Prineville Bike Park on fast track to reality!

Group has raised enough funds to start construction

Katie Higgins

http://www.ktvz.com/news/prineville-bike-park-on-the-fast-track/34541238

PRINEVILLE, OR

The Bend bike scene just got a little bit of friendly competition from another High Desert city. That's because the Crook County chapter of the Central Oregon Trail Alliance finally has enough funds gathered to build a bike park near downtown Prineville.

The city is already a stop for many cyclists traveling one of two major trails that  run right through Prineville, the Trans-American and Oregon Outback.

"It just dissects Prineville," James Good, owner of the Good Bike Co., said Tuesday.

Good says he meets people from all over the world at his shop.

"Last week, we had a guy from Switzerland and a group from Australia," Good said.

His shop caters to passers-by and locals. He says the bike scene in Prineville has always been there, but now it's emerging even more. It's not a hidden secret any more. The bike park will help that even more.

"The bike park and these local trails, it's enough to get people out and about," Good said.

Crook County donated a one-acre parcel to the Crook County Central Oregon Trail Alliance chapter. The bike park will have rock and wood features, jumps, pump tracks and more. It'll be \open to mountain bikes, strider bikes and BMX bikes.

"I'm up in the mountains, and if I get up in the mountains to a really rocky, technical section. I can come back in town and practice it and hopefully ride it next time," Good said.

Anyone can practice, but it's locals who got the wheels turning.

"A lot of local businesses are supporting tools and materials," Good said.

That's everyone from kids donating a dollar to large businesses donating thousands. Others are donating in kind, giving materials and time. Construction is planned to start next year.

To find out more about the project, visit: http://cotamtb.com/2015/prineville-bike-park/

Central Oregon Farm and Ranch Tours

Pigs and goats and cows and … bikes! Central Oregon puts its own spin on agritourism this summer and fall with the inaugural Crooked River Open Pastures (CROP) series in and around the town of Prineville, just 35 miles north of Bend.

Organized by the High Desert Food & Farm Alliance, the Saturday tours include rotating farmers markets at local farms and ranches, the chance to meet the farmer and various family-friendly activities. “For visitors it’s a great opportunity to learn about where their food comes from,” says Seth Crawford, Crook County Commissioner. “That’s why I take my daughters. I want them to know.”

CROP events run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and are free of charge. The fun began in May and will run through October 10, culminating with a day at Windy Acres Dairy Farm (with special guest Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms, chronicled in Michael Pollan’s best-selling book, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma.” There is a small fee for this event).

Prineville’s bike shop, Good Bike Company, will host two-wheeled tours along the CROP stops. Visitors can also book guided bike tours of the area on other days. Good Bike owner James Good says road bikers will find authentic, down-to-earth people in a beautiful area. “There is exceptional road riding and exceptional farms and ranches producing some the of the best cheeses and meats and vegetables that you can find,” says Good Bike owner James Good, “So to combine the two is the perfect marriage.”

The CROP tour on July 11 visits Bluestone Gardens, which offers herbs, plants, goats milk and landscape design services. On July 18, Dancing Cow Farms hosts, giving people the chance to view heritage and pasture-raised cows, sheep and poultry. Flying Pig Hops farm is the venue on August 8. Crawford says the location, tucked in at the western edge of Crook County, offers gorgeous views of Smith Rock. On August 15, visitors can meet a professional forester and have a “timber-to-table” experience at Wine Down Ranch. September 12 will see a harvest gala at Smudgie Goose Farm, and Sept. 19 takes people on a tour of award-winning Brasada Ranch.

CROP tour enthusiasts can pick up a passport and collect stamps along the way for a yet to be determined prize. For more information, go to the High Desert Food & Farm Alliance’s website.

Oregon Outback 2015

Gravel ride across Oregon likely to roll into Prineville today

Crook County proving popular for bikepacking and gravel riding

By Beau Eastes / The Bulletin / @beastes

James Good expects the first Oregon Outback riders to reach his Prineville bike shop, Good Bike Co., some time today.

The Outback, the 364-mile unsanctioned and unsupported off-the-grid gravel ride/race that starts in Klamath Falls and concludes in the Columbia River Gorge, kicked off Friday in Southern Oregon. While most of the 200 to 300 bicyclists participating in this year’s event will take five to seven days to complete the ride, a handful of hard-core “bikepackers” — camping via bike — will be shooting to finish the whole trip in around 24 hours.

With his shop located in the only full-service town on the route — the Outback riders also roll through the booming metro areas of Silver Lake, Fort Rock and Shaniko, to name a few — Good is planning on helping cyclists 225 miles into the Outback any way he can.

“We’ve got a map room, coffee, beer, a lot of different resources,” said Good, who last summer opened his bike business in a former service station on U.S. Highway 26 right in the heart of Prineville’s downtown. “We’re in an old gas station, so we try to help people refuel, whatever way that means to them.”

Cycling is becoming more prevalent in Crook County, which in the past has been known more as a ranch and ag area than a place supportive of spandex and singletrack.

In less than two weeks, on June 4, Good’s shop will celebrate its grand opening in conjunction with the official introduction of the Lower 66 mountain bike trail network on the west side of Prineville. Later this summer, Prineville hopes to break ground on a BMX bike park, and the Central Oregon Trail Association recently adopted several mountain bike trails to maintain within the Ochoco National Forest.

