Volunteer Dinner Successful Again

Held at Marco Polo Restaurant

                 The annual volunteer dinner was truly a night to remember, filled with delicious food, laughter, and the joy of friendship. Club president Tim Newman took the stage as emcee, delighting everyone with humor and interactive energy. He even drew lines from Joe Kurmaskie’s book, You Might Be a Cyclist, to get the crowd involved and keep the atmosphere lively.

                 Throughout the evening, excitement built as fifty raffle prizes were given away, all thanks to our partnerships with Scotts Cycle, Bike Peddler, Northwest Hub, Gallagher Fitness, Fall line Sports of Silverton, The Willamette Pie Co, Ez Orchards Farm Market and the infamous spinning “Wheel of Fun.” The event also featured a review of the club’s impressive accomplishments in 2025, with two new awards added to the accolades: Ken Freeman received the “Sir Flats-a-Lot Award” for the most flat tires in a year, and the “When the Map Takes Us Off Course Award” was bestowed for a notable navigational misadventure To Steve Budde.

                 Mark Lebow earned the prestigious P.E.D.A.L. (Pedals Every Day and Likes It) Award for completing 130 rides. Doug Parrow was honored with the Dan Rice/Joanne Heilinger Battered Saddle Award for most miles, logging an astounding 5,692 miles—a feat marking Doug’s sixth win and second consecutive year of achievement.

                 Road Animal Awards went to those who road 2,500 or more miles and contributed to SBC events: Doug Parrow, Mike Fordyce, Mark Lebow, Paul Parker, Jackie Lefevre, Aaron Hughes, Paul Kuhns III, and Ken Freeman.

                  President Newman recognized many individuals throughout the night but especially commended the 2025 board for their dedication and tough decision-making, which led to nearly $10,000 in donations last year.

                David Philbrick spoke about the upcoming 50^th Anniversary of the Monster Cookie, calling on club members to step up into a volunteer role to help make this a success and truly memorable experience.

With so much packed into a two-and-a-half-hour evening, it’s impossible to capture every moment, but the dinner was a true celebration of the spirit and accomplishments that define our club.

Online Ride Registration – The How To’s

If you missed the original article, you can find it in the November edition on our website, otherwise, below are the detailed instructions for (1) how to register for a ride; and (2) how to see who is already registered for any given ride.

To sign up for a ride:

1. Go to the Salem Bicycle Club website. If you’re a member, make sure you’re signed in (upper right-hand corner).
2. Go to SBC Rides/Event Calendar and find the ride you want to register for and select it.
3. Scroll down to the bottom of the page. On the left-hand side, under Number of People Who Will Attend, choose the appropriate option and then select Register Here.
4. Make sure the information on the next page is correct then select Next.
5. For members: Make sure you have read, understand, and agree to the Agreement/Waiver and select Sign agreement.

   For non-members: Enter the information requested and select Next. On the next page, make sure you have read, understand, and agree to the Agreement/Waiver and select Sign agreement.

6. Check the I agree to the terms of the waiver box and sign within the white box provided and select Save. When you’re returned to previous page, select Next.
7. Select Complete Registration on next page.

For members: An email will be sent to the email address you have in your membership profile confirming your registration.

For non-members: An email will be sent to the email address you provided confirming your registration.

To see who’s registered for a ride:

1. Go to the Salem Bicycle Club website and then to the SBC Rides/Event Calendar
2. Find and select the ride you’re interested in.
3. On the right-hand side of the page (about halfway up), click on the two-person icon . A list of event registrants will appear and show who has already registered for the ride.

We will also be scheduling brief sessions via Zoom for those who might be interested in learning more about the online registration process. Keep an eye on our SBC Rides/Events Calendar for more information.

In the meantime, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact

Fifty Monster Cookies ago, the Lewis family loved and supported cycling in the Salem area. And guess what? They still do!

With the upcoming 50^th year of the Monster Cookie Metric Century Ride, I thought I would take some time to talk to a couple of families who have been involved with the Monster Cookie since the beginning. This month we will highlight the Lewis family.

The Lewis family owns and operates Scott’s Cycle on Commercial Street in downtown Salem. Scott’s cycle has been a downtown fixture since it was founded in 1914 by Harry W. Scott. The current owner, Larry Lewis, bought the property in 1965 and still owns it today. 

Larry Lewis knew since the age of 12 that he would always be a “bike person”. His mother did everything she could to talk him out of it. To no avail. Larry has never looked back. He says “I would not change anything in my life. I have been blessed in every way. It has been a great ride”.  Larry has been at this so long that he recalls meeting some of his current customers when their fathers brought them in for their first bike when they were kids. Now those kids are grown and are bringing their dads, who are now in their 70’s, to purchase e-bikes from Scott’s.

