Happy May Wheel Brothers! We hope everyone has been enjoying all the great rides this summer, and there are so many more to come! A great ride that is coming up in a few weeks is the Bosque Tour de Norway, on May 17th! We took some time to interview this busy ride director Brent Grelle, about this awesome ride.
Why join your ride?
I think riders should join our ride, to enjoy the beauty of the county, to experience the challenge of our hills and the friendliness of our volunteers as well as to discover a little bit of the history of the area as they ride through the area that the first Texas settlers from Norway lived in.
How long has your ride been around?
This will be our third year.
What was the motivation behind starting the ride and who benefits from it?
After years of living and riding in the Dallas – Fort Worth area I was fortunate enough to be able to move to Clifton and saw the potential for a great ride. The Clifton Chamber of Commerce receives all profits from the ride.
How have they been able to utilize funds in the past?
Proceeds from the rally are used by the chamber to help support and promote the business of Clifton.
Logistically can you give us an idea of how many volunteers, finances and planning it takes to put on this event?
Thanks to getting additional communications support from the Bosque County Amateur Radio Club this year as well as adding a mechanic and merchandise tent from The Bear Mountain Bicycle Shop in Waco and having one of the chiropractors in town offer his services for massages post ride. Our number of people working our event has grown every year and we are up to approximately 65 for this year. Thankfully with this being our third year the planning is getting easier, all of our volunteers really enjoy working the event and getting to talk to the riders so they start asking us if we will be doing the rally again this year starting in February.
Do you have a map of the start facility showing registration, parking, all toilets, water/snacks, start line? I do not have a map but registration is inside the gymnasium for the Clifton High School and parking is between the high school and the football stadium.
What is the most rewarding experience of hosting this event?
The most rewarding experience for me is hearing back from so many happy riders.
What is the average number of participants?
We had 111 riders for our first ride and 194 last year. But I believe that if not for the 25+ mph winds we had the day of the rally last year we would have had a lot more due to us having 111 pre-registrations for the second ride.
What can folks do to support you and your mission?
Show up, ride, have fun, stick around town after the ride and discover our little gem of a town.
Do you ride, and if so, what kind of bicycle do you have?
I do ride both mountain and road.
I currently have a Santa Cruz Heckler mountain bike and an old Trek Team Discovery road bike.
Anything else you’d like to tell folks about this ride?
Get ready for a wonderful day of hills and fun but don’t forget to stop and talk to our people, they really enjoy getting to know about you and why you ride.
That’s all for now! We hope to see many of you in Clifton for this sweet ride.
CLICK HERE – for more information on this ride!
