Sierra Cascades Bicycle Route meetups in Seattle, Portland, Eugene, San Francisco and Santa Cruz

The Adventure Cycling Association is throwing parties in Seattle, Portland and Eugene this week and San Francisco and Santa Cruz next week to celebrate the unveiling of its newest bicycle touring route.

The Sierra Cascades Bicycle Route rolls for 2,391 miles between Sumas, Washington, on the Canadian border and Tecate, California, on the Mexican border.

Printed maps of the route are available in mid-April.

Executive director Jim Sayer and cartographer Jenn Milyko will be on hand at the receptions in those three Northwest cities to unveil the routes and bring us up-to-date on other Adventure Cycling projects.

I'm sure the U.S. Bicycle Route will be a topic of conversation.

The get-togethers will be at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 6, in Seattle; 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 7 in Portland; and 7 p.m. Thursday, April 8 in Eugene. They are free and open to the public.

The receptions will be held at the local REI stores. Check the website for details and to RSVP to the events (that's important so they'll know how many people to expect for refreshments).

REI has supported the creation of the Sierra Cascades Bicycle Route to the tune of $30,000.

Don't feel left out if you can't make to those three cities. Adventure Cycling is holding regional gatherings in Atlanta, San Francisco and Santa Cruz in April.

Other Sierra Cascade unveilings:

San Francisco — Tuesday, April 13, Rickshaw Bagworks; mingling at 6:30 and presentation at 7 p.m.;

Santa Cruz — Friday, April 16, Louden Nelson Community Center; get together at 7 and presenation at 7:30 p.m.

Sierra Cascades

Adventure Cycling's newest route passes through Washington, Oregon and California.

Along the way it visits the North Cascades National Park, Crater Lake National Park, Lassen Volcanic National Park, Yosemite National Park, and Sequoia National Park. It passes Mount Rainier, Mount St. Helens, Mount Hood and other scenic, volcanic peaks. The high point will be California's Tioga Pass, at 9,943 feet.

As the non-profit's bicycle route network has grown to 40,000 miles, the Sierra Cascades bicycle route intersects several of these, such as the Northern and Southern Tier bicycle routes as well as the TransAmerica bicycle route and the Western Express.

Riders can easily hook up with the Pacific Coast bicycle route at several locations to create a Pacific Time Zone bicycle loop.