For the Lewis family, bikes are not just a business. They are a way of life. They have been there since the beginning and have been keystone volunteers at the Monster Cookie rest stop for, literally, generations. Larry’s son, Steve Lewis, has also made his career out of bikes. He is a strong cyclist, mechanic, salesman, and businessman at Scott’s. Their daughter, Andrea Jean Holt (Andi), works at the shop and now has a two-year-old, Kollins, who is growing up there as well. Clark Lewis, Larry’s dad, was devoted to the Monster Cookie. He never missed volunteering at the rest stop right up to the year he died. Larry recalls that the Monster Cookie was a bigger deal to Clark even than Christmas. Larry used to drive to Eugene to pick Clark up for his volunteering even when Clark was elderly and frail. He volunteered right up to the year he died, in 1996. Nancy Lewis, Larry’s wife, rode tandem on the Cookie for about 15 years. She also has been devoted to the Monster Cookie. She used to drive Sag, watching out and supporting cyclists who may be having trouble on the ride. She would pull over at various locations and pass out cookies so people could charge up and keep going. She vividly recalls a local store owner getting quite upset with her because she was handing out cookies to cyclists near his store and said she was “ruining his business.”

Known at first as the Salem Bicycle Club’s Metric Century Ride, the first official ride was in 1977. That year they only had about a dozen riders. In following years, club members would make dozens of cookies in their own homes and in small groups to share with riders. Larry recalls several families coming to their home to make cookies and drink wine for the ride every year until the ride got too big. They eventually turned the baking over to professionals, such as the Oregon Trail Bakery. Then, after the popularity of Mary Ann Sangster’s own giant Monster Cookie recipe became clear, the ride was officially changed to the Salem Bicycle Club Monster Cookie Metric Century ride. In its Heyday, this ride would sometimes draw more than 2000 area riders to the Capitol.

These large, long event rides didn’t used to be so common. Larry talks about how early on in the development of the Salem Bicycle Club, people didn’t used to be in such great shape for cycling long distances and certainly didn't have the amazing gear and clothing we now have available for all weather biking. One ride that stands out was an early 100 miler that the club was trying out near Turner. It was cold and wet and windy and they were wearing sweat pants and stocking caps. It was so foggy they couldn’t see “from here to there and people were just disappearing” as they went along. Virgil T Golden mortuary owner Tom Golden was one of the early originators of the Salem Bicycle Club. He got tired on this ride and took off and rode his bike back to his mortuary business on Commercial Street. He picked up his hearse around noon and came back to the tired wet riders struggling against the wind and opened the back doors to the hearse and everyone got behind and drafted the hearse home for the last 20 miles. They then collapsed on the floor at the Lewis home with their feet up against the walls around the heating vents.

Larry’s granddaughter, Andi, learned to bike right in front of the family store on Commercial Street. She literally grew up at the Monster Cookie rest stop, which her family has staffed since the ride first started.  The Monster Cookie is a spring ride - really the first big event ride of the riding season every year in the Willamette Valley. I asked Andi what the worst Monster Cookie year that she can recall was and she said she “honestly can’t remember a bad year”. Even when the weather was bad, she only has happy memories of the Cookie. The sense of community and family that it brought her made up for any difficulties she encountered.  She hopes to continue that tradition with her two-year-old daughter, who spends a lot of her time right now hanging out at Scott’s Cycle with her family and her family’s many friends and customers. From Larry’s father Clark Lewis, to Larry’s young granddaughter, generation after generation, the Monster Cookie, and the Lewis’s love of cycling, continues to live on, grow, and enrich the cycling community right here in the heart of downtown Salem.

By Debbie Miller

Your Favorite Ride Can Become a Club Event

Do you have a favorite century ride? Would you like to record Salem Bicycle Club miles while riding it? Here’s your chance.

Each year the SBC rides committee, with board approval, selects as many as eight regional century rides as designated club rides. Once an event is added to the rides calendar, participating members can accumulate miles toward their annual totals.

Past rides include the Portland Bicycle Club’s Pioneer Century and Ride the Rim at Crater Lake.

The committee considers each ride based on the following:

- Would it help support another cycling organization?
- Is the event within 250 miles of Salem?
- Would it appeal to a wide range of club members?
- Would it help increase the Salem club’s visibility in the larger cycling community?

You can nominate a ride. In doing so, you should be willing to coordinate club members’ participation at the event.

Still interested? Send your nomination by March 1 to the committee via email – ridechair.sbc.salem@gmail.com – and include the following information.

- Advertised name
- Sponsoring club or organization
- Date and time
- Location
- Event website

                                     Change is necessary for growth, especially for dynamic communities like the Salem Bike Club. By welcoming new challenges, whether it’s trying out unfamiliar cycling routes, exploring innovative training methods, or inviting fresh faces to join our rides, we create opportunities to expand our horizons and elevate the club's spirit. Central to this journey is the active involvement of every member; when everyone contributes ideas, energy, and enthusiasm, our club becomes stronger and more vibrant.

                                       Adapting to new circumstances allows each member to strengthen their skills and fosters a culture of continuous improvement. Without change and engaging participation, our progress as cyclists and as a community can stall, and we risk missing out on exciting adventures, lasting friendships, and the chance to leave a positive mark on our local cycling scene. Embracing change, together with the collective commitment of our members, is the key that unlocks our club’s true potential and ensures that every ride helps us grow stronger as a united team.

