Tour participation up

Published 10:14 am Thursday, October 2, 2008

The 18th annual Tour de Peaks boasted nearly double the number of riders as last year. There were 567 riders at the Aug. 6 event, up from 340 in 2005.

Tour co-chair Sue Beauvais said the good weather contributed to the event’s success. The only snag was that the organizers

didn’t predict the appetites of hungry riders and food ran out early, Beauvais said.

The tour is dubbed the “Tour de Feast” by some because of the high-quality food donated by area restaurants.

Beauvais said the family ride was particularly popular this year. The festivities were capped by a raffle drawing.

Boyd Ellis of North Bend won the grand prize: a Trek 7700 hybrid bicycle valued at $1,529. The bike was sponsored by Snoqualmie Valley Chamber of Commerce and Singletrack Cycles.

“Shouldn’t I be wearing spandex for this picture?” Ellis quipped as he posed for a photo with his prize. Ellis received his raffle ticket as a “freebie” for using Eastside Self-Storage.

Ellis’ winning ticket actually was the second ticket drawn. The first name drawn for the bike was Lawrence Brown, president of the Snoqualmie Valley Chamber of Commerce.

Brown, who’d purchased $100 worth of tickets to help the cause, decided to take his name out of contention. His business – Smith, Brown, Sterling – is one of the major tour sponsors.

Other major sponsors include Claffey’s Painting, Snoqualmie Valley Hospital, Singletrack Cycles and Minuteman Press in Issaquah.

Singletrack Cycles provided a bike repair station at the check-in point at the log pavilion in Snoqualmie and laid out the entire mountain bike route, which started at the upper parking lot of Snoqualmie’s Salish Lodge & Spa.