the road less traveled. After all, it’s hard to get away from it all when you’re standing in line.
Life’s a journey. Get the front seat.
Contact: Anne-Marie Glover
Anne.marie@wildheartcycling.com
Wild Heart Cycling
Bend, OR
877-8GO-WILD
http://www.wildheartcycling.com
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Taking the High Road
Gusto: Premiere Wine and Food Magazine – John Laherty
Open skies, endless vistas and amazing scenery you can reach out and touch, all unfolding before you to the cadence of spinning pedals and the quiet whir of tires on blacktop. That’s the experience every bicycle touring company tries to provide, and Bend-based Wild Heart Cycling offers more ways to explore Oregon by bike than any other company in the country.
But that’s only part of the story.
“It’s all about getting from point A to point B by bike, and enjoying the experience,” says co-founder Ben Leber, who started Wild Heart with his wife, Celia, four years ago. For the Lebers, that means doing it in an environmentally friendly way, and eating well in the process. From Wild Heart’s inception, the Lebers knew that if they were going to consider their business a success, they’d have to offer more than a wide variety of classic multi-day Oregon rides. The company would also have to reflect their passion for great food, and their commitment to protecting the environment. The question was, How to do it?
The first step was easy: Eliminate the sag wagon, the motorized support vehicle many touring companies use to carry the food, clothing, camping equipment and other gear needed for a trip. For Wild Heart, there would be no emission-spewing Suburbans cruising up and down Oregon’s scenic byways in the name of non-motorized recreation. Instead, the trips would be self-supporting. Customers and guides would carry all of their gear with them, in small trailers pulled behind their bikes.
But what about the food? How could the company consistently dish up nutritious gourmet meals for up to eight customers and two guides, on self-supporting tours lasting six or more days and covering some 200 miles of rural roads?
The answer? Shop along the way.
“We realized the only way we could make it work was to buy food locally,” explains Celia. “So we created our menus based on what was in season, and what we knew we could find in local markets and stores. Now we call ahead and tell the stores what we need, and they have it ready when the guides get there each day.”
Plus, says Ben, “there’s room for serendipity. If a roadside stand is selling fresh cherries in Grand Ronde, you’ll probably have cherries on your pancakes in the morning.”
The result is creative, nutritious meals prepared with fresh, locally grown produce, and a welcome boost to Oregon’s rural economies. And this fits perfectly with the Lebers’ vision for Wild Heart.
“Green and local,” says Ben. “That’s what it’s about.”
It’s also about satisfying hungry cyclists. As Ben and Celia have learned, many of Wild Heart’s customers are as passionate about food as the Lebers themselves. “Some people forget to fill out their medical history form before a trip,” says Ben. “But everybody lets us know what they want to eat.”
To give me an idea what Wild Heart’s clients can expect at the end of a day’s ride, Celia and Ben invited me to a Wild Heart dinner at their Bend home. For starters, the Lebers served up sliced Boursin cheese on rosemary flatbread, followed by a fresh cucumber, tomato and feta salad served with a dressing of lemon juice, olive oil and basil. Next up were thick slices of portabella mushrooms, sauteed in olive oil, sprinkled with fresh parsley and drizzled in balsamic vinegar.
The entree was a Wild Heart favorite, aptly named “Light Your Fire Pasta,” spaghetti with shredded parmesan cheese, chopped red chili peppers, garlic, parsley and olive oil. Spicy, flavorful and delicious, the only thing that would have made it better would have been if I were eating it around a campfire after a 60-miler through the Cascades.
Gourmet doesn’t have to mean complicated. When you’re carrying your kitchen with you, it’s the little things. The right combination of flavors, the freshness of the ingredients, the skill of the chef, those are what count. Celia and Ben prepared my dinner on one stove burner, using only a couple of pans and bowls, yet the food looked and tasted like something I’d expect to find at a fancy downtown Bend eatery.
