By Justin Short
Cover photo courtesy of Justin Short
The Great Spokane Shop Ride (GSSR) is a sort of hair scramble event in which riders gather on the second Saturday in April (the 12th this year) at the Riverfront Park clock tower to receive a stamp card, and at the stroke of 10 a.m. they scatter in all directions to get their cards stamped at every bike shop in town by whatever route they choose. There is a finish line ceremony at Brick West Brewing where riders will have the opportunity to hoist the Banana of Victory as they tell war stories, laugh, and sip fizzy beverages. There is a banana for the fastest time, one for the most efficient route, one for the most elevation (my personal favorite), and a banana for the Red Caboose (last rider in), which was hoisted last year by Charlie Greenwood, the nutty professor of Spokane cycling.
The forecast can look grim in early spring, so don’t be at all surprised when you see only two riders standing by the clock tower 15 minutes before the kickoff. Within minutes, though, the numbers will swell into the double digits—we had 13 last year. There’s no sign-in sheet, no entry fee, and no rules other than be safe and have fun.
Dan Webber, the instigator-in-chief of GSSR, will be there with Sue Craigmile, the chief-administrative-instigator, to pass out stamp cards in protective Ziplock sandwich bags so they don’t dissolve in the threatening rain, because rain is always threatening this time of year.
It still seems like Spokane has an awful lot of bike shops, even though we’ve lost a few. Wheelsport North, Fitness Fanatics, and the downtown Bike Hub have closed, as well as Rambleraven Gear Trader, and this town really misses Rambleraven. If we lose any more, we may have to combine the Spokane Stairmaster with this event. (What the hell is that, you ask? That’s another Dan Webber creation that involves carrying your bike up 25 staircases in 20 miles.) Though, Spokane Alpine Haus will now be carrying bikes at both of their locations for 2025, and by the time you read this the brand-new Hillyard Bicycle shop will be up and running just a stone’s throw from the Children of the Sun Trail, adding three more shops into the fray.
The whole inspiration behind GSSR is to step inside each shop, yuck it up with the folks therein, and perhaps have them throw a beer or a sleeve of Girl Scout cookies at you. It’s a community building effort of sorts. Our bike community and shop culture here is the stuff of greatness, and it’s not often that we get to pop into each and every one to say “hi all” in a single day.
So where do we go when the proverbial gun goes off? As I mentioned, riders scatter in all directions. I like to get the climbing out of the way early, and north is always uphill, so I usually head north to REI, home shop of the aforementioned instigator-in-chief, and in keeping with tradition no one in there will have any idea about GSSR or where the stamps might be: at the front register? In the bike department in the back? Hidden in a tent display? It’s always a mystery.
Sometimes riders like to go south first and get the South Hill out of the way, as though south could possibly be uphill. We have two destinations up there. Wheelsport and Spokane Alpine Haus, which may still have all their skis on display at that point in the season. But if there’s a single bike in there, that castle is going to get stormed.
The ride itself ranges from around 42 miles for the most efficient route to somewhere around 56 miles for my adventure route, that for all three editions has climbed over Beacon Hill through the mountain bike park. That’s a big day for most riders this early in the season, so be sure to pace yourself.
This year GSSR coincides with the Hubapalooza mountain bike race once again. If there’s one way to take seeing all your bike shop friends in one day up a notch, it’s running into a bunch of your mountain bike friends in race mode, and perhaps sharing a fizzy beverage in the beer garden, for those 21 years or older of course. Non-alcoholic options have come a long way, which is usually my preference…unless I’m at the The Bike Hub in the Perry District. Come to think of it, Mojo Cyclery out on Argonne has expanded its floor space and has a pass-thru window into Badass Backyard Brewing. Mojo is the shop that got me into the weird stuff I’m doing these days—riding, not drinking.
When riders come crawling into the finish line festivities at Brick West, that’s when we find out who lost a limb trying to rub the shop cat’s belly at North Division Bike Shop, that’s when you’ll shoot fizzy beverages out of your nostrils from laughing about all the absurd things that happened, and that’s when you’ll know why the Great Spokane Shop Ride is so great.
Justin Short is a long-time writer for OTO and keeps his finger on the pulse of the bike community in the Inland Northwest so you won’t miss any of the weird cycling stuff going down.
