Another year, not another tour

A number of people noticed something missing from our Peninsula roads this past weekend: tourists.

Tourists, in this instance, are the thousands of participants in the biggest and longest-standing bike ride in Northern California, the Tour de Peninsula. More than 17 years old, the Tour annually has attracted several thousand participants who have traversed our community’s roadways on behalf of local charities and nonprofit interests.

For the past decade or more, the Tour has been a summer fixture, always on the first Sunday in August. It has attracted every kind of cyclist, from absolute beginners to the hardiest of veteran road warriors. Many people have made the Tour their first organized bike ride and have gone on to become true cycling enthusiasts who have completed 100-mile rides, and more.

It has always been user-friendly, well-organized, thoroughly staffed and organized and notable for its two official shortcuts. Our motto: No pain, no gain.

After all these years, we decided to take the ultimate short cut and take a year off; nothing new for the Tour, which has taken previous breaks.

The Tour is linked arm-in-arm with the San Mateo County Parks and Recreation Foundation and, in a declining economy, with the accompanying concern that sponsorships would be difficult to come by, we decided to skip this year.

We want to use the time to re-think the event, re-evaluate how it is run, where it goes, to whom it appeals and how best to fulfill its role as a major benefactor to the treasure that is out local parks system.

We’ll be back next year.

In the meantime, we’d love to hear your thoughts on how the Tour can be better, or whether you think it should not be changed. And if you want to pony up major bucks to sponsor the Tour, by all means, let us know.

Mark Simon is a co-founder of the Tour de Peninsula, and can be contacted at Mark.Simon24@yahoo.com