Sound RIDER! presents the

Café to Café Grand Tour 2011

Ride to Eat – Eat to Ride

Do you enjoy long rides on scenic roads and great food along the way? If so you’re gonna love the Café to Café Tour Grand Tour!

The Café to Café Grand Tour incorporates 15 cafes and restaurants scattered across the Northwest. You goal is to visit every one of them between April and September (take this to mean all spring and summer) and provide proof of your visit to each. Those completing the entire list of 15 locations will be awarded a special plaque to certify their bragging rights.

This year the 15 cafes and restaurants located throughout the Northwest include five in Washington, six in Oregon, two in Idaho and two in Canada. Each location has been selected in conjunction with the editors from our sister publication, Seattle DINING!, based on food quality, location significance and proximity to great riding roads. As a special treat this year, you'll be riding to the end of a road for nearly every location and you'll have the option to ride, not one, not two - but three Gondolas to reach your final targets. The scenery on this year's grand tour is awesome.

Above: Pam Mulky completes the Cafe Veloce target on the 2010 tour.

This grand tour can be done by anyone regardless of what make or model of motorcycle they ride. It’s a good excuse to get out on some new roads and taste some great food. And while you’re out there who knows what new adventures await you along the way?

Above: Your optional mode of travel to hit three of the targets on this year's tour.

We’ve allowed six months for participants to complete all 15 stops. You can squeeze them in while you’re out on other rides, or simply start riding to them once you’ve received your registration package. All 15 locations are revealed in your registration package and there is no particular order in which you must visit each café. Bonus points are acquired if you dine at the location as well.

At left: Brian Lipscy completes the Fields station target on the 2010 tour.

To get started simply register to play today. Once you receive your registration package you can begin hitting the select cafes. Along the way you’ll be documenting each visit by taking a photograph of yourself in front of each location and collecting a receipt if you want to build bonus points. You may submit your photos as often as you like throughout the spring and summer and a tally will be updated online here each month.

We also recommend various roads to use in the area of each café to make your trip that much more interesting. For adventure riders, dualsport options are included as well.

So update your passport, get over your fear of heights, service the bike and hit the road on the 2011 Cafe to Cafe Grand Tour. It may just be the best one yet!

CLICK HERE to order your registration package now!

"Great places that I wouldn't have gone to on my own." - Doug Ellett #10068

"Where do you find out about these fantastic places. The food is awesome and the roads are great!" - Brian Lipscy # 10055

At right: Norm Haugen nails the Lake Quinault target on the 2010 tour.

NEWS & UPDATES

9/30 - Standings through 9/30 are now available. CLICK HERE.
8/25 - Thanks to Frank Leonard #11023 for this photo of the Roast Crown Breast of Chicken at #10. Get it!
7/8 - The road north from Port Renfrew to Duncan is a great ride instead of returning to Victoria area, it is paved all the way. It goes north to Cowichan then east toward Duncan. Makes a nice alternative to returning into Victoria on Hwy 14. Thanks to 3 time Cafe to Cafe rider, Terry the Tire Guy #11032 for this tip.
7/7 The restaurant at Elk City is keeping odd hours. Like we said - call ahead.
6/4 - Can you eat it all. At right is the portion of beef you'll get at Cafe #4. Vegetarians are advised to pack a sprout sandwich or otherwise. Guess you could eat the potato??? Thanks to Frank Leonard, CtoC #11023 for this picture. Keep em coming!
5/30 - SR20 is now open through the North Cascades.
5/19 - Congratulations to Jim Carroll who nailed all 15 Cafe's in just 45 days. Or was it his ghost?
5/16 - Don't miss the very informative weather station at stop #13. And why is it most everyone hits #13 first??
5/6 - Standings through 5/5 are now available. CLICK HERE.
5/4 - It was brought to our attention that #11110 & #11111 will be the final binary Cafe to Cafe numbers ever. There are a total of four binary numbers this year, with two of them already taken. If you're into binary numbers and you just have to have it you need to get signed up and one of them may be yours.
4/6 - If you do not qualify for a US passport and would still like to play Cafe to Cafe, please email us for details.
4/1 - Be advised that certain routes to some of the cafe's at higher elevations may still be blocked by snow. Check our extensive listing of road conditions and always call ahead before you ride.
4/1 We are working on some accommodation discounts and will be posting them as they become available here.
4/1 - We can't say this often enough, please call ahead to each location to be certain they will be open when you go. Odd hours, summer remodels and otherwise are always a possibility.
4/1 - On the three targets with gondolas, if you do not want to dine or ride the gondola up to the target, simply take a picture of yourself in front of the lower area of the gondola to score the target point. But remember, there's a bonus point for each one you dine at!
4/1 - In addition to your target photos, feel free to take pictures of the food, surroundings and weird stuff and send them in as well. We like weird and humorous and we may very well award for weirdest and funniest photos too!

Left: The Ghost of Jim Carroll #10177 completes the Terrebonne Depot Target after dusk! in Oregon. We like Weird!

"Thanks for putting this on. I have been on lots of these types of photo tours in the past but this is the first one that my wife has been excited about accompanying me on. We won't likely make it to all of them but we'll sure have fun getting to the ones we can."

Tim Watts - 2009 Cafe to Cafe participant #9029