Tour de Lavender sees 320 cyclists ride through Sequim

Published 4:46 pm Tuesday, August 9, 2016

The weather held out for the largest Tour de Lavender yet.

Organizers said 320 cyclists registered for either the 32-mile farm tour ride or 62-mile metric century ride through the Sequim area on Aug. 6.

“It went really, really well,” said ride director Ken Stringer.

He said of the 320 riders, about 50 came from the Seattle area the same day to register.

Friends Brian Bot and Eddie Kasner of Seattle said they learned of the event that day.

Bot said they were planning to visit Sequim’s lavender farms and happened to have their bikes with them so the friends and Kasner’s wife opted for the farm ride.

For its fourth year, nine farms were included in the farm ride — B&B Family Farm, Jardin du Soleil Lavender Farm, The Lavender Connection, Lost Mountain Lavender Farm, Martha Lane Lavender Farm, Olympic Lavender Heritage Farm, Purple Haze Lavender Farm, Victor’s Lavender Farm and Washington Lavender Farm.

Below, Owner Paul Schiefen of Jardin du Soleil, right, speaks with cyclists, from left, Eddie Kasner and Brian Bot about distilling oil from lavender on Aug. 6 as part of the Tour de Lavender.

Both rides start at the Sequim at the Boys & Girls Club and take riders into the Sequim area and portions of the Olympic Discovery Trail.

For the metric ride, cyclists could stop at Lost Mountain Lavender Farm first and farm tour riders could stop at Purple Haze Lavender Farm first.

Husband and wife John and Vanessa Koski of Montesano brought their granddaughters Veraty Valentine, 9, and Xela Valentine, 8, of Woodinville on the farm tour and found life content eating lavender ice cream for the first time and relaxing in chairs at Purple Haze.

“If we make it to two farms, we’ll be happy,” he said. “I’m actually pretty happy with this right now.”

Stringer said most of the comments were positive about the rides.

“A lot of people were saying it’s a gorgeous area and asking how they could move here,” he said.

Soon, organizers will have a more complete survey of cyclists with information about where they traveled from, stayed and if they participated in other events.

Tour de Lavender served as a precursor for Ride the Hurricane, a community bike ride up and down Hurricane Ridge Road in Olympic National Park just south of Port Angeles. Stringer said riders saw a lot of rain on Sunday but as is tradition, they plan to coordinate next year’s Tour de Lavender with the Port Angeles event again.

“We hope to be bigger and better,” Stringer said. “I’m shooting for 350-360 people next year. If we have positive feedback on the web, then we’ll be drawing a lot more people.”

Any proceeds remaining after the event will benefit nonprofits, namely the Peninsula Trails Coalition and the Sequim Lavender Farmers Association.

Stringer added that “without the more than two dozen volunteers who gave their time and effort to planning and putting on the event, it simply wouldn’t have happened. Whatever success we had on Saturday we owe to them and that’s what’s so great about this community.”

For more information on Tour de Lavender, visit www.tourdelavender.org.

Below, Grandparents John and Vanessa Koski of Montesano enjoy ice cream with their their granddaughters Veraty Valentine, 9, and Xela Valentine, 8, of Woodinville at Purple Haze Lavender Farm on Aug. 6. John said it was their first stop on the Tour de Lavender farm ride and their first time eating lavender ice cream.