T. Kenji Sugahara
To my fellow OBRA racers,
Last year, Vivo Productions Inc. - the company that puts on the Cross
Crusade Series - joined 1% for the Planet
(onepercentfortheplanet.org), a growing global alliance of businesses
that donate 1% of their annual revenues to a network of close to 2,000
environmental organizations worldwide.
I am pleased to announce that as part of our pledge to this cause,
Vivo Productions recently decided to donate $1,100 to local offroad
cycling advocacy group Northwest Trail Alliance (www.nw-trail.org).
Last year, the group - formerly known as Portland United Mountain
Pedalers - rebranded itself, added a new slate of longtime bike
advocates to its board of directors (incuding our very own Erik
Tonkin), and started advocating for more local off-road cycling
opportunities with renewed energy. Northwest Trail Alliance's fresh
approach - combined with the personal efforts of my good friend Frank
Selker - has resulted in the formation of a new advisory committee
focused on increasing singletrack acces in Forest Park, among other
things. At this very moment, the group is actively working to preserve
bike access to trails around Powell Butte, helping develop a new
riding area at Gateway Green, and advocating for the creation of pump
tracks in city parks across Portland. And all across NW Oregon and SW
Washington, their small army of unsung trail stewards and volunteers
has been maintaining and building sweet singletrack trails that I -
and probably many of you - have enjoyed riding.
So we thought it was time to give back. And we'd like to use the
occasion to ask all of you, who enjoy riding or racing on dirt, to
step up your support for Northwest Trail Alliance, by becoming a
member or by supporting the organization in other ways. There is
strength in numbers and all of us have much to gain from a strong,
local advocacy group, working hard to "create, protect and enhance
offroad cycling opportunities" in our local parks and in the beautiful
open spaces across our region. Northwest Trail Alliance needs your
support and we think they deserve it.
Thanks,
Brad Ross
Executive Director
Cross Crusade Cyclocross Series