Wenatchee native Don “Shiggy” Person is one of a few riders establishing new gravel and dirt routes east of the Cascades near Wenatchee and the Waterville Plateau. Shiggy’s route development activity in the vast central Washington landscape is making it easier for non-locals to navigate the east side’s mostly unpaved, almost car-free routes. Online, 67-year-old Shiggy has an easy-going personal style, and willingly shares his decades of bike and training wisdom with newer riders.
Shiggy was an avid recreational runner, and in the late 1980s he moved to USA’s epicenter of running, “Track Town” Eugene, OR. As a member of a running club there, he “competed in everything from 800 meters and 1/2 mile on up.”
He discovered mountain biking after a running injury sidelined him. He’s been an avid cyclist ever since. Shiggy was a founding member of the Disciples of Dirt, and worked to develop Whypass (aka Carpenter Bypass Trail Network) west of Eugene.
Shiggy has since moved back to Wenatchee.
I asked Shiggy to talk about the Wenatchee cycling scene:
Wenatchee Valley Velo Club is the main club and they support both road cyclists and mountain bikers. In addition to social rides, they host numerous event rides throughout the year, and help run the Tour de Bloom Stage Race.
There is quite a bit of cycling around Wenatchee. We have established routes, and a trail system along the river.
It’s possible to do a nice ~25-mile ride to Lincoln Rock State Park on the Apple Capital Loop Trail. Our bus system has bike racks and no fares, so it’s easy to do point to point rides.
There has been mountain biking in the Wenatchee area since the ’80s and there are literally thousands of miles of dirt roads. Everything from wide, well-groomed gravel to farming double track. Most are straight lines but not flat. It’s fun to go up to the Waterville Plateau and explore–you can see forever. West of town, there are tons of easily accessible forest roads.
For mountain biking there is the Sage Hills Trail System in the hills west of Wenatchee. The Central Chapter of Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance is a good resource. Lots of nice riding in the #2 Canyon Mountain Bike Trail System. Squilchuk State Park near Mission Ridge has a nice combination of trails.
We do get snow in the winter…yet we can sometimes ride on roads year-round. The trail systems close in winter for deer habitat. During the winter I recommend Ancient Lakes for its “raw trails.”
I love cycling on the Waterville Plateau, although that is also seasonal. I just like to go out to see what’s there, be quiet, with no other vehicles around. I recently did a 10-hour ride on the plateau and only saw 2 cars, 10 tractors. Even still, I always notice something new. Most of the time it’s subtle. Being out there with nothing is part of the experience.
Shiggy takes inspiration from the Mountain Bike UK comic character Mint Sauce, “a mountain biking sheep with a philosophical, often poetic outlook, who enjoys biking jaunts through the British countryside”: “…sometimes the empty spaces fill my empty spaces…”
I have also been helping refine some of the Seattle International Randonneurs‘ routes in the area by adding more gravel options, and making routes safer by eliminating uncontrolled highway crossings.
Shiggy’s Wenatchee Recommendations
There are lots of reasons to visit Wenatchee: The Loop trail is very family friendly–the bridge to bridge loop is 10 miles. There is a Hilton hotel on the trail. More cycling-friendly infrastructure is getting built. A public market area is under development. The downtown area has been revitalized. We now have Friday Art Walks.
Confluence State Park and Lincoln Rock (Rocky Reach Dam) both have camping
Colockum 100K *Work in Progress*
Colockum and Wenatchee Heights with a “bonus” loop in East Wenatchee
Leavenworth 100K v2.2
Swakane/Nahaum Partly Unpaved
A favorite mixed-surface route
Waterville Plateau 100km Randonneurs’gravel route:
Shorter but more challenging 53-miler Waterville Plateau gravel route (the paved % is totally wrong)
