twocicle

Update March 18th:
NWTR 2013 - Bellingham is officially cancelled. see: https://nwtr.org/2013-rally-cancelled/

Update April 25th:
NWTR 2013 - PORTLAND MINI replacement, Saturday and Sunday, July 6th and 7th. RSVP by June 15!

p2templin

I can occasionally be extremely pessimistic, but the updates mean the site has gone from 'coming on this date' (which came and went) to 'coming soon'. It also means the event has lost a day: if you check Facebook or the main page (i.e. https://nwtr.org) you'll see the event was planned as July 3-7. I recognize that it's still "Junuary" until July 5th, so getting in on july 3 means rain, but it's still a change for the worse in my opinion.

twocicle

Put on your logic hat and away with the sad face. Regional tandem rallys are typically split between either 3 or 4 day events, not 5 days. Most likely the main NWTR page & FB (not managed by the Bellingham organizers) had a typo which included July 3rd by mistake.

As for sunny skies...

2011 Spokane Rally:



2009 Victoria Rally:


Odd years are sunny?

twocicle

I just posted this 48mi route on the NWTR 2013 website as a suggestion under Routes. I have no idea where they planned to stage the event starts, and such, so I took a stab at doing something really fun, scenic and visiting interesting little towns in the area north of Bellingham. It starts at Zuanich Park on the waterfront and piers area.

This is just the general idea. If there is interest in doing this route, no doubt there will be some adjustments/corrections needed.

For a real kick, watch the 3D flyover for the entire ride (Google Map plug-in install required).

Tom Spohn

Looks like an interesting ride. And the 3D flyover is fantastic!

B. Carfree

I agree. It's odd to get a sunny year hereabouts.

Tom Spohn

Puget Sound has the best summer in the country..............especially when it falls on a weekend!

twocicle

Status updates from chat on the website:

Mar 9th:
"We can assure you the rally WILL happen in Bellingham as planned."

Mar 15th:
"We are assessing if it is feasible to still produce the event. The previous director dropped the ball big-time! I’m heading up to Bellingham tomorrow morning and depending on the results we will announce the official status early next week. I’m very sorry. NWTR is an all volunteer effort and in 20+ years that has NEVER happened before. It’s a tremendous amount of work that normally takes a big team of folks two years to produce. So considering picking up the pieces with 3 months left is a bit crazy…but we’re considering.".

FWIW, Linda & I plan to be in the area (Lynden) and riding regardless of the event status. Perhaps if others do the same, we can get together.

Stay tuned for another episode of: Find that tandem rally.

twocicle

see: https://nwtr.org/2013-rally-cancelled/

twocicle

The main NWTR page has some info in case you still feel like heading to Bellingham. Copying here to keep a record of it for future rally shoppers:

I'm not sure of the intended day vs ride for the above, but let's assume July 4th, 5th and 6th. Personally, I would drop the tourdewatcom in favor of the 48mi (or longer) ride I posted earlier and available from MapMyRide.com. Apparently the ride starts were based from: Boundary Bay Brewing, 1107 RAILROAD AVE which is not far off from the start of my route suggestion.

Linda & I may be stubborn and attending the non-event

Carbonfiberboy 

Here's another couple of routes:
https://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Whatcom-Laughs
https://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path...nderings200259
which I've ridden. Perhaps somewhat more rural routes. The elevation gain shown by bikely is much exaggerated. Could repair to BBB after ride.

twocicle

I have also ridden the north-east portions of these routes. Probably best to avoid the stints on Hwy 9 and 542 (Mt. Baker) with a crowd of tandems of various skills and speeds. On my single, I still like to bomb out to Maple Falls and Silver Lake, and occasionally up Mt Baker, then expedite my time on 542 to get off it asap. As much as I dislike out and back rides, going the Silver Lake route for both directions is much less risky IMO.

Carbonfiberboy 

Well, so do we want to try to get some bikes together? I ride with a group of as many as 6 tandems. Don't know how many would be interested, but maybe some. We are ancient, however. Mostly 17-18 on the flats teams, 13-14 mph averages depending on hilliness, with some faster teams.

Carbonfiberboy 

There is a Portland, OR group who is stepping up to put on a mini-NWTR:
https://nwtr.org/2013/portland/
Let's see if we can get some bike together there. I'm putting the word out to my tandem riding group.

twocicle

Thanks for the heads up. Updated post #1 with that info.

joe@vwvortex

Hmm - we'll be up in Sisters Oregon starting on July 3rd - might head over for the Saturday ride.