We’ve done Niles Canyon quite a few times, but it can be stressful at times. The road is narrow at times, winding, some sometimes busy. So every other year or so, they close it to vehicles for a walk/run/bike event.

For this ride, Max rode with Anne on the tandem, and Ruth and I were on solo bikes. We had afternoon obligations, so to keep it a bit shorter we parked at Quarry Lakes, just a short ride from the start of the canyon. Our marching order was Anne/Max in front, Ruth following, then me in the rear.

At various points along the route there were stations set up for food trucks, water, and info booths from various entities. At the start it wasn’t too hard to get through, but as it got later they started to act as choke points.

Even though there were no cars, crowds cause other stresses. The event attracts people of all types and senses of road etiquette.

The whole ride out is generally uphill, with some down and some (still mild) steeper ups. Ruth was able to keep pace most of the time, but took the climbs slower. Anne pulled ahead, and I stayed with Ruth. I offered some guidance on where to place herself in the lane. Ruth did a great job navigating through the crowds, calling out when passing, and pacing herself.

We paused for a bit at the turnaround. In previous events we’ve continued to do a loop through the hills, but we sadly didn’t have time for it this year. The kids explored the train equipment set up for display, and we headed back.

The return is slightly downhill, so we zoomed on through. It got more and more crowded as it got later (and closer to the more populated start point). We made it back to the car and home in plenty of time for lunch and the rest of our day.

I’m happy to have these events. The crowds can be difficult to navigate, but they’re less likely to run you over. They’ve been doing construction in the canyon for a while — bridge replacement, building up some retaining walls, etc — which has made it even harsher on bike.