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Bike events throughout the summer provide something for everyone

The annual ALS Silver Valley Ride attracts bicyclists to raise money for local families dealing with ALS. (Courtesy photo)
By Rich Landers richl@spokesman.com(509) 459-5508
The annual ALS Silver Valley Ride attracts bicyclists to raise money for local families dealing with ALS. (Courtesy photo)

Organized bicycling events in the Inland Northwest in June provide something for everyone, from easy rambles for kids to thigh-busting hill climbs and charity rides with noble goals.

The North Palouse Cyclorama on Saturday offers courses of 10, 32, 56 or 70 miles out of Fairfield to benefit the Community Food Bank.

The Family Adventure Mountain Bike Series takes on Heyburn State Park on Sunday with loosely organized rides, ranging from single track loops around the park at the south end of Lake Coeur d’Alene to pedaling the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes to Harrison for ice cream followed by a picnic lunch. This is the second of four family events organized by Bicycle Sales and Service in Coeur d’Alene.

On June 18, the Silver Valley Ride to Defeat ALS will cater to pledge-raisers on the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes out of Kingston, Idaho, in the major fundraising event for support for local families living with ALS. Ride routes up to 43 miles.

The event’s co-founder and organizer, Cindy Moore – who was diagnosed with ALS in 2010 – succumbed to the disease last fall. “It’s in her memory that we will ride this year,” said Dawn Nolan, event organizer.

“She was so passionate in her fight against the disease. She wanted to do all she could for the cause so future generations would have hope for a cure.”

Also on June 18, riders will challenge themselves in the I Made the Grade up from the Snake River on the Old Spiral Highway – worth the effort to support the Clarkston High School Band – and the CHaFE 150 Gran Fondo out of Sandpoint to benefit autism programs in local school districts.

Spokane Summer Parkways, on June 21 on South Hill at Comstock-Manito Neighborhood, 6 p.m.-9 p.m., is a free, easy-going event designed for families to walk or ride streets free of motor vehicles, with games and contests.

Or celebrate summer equinox in North Idaho on June 21 in the 19th annual Ride the Wall, a 13-mile evening ride along the Coeur d’Alene River; start and finish at Mission Inn in Cataldo, followed by a barbecue. The event benefits the Silver Valley Fuller Center for Housing.

Another free event, the Blue Goose Family Fun Bike Ride, is July 23 in the Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge southeast of Colville. Start on your own between 8:30 a.m. and 9 a.m., ride 10.5 miles on packed, graded dirt roads while stopping to check out refuge interpretive signs. Bring a picnic and hang out at the refuge headquarters for prizes.

The Spokesman-Review’s 2016 Northwest Bicycling Events Calendar at Spokesman.com lists more details on these and other rides in June and through the rest of the season.

It’s not to soon, for instance, to plan for the Northwest Tandem Rally, July 1-4, out of Klamath Falls, Oregon or the Gran Fondo Kootenai, July 2-3 in Montana between Libby and Eureka.