New website details excellent roads and routes in The Dalles
Ever loved riding in an area so much you became obsessed with it? So much so you found yourself poring over lines on maps, dreaming and scheming on how to ride them all?
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Ever loved riding in an area so much you became obsessed with it? So much so you found yourself poring over lines on maps, dreaming and scheming on how to ride them all?
[Read more…]
The Oregon Bicycle Racing Association calendar took racers to The Dalles this past weekend for the Gorge Roubaix. Event promoters offered two days of racing (and one non-competitive “gravel grinder” ride) along some of the most beautiful roads in the state.
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Welcome to The Ride, our ongoing series of inspirational adventure stories sponsored by 21st Avenue Bicycles. See more from this series here.
It’s becoming that time of year again when cyclists start coming out of hibernation and you can usually count on it being sunny (or at least not snowy) in the rolling grass hills of the eastern Columbia River Gorge. One of VeloDirt’s longest running rides — the Dalles Mountain 60 — took place last weekend starting anarchically from the unassuming parking lot of Holsteins Coffee in The Dalles. For a non-event, just a murmur between friends on Instagram or the simple expectation of tradition every second Saturday of March, it’s a rather popular ride.
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Most regular readers of this site know that I have a major crush on eastern Oregon. If you love to ride bicycles, it’s sort of a paradise. It has wide open roads, big skies, forests, lakes, rivers, and wonderful rural towns full of nice people.
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After seven days, 489 miles, and 35,000 feet of climbing, my Cycle Oregon 2014 experience concluded in The Dalles on Saturday.
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The Dalles’ Mayor Stephen Lawrence described himself as a “Blumenauer bike freak” when I met him in City Hall on Monday. I’m used to elected officials boosting their cycling credentials when they talk with me; but in Mayor Lawrence’s case, so far he’s actually backing it up.
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While most of the attention for cycling in The Dalles is focused on the stellar roads outside the city, you’ll be missing a lot if you don’t explore the town itself. Put another way; you don’t have to wear spandex or be ultra-fit to explore the cool things this town has to offer. From history, to local watering holes, to big views of the Gorge, a bike is all you need to take it all in.
After being here a few days, I heard about several “must-see” destinations over and over again. So today, I headed out and connected a bunch of them up into a tour. I had a great time doing it myself, so I figured it’d be worth sharing.
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It seems like every notable bike city has its unofficial bicycle ambassador. Sometimes it’s a blogger and consultant, like the case of Mikael Colville-Andersen in Copenhagen; or it can even be a city official, like when Mia Birk led the cycling charge in Portland in the 1990s. Out here in The Dalles, the position rests with a man named Chad Sperry.
Sperry is co-owner of Breakaway Promotions, one of the largest and most successful bicycle race event production companies in Oregon. Sperry runs the business with wife and business partner Lori Waters. Together, they’re responsible for an impressive list of events; from mountain biking to elite-level road races and national championships. In total, they put on over two dozen events with over 60 event days in Idaho, Utah and Oregon. His Gorge Roubaix is one of the reasons I decided to come to The Dalles. And it’s an event with extra meaning because Sperry lives here and he’s an unabashed advocate of cycling in his home town.
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