| | |  Travel & Outdoors | September 2008 
Baja Bike Ride Threatened by Recent Drop in Tourism
 Sandra Dibble - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| | Last Ride Ever: September 27 - This next ride will be our last. This is your final opportunity to enjoy Baja California on this historic bike ride! Click HERE to visit the website. | | |
Rosarito Beach – A colorful Baja California group bicycle ride that has traditionally drawn thousands of participants is in jeopardy due to a decline in U.S. visitors to the state.
 "One last fiesta!" states the Web site of the San Diego-based promoter of the 50-Mile Rosarito-to-Ensenada Fun Ride. The Sept. 27 event is being billed as the "Last Ride Ever," after 28 years.
"We're not philanthropists. We don't have a lot of money to donate so people can go on a bike ride," said Gary Foster, president of Bicycling West, who works with two Mexican partners to put on the event. "Financially it's going to get to the point where it's no longer feasible."
The event has been staged twice a year, in September and April, since 1987. The route takes riders of all ages and abilities past dramatic Pacific Ocean vistas, through small inland communities where riders traditionally throw candy to waving children and finally through the port of Ensenada for a post-ride celebration.
About 75 percent of the participants are from the United States, with the remainder from Mexico, Foster said. About 7,500 riders participated last September, but the organizers are expecting only 5,000 this month.
Foster said he needs a high number of participants to maintain the quality of the ride, which includes water stations, sag wagons for weary cyclists and a helicopter ready for any emergencies. The organizers hire about 400 people for the day of the ride, including doctors and nurses, to attend to any injured riders.
This year, U.S. riders are being charged $40 if they preregister, $50 on the day of the event. "It's a real fun ride. It's sad to think it's coming to an end," said Scott Schachter, 45, an optometrist from Pismo Beach who plans on participating this month for the first time in 20 years.
For the coastal tourism corridor that runs from Rosarito Beach to Ensenada, "it's one of the most important events that we have on our calendar," said Ives Lelevier, deputy tourism secretary for Baja California.
The state generally has been struggling with declining numbers of U.S. tourists since the middle of last year, Lelevier said. He said Labor Day weekend was "good but not extraordinary," with the number of visitors up about 5 percent from last year.
Lelevier and Foster agree on the same range of reasons for the overall decline in tourism, an important source of revenue for Rosarito Beach and Ensenada. Those reasons include the U.S. economic downturn, the clogged border crossings and reports of crime in Mexico.
Though fear of crime is keeping away some U.S. riders, "we have never had a report of any participants on the bike ride weekend suffering from any security-related issues," Foster said.
Similar cycling events north of the border are also suffering as participants have grown increasingly reluctant to spend money on gas and accommodations, he said. But in Baja California, promoters face an additional burden, as the municipalities charge the promoter a tax for every rider.
Baja California tourism authorities hope the ride continues. "It's such a tradition for Baja California," Lelevier said. "If the people that are putting it on don't want to do it, I'm sure someone else will."
Since announcing "the last ride ever," Foster said he has generated many queries, but believes the numbers of participants will remain too low to continue. Still, "if we get 7,000, then we'll restart the conversation." |
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