at the 2006 Alice Awards.
File photo: 3/4/06
On May 21st, Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams will get a taste of a long-standing institution; bike racing at Portland International Raceway.
The venue has hosted thousands of speeding cyclists for over 30 years. Race promoter Jim Anderson, the man behind the popular Monday Night Racing series put together the visit to introduce Adams to the racing community (and vice versa):
“This event will give the OBRA (Oregon Bicycle Racing Association) community an opportunity to share how they have benefited from this venue with the commissioner.”
Anderson says during the 2-hour visit, Adams will tour the racetrack area, meet with OBRA management, chat with racers, be an honorary OBRA race official, and even wave the checkered flag to start the races.
as racecars at PIR.
File photo: 5/1/06
Anderson says he invited Adams out to the track because,
“…showing Commissioner Sam Adams what a great resource PIR is to racers is very important, we have thousands of racers that use and enjoy the venue.”
This is a good move for racing advocates and it follows word that City of Portland bicycle coordinator Roger Geller plans to join mountain bikers for a singletrack riding experience in Scappoose later this month.
OBRA has over 3,000 members and is one of the premier bike racing organizations in the country with more racers per capita than any other state.
Join Commissioner Adams and 150+ racers out at PIR on May 21st, from 6-8pm. Bring a picnic and see some great racing action!
Check out my photo gallery when I visited the event last year.
Thanks for reading.
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If the commissioner really wants a PIR experience he should pull lead into the wind for half a lap and then bump elbows in the mad sprint to the finish.
No, wait. Maybe as a race official he could tell us to race 14 laps then have us do 16, and ring the bell randomly.
Actually the most useful role he could have would be official number pinner. Get those numbers tight and visible without poking us. That would be great.
(All in fun. Its great he’s getting out to see a wonderful facility being used in an earth friendly manner.)