The first SuperTour of the new Millennium embarks on an exploration of Eastern Oregon's remote and lonely High Desert—Terra Incognita for this venerable event. This year's route traverses an extraordinary landscape of lakes, mountains, and rivers on its path East across the Great Basin enroute to Ontario and the Idaho Border. The return leg loops North through Baker City and La Grande, then heads West to reach Bend via US routes 395 and 26. The Tour's final days revisit the Eastern Cascades enroute to the start/finish in Klamath Falls, familiar territory to riders of previous Oregon-based SuperTours. Riders will be struck by both the beauty and isolation of the landscape, as most of the counties we traverse use just four digits to enumerate their populations.

SuperTour is a multi-day cycling adventure. The riding generally consists of back-to-back Centuries or near Centuries and each day often includes substantial climbing. Overnight accommodations are at campgrounds. SuperTour provides vehicles to carry luggage and camping gear, allowing riders to traverse each day's route carrying only the equipment required to complete an unsupported century. In addition SuperTour provides a light breakfast, drinks and snacks at the end of each day's ride, and dinner in camp.

The first SuperTour was held in 1975 and organized by the now-defunct Diablo Wheelmen of Concord, CA. The ride was so popular it easily survived the collapse of its sponsoring organization and is now run each year by a volunteer from a previous trip. Route, campgrounds and schedule are all selected by the organizer. The tour has traveled to many locales and regions, including Colorado, New Mexico, Washington State, Wyoming, Montana, British Columbia and even France. SuperTour's most popular destination is California's Sierra Nevada, the site of nine previous tours. SuperTour has traversed substantial portions of Oregon three times before (81, 89, and 94); however the majority of SuperTour 2001 is new territory.

Be prepared to ride all day, everyday, alone if necessary. Carry Lots of Water. Be self reliant; bring money for food during the day and tools to make minor repairs to your bicycle. Carry Lots of Water. Mount a bag to carry warm-ups and gloves—It may be the desert, but we will spend most of our trip above 3,000 feet and mornings in the high desert are often cold. Carry rain gear in the mountains—torrential thunderstorms can develop any afternoon at high altitude. Carry Lots of Water. Have the means to carry a full day's supply of food and water with you—it may be 80 miles between water stops on the Tour's second day, and 50 miles between stops on a "standard" day. Consider mounting a rack, and a larger bag than usual. Carry good maps and know how to read them. Carry Lots of Water. Mount low gears—while the magnitude of the worst gradients are unknown at this time, the probability of steep gradients somewhere along the route are high. Above all ride, ride, ride—SuperTour is a significant physical challenge that is much more enjoyable when you are fit and trained.

The itinerary for SuperTour 2001 is shown in the table on the right. All campgrounds with the exception of Denio Junction are within Oregon. One substantial section of Day 2 is in Nevada; parts of Day 7 are in Idaho. Opportunities exist to take significant shortcuts on Days 4, 5, 7, and 11. To the best of my knowledge all roads are paved. Day-to-day climbing is unknown at this time and will be computed in the future. Elevations generally run between 2,200 feet near the Snake River to 6,000 feet at the higher Great Basin passes; the greatest altitudes will most likely occur at Crater Lake. Destinations and daily mileage are subject to change. Actual mileage ridden tends to increase, sometimes significantly depending on personal map reading and navigational skills.

The fee for SuperTour 2001 is $500. Make checks payable to Perry Stout, and mail with your completed application to 4829 Rockland Way; Fair Oaks, CA 95628. You may withdraw from SuperTour any time up to June 1, 2001 and receive a refund, less $100 for processing costs. Refunds are not available after June 1.

Your check covers all camping fees, daily maps and route sheets, equipment haulage, camp breakfasts, post-ride snacks, and dinners. It does NOT include transportation to the start or from the finish of SuperTour 2001, food consumed during the riding day, or National Park Entrance fees.

Transportation to and from Concord in the San Francisco Bay Area on the support vehicle (a retired Greyhound bus) is often available. Additional information on this transportation option will be provided after your entry is received.

SuperTour is limited to 50 riders and is available on a first come, first served basis. The trip almost always fills up, so it pays to send in your entry as soon as possible.

This year's organizer is Perry Stout, the Director of 1998's Return to the Sierras event and a veteran of 14 previous SuperTours. He may be reached by telephone at (916) 966-0236 on weekends and (650) 852-5941 during the work day. His email addresses are pwstout@pacbell. net (evenings and weekends) and stout.perry@ssd.loral.com (workdays).