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Sasquatch Duro mountain-biking event returns to ‘Gravel Kingdom’ of Oakridge-Westfir on June 12

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Oakrtidge police lead hundreds of cyclists on the turn from East First Street onto Oak Street and Westoak Road at the start of the Sasquatch Duro event in 2019. Harry Apelbaum photo

By DOUG BATES/Editor/The Herald — After a long year of COVID-19 cancellations, big-time organized mountain biking returns June 12 to the woods around Oakridge-Westfir.

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Decades of logging road construction transformed Oakridge-Westfir into the ‘Kingdom of Gravel’ for mountain bicyclists. Harry Apelbaum photo

More than 250 cyclists from all across the Pacific Northwest have registered for what will be the third Sasquatch Duro event in the Upper Willamette mountain community, which Mike Ripley calls “the Kingdom of Gravel.”

“I grew up in Eugene and always thought of Oakridge as The Kingdom,” said Ripley, who now lives in Monroe. He is event director for Mudslinger Events LLC, sponsor of the Duro, which is cyclist slang for “severe.” The group brought the Sasquatch Duro to Oakridge-Westfir in 2018 and 2019 but had to cancel it in 2020 because of the pandemic.

“Now we’re coming back in a big way,” Ripley said. “At least 80 percent of our participants are vaccinated, and it will probably be over 90 percent by June 12.”

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Chad Mahler and Marissa Lopez (center) of Oakridge serve up some Cowgirl Cook’n to a young customer during Sasquatch Duro in 2019. Harry Apelbaum photo

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 will be on gravel, he said.

The event offers three main cycling options:

“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, Cog Wild bicycle shuttles and Cowgirl Cook’n catering will provide services for the Duro participants, many of whom will be staying in Oakridge-Westfir the nights before and after the event, Ripley said.

It is set to start at 8:30 a.m. on June 12, a Saturday, at First and Pine streets in Uptown Oakridge.

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