Event Name: The Amgen People's Coast Classic to benefit the Arthritis Foundation
Event Start Date: 11 Sept, 2011
Start Time: AM
Web Site: http://www.thepeoplescoastclassic.org/
Event Description:
The Amgen People’s Coast Classic is a multi-day charity event benefiting the Arthritis Foundation’s mission to improve lives through prevention, control and cure of arthritis.

Choose from:

• Six-Day Classic: September 11-16, Astoria to Brookings
• Two-Day North Coast Ride: September 11-13, Astoria to Newport
• Four-Day Central-South Coast Ride: September 13-16, Newport to Brookings

This ride follows the Oregon Coast Bike Route as marked by the state Department of Transportation, which is graced with incredible scenery and fun attractions. Your vacation with a cause will touch the lives of over 50 million people in the United States, including 300,000 children living with Juvenile Arthritis.

Detail of new route. Start planning now!

Adventure Cycling, a 44,000 member non profit that promotes bike touring, has announced their latest route and it goes right through some of Oregon's best riding areas. The 2,392 mile Sierra Cascades Bicycle Route runs from Sumas, Washington to Tecate, California.

According to the just-published information on their website, AC says the new route "runs roughly parallel to the Pacific Crest Trail along the Cascade Range and Sierra Nevada from the Canadian border to the Mexican border." Here's a bit more detail on the Oregon portion:

Section 2 begins at Mt. Rainier National Park and runs south to the wind surfing country of the Columbia Gorge and Hood River, Oregon. From there it skirts the Three Sisters Mountains through Bend, Oregon ending in Crater Lake National Park. This section intersects the Lewis & Clark Bicycle Route in Hood River and the TransAmerica Trail in Sisters, Oregon... After leaving the spectacular scenery of Wizard Island and Crater Lake, the route continues south to Ashland, Oregon, home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

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Collin Roughton got some training
miles in during this year's
Cycle Oregon.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Portland residents Ashley Mitchell and Collin Roughton are making last minute preparations for a 5,080 mile, cross-country bike ride to raise money for two local non-profits.

Ashley, 26, and Collin, 25, work together at the Community Cycling Center (Ashley is also a mechanic at Citybikes). They've launched a website for their Money for Miles Campaign with hopes of raising $5,080 (buck a mile, get it?) for the Coalition for a Livable Future and Bike Farm.

Ashley says everyone who supports their trip will get a postcard (with an awesome manatee-rainbow design, see below) and will be listed on their website. (more...)

[Publisher's note: This article is by first-time BikePortland contributor Lucy Burningham, a local freelance writer and familiar face at bike events. Burningham writes here about the new book release of her fellow Lonely Planet travel guide author Ellee Thalheimer -- who you may recognize from her past contributions to BikePortland.]

Ellee Thalheimer doing important research for
her travel guide to cycling in Italy

When Lonely Planet’s new Cycling in Italy guidebook comes out this month, Portland author Ellee Thalheimer will join the growing ranks of local writers publishing cycling titles (think Joe "Metal Cowboy" Kurmaskie, Jeff Mapes, or Shawn Granton).

Thalheimer, a freelance writer, yoga instructor, and bike touring guide, spent three months last summer pedaling her way across Italy, churning out centuries and perfecting the art of moving her fully loaded bicycle on and off trains by herself. (more...)

[This ride was part of Pedalpalooza. See more of our Pedalpalooza coverage here.]

Dedicated Gorge riders were rewarded with this spectacular scenery.
(Photos by Dan Liu)

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Riders enjoy a carfree, PGE maintenance road along the Clackamas river south of Estacada during a Cycle Wild camping ride earlier this month.
(Photos: Dan Liu)

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Riders on a multi-day trip
near Champoeg State Park.
(Photo: Matt Picio/CycleWild)

The State of Oregon's "Scenic Bikeway" program has taken a nice step forward. This week, the State's Bicycle Recreation Coordinator, Alexandra Phillips, unveiled a website that features detailed maps and route information on the Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway.

The Willamette Valley route is the first officially recognized scenic bikeway in the state and it's referred to as "a prototype" for others yet to come. The 127-mile route begins at Champoeg State Heritage Area just south of Wilsonville and ends at Armitage County Park just north of Eugene. (more...)