Seattle Times Article

I found this article while surfing tonight and I found it to be very true. (For some reason sleep seems to elude me this evening . . . could it be all the coffee and mochas I had today?) I know what I'm talking about because Joe and I have been to Oregon on biking vacations. Yea, you can say that Joe and I are "Boomer Bikers." Yea, we stay in motels with comfy beds, showers, and a nice restaurant. Tent? You're kidding, right? My back would not find a sleeping bag on cold hard ground appealing. I wouldn't be able to get out of the bag let alone ride my bike after a night in a tent! And you know what, we earned the comfy bed and hot shower. We raised our two kids, put them through college, it's our turn. We love to bike and we love Oregon. Put the two together and you have heaven on earth. So when I found this article that was published by the Seattle Times on March 20, 2006 titled "Oregon Seeks Bigger Share of Boomer Biking Crowd" I decided to post it here to share with visitors to my site. And because I found it very interesting too!

Hey don't get me wrong. We have biked in other states too. But Oregon has been the best so far. Next summer (or the summer after) we plan on going international. I think our first stop will be Tuscany. But that's down the road. Right now on to the article . . .

EUGENE, Ore. — They're middle-aged but not grown up. They like to play outdoors but take their creature comforts come nightfall.

They're baby-boomer bicyclists. They're people who can drop $1,000, $2,000 or even $8,000 on their two-wheelers.

Recreation and tourism officials see gold in promoting Oregon as the premier place for them to ride. They have organized an Oregon Bicycling Summit on April 1 in Eugene.

"Bicycling is one of the most affluent sporting activities out there right now," said Jerry Norquist, executive director of Cycle Oregon, a nonprofit cycling organization.

He said many boomer cyclists "no longer like to just go out and camp in a tent and cook on a stove. They like to stay in a bed-and-breakfast or a hotel and they like to eat at a good restaurant. ... We call it credit-card touring."

He said officials are pushing to improve Oregon roads for cyclists, get cycling routes marked and mapped, grease the tourism communications, "brand" Oregon cycling and market it nationally and internationally.

The state draws people from around the globe for bicycle-touring events and wins recognition for its cycling environment.

Eugene landed on Bicycling magazine's list of best medium-size cycling cities this year. And Portland won the title as the best cycling city of any size in the nation.

"It can't hurt to have that reputation developed even more," said Jan VanderTuin, executive director of the Center for Appropriate Transport in Eugene.