This is a call to bring your family! Bring your friends! Bring your spark! And bring your analog bike, or eBike!
Commence the Winter Blues Cruise! It’s that time of year where everything gets dark early, and it can be a little harder to stay motivated to ride. What better way than to get out with other people, enjoy the beautiful Rogue Valley and meet up for some great food, fun, or both!
This week I wanted to take you to the protected on-street bikeway on Main St in Medford!
Wait! Protected on-street bikeway? You read that right! I wanted to showcase an effective on-street bike path that they built on Main Street in Medford that connects from the Bear Creek Greenway and currently ends at Alba Park!
And! We’re doing something different on this ride! (Well, aside from the bike path showcase!) We’re splitting off and showing multiple businesses our love on the protected bike path! This is intended to display that our cycling culture is beneficial to local commerce and, perhaps, convince more people that more infrastructure for cyclists (such as a protected bike path!) can promote said commerce as cyclists can feel safer arriving, as well as departing! (BTW, one of Team Rogue Cycles core values is to promote cycling as an alternate transportation mode and get people out of their cars!) I’ll be heading to Mellelo’s Coffee to grab a chai, but all participants are encouraged to patronize businesses on the way!
Route info! We’ll meet at Ashland Electric Bikes at 11:45 a.m, with some basic traffic and group riding rules at noon. We’ll do some call and response stretches to warm up (a good friend said that we’re not a group unless we do something cringey together!) Then off we ride!
We’ll ride a good mix of public streets and protected Greenway. Weather permitting, there will be views of Grizzly Peak and the mountain ranges surrounding the valley! We’ll end the first half of our ride at Alba Park, where participants are then encouraged to visit all of the local businesses! We’ll give you an hour to offer commerce, and then we’ll meet up back at Alba Park! After that, it’s back to Ashland Electric Bikes! The ride is about 32.7 miles w/ 1,050ft of elevation gain!
This is an out and back loop! All who ride with us are encouraged to ride as a group, however you are welcome to ride ahead, behind, join on the route, or meet us there!
***Important!
Bring money for food and beverage! And remember your bike lock/helmet!
Note: This is a not an Ashland Electric Bikes event. The store owner has agreed to have the shop open, on non-business days, before and after our rides to allow folks a place to gather outside of the cold, use the facilities and grab any last minute items they might have forgot. There will be a waiver that we ask everyone to sign making sure they acknowledge this point.
There is no Support And Gear (SAG) wagon! Please arrive with your protective gear, as well as a tube(s)/pump/tools for the ride in case the ride goes awry! Ashland Electric Bikes (AEB) will have gear and tools available for purchase at the start, as well as the end of the ride.
Also!
We ride rain, or shine! This is the Winter Blues Cruise! Step away from your domicile and become a bit feral! Here’s looking forward to seeing you there!!
Feel free to send me your questions/ comments!
For route info w/ turn by turn directions, download the RidewithGPS app and select the link below!
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/45825194
