Oregon Cycling Magazine

by Ayleen Crotty

When spring arrives, all roads lead to the beach! That’s what motivates 2,000 cyclists as they make their way along any one of five gorgeous rural routes to picturesque Pacific City for the 17th annual Reach the Beach Clean Air Bicycle Challenge. This year’s course features two new routes: one from Portland and one from Corvallis. There is also a mountain bike option. No matter where the starting point is, every rider will be pedaling for a good cause.

Reach the Beach is the major fundraiser for the American Lung Association of Oregon. Every pedal stroke helps promote clean Oregon air and lung health. This year the early registration fee is only $25. Every rider is required to achieve a modest fundraising goal of $50, and the Reach the Beach website features easy-to-use fundraising tools that make it fun to meet and exceed that goal. If you’re a motivated fundraiser you may qualify for amazing prizes—including REI panniers, a Trek bike and a free pass to Cycle Oregon—and you can feel great knowing you’re supporting the Lung Association.

Participants come from all rides of life. Some are slow, some are race-trained veterans and some are only occasional weekend riders. Not all participants are riders, either. Reach the Beach requires a small army of volunteers to make the event a success. Take Larry and Babe, for example.

No really, that’s her name—Babe—and she’s the reason Larry is here today, riding Reach the Beach. Several years ago, Larry Tanner, from Tillamook, was injured on the job and unable to work for a long period of time. The normally-active guy didn’t take well to all this sitting around, and he quickly developed severe depression and an addiction to his pain medication. Larry gained a lot of weight and his life began to spiral our of control - but Babe, his wife for 40 years, wasn’t about to let that happen. Through her love and support, Larry was able to kick his addiction to the pain medication and he started riding his bike for exercise. Before he knew it, he lost over 100 pounds and signed up to ride Reach the Beach.

That was three years ago and Larry has been riding Reach the Beach ever since. Larry’s preferred route is the 100 miles from Portland, but this year he is considering the Corvallis Challenge, a new 110 mile route. And his favorite part about the ride? “First of all,” Larry says “its a great ride and for a great cause.” He also really loves the anticipation and excitement leading up to the start of the big ride day.

Babe has been there every step of the way. The first year, she rode with Larry. Now she’s an equally-helpful contributor to the event as she volunteers at rest stops along the course. Babe says she loves directing traffic and cheering on riders—and seeing Larry cross the finish line.

These days, Larry puts in 100-200 miles of riding a week, and in 2006 he clocked 6,000 miles. He has come a long way from his days of depression, and Reach the Beach has been a big part of his recovery. So look for Larry out there on the ride, and give him high five. Way to go Larry! We’ll see you at the beach.

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