It was supposed to be bucolic biking through the Mountain community, but as
it turned out, it was no ride in the park.

The Barlow Road Ride (BRR) is an annual event and was months in the
making. It was slated for Aug. 17 and 18, and although it took off as
scheduled, much of the event was aborted.

Clackamas County made a mistake. They had scheduled to chip seal Barlow
Trail Road the week before the event. They rescheduled once the BRR leaders
rose up in opposition – saying it would ruin the ride.

Mike Bezner, the county’s transportation engineering manager, did the right
thing. He postponed the chip seal – a covering of a previously paved road that
adds life to the surface. Chip seal is, as its name suggests, a rugged covering
that includes loose rock and sticky tar.

Then Bezner went on vacation. Enter Sam Irving, the county’s road
maintenance supervisor, who ordered the chip sealing of Marmot Road just
prior to the BRR.

Mistake.

Marmot Road was also part of the route of the bike ride.
George Wilson, co-chair of The Villages at Mt. Hood, an avid cyclist, promoter
of cycling tourism, and a spear carrier for the BRR, had drawn the attention of
Bezner at a Clackamas County Commission Town Hall meeting in July –
despite the protestations of county chairman John Ludlow, who proclaimed
“roads are for cars.”

“Mike Bezner did the right thing,” Wilson told The Mountain Times. “His
commitment was vital (to the success of the BRR). But when he left on
vacation, someone (presumably Irving) didn’t get the memo.”

Apparently due to the problems leading up to the ride, only half of the number
turned out this year, according to Wilson.

“All this nonsense about the chip seal affected many riders,” Wilson noted.
“Plus, many riders, including me, turned back before Marmot Road. I have
talked to other riders who told me this.”

According to Wilson and many other leaders of the BRR, riding on chip seal is
a problem to begin with, but on freshly laid chip seal, it’s a mess.
Irving felt badly about the Marmot Road work.

“He was very apologetic for his faulty assumption that it was OK to chip seal
Marmot Road before the Barlow Road Ride,” BRR Director Eugene Grant wrote
to Wilson in an email. “Sam is going to do his best to mitigate the situation
which is made worse because the sealing that creates a better surface and
removes all the loose gravel is not scheduled until Monday (the day after the
road ride).”

So despite the best efforts of BRR personnel, the ride was far less than
successful.

Clackamas County Tourism did not escape criticism in the ordeal. Diane
Lokting, who has been involved with bicycle tourism through her work with
the Mt. Hood Cultural Center and Museum, has spent many hours working
with Clackamas County Tourism to promote cycling in the county.

Lokting met with county tourism director Danielle Cowan to set up studios in
the county to educate communities about bicycle tourism and identify
opportunities to bring new revenue to the county.

“The recent debacle involving the dispute of and eventual graveling of Marmot
Road by Clackamas County illustrates the disconnect between the actions and
intentions of the County Transportation Department and the efforts of
Clackamas County Tourism,” Lokting said.

In Bezner’s defense, on Aug. 19 – the day after the BRR – he apologized for
the Marmot Road sealing in an email to Wilson.

“I am very disappointed (and personally embarrassed) that after all of our
meetings and conversations that this happened,” Bezner wrote. “I hope we
can still keep our dialogue going ... Let’s use this as a way to move forward
instead of an easy excuse to move backwards.”

Wilson was cautiously optimistic, but his thoughts roamed to much needed
work that is required on the Mountain – Welches Road, Lolo Pass and
Brightwood Loop being the most obvious examples.

“We must continue to advance safer roads for bicyclists and pedestrians in our
community,” he said. “We have to get something positive out of this.
Communication is vital. We need our roads fixed.”