STP Progress Report

Fellow PBC-ers,

I know the calendar last month said April, but the snow and cold felt like January! Hopefully, May spring temps and clearer skies will be on schedule so we can get out and ride. May also means that we are about two months out from the 2022 Seattle to Portland (STP) Bicycle Classic. The Cascade Bicycle Club (CBC) of Seattle has been the STP event organizer since 1979. CBC recognized years ago they needed a Portland partner to manage the finish line. That’s where our club has come in. CBC counts on PBC to coordinate the permitting, organizing volunteers, and the myriad other tasks needed to put on a great Portland finish to the 204-mile ride.

Here’s a progress report on our club’s end of the STP, the finish line at Portland’s Holladay Park.  ✎  The streets around the park need to be closed to accommodate the thousands of riders, trucks, busses, food carts and other vehicles. To close a city street requires a permit, and gaining a permit means working with the city bureaucracy. PBC-er Mark Klein has once again navigated Portland’s Bureau of Transportation masterfully and successfully obtaining the street closure permits several weeks ago.

I am the 2022 STP finish line coordinator and am also obtaining the permitting for the use of Holladay Park. As I’m writing this, we are one item away from gaining the permit for the use of the park. I hope as you read this, we’ll have the permit from Portland Parks & Recreation approved.

The last and biggest part of our STP tasks is recruiting, organizing, and supervising volunteers. The thousands of STP riders have lots of baggage that’s transported to PDX by truck. Thousands of bikes also need to be loaded into trucks for the drive back to Seattle. That means muscle, lots of it. The coaches and young athletes of Vancouver’s Skyview High School are again geared up to load the bags and bikes. Those young backs will save mine and a bunch of other PBC-ers!

The STP requires a whole slate of other volunteer workers to make this event successful. PBC-er Corey Eng is once again stepping up to organize the volunteer cadre. Corey doesn’t get those volunteers out of thin air; they come from the ranks of our club. Please click here for SignUpGenius, or check the PBC website under the “Events” tab, look for “Seattle to Portland” in the pulldown menu, click and scroll down to the “SignUpGenuis” link under the heading “STP Finish Line and Volunteering.” Last time I looked, there were a number of coveted volunteer positions left to be filled! The wages haven’t kept up with inflation, but at least the volunteer parking is free! Signing up would also mean Corey sleeps a little better at night!

Let’s make this event a success in ’22!

See you on the road,

Eric Hendricks, STP Finish Line Coordinator