                                          As David Philbrick said, we have an opportunity to be part of a celebration that started 50 years in the making, a casual ride that embodies what this club is all about: family, friends, and a desire to explore our wonderful community at a slower pace. This milestone not only honors our club’s rich history but also highlights the importance of cherishing each moment together, appreciating the journey as much as the destination.

                                         Please take some time out of your schedule and help us make this Monster Cookie a truly special event. Who knows, you might walk away a little happier and maybe create and/or re-ignite your passion for riding and our volunteering.

Volunteers Needed

You are needed as a volunteer to help our 50^th Monster Cookie to be the best ever! 

Volunteering early:

            Gives you more options to select how you would like to contribute

            Can give you input on how something is done

            Enables me to focus on fewer “holes”

            Lets me relax knowing our needs are covered

Current opportunities include:

• Helping Karen Freeman to plan, purchase, and organize the food for our rest stops
• Joining one of two teams to check/clean and mark the route
• Joining one of two teams to remove the route markers after the ride
• Monitor and help riders at difficult intersections and railroad crossings
• Working with the sign company to put out and pick up required traffic signs
• Many other spots including helping load, unload, and staffing tables at the start/finish

All opportunities are listed on the SBC website as part of the volunteer sign-up page for the Monster Cookie.  Some tasks take more effort than others but all are important.  Of the tasks listed above, only the monitoring of difficult spots along the course, precludes one from also riding.

If you are one of the many members who have already stepped forward, thank you. 

Should you have any questions, please email me at:  volunteer.sbc.salem@gmail.com

Thank You, David Philbrick, Monster Cookie Volunteer Coordinator

SBC - All In on Bike Safety Education

Getting kids off to a safe start with bicycling has been a priority for the Salem Bicycle Club for many years. A couple of years ago, the Salem-Keizer Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program added a Bicycle Education program and the SBC jumped on board with both feet to help it succeed.

The classes take lots of organization and support, and bring enthusiasm, learning and excitement. The kids love the program and gain confidence and vital skills. The adults enjoy seeing their investment in time and money pay off big time. Community partners have the reward of supporting more kids in safely riding bikes. For everyone, those feelings and skills can have a lifelong positive influence.

So - a bit of background and detail on the program -

A SRTS pilot program was successful in the 2023–24 school year. They then, with the invaluable help of Cycle Oregon, fully developed the program and trained 70+ Salem-Keizer PE teachers in bicycle education. Funding and support came from the Salem-Keizer Schools, Willamette Valley Council of Governments, Cycle Oregon, Salem Rotary Club, NW Hub, Iron Man, Scott’s Cycles and the SBC. Our club, along with a grant from Iron Man, contributed an awesome $8,000 towards buying bikes, trailers and helmets for these classes. When you, or anyone, pay to join the Monster Cookie ride, a generous part of that fee goes to supporting bike-related causes, including this especially cool one.

Cycle Oregon provided major support through their statewide Jump Start program, which helps school districts new to the program get off to a rolling start, and decide if it’s a good fit for them. For the 2024-25 school season, Cycle Oregon supported over 60 schools across Oregon - 7,439 students, 1,785 of whom learned to ride a bicycle for the very first time. Their fully stocked trailers of bikes and gear cost up to $40,000 each. For smaller Salem-Keizer schools, such as Highland and Lee, one trailer is sufficient. Larger schools, such as Chavez, need two equipped trailers.

The hands-on SK-SRTS program is now led by Jacob Lippert, a gifted instructor and top-notch mechanic who is very popular with the kids. Tania Perfecto-Calderon puts together essential information for promoting the program and finding volunteers. Meredith Hegewald is in the schools every day expertly making sure each class runs smoothly and has everything that’s needed. In the 2024–25 school year, 1,800 K-5 students in 6 schools were able to acquire essential riding, mechanical and safety skills. SBC volunteers contributed 465 volunteer hours during that year alone. Debbie Miller pitched in with classes and as liaison to the SBC board. Dennis Fraser, Rob Gramenz, Norm Johnson, David Philbrick, Nate Sexton, Juan Lopez, Steve Budde, Paul Parker, Marion Skog, Jean Brougher, Dan Shryock, Karen Freeman, and Keith and Pat Lippy helped with the classes. Our heartfelt appreciation to these terrific people!

Some SBC support comes with a special caring touch. This includes our club purchasing 110 (yes, 110!) pairs of gloves for little hands that were freezing to the point of not functioning during outdoor classes last winter. At another class, the club bought several pairs of essential close-toed shoes for kids who didn’t have them and couldn’t afford to buy them. Another time, they bought a special helmet to fit over a Sikh child’s traditional headwear. All of those items are sanitized after each use and then available for when they are needed again. This investment by SBC assures that every student is able to participate.

  By Mary Schmidgall and Debbie Miller