Santa Clarita Century, the start of something grand for the SCV?

This weekend I abandoned the SCV and headed to Palm Springs for the Tour de Palm Springs, billed as the West’s biggest charity bicycle ride.

It didn’t disappoint as a bicycle ride nor, it turns out, as an economic event for the Coachella Valley:

The valley is coming off a big weekend that was a boon for business. There was plenty going on in both ends of the valley.

The Riverside County Fair in Indio helped bring people to town. On the west side, nearly 10 thousand cyclists converged on Downtown Palm Springs for the annual Tour de Palm Springs.

On top of that, Modernism Week got underway.

Al Lanewala, the Manager of Desert Soles shoe store says, add it all up and people visiting Palm Springs were spending money.

KESQ says there wasn’t a single hotel room available in all of the desert valley this weekend. I can verify that. It was hard to find space in the valley as 10,000 cyclists rolled into town, took over the streets and started spending money.

Since I rode the Tour last year, I’ve wished for Santa Clarita to have such an event. Maybe we don’t have quite the number of neat attractions that Palm Springs does, but we do have Six Flags, great spring/winter weather and fantastic riding on our hills and in our canyons.

That’s why I was happy to see the organizers of the Santa Clarita Century & the City of Santa Clarita are planning for their second charity bike ride this year in the SCV. This year’s Century ride will take place April 3 and will offer a 100 mile, 50 mile, 25 mile and “family fun ride” for those interested. Last year over 200 people went on the ride which supports the Santa Clarita Child & Family Center and the Center of Rehabilitative Exercise.

And this year the Santa Clarita Century will start off in our “downtown”: Valencia Town Center, a much more visible and central location compared to the Santa Clarita Metrolink station last year.

Who knows? Maybe in 5-10 years the Santa Clarita Century ride will become a large economy-boosting event for the SCV like the Tour de Palm Springs is for the Coachella Valley. I’m sure that’s something local government and business leaders could get behind.