Monster Cookie
Cookies! Riding! The two go together for a perfect day. Salem Bicycle Club starts us out into our 2025 cycling season with their premier event ride on Sunday, April 27: Monster Cookie Metric Century.
The ride starts at McNary High School and takes us over rural roads (bucolic and hoppy) with an optional ride up to Mt. Angel Abbey and delicious Willamette Valley Pie to augment the cookies! The Full Monster Cookie option is a metric century or 63.8 miles.
There is also the Half Monster Cookie option of riding to the first rest stop and back for 35.5 miles if that’s more comfortable after the wet spring we’ve had and limited saddle time. Additionally, there will be a Mini Monster Cookie for family riders with a fun 6.2-mile route!
If you have Reach the Beach or Pioneer Century® on your ride schedule, I recommend you come out for Monster Cookie as a shakedown ride to check your fitness, hone your skills riding in large groups, and to doublecheck your ride gear and machine to make sure it will all work for you. ✎
Salem Bicycle Club does a wonderful job with their event, and you will find the usual rest stop fare along with the cookies. The Monster Cookie is well-supported with SAG vehicles, and the volunteers are friendly and helpful. I do suggest that as you register, you spend a little extra ($13) and buy lunch which will then be waiting for you at Mt. Angel Middle School. There will also be rest stop snacks if you choose not to purchase the lunch option. Many enjoy that extra fuel before heading back out to the road. You can also order lunch if you are riding the Half Cookie or Mini.
Registration online is open until April 23, so hurry. From April 1 through the closing of online registration, the cost for non-Salem-members is $70. Of course, you can sign up on the day of the ride but, as with most rides, it’s going to cost you extra, +$10, for that privilege. And no option to purchase lunch day-of-event.
Portland Bicycling Club will allow you to claim this ride for club miles. Electronic sign-in ONLY. The ride leader will not be carrying a ride sign-in sheet. This is our attempt to embolden you to venture out and away from our own club rides and to try something new. It provides a fun outing as we support a nearby bicycle club. We do ask that you behave yourself and wear club colors.
Ann Morrow, President