WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27, 2018
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CYCLIST ORGANIZES RIDES FOR WOMEN
Ariel Gummer hopes
to bring more women
to the sport of cycling
with Wednesday rides
By ALEXIS MANSANAREZ
STAFF WRITER
HERMISTON — Like many,
Hermiston native Ariel Gummer
learned to ride a bike at a young
age and enjoyed family rides
through the rural back roads and
farmland. Also like many child-
hood cyclists, Gummer stepped
away from her bike, letting it col-
lect dust as she made her way
through high school and on to
adulthood.
Now, Gummer is more
invested in the sport that can be
both leisurely and competitive as
she works to put more women on
bikes.
“I’ve been riding a bike since
I was a little kid, grew up around
here, so this is the area I learned
how to ride a bike and I’ve been
bicycle touring for the last seven
years,” Gummer said.
Bicycle touring is when a rider
or riders go on self-contained
cycling trips with touring ranging
from single to multi-day trips or
even years. Two years ago, Gum-
mer completed a 2,700-plus mile
trip from Astoria to New Orleans,
Louisiana and upon her return,
was inspired to do something,
Gummer recalls.
“It was an amazing experience
and when I got back from that I
was like, ‘I’ve got to be doing
something,’ and organizing a ride
seemed to be the thing to do,” she
added.
After organizing a ride on
Mother’s Day that had just over
a dozen riders taking the streets,
Gummer now leads Wednesday’s
rides that are catered specifically
toward women.
“I’m particularly passionate
about getting women on bikes
because I started riding as a kid
and you get women on bikes,
you get families on bikes,” Gum-
mer said. “There are lots of rides
around for really experienced rid-
ers, just not a whole lot out there
that’s like, ‘Oh hey, come try this
thing,’ and that’s what we’re try-
ing to do is get people out on bikes
— get people who haven’t neces-
sarily done it before, haven’t done
it in a long time.”
With the help of her mother, a
long-time rider as well, Gummer
makes sure the rides are designed
to fit everyone’s level of experi-
ence. Whether that means shorter
rides around nine miles or longer
rides that can reach up to 18 miles,
the goal for Gummer is to create
an inclusive community that sup-
ports riders at every level.
PHOTO COURTESY OF
JENNIFER BROWN
The Columbia Juniors All-Star
Softball head coach Travis
Reeser tries his best to dodge a
Gatorade shower after his team’s
come-from-behind victory.
Columbia
Juniors win
district
tournament
after late rally
By ALEXIS MANSANAREZ
STAFF WRITER
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Hermiston native Ariel Gummer is wanting to get more women to get into cycling and is leading a female
focused weekly riding group on Wednesday.
“You don’t have to feel like
you have to ride as fast as you can
or anything like that, we’re just
trying to do something that’s fun,”
she said. “We like to go around
and see places, and the other thing
is trying to help women get more
comfortable on the roads. I’ve
been doing it a long time, ridden
everywhere and I’m really com-
fortable but I recognize it wasn’t
always like that when I started
out. So, having that group there to
show people you can do this and
it’s okay.”
Gummer’s sense of confi-
dence and comfort on the road
came after clocking some miles
on a hand-me-down road bike her
father bought for her from Scott’s
Cycle and Sports, and it was a
family ride along the Oregon
coast years ago that sparked the
fire that pushes her to ride almost
every day of the week.
“It was just a really empower-
ing experience,” Gummer said. “I
wasn’t in shape and I realized if I
can do it in the shape I was in, it
is something anyone can do. Bicy-
cles really are for everyone.
“It’s sort of snowballed since
then,” she added. “I kept get-
ting more and more into it. It’s
definitely changed my life com-
pletely. The confidence (aspect)
is a really big thing, realizing you
can accomplish something or do
something and you don’t have to
go on a bicycle tour to have that
feeling. You can ride your bike to
the grocery store and get your gro-
ceries and have that feeling of ‘I
went out today and I did that.’”
That feeling is what Gum-
mer hopes to share with other
women in the community. Every
Wednesday from 5:30-6 p.m., rid-
ers are welcome to meet at Scott’s
Cycle and Sport for a rally before
the one-and-a-half hour long ride
begins. Gummer encourages any-
one who may be interested to stop
by and even test out a bike.
It’s not the only group ride
Scott’s offers. There are Tuesday
and Thursday evening rides as
well as a Sunday morning break-
fast ride, but Wednesday offers
a unique experience for women
who are either just getting inter-
ested, trying out a new road bike
or have riding experience but are
looking for a community to bike
with.
Visit
https://www.face-
book.com/ScottsCycleWom-
ensWednesdays for information
on this Wednesday’s ride and stay
tuned to Facebook for information
on future rides.
Scott’s Cycle and Sports is
located on 110 E Highland Ave-
nue and can be reached at (541)
567-1848.
PILOT ROCK — The
Columbia Juniors All-Stars soft-
ball team earned the nickname
‘Comeback Queens’ from their
parents and fans after rallying
back in nearly every game of the
2018 District All-State Tourna-
ment on June 13 in Pilot Rock.
The team, made up of nine
players from Stanfield and one
from both Echo and Boardman,
defeated Union in the finale,
12-11. The walk-off victory
came from a bunt off the bat of
Katelyn Griffin and some timely
base running by Alexis Shelby,
who scored on an error. But the
efforts go beyond these two all-
stars, head coach Travis Reeser
noted.
“It was certainly the effort of
all 11 girls,” he said. “It’s really
a neat group and one that works
together and gets along. They
are just fun and competitive.”
That competitiveness showed
as each game of the tournament,
Columbia had to dig itself out
of a hole. From Game 1, which
was won with a late rally in the
sixth, up until the first of two
games against Union, where
the talented Union roster strung
together a victory.
“It’s not so much the com-
back stuff,” Reeser said while
admitting those wins are still,
of course, something to cele-
brate. “It’s that they know how
to compete and their willingness
to play.”
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