CEDAR MILERS VOLKSSPORT CLUB

ARE YOU, WERE YOU EVER, OR DO YOU THINK YOU MIGHT WANT TO BE A CEDAR MILER VOLKSSPORT CLUB MEMBER?

We have a gathering, reunion, and get acquainted evening planned for all individuals who have been, are now, or who want to be members of the Cedar Miler Volkssports Club. We know there are lots of past, present, and future club members out there given that we have been operating as a club in the Beaverton-Hillsboro area since 1988.

This event will take place on Tuesday, April 14th at the Baja Fresh restaurant at 12286 SW Scholls Ferry Road in Tigard at 6:30PM. Dinner will be individually ordered off the regular menu on individual tickets (Gee nothing is free anymore!) but the club will benefit from your hunger and willingness to participate as Baja Fresh will return 15% of the total purchase to the club.

So come, bring pictures, memories, and spend the evening remembering old walks, talking about this year's walks, and giving us ideas for future walks. This gathering will replace our regular Monday evening meeting at the Cedar Mill library so you won't find us at the library on April 13th.  

Just so we can get an idea of how many folks will be there, please RSVP to any current Cedar Miler by April 10th. Thanks and hope to see you there!

 

As today is St Patrick's Day, now is a good time to remind readers that the Cedar Milers first hosted walk of the 2009 season is just days way on March 21st. The start point, directions, and details of the walk can be found on the events page under hosted walks. Our green colored brochures have been placed in several locations around the community and there is basic information posted on various local TV and Radio stations community events web pages.

As an assist to readers who may not be familiar with volkswalks, think of this sport this way: non-competitive walks for fun, fitness, and friendship done at your own pace for your own purpose. We welcome runners and meanderers along with fast pace, medium pace, and slow pace walkers. Our routes are usually 10 to 12 kilometers (6.2 miles to 7.4 miles). We offer a window of time for the start time such that you may START this walk ANYTIME after 8:15 AM up through 1:00 PM as long as you can FINISH not later than 4:00 PM thus if you wanted to start walking at 8:15 AM, stop along the way for breakfast and lunch or pause for rest and reflection in the park, that is OKAY with us as long as you return to the start point by 4:00 PM.

Our hosted walk routes are always marked with ribbons and arrows and we give you a set of written directions along with a map of the route. Before we pack up and go home we do review the returned start (registration) cards to make sure everyone is back.  

For walkers who don't feel they have 10K of energy, we offer a 5K (3.1 miles) route as well. Using our national trail rating system, we have rated the 10K route as a 1+ (mostly flat, mostly city sidewalks with a few minor hills on woodchip trails in the Noble Woods Park part of the walk) and the 5K as a 1 (flat on sidewalks and neighborhood streets).

You can get more details about volkswalking at the American Volkssports Association (AVA) website at www.ava.org and the Oregon Trails State Volkssport Association website at www.otsva.org .

Our fees are minimal. We charge walkers who are keeping AVA record books $3.00 to do the walk and get their books stamped. We have New Walker packets for $5.00 for individuals who are interested in starting the record keeping process which is a great deal because the packet has $25 worth of books, discounts, and free walk coupons. For those individuals who just want to walk and not do the record keeping part, just walk up to the registration table and say "I want to walk for free".

We welcome new walkers and even have a person designated at the start point as the New Walker Information person to help those folks who are trying our sport out for the first time. We do sometimes forget that not everyone who shows up to walk understands our process so appreciate comments that will help us make our sport jargon-free, better, and more open to everyone. We hope to see you on the trails, whether you are a seasoned walker or just checking us out for the first time.