We Did It! A Successful 2026 Pioneer Century
By Ann Morrow
WE DID IT! Yes, the 2026 Pioneer Century is now past tense. Whew! Seriously, we were missing multiple volunteers – some positions garnered no interest from our members and so went unfilled. I kept saying, “This event does not have a coordinator, so it’s not very coordinated.” But those that did step up for their club worked hard, and we pulled it off. Special thanks go to Doug Myers and Scott Diamond for working some of the coordinator jobs and just getting things done. Dave McQuery organized course marking and SAG vehicles. Treasurer Corey Eng paid the bills but also has so much knowledge in that brain of his, and he kept us on track. Alan Mevis jumped in early on to help Joel Loh line up sponsors, and then he worked on publicity. Christi Horton facilitated our e-mail blasts to all past riders (we think that’s our target market). Kathleen Hellem made sure riders were sent off properly and welcomed back in and helped keep the snacks and drinks available as riders finished up. Scott Poindexter drove our big Penske truck—which I know many of you wanted to do, but Scott beat you to it 😉
Our rest stop ambassadors, the faces of PBC during our event, were Don Spencer, John Burkhardt, Jim Liu, Joel Loh, Dick Weber, Steve Gerke, Corey Eng, Nancy Chu, Ron Stein, Ann Sandvig, Tom Freedman, Karen Warner and Christi Horton. Riders generally provided favorable reports regarding our food and rest stops in general. I know you all worked hard to keep up with their needs.
Out on the road driving around and rescuing riders we had Dave McQuery, Kevin McManigal, Mike Faden and Frank Hernandez. Flats were fixed, riders picked up and those ride support vehicles on the road assured riders they were safe with us.
Course marking was performed by Dave McQuery, Kim Hutchinson, Ron Stein and Dennis Hogan. Based upon what I heard, our success rate with the marking was 99.9%. One rider, using RideWithGPS, missed a turn even though it was well marked with Dan Henrys.
Doug Myers and Bob Glascock helped with deliveries with our rented van and set out and picked up our larger signage.
Storage unit loading and unloading was handled primarily by Travis Lopez and Griffon Buckner.
Food shoppers were Ken Norland, Khaliyah Williams-Rodriguez and Michelle Kirsch under the direction of Scott Diamond (who remains afflicted by a chronic pickle aversion yet persevered even when surrounded by pickle products). Scott Poindexter deftly brought in the Penske truck and pulled up out front of Costco like he owned the place.
Martha Munoz brought in the coffee from Starbucks for the start line send-off. Meanwhile, Chip Kyle led his team at the registration tables. Those riders moved along quickly! Steve Price, Mike Faden and Scott Israel helped with pre-registration and Diane Kerns and Cackie Kyle worked the day-of registrations.
Later arrivals on the day, but essential for our event, were our sanitary engineers, Bob Currey-Wilson, Lloyd Tolle and Sara Gabin who helped with cleanup at Columbia Distributing and loading that truck back up!
It took all of you and I know you gave your best. Thank you for supporting your bicycle club. It really makes me proud of the unity of our group.
Again, reports from riders as they returned from their Pioneer ride were favorable. Course marking was spot on, rest stops were good and varied, SAG drivers were out showing support.
Although the ride was a success, we had slightly fewer pre-registrations than in 2025 and slightly fewer day of event riders than in 2025. I have no idea why that is. Please share if you have an answer.
The team is already discussing problems, omissions, and ideas for 2027. We think we have a good thing here with our Pioneer Century and want to keep it going. Do you?