What do you do if you and your friends love to cycle and feel the need to celebrate the beginning of cycling season with a ride, but don’t want to be bound by the constraints of the “official” ride put on by the area’s largest cycling club? If you are Seattle startup founder/consultant John Daly and a handful of his friends and neighbors, you start your own ride — on Vashon.
For the past 44 years, cyclists in the Pacific Northwest have been able to kick off the season with an organized and heavily promoted ride around Bainbridge Island called the Chilly Hilly, as it is always held on the last Sunday in February and the terrain is not overly level. Offered by the Cascade Bicycle Club (CBC), the ride has grown to attract thousands of cyclists, from all over the country and beyond, to its 33-mile route around Vashon’s island neighbor to the north.
But riding in a pack of thousands and following a prescribed route with support vehicles, marshals, registration fees and sponsors is not for everyone who loves the sport. In response, Daly, the unofficial “unorganizer” of the Vashon ride, and his friends launched the coincidentally-named Willy Nilly in 2009.
“We wanted an alternative,” Daly explained. “To just go out and have fun with all-weather road bicycling. There’s no intent to undermine the CBC at all. It’s really a show of solidarity that we hold it on the same day.”
In keeping with the spirit of the event, the mantra for Willy Nilly-ers is “ride your ride,” meaning that whatever makes you happy, ride it, however it makes you happiest. Lycra, it should be noted, is not required to participate.
The name came from one member of the group of friends who participated in a ride on Vashon back in February of 1993, not long after President William Clinton was inaugurated the first time. It was a spur-of-the-moment happening, leading its participants to dub it the “Willy Nilly,” honoring both the spirit of the day and the new president.
“When he (the “unorganizer’s” friend) mentioned that ride and the nickname they gave it, it cracked us up. … and of course the fact that it rhymed with Chilly Hilly just made it the obvious choice,” Daly said.
While the home of the Vashon Island Rowing Club’s Passport to Pain ride — which boasts over 10,000 feet of vertical climbing for its participants — might seem an odd choice for someone who says that he “doesn’t like suffering that much in his old-age,” Seattle-resident Daly has reasons for choosing Vashon as the spot for this free-spirited venture.
Aside from a connection he feels because he grew up in a community he described as being very similar, he also spends time on the island throughout the year courtesy of family friends who have a vacation home on Quartermaster Harbor.
In keeping with the ride’s “unorganized” ideals, the start time is merely a suggestion, as is the starting/ending place: The Beveridge Place Pub in West Seattle.
Over the past eight years, however, regulars have definitely picked out their favorite island stopping points as the Burton Coffee Stand, Snapdragon, The Hardware Store and the Red Bike are all listed as “food and beverage provision points” on the ride’s blog. Daly said that it’s part of the fun to support the local businesses.
In fact, in an effort to find more kindred spirits who just want to “ride their rides,” this year the Nilly-ers posted information about the ride at some of those locations.
“We’d love a little more diversity,” Daly said, noting that anyone is more than welcome to join in at any point.
The group typically includes about five to 15 riders, ranging from hard-core cyclists to those who simply want to get to the beverage areas.
Anyone interested in “riding their ride” with the Willy Nilly crew on Sunday can find more information at willynilly.bike, or email WillNillyRide@gmail.com.
