It’s Labor Day weekend so you know what that means (besides celebrating the labor movement): extra time for bike adventuring!
While we be rolling into the Willamette Valley with friends to pick up some beer-making ingredients for Base Camp Brewing on the third annual Fresh Hop Century, we also want to highlight two big events on our calendar for this Saturday: the 24 Hour Velo Vulture Alley Cat and the first race in the Gran Prix Brad Ross cyclocross series.
These events will get your heart pumping whether you prefer to pedal through the urban jungle or the cyclocross battlefield.
Advertisement
The 24-Hour Velo Vulture
20-year Portland bike messenger veteran and photograph Damian Riehl has brought back this event after a five-year hiatus. He says his Velo Vulture event was created with one purpose in mind: to showcase the City of Roses the best way possible — via bike! Here’s more from Damian:
“It is race of ridiculous proportions set up to reward perseverance and brains over braun, a mess of tasks and smaller events wrapped up in a points-based city-wide scavenger hunt designed for cyclists to explore what the city has to offer beyond the usual attractions.”
Two-person teams are recommended. Sign up and learn more here.
David Douglas Cross Race
And guess what? ‘Cross is here! Also on Saturday, just over the river in Vancouver, is the first major cyclocross race of the season.
It’s the first race in the five-race Gran Prix Brad Ross series. The venue is David Douglas Park which offers a super-fun course full of everything from fast flats to forested singletrack — and maybe even a jaunt through a play structure if I recall from years past.
We’ll be covering lots of fun cyclocross action this year, so get ready for all the mud, sweat, and tears.
Whatever you end up doing this weekend we hope it’s fun. Share your adventures below and we’ll see you back here again on Tuesday!
— Jonathan Maus, (503) 706-8804 – jonathan@bikeportland.org
BikePortland is supported by the community (that means you!). Please become a subscriber or make a donation today.
Thanks for reading.
BikePortland has served this community with independent community journalism since 2005. We rely on subscriptions from readers like you to survive. Your financial support is vital in keeping this valuable resource alive and well.
Please subscribe today to strengthen and expand our work.
I celebrate labor day by working. Seems appropriate.
Me too! But I am going on a Women on Wheels (Meetup) ride from SE Portland to Bob’s Red Mill and a nearby brewpub, on Saturday.
I’m hoping to attend my first cyclocross match this year as a spectator. Should be fun.
The Alpenrose races are close in so relatively easy to ride to. Hit up The Crusade 10/8-10/9. Also, the Single Speed World Cyclocross Championships should not be missed http://www.sscxwcpdx16.com/
I’m going to do some underwater bike racing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emyD_eGuVYk