Wander the West

2006 Cascade Classic Downtown Criterium

	Criterium race seen from the parking garage

2006

The Cascade Classic (July 12-16) is a popular road bike race held in Bend, Oregon. The Cascade Classic website describes the race as:

The 27th annual Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic is the longest consecutively run elite stage race in the country and has attracted most of North America's top cyclists and teams over the years. The quality of the race courses, the beauty of Central Oregon and the fun atmosphere of the race has made the it a perennial favorite and has the competitors returning year after year.

The best spectator event is the Downtown Criterium, which in previous years has been on Friday evening, but this years race was Saturday evening. Elite Women start at 5:15 and Elite Men start at 7:00. Thousands of people turn out for the race. It's a bit of a carnival atmosphere with all the downtown restaraunts serving on the sidewalks and the numerous breweries packed to capacity between races. It's the only event all year that closes down most of the downtown streets in Bend. Wandering around the streets of downtown Bend with no traffic is a rare treat indeed.

This is an event for everyone. You don't need to be a road racing enthusiast to enjoy the criterium. The atmosphere is great, Bend's downtown restaraunts are fantastic, and the racing is fun to watch for everyone.

2006 Cascade Classic Downtown Criterium

- Aaron Walton