History

Recumbent Retreat History

By Bob Porter

The Recumbent Retreat was started in 1999 by Connie McAyeal. The event was called the Oregon Human Powered Vehicles (OHPV) Campout Weekend at Ft. Stevens. Thirty-one people participated in this first event.

Connie ran the event by herself for the first four years.

In the Fall of 2002, a Recumbent Retreat Committee was formed with Mike Porter as the Committee Chairman and Jim Lester as the Wagonmaster. The Committee has run the event ever since, but Connie continued to be active with the Retreat with t-shirts, coffee mugs, light parade and “poker run” events through 2008.

When the Recumbent Retreat Committee was formed it became an independent organization not affiliated with OHPV. The Retreat is an all volunteer run event with all revenues used to support and sustain the continuation of the event.

At the December 2010 OHPV Christmas Party, the Recumbent Retreat Committee and the membership of OHPV voted to absorb the Recumbent Retreat as an OHPV event.

The Recumbent Retreat has grown and changed over the years with the biggest change coming in 2005 when online reservations and payments were started. A new trend is for an ever increasing number people becoming trike riders. Last year there were almost as many trikes as bikes at the Retreat.

The upcoming Recumbent Retreat is planned to be the best ever event. Come and join in the fun with other recumbent enthusiasts. Better yet, volunteer to help keep things running smoothly.

Photo of the first ever Recumbent Retreat – Third Saturday – August 1999 (It was only one night the first year). We arrived at Battery Russell, assembled, took this photo and did the ride to Seaside, including a ride down the main street and lined up all the bikes at the Lewis and Clark turn around. We then split up into groups and went to various restaurants. We rode back to Battery Russell and drove to our campsites.