By DOUG BATES/Editor/The Herald — About 250 bicyclists, some from as far away as Europe, gathered in Oakridge’s Uptown district Saturday morning before racing off to the trails and gravel roads of the Willamette National Forest north of town.
The event, called the Sasquatch Duro, marked the return of major mountain bicycle competition to Oakridge-Westfir after nearly a year and a half of cancellations because of COVID-19. The sponsors of Saturday’s spirited scramble, Mudslinger Events LLC, based in Monroe, said 270 cyclists registered for the Sasquatch Duro but there were about 20 no-shows, probably because of heavy rains in the area on Friday, the day before the event.
Saturday’s weather, however, was described as “perfect” by the organizers — mild, partly sunny and without a drop of rain.
The word “Duro” in the event’s moniker is cyclist slang for “severe.” But the scores of impressively fit-looking athletes who jammed East First Street between Pine and Cedar streets prior to the event Saturday morning looked quite up to the task.
At precisely 8:30 a.m., Officer James Cleavenger of the Oakridge Police Department sounded the siren of his patrol car, then led the pedaling throng to Oak Street and then onto Westoak Road. From there, cyclists had three competitive options in the nearby woods:
“Little Squatch” — about 32 miles with 2,576 feet of elevation.
“Big Squatch” — about 59 miles with 6,522 feet of elevation.
“Monster Squatch” — about 84 miles with 9,420 feet of elevation.
Oakridge businesses including Willamette Mountain Mercantile and Cog Wild bicycle shuttles provided services for the Duro participants, many of whom stayed in Oakridge-Westfir the nights before and after the event, said Mike Ripley of Monroe, the event director. Entrants received food vouchers that could be redeemed at five different dining establishments in Oakridge and Westfir.
The Mudslinger Events group brought the Sasquatch Duro to Oakridge-Westfir in 2018 and 2019 but had to cancel it in 2020 because of the pandemic. Very few face masks were evident among participants Saturday, and Ripley estimated that more than 90 percent of them had been vaccinated.
Ripley said the event is part fund-raiser. “We’re going to help out Michelle Emmons and the Alpine Trail Crew Association,” he said.
Michelle Emmons McPharlin of Oakridge, an avid mountain bicyclist, is a founding board member of the trail steward organization.
“The world of gravel cycling is exploding,” Ripley said, and Oakridge-Westfir is at the center of it because of the vast network of gravel roads built during the heyday of logging in the Northwest. About 65 to 70 percent of the Sasquatch Duro competition was on gravel, he said.
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