Todd Davidson.
(Photo: PureTravelNW)

President Obama announced a new initiative yesterday aimed at boosting U.S. tourism. With an eye on job creation and economic stimulus, the White House unveiled a host of strategies to make it easier to visit the U.S. and encourage cities and states across the country to roll out the welcome mat.

The man picked to lead the effort is none other than Travel Oregon CEO Todd Davidson. According to a statement released today by Travel Oregon, Davidson has been selected for the post by U.S. Secretary of Commerce John Bryson.

This news is not only validation for the work Travel Oregon has done to make Oregon a premiere travel destination, it also bodes very well for raising the profile of bike tourism in Oregon and beyond. (more...)

Detail of flyer for upcoming training event.

Sandy, Estacada, Molalla, West Linn and Wilsonville are among the cities in Clackamas County lining up to learn more about how to position themselves as bicycle touring destinations.

Travel Oregon, an organization that promotes tourism statewide, is co-hosting a 'Bicycle Tourism Studio' event on November 8th along with Clackamas County Tourism and Cultural Affairs. The Bicycle Tourism Studio concept is part of Travel Oregon's focus on tourism development in rural communities. Funded by our state's 1 percent lodging tax, the initiative aims to train local agencies, governments, and organizations to capitalize on sustainable tourism.

Kristin Dahl is Travel Oregon's Sustainable Tourism Development Manager. She says Clackamas County has a big advantage over other counties when it comes to bike tourism. "They've got public transportation connections to Portland like the MAX line and the Springwater Corridor." (more...)

Illustration by Russ Roca/PathLessPedaled.com

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On the road to economic development.
(Photo © J. Maus)

The Washington County Visitors Association has awarded a $20,000 grant to the organization that puts on the Harvest Century bike ride.

Rebecca Miller, the Development Director for Community Vision, Inc. the organization that puts on the ride, says they'll use the money to try and lure 300 out-of-town visitors to Washington County. Those visitors come for the ride and end up spending money on lodging, food, and other products and services. Community Vision will use the grant money to pay for marketing of the ride and hire staff to handle PR. (more...)

Job Title: Tour Guide/Mechanic
Company/Organization: Pedal Bike Tours
Job Description: Love Oregon, history, people, local culture and showing off your town? (by bike of course!) Know how to fix bikes? Come work for Trip Advisor’s #1 tour company in Oregon!

Skills
Sociable/personable/friendly- Can bond with and entertain visitors from different places, backgrounds and attitudes over a 3-8 hour tour.
A broad knowledge of Portland/Oregon/NW history and culture, local restaurants, sights, shops.

Job Duties
Bike Tours - Safely and knowledgeably lead one or more of our tours consisting of 1-10 guests including Historic Downtown, Columbia Gorge, breweries, Wine Country, The Oregon Coast and culinary tour.

The winning candidate will also possess knowledge on:
Food- Portland’s restaurant scene and food shed
Beer- styles, history, local scene, brewing process
Wine- Varietals, winemaking process, Willamette Valley winemaking and history
Flora, Fauna and Geology of the Columbia Gorge, Willamette Valley and Oregon Coast

How to Apply:
If interested, please send your resume to info[at]pedalbiketours[dot]com or come in person to our shop at 133 SW Second Avenue

Bikes? Dancing? Fun?
Must be Pedalpalooza.
(Photos © J. Maus)

With our lingering winter weather, it might be hard to get mentally focused on Pedalpalooza; but that's just what you ought to be doing!

The big event(s) — organized by the community and extraordinary volunteers with Shift — happens from June 9th to the 29th. The ride calendar is already filling up (109 at current count), and the deadline to submit rides for the printed version (which will be inserted into the Portland Mercury) is May 22nd!

If that doesn't get you fired up for Portland's seminal celebration of bike fun, perhaps this will: Organizers just unveiled the official 2011 poster (created by Agnes Barton-Sabo)... (more...)

Tourism draw.
(Photo: Evan Ross/Portland Bicycle Tours)

Travel Portland has announced that the Banks-Vernonia Trail is a recipient of a 2011 Tourism and Hospitality Industry Award.

Travel Portland recognized the trail with a "President's Award," for, "creating a new opportunity for our visitors to experience the natural beauty that is so accessible from Portland."

The trail is a 21-mile linear state park created on a former railroad line between Banks and Vernonia. As of last October, the entire length of the trail is complete and offers people the ability to roll or walk the entire route without worrying about motor vehicles. (more...)

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.

Event Name: Tour de Hood
Event Start Date: 4 June, 2011
Start Time: 1:00:00 PM
Web Site: http://www.tourdehoodride.com/
Event Description:
Ride one of Oregon's most beautiful and challenging recreational rides! Experience two of the same courses that challenge racers in the popular Mt Hood Cycling Classic stage race. This is a one-of-a-kind Oregon recreational riding experience!

