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...)

Portland's Platinum award
is a draw for tourists.
(Photos © J. Maus)

Travel Portland has announced that they'll give the City of Portland their top tourism promotion award at their 30th annual Tourism and Hospitality Industry Awards Celebration being held next week at the Oregon Convention Center.

Travel Portland -- a private non-profit that works to promote the metro area as a destination -- will give the City the "Portland Award" for its work in "creating and sustaining a Platinum-level Bicycle Friendly Community.

According to Travel Portland, the award recognizes the, "top overall contribution to the region's visitor profile." (more...)

David Lowe-Rogstad and the
home page of the new site.
(Photos © J. Maus)

Yesterday in Salem at the Oregon Bike Summit, we got a sneak peek of the new "Ride Oregon" website. When it officially launches in mid-May, the site will allow visitors to learn about Oregon's great rides, plan a trip of their own, find the best hotels, places for a post-ride meal, and more.

The site (URL yet to be announced) is funded by Travel Oregon and it's being created by Substance, a creative design agency based on Portland. Travel Oregon put their support behind the site after hearing years of requests from communities and advocates around the state. (more...)

[Editor's note: Eric Lundgren is Oregon's preeminent bicycle historian. He is working on a book about Portland's "golden age of cycling," and has provided his historical perspective to this site in the past. He provided this article about our first bicycling governor in honor of the state's Sesquicentennial this week.]

Governor T.T. Geer
(Image courtesy of the
Oregon State Library)

When the problems of road repair and good transportation seem most intractable, most stuck in the mud, there is often a temptation to move forward with fancy new gadgets. Today, Governor Kulongkoski leads the charge for electric cars and batteries. A century ago Governor Geer led the way for another kind of high-tech ground transportation.

In 1899 at his inauguration, Oregon Governor Theodore Thurston Geer said:

Few questions demand more serious consideration at your hands than the enactment of some system that will give our people better roads…

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Travel Oregon's Kristin Dahl
is leading an effort to create a
new bike tourism website.
(Photos © J. Maus)

Travel Oregon knows a good thing when they see it -- that's why they've decided to invest in a major new website that will be devoted to biking in Oregon.

A committee to help map out the objectives and oversee design of the site met at the offices of Cycle Oregon in North Portland last week. The meeting was led by Kristin Dahl, Travel Oregon's sustainable tourism specialist.

In addition to Travel Oregon staffers Dahl and their Community Relations Director Vernoica Rinard, the committee includes a who's-who of Oregon bike advocates including; newly hired State of Oregon Bicycle Recreation Coordinator Alexandra Phillips, Oregon Bicycle Racing Association Executive Director Kenji Sugahara, Jill Van Winkle with the International Mountain Bicycling Association, PDOT veteran and bike touring specialist Jeff Smith, Cycle Oregon ride director Jerry Norquist, BTA Executive Director Scott Bricker, Bike Gallery owner Jay Graves, and others.
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A reader (thanks Brian) gave me the heads up that Oregon Parks and Recreation Department is looking for volunteers to serve on a new advisory committee that will evaluate routes nominated for Oregon Scenic Bikeways.

Full press release is below (more info on Oregon's Scenic Bikeway program here):
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Coming together to make Oregon the
"place bicycles dream about."
(Photos © Jonathan Maus)

At a meeting in Portland's downtown library earlier this week, the Oregon Bicycle Tourism Partnership came together to strategize about how to make Oregon the premier bicycling destination in the country.

The group is a joint venture spearheaded by Oregon State Parks, Travel Oregon, Cycle Oregon, and others. (more...)

Veronica Rinard from POVA
met Congressman Peter DeFazio today.

We have an exciting contingent of Oregonians here in DC. It's sort of like a bike advocacy all-star team.
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[Workshop in session]

Last Saturday 150 people filled the Eugene Hilton to share ideas and learn more about an effort to establish Oregon as the top cycling destination in the country. The participants came from every corner of the state and ranged from politicians, bike shop owners, bike industry entrepreneurs, and at least one "BMX mom".

The event was emceed by Bike Gallery owner Jay Graves and he got things off to an inspirational start by having each person stand up and introduce themselves. From that moment on, it was clear that this summit will go down as a seminal moment in the history of bicycle tourism in Oregon.
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