front of about 1,000 people last night.
(Photo: Jim Parsons)
Cycle Oregon held their route announcement event last night on the Nike Campus out in Beaverton. The big news is that they’re headed to new territory along the Oregon coast for their Week Ride. Their Weekend Ride will be based on the campus of Willamette University in Salem and will feature rides in the Willamette Valley.
‘Going Coastal’ is the theme for the ride’s 24th edition. The seven day adventure, which embarks on September 10th, will roll through the southern coast towns of Sutherlin, Cottage Grove, Reedsport, Bandon, Powers, and Riddle. Ride veterans will be happy to know that the 410-499 mile loop (depending on what options you choose) will go through six new host towns and nearly all the routes are new. Cycle Oregon hasn’t been to the coast since 1994 and has only included coastal routes three times in its history. Here’s the map overview:
The Weekend Ride, a popular option for families held July 15-17th, will be based on the campus of Willamette University in Salem. The ride will have a historical theme of “Cyclecentennial Ride.” Participants will get to choose from multiple route options and lengths. Day One routes will venture out to Silverton and The Oregon Garden with an option to ride through Silver Falls State Park. Day Two routes will head north toward Champoeg and loop back through historic sites including Willamette Mission Park.
Both of these rides tend to sell out very quickly so get over to CycleOregon.com and reserve your spot.
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My photos of the event can be seen at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ufobike/sets/72157625884038175
It was my first “in-person” attendance at their annual route kick-off party. I was tickled at their route choice. I told Johathan Nicholas as long as I continue seeing him ride the ride every year, I’ll sign up for succeding years. And, I see on Twitter that our cycling coffee guy — PDX Trailhead — was invited and accepted again. The route looks superb and it’ll be great including some Oregon coast into the route. Ditto for the weekend ride — much as I’ll miss Western O. Campus, some new turf will be fun. And a beer garden on the capitol grounds! Will we see Mr. Maus along the path this year?
As a person with some advertising background this is a wonderful slogan: quick off the tongue and pleasantly descriptive.
As a person with a dark, dismal sense of ironic humor I can easily see that this slogan is going to be taken up by the anti-bike crowd as a descriptive modifier for all their interactions with cyclists in Portland. Whether or not any anger is involved on the part of any cyclist in any interaction is irrelevant.
The simple utterance of any catch phrase along the lines of “Oregon cyclists are going c(P)oastal” will be repeated so many times that those not involved will begin to believe it.
Or maybe I’m just being overly pessimistic and expecting too little of my fellow man and woman. I’d love to be wrong in this case.
Looks like a fun route. Some years CO can take a few years to sell out, but I’ll bet it sells out quickly this year. A lot of people have been waiting a long time for CO to return to the coast.
I’m in. CO email yesterday said only a few hundreds spots left as of mid-day Wed.