Wild Heart offers tours throughout Oregon, with a wide range of trip lengths and accommodations. On some, such as the 260-mile Oregon coast tour, riders bunk down at inns and hotels along the way. For others, like the seven-day, 274-mile Wallowa Mountains trip, it’s ultra-light tent camping. And for those who believe a great ride deserves a great wine, the four-day Willamette Valley wine tour offers both.
Regardless of the trip, one thing is for sure: the combination of classic Oregon bike touring, fantastic food and environmental stewardship makes Wild Heart Cycling one of the most attractive vacation options in Oregon. For more information, including tour details and pricing, check out www.wildheartcycling.com.
To download a PDF of the article, click here.
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Sustainable Cycle
Published at www.thegreenspot.org, Becca Katz, 2008
A few years back, bike convention goers slowed as they passed the Wild Heart Cycling booth. They scanned pictures and brochures, salivary glands activated by the descriptions and pictures of gourmet food served up on Wild Heart’s tours. After a few moments of consideration and further reading, their brows furrowed.
“Where’s the van? You know, the SAG Wagon?” They asked, contemplating the logistics required to pull off a multi-day, self-supported bike tour.
Wild Heart Cycling co-founders, Ben and Celia Leber, patiently explained that they don’t use so-called “SAG” wagons – they carry everything with them in bright yellow Burley Trailers (made in Eugene, OR). And, better yet, so do all their clients.
“It’s really about traveling the way we like to travel,” Ben says, looking over at Celia’s smiling agreement. “On vacation we wouldn’t have a van. And, it’s not that hard to do. We thought—let’s bring that to people, show them how to do it and that they can do it.”
“We’re both backcountry skiers, so we’re used to a style of travel where you bring everything you need with you. When we looked, there didn’t seem to be any bike guiding companies operating without a SAG vehicle,” Celia explains. “We wanted to turn people onto the idea that you don’t need a car.”
Traveling without a van on vacation is one thing. Running a bike-touring business where clients are expected to haul all their own gear is quite another. The Lebers wouldn’t have it any other way, though.
Ben and Celia think that either people are becoming more aware or they’re starting to warm up to the idea of losing the SAG wag, because during the three years since they first went into business, they’ve stopped getting so many ‘where’s the van?’ questions.
The Lebers are excited about reducing the tracks their bike tours leave on the planet – which means they consider the environmental consequences of all of their decisions, large and small. The decision to cut the SAG wagon alone reduces Wild Heart Cycling’s greenhouse gas emissions by 40,000 lbs per year.
“Minimizing impact is one of Wild Heart Cycling’s corporate values.” Ben explains.
Sitting in the Leber’s home office with their dog, Rhea, and cat, Louie “the Enforcer”, playfully jostling under the table, Wild Heart Cycling sure doesn’t feel very corporate. However, their decision-making does embody their impact minimizing ethics.
“We’re always trying to think about how to reduce waste, to plan well. It’s the sum of a lot of small decisions where we’re trying to be more intentional, to make sure our business is economically viable and consistent with our environmental ethic,” Celia explains. This includes everything from printing on recycled paper with soy-based ink to buying food locally and supporting local businesses along the way to planning routes that are loops rather than those requiring a leg of driving.
The ten or fewer participants on Wild Heart Cycling’s intimate bike tours explore landscapes from the Wallowa Mountains to the Oregon Coast. All of the tours are packed with gourmet food (Ben and Celia are self-declared “foodies”), knowledgeable guides, and local flavor in the shape of charming B&Bs, bountiful farmer’s markets, and good people.
Ben and Celia recently returned from a new tour, the “Willamette Valley Wine Sampler”. Though they are nostalgic for the tasty local cheese, berries, and wine they imbibed en route, Ben and Celia already have their gears cranking for next season.
Some of their plans include unveiling an improved website (www.wildheartcycling.com) which will feature sustainable living tips and a section covering the rich cycling community native to Oregon. They also plan to add some new tours, so stay tuned and get ready to saddle up for your next riding adventure.
If you would like to sign up for their email newsletter you can send them an email at info@wildheartcycling.com or visit their website (www.wildheartcycling.com).
