(Photo by J.Maus/BikePortland
Update: The Worst Day Ride’s organizers said Saturday that they’ve canceled Sunday’s event completely (making various earlier misreports about the cancellation retroactively accurate, I suppose). People who’d bought places in the ride will get automatic entry in next year’s.
As of Saturday afternoon, the National Weather Service expects another 4 to 8 inches of snow to fall by Sunday afternoon, plus freezing rain and ice in some areas, on top of the three to five inches that fell Friday and continued to pile up Saturday.
Here’s the announcement from their site:
Alas, Mother Nature wins this round. We have been forced to cancel the event, or more accurately, postpone for one year. Worsening weather conditions and a forecast of freezing rain tomorrow make for unsafe conditions.
Your safety and the safety of our support staff is our number one concern, and conditions have dictated that it would be nearly impossible to guarantee the well being of everyone during this event.
We appreciate your understanding of this decision and want to thank you for your support by guaranteeing your entry into next year’s Worst Day of the Year Ride.
In its voicemail message Saturday, Good Sport Promotion said an email in the next week will contain instructions on how to claim next year’s ride. It didn’t mention whether cash refunds will be available on request.
Our original Thursday night post follows.
The organizers of Portland’s Worst Day of the Year bike ride love to mention that in its 13-year history, it’s never really rained.
Looks as if the event may have found a way to live up to its name without breaking that record.
Three days before this year’s ride, organizers have called off their 46-mile “challenge” route through the West Hills “for safety reasons.” (Willamette Week sounded off on this with the semi-accurate but pretty amusing headline “Worst Day of the Year Ride Canceled Because of Bad Weather.”)
The more popular 15-mile urban route, in any case, will roll out at 10 a.m. Sunday as usual. Participation, which includes snacks and support, costs $36.50 in advance or $45 on the day of.
Representatives for the organizing company, Good Sport Promotion, weren’t available for comment Thursday evening.