Chad Sperry

Dear OBRA,

After announcing we were moving away from categorized races this year for
the Gorge Roubaix I received a number of emails and Facebook messages. A
few were rude and completely selfish in nature but for the most part they
were incredibly supportive in people asking what they could do to bring the
racing back to the Gorge. So after giving some thought to this matter and
doing some number crunching I decided to put it back to all of you to help
get racing back this year. Especially with so few races on the calendar
there seems to be a huge need.

If we can find $5000 worth of sponsorship funding and a commitment for 15
volunteers by February 1st we can put on Saturday's races. We will need at
least 230 riders this year to keep it going next year. Race fees do not
cover all costs so it is critical to find sponsorship funding to cover
these costs. $5000 is what we need to increase this to to make it work.
It is also EXTREMELY critical that you support those businesses who sponsor
this event and other events. Sponsorship dollars are still very hard to
come by. So it is now up to all of you to help us put this event on!

I will keep you posted on our search and we will make a final decision by
no later than February 1st if we have met our goal funding and we will be
able to offer races on Saturday. No racing will be offered on Sunday as we
focus on taking the Gorge Gravel Grinder to the next level for support and
service. This year's Gravel Grinder course will be beefed up and chip
timed with prizes and lots of cool stuff offered in addition to entry into
the ride. We will be launching our website tomorrow and registration will
open at 5:00 PM tomorrow night for this ride as well as the High Desert
Gravel Grinder, and Mt. Hood Gravel Grinders all part of the Oregon Gravel
Grinder Series. All the info can be found at www.oregongravelgrinder.com.
Be sure to follow us on Facebook for all the latest news at
https://www.facebook.com/GorgeRoubaix/

Sincerely,
Chad Sperry
Breakaway Promotions