Tour de Gulch History

February 20, 2008 on 2:03 pm | In Mountain Biking | 10 Comments

A small group of us who ride and build trail at Growlers have hosted the TDG each year since 1998. We aren’t trying to attract big crowds of strangers or get a write-up on MTBR. And we don’t make any money. We love to ride and we enjoy sharing with people who have an appreciation for great single-track. The TDG is our way of celebrating mountain biking and the friends who make it so much fun.

2007 Post-ride Party Honors PNW Biking Legend Ed Strong

Vaughn Martin (left) presents Ed Strong with a shirt that celebrates seven decades of biking.

 

Paul Norris (right) explains to Jack Berry that it is bad form to wipe out berms on trails at Growlers

It’s wet, but Jeff and Dara Muldoon don’t care. Dara broke her hip last year at Lewis River but she is back and better than ever.

Thomas Mueller (right) comforts Rob Larsen prior to the ride. Rob was afraid the rain might prevent balls-out descending . However, this did not prove to be the case. See photo lower on the page at the post-ride party.

Sue Smith and Ryan Handy – both sick, suspension-less single-speeders – get ready to show how it’s done.

The crew waits at the top of the Power Line Hill for the start signal. Susan Martin (right) and Douglas Van Zandt prepare for a snappy ride with Rob Larsen and the Anaerobics. Oddly, Susan does not appear to be intimidated.

No need for Thomas to comfort Rob now. Rob is all smiles after he and the Anaerobics smoked the downhill from top to bottom.

Cameron Hanley offered post-ride cleaning services to bikers at no charge.

After a long hiatus, Todd Edwards returned to the fold.

Bob Hoerness (left) and son Bryce enjoy the post-ride buffet. This was Bryce’s first TDG.

Jeep (right) with Mount Hood downhill wizard (center) and Oregon singlespeed stud Brant Ness

Thomas with Team Byman – Jered Black (left) and Ryan Handy (right)

Even alcohol cannot help the Brothers Crump (Mark left, Andy right) comprehend the ride they were taken on by group leader Lance Brigman.

Ed Strong (left) receives well-deserved applause from the crew at TDG X. Ed has led the way in everything from trail building to technical riding. He has set the bar very high for the rest of us and we love him for it.

Tour History
The Tour de Gulch started in 1997 and involved approximately a dozen riders, including myself, my daughter’s boyfriend and some Les Schwab buddies, a few kids from R.A. Long High School, and my friends Mike Patterson and Jeff Lipton. The initial ride was a 25-miler to the end of Abernathy Ridge and back. All of it on gravel. This was because we had no single-track at Growlers Gulch in 1997. The following year was also a gravel ride.In 1999, we celebrated our first piece of single-track, and we’ve made constant additions each year since then. Our system now totals more than 20 miles of phenomenal trail that offers incredible variety. Ten years after that first event, Jeff Lipton and I are the only riders to have completed every TDG – and if Lipton had fallen a little harder in 2003 (see below), I would be the only one. I believe that Bob Stanton and Dave LeMonds have missed only one TDG and are next in line in terms of seniority. For the moment, we have no plans to discontinue the event. My goal is to ride in a TDG with my grandsons, who are now four, two, one and newborn. That should keep me going into my 70s and keep you going until at least 2020.

Special Moments in TDG History

• 1999 – In the middle of the post-ride party, we receive a call that our daughter in Seattle is undergoing emergency surgery. Sher and I exit in a rush, leaving the TDG riders to clean up and lock the doors when they exit.
• 2000 – Carla Mitchem fails to heed the warning to “Stay left” on a nasty double-track downhill. She takes the right line, plants her front tire at the bottom of a drop, and goes over the bars. Major bruising results. The good news – she manages to stay for the entire post-ride party.
• 2001 – Three riders from Portland show up unannounced, pronouncing themselves fit and experienced. After traversing the incredibly benign Melton Trail, one announces, “That’s the most technical and dangerous thing I’ve ever ridden.” After one of them sustains a bad fall, they turn back without having attempted any of the more sporting trails, thus saving us the need to call Life Flight for emergency extraction.
• 2002 – The intrepid Roger fails to heed directions. Instead of sticking with someone who knows the trail system, he simply heads up the gravel and begins looking for single-track. He returns four hours later without having ridden a foot of trail. By unanimous vote of the TDG Board of Directors, his invitation is permanently and immediately revoked.
• 2003 – Jeff Lipton crashes and burns going down the driveway at the start of the Tour. At less than six seconds into the ride, this remains the earliest wreck in TDG history.
• 2004 – A rider we know only as “Bill” shows up unexpectedly. He knows nothing about the ride and mistakenly falls in with the Perpetual Motion group. Their goal – ride four hours at a snappy pace without stopping. To Bill’s credit, he survives for more than two hours before hurling. He has never returned.
• 2005 – Andy “Egg McMuffin” Crump stops in Kelso for a late breakfast on the way to the Tour. The Egg McMuffin leaves him only moments after the ride begins, leading his brother to remark, “You should ask for your money back, Andy. You didn’t have that thing long enough to have to pay for it.”
• 2007 – Light rain failed to dampen spirits, though one couple from PDX drove all the way to CR, announced that they didn’t like riding with wet saddles, packed up and headed for home. Ride leader Lance Brigman demoralized Portland’s famed Killer Burritos by forcing them to climb a nasty gravel hill “just because they needed to.”
• 2008 – While riding with Jack Berry and the Crank Turners, Brandon Lockwood of Tacoma veered off the Beaver Pond Trail and crashed. As he lay on the ground, the rest of the group gave him a glance, said nothing, and rode right past. Welcome to Growlers!

Featured Participants from Past Tours – We May Be Small-Time, But We Draw Some Legit Riders

• Woody Cox – 9 time UCI Masters World Champion and winner of 26 medals in international competitions.
• Cris Smith – UCI Masters National and World Champion
• Brant Ness – 2nd at the 2007 Oregon Singlespeed Championships
• Eric Loney – 2005 Mount Hood Ski Bowl Champion, Expert Division; 4th in Semi-Pro Dual Slalom at 2007 Sea Otter Classic. Rankeded 1st nationally in Semi-Pro DH (30-34) in 2008.
• Jason Moon – 2006 Mount Hood Ski Bowl Champion, Expert Division
• Darrell Jamieson – 6th in the Masters Division at the 2006 USA Cycling Downhill Championships; 3rd in Masters Dual Slalom at 2007 Sea Otter Classic. Ranked 3rd nationally in Expert DH (40-49) in 2008.
• Tammy Meyers – 3rd in Solo Female Singlespeed at the 2007 Old Pueblo; 10th in the Beginners Division at the 2003 Sea Otter Classic
• Lance Brigman – Top finisher at the 2006 and 2007 Growlers Gulch 5,000
• Vaughn Martin and Ed Strong – Pacific Northwest Biking Gods
• The Famed Killer Burritos – Credentials under review by the TDG Board of Directors