Elliott and Daniella Crowder, owners of Bike Newport.
(Photos © J. Maus)

Bike Newport, an independent bike shop based in Newport, Oregon has been named the winner of a 2010 National Bicycle Travel Award by the Adventure Cycling Association.

Bike Newport has received the Sam Braxton Bike Shop Award for "incredible services and amenities that they offer bicycle tourists on the Pacific Coast Bicycle Route." This is the first time since the awards were first given in 2003 that a shop on the West Coast has taken home the honors. (more...)

Imagine: A bicycle-only trail
along the entire Oregon Coast.
(Photo © J. Maus)

I love Big Ideas. Without them we'd be stuck in the rut of merely working on what's possible instead of peering out to new possibilities. When it comes to moving biking forward in Oregon, we've got to dream big.

It was with that spirit that I hosted a contest recently asking for your Big Ideas for Biking in Oregon. We got a ton of fantastic responses! Thanks to everyone for playing along (see list of winners and others below the jump). (more...)

Every city should have five of these
racks in front of their City Hall.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Oregon is a state on a mission. For the last few years, the movement to make this the premiere state for bicycling has been gaining some serious momentum. We've got nearly every piece of the puzzle on the table and we're working to put it all together -- but we need some big ideas, rallying points, an idea so exciting that it captures the attention of everyone in the state.

So I'm announcing a contest to find the best Big Ideas for Biking in Oregon. (more...)

The site features interactive route
maps of the best rides in Oregon
and much more.

RideOregonRide.com, a website that promotes bike tourism in Oregon is set to receive the 2010 President's Award from Travel Portland.

The Ride Oregon site was first officially conceived at the Oregon Bike Summit in 2008, where attendees said having one place to feature all the great rides in Oregon should be a high priority. From there, Travel Oregon provided start-up funds and hired local interactive brand strategy agency Substance to develop it.

The site has a myriad of features, including interactive maps, the ability to create a personal profile to share favorite routes, and much more.

RideOregonRide was unveiled at last year's Oregon Bike Summit.

If you want to hatch big ideas about biking in Oregon -- and who knows, maybe they will become a reality just like RideOregonRide.com -- attend the upcoming Oregon Bike Summit in Portland on June 4th.

The big bike insert as it appears
in May issue of Outside Magazine.

At a meeting of the Oregon Bicycle Tourism Partnership in City Hall yesterday, Travel Oregon unveiled details of how cycling fits into their $1 million national marketing campaign.

Cycling is one of three main pillars (along with outdoor recreation and, somewhat inexplicably, golf) of Travel Oregon's current "Adventurecation" campaign. At the meeting yesterday, Travel Oregon marketing staffer Michael Sturdevant took us through the details of the campaign and shared some of the materials that go along with it. (more...)

Detail of Tickle Creek Trail from map
in Bi-State Regional Trails System plan.

I caught an article in the Daily Journal of Commerce yesterday about an effort by the City of Sandy to fund and build a new trail that would connect to the Springwater Corridor Trail and result in an unbroken path all the way from downtown Portland to Mt. Hood. And then I got all excited.

I hadn't heard much about this so I went digging for more info. The trail is known as the Tickle Creek Trail and it's part of what Metro calls the "Mt. Hood Connections" project. (more...)

Senator Jeff Merkley.
(Photos © J. Maus)

U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley wants to help Oregon become a mecca for bicycle tourism.

Merkley and his policy aide Jeremiah Baumann, spent nearly an hour in a video conference with staff of Travel Oregon discussing steps Congress can take to help make bicycle tourism a larger part of Oregon's economy. Kristin Dahl, Travel Oregon's sustainable tourism director, said the meeting came about as a follow-up to discussions started during a meeting at Merkley's D.C. office during the National Bike Summit. (more...)

Riding along the Rogue River
in Southern Oregon.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Travel Oregon is currently developing a marketing campaign for the 2010 spring-summer season that will focus on Oregon's outdoor recreation opportunities. According to Linda Andrews, a tourism development assistant with Travel Oregon, the campaign will "specifically focus on cycling and mountain biking."
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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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Meet the Carter Family: Dave, Paul (9), Jan, and Val (12).
(Photos © J. Maus)

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Screenshot from home page

The mission to make Oregon "The Land Bicycles Dream About" has taken a big step forward. A new website to promote biking in Oregon and to inspire people to get out and ride launched yesterday. Check it out at RideOregonRide.com.

The site was first pegged as a priority during a brainstorming session at the Oregon Bike Summit back in April of 2008. Since then, Travel Oregon has spearheaded an effort to make it happen. They formed a committee of local bike advocates and experts for guidance, hired interactive brand strategy agency Substance to build it, and invested the money to make it a reality.

For Travel Oregon, the site is a way to make biking a larger and more profitable component of Oregon's $1 billion dollar outdoor tourism industry. (more...)