Saturday Speaker Series - Bicycling in Redmond – Past, Present, and Future

Redmond is home to the headquarters of several major bike manufacturers. However, there’s not one thing that makes Redmond a great place for cycling, but many things put together that has earned Redmond the designation of "Bicycle Capital of the Northwest"―from Derby Days races to “Ride Around Mount Rainier in One Day” (RAMROD) to the Jerry Baker Memorial Velodrome at Marymoor Park. Joe Matthews, President of the Redmond Cycling Club, will give a short history of that organization.

Speaker bio:

Joe Matthews only got into long-distance cycling after his brother challenged him to complete the Seattle to Portland (STP) bike ride in the 1990s. Matthews couldn’t back down, of course. After STP, the Redmond resident wanted more, so he embarked on the Ride Around Mount Rainier in One Day (RAMROD―a single-day event that celebrates the beauty of Mount Rainier National Park and features a challenging course of 150 miles and 10,000 feet of climb. He was hooked. Since then, Matthews has cycled in myriad races and challenges and now serves as president of the Redmond Cycling Club (RCC). RCC was founded in 1978 amid increasing popularity of cycling in the U.S. The club began from a core group of friends who were riding regularly. Within a few years, RAMROD founder John Dixon brought the RAMROD cycling event to RCC, which it now stewards.