City and county officials are working on earning a scenic bikeway designation from the state for a ride south of town in the Crooked River Canyon. And Prineville has long been a stop on the TransAmerica Bike Trail, the road cycling route that starts at the Pacific Ocean and ends at the Atlantic.

But the regional surge in bikepacking and gravel riding may be where Crook County truly makes its mark in the cycling world. The county is home to hundreds, if not thousands, of miles of gravel and dirt roads.

“The Ochoco (mountains) and gravel roads are five to 10 miles from town,” said Good, who in August is putting on the inaugural Ochoco Gravel Roubaix, which will offer 10-, 45- and 120-mile gravel races. “There’s a lot of designated and primitive camping in the Ochocos that you can turn a beautiful ride into a fun, short weekend experience.”

The incredible growth of the Oregon Outback highlights the soaring interest in long-distance bikepacking trips. After organizing a handful of gravel rides around the state, off-road enthusiast Donnie Kolb put together the unpaved beast that would become Oregon Outback in 2014. He figured he would have a hard time attracting more than 50 people on a ride that climbs more than 14,000 feet over 360 miles. To his astonishment, he had to shut down registration after 400 bikers signed up. Slightly more than 100 cyclists actually completed the first running of the Outback. This year that number was expected to be closer to 300.

“The riding in Central Oregon is spectacular,” said Abraham Sutfin, who owns the bike shop Abraham Fixes Bikes in north Portland. “It’s some of the best in the state.”

Sutfin, who has done long-distance bike tours all over the Pacific Northwest and even New Zealand, says the allure of gravel riding is the chance to get off the grid and provide for yourself.

“It puts cyclists in a place where they don’t have to rely on state parks and bike hostels,” said Sutfin, whose latest project is to find a rideable route along the Deschutes River from its conflux with the Columbia all the way to Bend. “In Oregon, you can pull off on the side of any dirt road and camp and not bother anyone. … Getting off paved roads, it brings people to places where they don’t have to rely on civilization.”

Even Travel Oregon, the marketing arm of the state, is getting in on the gravel craze, publicizing popular gravel rides around Oregon.

“This isn’t just a fad,” Good said about newfound popularity of bikepacking and gravel riding. “Yeah, they’ll be some ebbs and flows … but I just see it growing.

“There’s something to be said about Prineville,” he added. “It’s still very Western and real life. It’s refreshing for folks. The area’s not this big, hyped up place, but instead it’s real and fun and you can have a unique experience out here that’s hard to find.”

Surly Superfan Coupon

SURLY SUPERFAN COUPON

It’s pretty much exactly what it sounds like. 150 bucks off any Surly complete bike. Here it is:

Print this mother out, fill it out and bring it into Good Bike Co. LLC and redeem it for 150 bucks off any Surly bike. 

The coupon expires on April 1st 2015 and is only good on bikes in stock.

Prineville goes full bore into bicycling

COTA hopes to have new trail system done by June

By Beau Eastes / The Bulletin / @beastes

Published Jan 7, 2015 at 12:01AM / Updated Jan 7, 2015 at 06:17AM

Crook County COTA chapter

Website:www.cotamtb.com/chapters/crook-county

Email: CrookCountyRep@cotamtb.com

Note: Ad-hoc work crews to finish Lower 66 begin this month

PRINEVILLE — The wheels are moving on multiple bicycling projects in and around Prineville.

The Crook County chapter of the Central Oregon Trail Alliance announced Tuesday night at its January meeting at Good Bike Co. that by this June it hopes to have the area’s newest trail system, Lower 66, completed, as well as a 1.5-acre BMX bike park.

Lower 66, which sits on 66 acres of state land just south of the Ochoco State Scenic Viewpoint off state Highway 126, will boast three miles of multiuse trails within the Prineville city limits once completed.

The two main loops are nearly finished, said Darlene Henderson, head of the Crook County trail alliance chapter, with the connector trail between the north and south loops requiring most of the work. Signage and a trailhead kiosk are also expected to be added.

The Prineville Bike Park, which will be located adjacent to Ochoco Creek Park, is in the initial fundraising stage, according to Henderson, but she expects construction to start and finish within a two- or three-week period this June. COTA, which has raised $10,110, estimates the bike park will cost approximately $102,000.

“All the right pieces have just fallen together in the last two years,” Henderson said about Prineville’s recent plunge into the cycling community. “You’ve got to have a good relationship with land managers. You’ve got to have public officials like (County Commissioner) Seth (Crawford) get behind these things. You’ve got to have people willing to organize and people like Stephen (Henderson, Darlene’s husband) do the trail work. And you have to have a meeting place like Good Bike Co.”

“Projects like this,” Darlene Henderson added, “you’ve got to have all the pieces in play.”

Lower 66 and the Prineville Bike Park could be just the beginning of a wave of bike-related projects in Crook County.

COTA has submitted a multiphase trail proposal with the U.S. Forest Service for a 270-mile trail network within the Ochoco National Forest. Phase 1 would create a 75.2-mile trail network based around the current Lookout Mountain Trail northeast of Prineville.

Crook County bike enthusiasts are also looking at more rides within the city limits, similar to the Lower 66 trails, to enhance the cycling opportunities in the area.

“The Lookout Mountain trails, those will attract tourists,” said Crawford, who is also a Central Oregon Trail Alliance member. “But projects like Lower 66 and the bike park, those are about quality of life for residents of Crook County. We’ve got an amazing quality of life here, but if you don’t get ahead of the curve, you fall behind. This is an opportunity to improve our quality of life.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0305,

beastes@bendbulletin.com