The 42nd Annual Ride Around Mount Rainier in One Day (RAMROD) will not happen in 2026, organizers announced. They were unable to work out an agreement with Mount Rainier National Park to use any stretches of the park’s roadways during the summer season, leaving only options that the Redmond Cycling Club said fail to “capture the essence of RAMROD” or “are not viable.” Organizers have not quit on RAMROD and hope to bring it back in 2027, but there will be no ride in 2026.
Since the 1980s, RAMROD has provided an extremely challenging day of riding with a 150-mile route that includes a ridiculous 10,000 feet of climbing. The challenge attracted so many ultra-endurance riders that for many years they had to dole out entries by lottery.
While much of the route has always used public roadways, the highlight segments included roadways through the national park through Stevens Canyon on the south side of the mountain. Especially since the ride travels through a high mountain pass and will take many riders all day to complete, it was also held in July as the mid-summer is the best time to have reliably safe conditions and as much daylight as possible.
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After decades of holding the ride, a change in leadership at Mount Rainier National Park brought new resistance to the ride. In 2024, Representative Kim Schrier had to get involved in order to broker a compromise route to keep the storied event going. However, part of the compromise was to push the event back until after Labor Day. At the time, park officials cited their then-new timed entry program as the reason they couldn’t allow the ride, but they are not doing timed entry this year. So that excuse really was the pile of B.S. it sounded like (the main reason for timed entry is to reduce the load on the park’s parking lots, which bike riders don’t use). Though RAMROD organizers are more polite about all this — “We ask our members and the community to remain respectful and thoughtful in all interactions with the Park and its staff,” the club wrote in a message to riders — I gotta say that park officials do not do themselves any favors by being dishonest. If they don’t like RAMROD, they should just say so and then explain why. So far, I have not heard any clear reasons why people should be able to drive cars in the park but not participate in an organized bike ride that’s been going for more than 40 years and brings its own volunteers and services.
Because Labor Day is September 7 this year, RAMROD wouldn’t be able to get their permit until mid-September, which is later than it has ever been. Having a bunch of absolutely exhausted riders losing daylight as temperatures drop is a real concern for an extreme event like this. Organizers decided it was not viable to hold the ride so late, and so they cancelled it.
Due to the loss of the 2020 ride due to COVID followed by several years with road construction work, RAMROD has not had its traditional summertime date and route since 2019. They club says they will continue seeking a way in future years to bring back a ride that travels through Stevens Canyon and occurs at “an appropriate time of year.”
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The text of the letter to riders from Rick Duong, President of Redmond Cycling Club:
Hi Riders of RAMROD,
We need to share an important update regarding RAMROD 2026. After extensive evaluation, we have reached the difficult conclusion that we cannot continue with the event in 2026.
For those who have taken on RAMROD and overcome the challenge of a 150-mile, 10,000-foot-climbing ultra-distance ride around the majestic Mount Rainier, we hope the experience delivered more than a sense of accomplishment. We hope it offers inspiration, perspective, and a lasting connection to the mountain. It has been an honor to bring that experience to our riders since the mid-1980s.
We are also deeply committed to our volunteers, the community, and the Park impacted by the event. Through decades of careful planning and engagement, we have consistently minimized impacts, and we believe that RAMROD provides a significant and enduring positive contribution to riders, volunteers, the Park, and local communities.
We believe that the RAMROD experience must include a route through the Stevens Canyon corridor and be held on a safe day and time of the year. At this time, the two options available to us do not meet our standard.
Option 1: late July (Does not include Stevens Canyon corridor but through Skate Creek)
For five decades, RAMROD has traditionally been held on a Thursday in July. This date is intentionally selected to minimize the impact of riders within the Park while taking advantage of the Pacific Northwest’s summer conditions and extended daylight hours.Park officials will not permit a RAMROD event through the Stevens Canyon corridor in July.
For several years, the Club has requested route options that would allow RAMROD to be held in July—or June or August dates. The Park’s response has been consistent: any permitted summer route would be limited to Skate Creek and would not include passage through Stevens Canyon.
Option 2: After Labor Day (Includes Stevens Canyon in September)
In 2024, the Park introduced its Timed Entry program. In response, we worked closely with the Park and government representatives to develop an experimental compromise by moving RAMROD into September for the first time, outside of the Timed Entry period. To further reduce impacts and minimize traffic, we reversed the route for the first time in RAMROD’s history.At the time, we were open and transparent that this change was an experiment. While the reversed route offered a fresh experience—and preserved the opportunity to ride through the Park via Stevens Canyon—it also revealed challenges for riders, volunteers and the community. These included shorter daylight hours to complete the 150-mile course, colder early-morning start temperatures, increased traffic and logistics associated with the start of the school year and the Labor Day holiday weekend.
In 2026, Labor Day falls on September 7, meaning any permitted post–Labor Day date would place RAMROD late in the season, further compounding these challenges. Based on our relationship with the surrounding school district, the school year would already be underway, having begun during the week preceding Labor Day.
It is also important to note that, based on our current understanding, the Park does not plan to implement a Timed Entry program in 2026. Given that, we do not fully understand why restrictions on RAMROD continue to apply.
How Can You Help?
While the decision to cancel the ride this year is deeply disappointing, it does not end our engagement with the community or with Mount Rainier National Park. We remain committed to working toward a RAMROD event in 2027 and beyond—one that includes the Stevens Canyon corridor and takes place at an appropriate time of year.
We ask our members and the community to remain respectful and thoughtful in all interactions with the Park and its staff. We are aware of instances of rhetoric or actions that may be counterproductive, and want to provide context: Redmond Cycling Club has worked with the Park for five decades.
We will continue to represent the cycling community in a constructive, collaborative, and responsible manner, grounded in a Pacific Northwest tradition. We seek to responsibly share the Park, advocate for fair treatment of cyclists, and ensure that decisions do not unfairly disadvantage recreational communities.
If you would like to get involved, here are a few ways to help:
- Join the Redmond Cycling Club. The Club will be working on alternative inspirational events and can announce to the community once it is ready. In addition, we will continue with the RAMROD Training Series as an event to continue to offer challenging rides for our community. We will introduce a new Redmond Cycling Club Challenge designed to complement RAMROD and the RAMROD Training Series. We hope to feature Mount Rainier in the 2026 edition—more details to come.
- Support the Washington National Park Fund, which funds critical projects across Washington’s national parks. Redmond Cycling Club proudly supports this organization.
- Reach out to the Park and your government representative to express your desire to see RAMROD continue with a Stevens Canyon route and during an appropriate time.
- Join the Official RAMROD Training Series Facebook Group for questions or discussions.
Thank You.
We would like to take this opportunity to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who has been part of RAMROD for five decades and helped create a lifetime of unforgettable memories. This includes our family members, riders, volunteers, cycling community, businesses, Park representatives, city leaders and neighborhoods we proudly travel through, including Enumclaw, Orting, South Prairie, Buckley, Eatonville, Elbe, Ashford, Mount Rainier, Crystal Mountain, Greenwater, and Packwood. We are deeply grateful to local law enforcement for their dedication to keeping riders safe, as well as to the Washington State Patrol and the Washington State Department of Transportation for their continued support and partnership. Finally, we offer our sincere gratitude and recognition to John Dixon as the founder of RAMROD that will live on as a Washington cycling community legend.Rick Duong
President, Redmond Cycling Club