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Making the Tour
Published in The Source, Bob Woodward 2007
With the advent of cooler weather, cleaner air and the leaves beginning to change color comes Oregon's best road bicycle touring season. For a many avid riders that means making a tour with a professional guiding service that offers small-group tours.
Countless bicycle touring companies cater to those who prefer small-group tours, and almost every one of them does sag wagon supported camping and inn-to-inn tours. And it's the lack of sag wagon support that separates Bend's Wild Heart Cycling from the pack.
Wild Heart tours, inn-to-inn or camping, are self-supported, with each cyclist pulling a small Burley trailer with all the gear he or she will need for the trip. On the camping trips, Wild Heart guides haul along all the cooking essentials.
"When we tell people that our trips are self-supported and that they'll be riding with a small trailer, they're taken aback at first," says Wild Heart co-owner Celia Leber.
"But it doesn't take for long for them to get the hang of riding with the trailer and enjoying it," adds Celia's husband and co-owner Ben.
The Lebers' company now offers seven different tour options around Oregon and is considering making some Northern California additions. To check on their trips, go to www.wildheartcycling.com.
(Note: Only the portion of the article pertaining to Wild Heart Cycling is shown)
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Cycling with Antelopes: The Unexpected Joys of Eastern Oregon Bike Touring
Published in Bicycle Paper and Cycle California, 2006
Renee glimpses it first, a delicate tan and white creature, standing watching us from across the field. We stop to watch it, and standing still we can pick out several more. Pronghorn antelopes. As we stand along the side of the road, a warm dry wind whispers past, across the silent prairie and into the Ponderosa pines that border it. Suddenly they run, flying across the meadow as if racing the afternoon wind. Another day of cycling in Eastern Oregon…
When I mention cycling in Eastern Oregon to friends, they look at me quizzically, apparently having visions of miles of barren desert, with skulls of cattle and unprepared cyclists littered across the sagebrush. Understandable, if you have only experienced Eastern Oregon from the window of a car headed across the interminable open country on I-84 or Route 20, the most direct East-West highways. But in reality, cycling nirvana awaits when you wander onto the back roads of Eastern Oregon.
This article will introduce just a few of the many possible destinations in Eastern Oregon, and give an idea of what to expect when day touring or doing a multi-day motel or camping tour. The focus will be on road cycling, though mountain biking opportunities also exist and are worthy of exploration.
John Day and Prairie City
John Day and the nearby village of Prairie City are dominated by views of massive Strawberry Mountain, its 9,038 foot summit towering over the open farms and prairie to the North. High meadows, stretching between forests of Ponderosa pine, are home to antelope, elk and mule deer. Opportunities abound for both multi-day trips and day tours in different directions, starting each day from a central motel or B&B (“hub and spoke” format). Loops can be made to the Southeast, around the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness. These loops can be 65-75 miles – for a day trip returning to John Day or Prairie City in the evening -- or much longer, for a multi-day trip, depending on the route chosen. The roads in this area are lightly traveled and generally well-paved, and pass through an interesting mix of high grassland and different types of forest. Elevations range from about 3,000 feet in the valley to close to 6,000 feet in the mountains, but most climbs are gradual and can be easily handled by a relatively fit cyclist. Routes can be chosen to include long stretches of paved Forest Service road with virtually no traffic. Loops in this direction will generally involve camping, although the 65 and 73 mile options could be completed in a long day.
To the North lie several loops that traverse sweeping bowls of farmland, wind up through narrow canyons into forested mountains, and then dip down into more bucolic valleys. A two to three day trip (approx. 120 miles) can be made by traveling North from John Day on Rt. 395 to Long Creek, West through Monument to Kimberly, South on Rt. 19 to Rt. 26, and East on Rt. 26 to John Day. Services are limited, but small motels can be found in Monument and Long Creek.
The Strawberry Mountain B&B in Prairie City is a great choice for a comfortable and friendly bed and breakfast experience, while John Day offers a variety of clean and comfortable motels, including the Dreamer’s Lodge Motel.
