The Portland Wheelmen’s annual Pioneer Century ride is coming up soon, Saturday, June 6th, to kick off the summer road riding season. This is one of the most popular road rides of the year — last year’s Pioneer Century drew over 1,200 participants.
The Pioneer Century is a very flexible ride. The usual route is a 55-mile loop through the Canby-Molalla areas, with a challenging climb up the Cascade foothills to Kokel Corner. The second ride option is a very rural and scenic 45-mile loop, from Canby to Champoeg (pronounced “shampoo-ey”), out to the Willamette and back. Do the whole century by riding the 55-mile loop through Molalla first, then riding the Champoeg loop.
New to this year will be a shorter, 32-mile route through Canby and Molalla, without the climb up to Kokel Corner. Beautiful rural Oregon with only 1000ft of elevation gain — you won’t even notice that you’ve gone uphill! If you’re feeling ambitious, you can also follow-up the 32-mile ride with the Champoeg loop for a three-quarters century ride.
The ride starts at around 9am from the Clackamas County Fairgrounds in Canby (south of Oregon City); the course opens at 7am, and riders depart around 9am.
Breakfast is being provided by Bob’s Red Mill; lunch and raffle prizes are being provided by Chris King. Online registration ($25) is open now at the Wheelmen’s site, and your cheerful author is probably going to get the very awesome souvenir socks that are available too.
What: Portland Wheelmen Pioneer Century
Where: Clackamas Fairgrounds, Canby
When: Saturday, June 6; course opens at 7am, 55 and 100 mile rides must leave by 9am