Imagine a bike tour that chases Japan’s famous cherry blossoms. Or one that chases a total solar eclipse. You won’t have to imagine it if you roll out tonight for another Bike Touring Slideshow hosted by our friend Ted Buehler after Bike Happy Hour (6:30 pm Wednesday at Migration Brewing on North Williams Avenue).
Ted is a bicycle touring evangelist who loves sharing two-wheeled adventures. As a special addition to tonight’s event, he’ll share some of the things he’s learned about touring on a budget. Check out the lineup below (as shared by Ted) and consider coming out to Migration tonight for the show. It’s free and there’s yummy food and drinks for purchase.
1) Momoko Saunders, bicycle touring in Japan, 2017.
Momoko started in the south of Japan as the first cherry blossoms were coming out. And bicycled north, following the cherry blossom season as it slowly moved up the country to the north.
Momoko stayed in hot springs, wild camped, made friends. Spring weather, of course, is not generally warm and sunny, but it was still doable and enjoyable.
2) Fred Tatch, winning the 1979 and 1980 International Human Powered Vehicle Competition road race component.
Fred and friends from Eugene travelled to Ontario, CA with their home built “Manuped” bicycles — recumbents that were pedalled with both hands and feet. And had fairings made of bamboo and vinyl.
On arrival, they met all the other teams, many of whom were designed and built by university students in engineering, who all had substantial budgets.
High speed bicycles were in their youth at the time, and different teams had entirely different approaches to how to build a human powered machine that could travel up to 55 mph.
Fred will tell us about how he designed and built his bicycle, and how he raced and came out at the head of the pack two years in a row.
3) Ted Buehler, international bicycle touring on a budget, 2020s.
Ted toured through nine countries in eastern and western europe in 2025, on a light budget. He will show beautiful photos of well maintained bike paths as he explains the best way to get your bike on an airplane, find good routes and regions for bicycling, and ferret out interesting accomodation that supports local economies.
4) Scott Bacheler, riding to the solar eclipse, 2017.
Scott was part of a group of Portlanders wo rode to the WIllamette Valley in 2017 for the eclipse. Scott has an E-assist bike, others rode conventional bikes. They had a group camp set up, and avoided the greatest traffic jam in Oregon history by coming and going by bicycle.
More details at the Facebook event listing.