If you are traveling with a non-cycling partner, or want to enjoy a mix of activities, great hiking trails abound in the Strawberry Mountain wilderness, and a side trip to the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument and the Painted Hills is a must (West of John Day on Rt. 26). Both John Day and Prairie City have an old-timey Western town feel, and boast some intriguing history. Bill at the Strawberry Mountain B&B is a great resource for local history. In John Day, check out the Kam Wah Chung Museum, a carefully preserved historic building that functioned as general store, medical clinic, post office, library, and center of Chinese social and religious life at the turn of the century. This multi-purpose business, where Chinese gold-mine workers, pioneers, and others from the John Day area turned for medical care, provided using traditional Chinese remedies, was started by two Chinese immigrants in 1887.
The Northwest Corner
Found in the Northwest corner of Oregon, the Wallowa Mountains, or “Wallowas,” are often known as “The Alps of Oregon.” The moment you see them you understand why: steep, snow capped mountains rise abruptly from pastoral farmland dotted with historic barns and silos. The Wallowa range includes 126 peaks taller than 8,000 feet, including the 9,826-foot Matter-horn, and deep, U-shaped glacial valleys. A number of small, box-store-free towns lie at the foot of the mountains, including Enterprise, the artist colony of Joseph, Wallowa Lake, Halfway, and Elgin. Multi-day tours can be made around the Wallowas, either staying in small motels and B&Bs or camping. For example, a long loop circumnavigating the Wallowas can be made starting in historic Baker City, traveling North through Union to Elgin, East to Enterprise, and South to Baker City by way of Joseph and Halfway. To allow time to enjoy the scenery and explore the historic towns along the way, plan on taking 6-7 days for this route.
Nearby Hell’s Canyon, defining the Oregon-Idaho border, is the deepest canyon in North America, averaging 5,500 feet in depth over a 40 mile section of its 100-mile length, and reaching as high as 7,900 vertical feet from river to rim near Granite Creek. The canyon is home to 350 species of wildlife, including 239 known species of birds, 69 mammals and dozens of reptile and amphibian species. The Hell’s Canyon area is accessed predominantly by dirt roads, and thus is more suitable for a side trip by car or a mountain bike tour than a road bike tour.
If You Go — a few general words of advice:
- Don’t rely on a state road map. You will need an Oregon Atlas (map book) such as those available from Benchmark (www.benchmarkmaps.com) and Delorme (www.delorme.com), as the best routes follow secondary and Forest Service roads. If you will be venturing off the road for a day hike or mountain bike ride, you will also want a Forest Service map and possibly a hunting unit map. Be aware that none of these maps provide all of the information you might like – for example a map that is accurate with regard to paved vs. unpaved roads, or that shows single track trails, may not include topo lines (making it difficult or impossible to determine the elevation or climbing involved in a particular route). Even if you don’t bring them all with you, if you are designing your own tour you would be wise to study as many maps as you can lay hands on before going.
- Don’t expect a lot of services. (The up-side of this is that with services come traffic, the bane of the cyclist’s existence!) The services that are available are generally friendly and inexpensive, but you cannot count on “winging it” when it comes to food and lodging. Research your route in advance – and often be prepared to put in long days – if you are hoping to stay in motels and eat out. Camping tours, carrying several days of backpacking-type food, are a good option, as is traveling with an organized tour.
- Expect weather extremes. Many of the areas discussed below include major changes in elevation, and a single route may pass through forested mountains, prairies, and expanses of high desert. Most of these areas are a good choice for touring Spring-Fall, but some higher elevation areas could see snow in Spring and Fall, and lower open areas may be quite hot in mid-Summer. Hailstorms occur fairly often in Spring (ouch!).
- In some areas water is scarce and stores are non-existent, so bring a large hydration pack and/or several water bottles. A backpacking filtration pump or water bottle with a filtration cap is also a good idea, so that you can purify stream water as you go.
The author is co-owner of Wild Heart Cycling, Inc., a bicycle touring company offering fully catered, environmentally friendly multi-day tours throughout Oregon. See www.wildheartcycling.com.
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