Hello friends, due to low engagement I’ve decided to cancel the Three Speed Ride originally scheduled for Sunday October 10th. I’m bummed, but I need to direct my energies appropriately. I was hoping that the pent-up demand for organized bike rides as COVID restrictions loosened would mean a lot of people would want to ride a three speed here in town. But we only had four folks for my summer ride, and the fall one was turning out to be the same amount of folks. This is not a sustainable number for these events.
It’s clear that I can’t just assume it would be “business as usual” again when it comes to Three Speed Rides in Portland. I can’t simply repeat the pattern I did before pandemic. Even then, numbers were dwindling. I am very grateful that I have a core group of folks who show up for these things, but I need to grow these rides beyond a dedicated core. I need to reach new folks if I want this thing to succeed.
So I’ll be spending the next couple months up to the New Year thinking about strategies for 2022. I’m thinking that I will stop doing smaller rides scattered throughout the year and concentrate on one bigger ride in the fall. I don’t think it would be at the same scale as the Lake Pepin Tour, but I want to do something that would encourage folks from around the Northwest to show up. I don’t know exactly how that will look yet, but it will probably be based around a ride to Oregon City like we did in 2019. That was a good, fun route. I may still do a smaller get-together/pub-crawl thing during winter or spring, but I’ll put my energies into the main event.
Stay tuned. It’s going to be exciting times around these parts.
Society Of Three Speeds 
Reblogged this on Urban Adventure League.
I’m sorry to hear about this turn of events. I think you have a good plan going forward. All your good work has got me thinking about building a 3 speed for these types of events. I have a 26″ frame size 27″ wheel Schwinn Varsity frame and fork that need a direction in life. I think a 26″ framed 27″ wheeled Varsity with fenders and maybe a Collegiate chain guard and nice Dia Comp center pull brakes. A new Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub with the chain indicator. Looking forward to your next endeavors.