Lotto Set for Second 'Ride from Seattle to Vancouver and Party'

A SECOND Ride from Seattle to Vancouver and Party cycling event has been scheduled by the Cascade Bicycle Club after the first one sold out on the opening registration day. The event was filled in a few hours despite a technology breakdown that frustrated many people who tried to register.

Registration opened for CBC events to members at noon on Jan. 10. The Ride from Seattle to Vancouver and Party (RSVP), which is limited to about 1,000 cyclists, has become wildly popular.

“Demand for the event is so high that it sells out in hours,” said a club statement. “This year, in fact, members clamoring to register brought down our web servers.”

Subsequent apologies by the club brought scores of online comments and blog entries complaining about the system. Many suggested using a lottery for the registration.

When apologizing for the problem, CBC promised to respond further and make up for the situation. Their solution was announced Friday, Jan. 21: a second RSVP will be held one day after the first. RSVP2 will be open only to members, with registration by lottery.

The lottery, which can be entered at no cost, will be open for 10 days starting in mid-February. Lottery winners will be notified by e-mail, when they must pay the registration fees.

A nice feature of the lottery is the ability to sign up as a group. Up to six CBC members can register for one lottery ticket. That way, if you win the lottery, you know that your entire group will be riding together.

One more tip about registering for a CBC event: The club has a refund policy that is often used by people who register early, but then don't complete their planned training schedule or find they cannot ride the event for other reasons. Those people can return their registration to CBC and get a refund of 75 percent of the registration cost, up to 30 days before the event.

On day 29 before the event, registration will reopen to sell all those returned registrations, if there are enough cancellations to warrant it. So if you're really hot to do a sold-out ride, count the days and check again on that 29th day. 

Gran Fondo on the Peninsula

If a party in Vancouver isn't enough of a lure, you could participate in a Tour de France-style “Gran Fondo” this summer on the Olympic Peninsula. The Echelon Gran Fondo will take place July 23. It is a fundraiser for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Survivorship Program and beneficiaries of the Lance Armstrong-founded Livestrong Foundation.

A gran fondo is a European-style countryside ride that is generally challenging in distance or hilliness, or both. Of course, any ride could qualify for this designation, based on your personal fitness level and what you find to be a challenge. In Europe, some gran fondo events include thousands of riders.

For this event, cyclists may choose to fund-raise, or to pay a higher registration cost instead. Different colored jerseys with the event logo are being awarded based on fundraising levels. If you meet the highest level of fundraising, at $5,000, the color of your jersey will be -- in true Tour de France style -- yellow.

Livestrong has been holding an annual ride in Seattle the past few years, but will not hold one here this year. Instead, the Echelon organization will produce one of its gran fondos, which it also holds in other U.S. cities.

But you don't have to be a spandex-clad racer covered in endorsement logos to participate. In addition to a challenging “Super Gran Fondo” ride for 500 cyclists up to the 5,757-foot summit of Hurricane Ridge by Port Angeles, there will also be routes of 30, 70 and 100 miles.

The rides leave from Kingston and traverses the hills of Kitsap County between Kingston and Hadlock. A celebration will be held in Kingston after the event.

Organizers promise “Tour de France-style frivolity” along with the cycling. Echelon executive director Hunter Ziesing says it will be “theater on the roads,” which the company says will include “announcers, balloons, cheerleaders, helicopters, live music, marching bands, epicurean treats and a cast of characters a la Alpe d'Huez.”

Registration is open now for the three less-strenuous gran fondo rides, but if you want to get one of those 500 spots to ride up Hurricane Ridge, guess what: they're being awarded by lottery. 

Meeting note: This Thursday, Jan. 27, the City of Redmond will be holding a public meeting to show the draft design for the Redmond Central Corridor, a bike-pedestrian-park connector that will use the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Rail line purchased by the city in 2010. Redmond City Hall, 6:30-8:30 p.m. 

Bill Thorness is the author of Biking Puget Sound: 50 Rides from Olympia to the San Juans. Contact him at bill@bikingpugetsound.com.