Singletrack/MTB
Gravel/All-road
Dirt-road Touring
Fat-bike
On Friday, Andrew Strempke finished the 685-mile Oregon Timber Trail in a blazing-fast 6 days, 10 hours, and 10 minutes. Find a short post-ride reflection from Andrew and photos from his ride here…
Finish photos by Alexandera Houchin, ride photos by Andrew Strempke
The Oregon Timber Trail Race and Tour follows the Oregon Timber Trail, a singletrack-focused route that traverses the Cascade Mountains, connecting the California border to the Columbia River. This year’s event has two versions. The 300-mile option takes riders through the most remote Fremont Tier of the trail and ends in Oakridge, one of the Pacific Northwest’s more popular mountain bike scenes. The longer version is 700 miles and continues north from Oakridge through the remaining Willamette miles, followed by the Deschutes and Hood Tiers.
It’s difficult to get the route on a year without massive reroutes and closures due to summer forest fires, and it’s uncommon to be able to ride the entire route from start to finish, which means tracking official records isn’t entirely straightforward. Last year, there was a 680-mile route option, which Kyle Phillips won with a time of 9 days, 12 hours, and 55 minutes.
Around 20 riders showed up for this year’s grand depart, which started from Lakeview, Oregon, on July 12th. Among them was Andrew Strempke, who just finished third at the 2025 Grand Loop (after winning it last year). Andrew rode steadily, followed closely by Max Keegan, owner of Mostly Forever Bikes, and finished this Friday with a time of 6 days, 10 hours, and 10 minutes. Technically, this is a record-setting time, although as mentioned earlier, it’s hard to really know considering the route changes so much year-to-year. In any case, it was a blazing-fast time. Max Keegan finished six hours later, and Johnny Price took third place about a day after that, rounding out the podium. Find a short recap and photos from Andrew below.
Winning the 2025 Oregon Timber Trail
Words by Andrew Strempke
There’s something special about traveling long distances via singletrack. I love the connection to the terrain, the focus required to make progress, and the lack of vehicle traffic. It’s rarely the fastest or most efficient way, but not everything needs to be optimized.
The Oregon Timber Trail is a national scenic trail that stretches from the California border to the Washington border, along the mountainous spine of Oregon. It’s around 700 miles, 60% singletrack, and has 70,000 feet elevation gain. Over the last few years, the race has been plagued with fires and reroutes. The mid-July start is required to allow for snow to melt, but also puts it squarely in fire season. Still, I signed up for this year’s race hoping for a clean run on the course, and I very nearly got it. A small fire broke out near Timothy Lake a few hours before I arrived, and an evacuation order was issued, prompting a short reroute to the east side of the lake, which cut out a few miles of trail. Aside from that, racers this year were treated to the full route all the way to Hood River.
The southern Fremont Tier of the OTT is the most remote and the least used section of the route. Downed trees, overgrown brush, and faint trails are common in this stretch. Some recent trail work was evident and greatly appreciated, but overall this section was slow-going. Top it off with the first resupply over 200 miles in, and you’ve got a tough start.
In general, things get better maintained and faster as you progress north. Over time, the memories of lifting my bike over hundreds of downed trees faded, and the smooth flowy singletrack took over. Mild weather and warm nights allowed for a relatively light kit, and when the riding got good, it didn’t feel like I was riding a loaded bike. Whenever things got warm, a swimming hole was never too far away. Water was mostly easy to find, and after that first stretch, resupply options were a reasonable distance apart.
Racing kept things engaging, and I had fun going back and forth with Max (co-race organizer), who would drop me hard on any descent. I think he went down the Middle Fork of the Willamette Trail over an hour faster than me! A close race motivated me to keep stops short and to move quickly when I could. After riding around 100 miles a day, I arrived in Hood River first, exhausted and dusty.
Overall, I enjoyed my time out there. For me, the burly sections of trail were outweighed by the fun miles. I hope this trail gets the attention it deserves. When it’s good, it’s so good!
Learn more about the Oregon Timber Trail grand depart and track the last few riders still out on the course here.
Further Reading
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