Willamt Nonstop Introduction
On Friday, May 13th 2022 at 6am, I'll be biking in the inaugural Willamt Nonstop, a 400+ mile mixed terrain nonstop ride in the foothills of Oregon’s Willamette Valley. I usually hold off on participating in the first year of new events, but I was immediately attracted to this event and decided I'm ok with any possible kinks that could be improved for future years.
The route is mixed-terrain (gravel and road) which has been my favorite kind of riding lately. The route also uses the roads with the least amount of traffic, and that's my usual mentality for planning routes too (even if that means a lot of hills to climb).
The event director created a mobile app which can be used to track locations of the riders and view photos and videos from the route. More info on the event including download links for the app can be found on the event website.
The ride is self-supported, so while people are welcome to come see me in-person on the route, I can't accept any food, water, or shelter. Not that I'd need it anyway, since the route goes through many towns, making resupplies easy.
My plan is to ride the whole thing in one-shot, with little or no sleep. I'm carrying a pretty light setup (more details in a future post), so I'm hoping this will allow me to push through the night and finish before sunset on the 14th.
More to come after the ride, but in the meantime, feel free to watch the event through the mobile app and by watching my Instagram stories during the event. Wish me luck!