Local mountain biker to mark 60th birthday with EPIC ride for charity

Close your eyes and picture the last trail you were on. Now, imagine that trail being located in the Cascade Mountains and stretching sixty miles, about the distance from Toledo to Portland. And, finally, imagine climbing onto a bike and riding the entire route in a single day. Ouch.

That’s what Jim LeMonds will attempt to do this summer to celebrate his 60th birthday! Many individuals in recent years have started on this trend, which has caught on in an international phenomena usually termed “60 at 60”.

“I like challenges,” said LeMonds, who lives in Castle Rock and taught English at R.A. Long High School in Longview for many years.

He will be accompanied by a five-man ride team and a support crew that will handle the driving and be available for emergency wrenching.

One mile of riding on trail requires approximately the same amount of energy as riding three miles on pavement. “When you’re riding in the mountains, the terrain is pretty demanding, and there are plenty of opportunities for carnage,” LeMonds said. “But if I don’t have an I-have-fallen-and-can’t-get-up moment, I plan to finish.”

He will use the occasion to raise money for Friends of the Castle Rock Library, Girls on the Run of Southwest Washington, and CurePancreaticCancer.org.

The ride route will include at least four of the premier mountain biking trails in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest – Ape Canyon, Blue Lake, Lewis River, and Falls Creek. If the group needs a few more miles to hit 60, they will ride the Siouxon Creek Trail as well.

LeMonds has previous experience with big rides. In 2006, he was part of a four-man team that rode 55 miles on the Boundary Trail from Council Lake at Mount Adams to Coldwater Lake at Mount St. Helens.

“To the best of my knowledge, we’re the only ones who’ve ever completed that ride in two days,” he said. “We climbed about 15,000 feet and the trail conditions were dicey to say the least. The fact that I finished that ride gives me confidence that I can finish this one.”

Learn more about the ride and find out how you can contribute at www.writeteknorthwest.com/60