Last weekend, my wife and I rode the Seattle to Portland (STP) Bicycle Classic: 204 miles in two days, but who’s counting?

We were, especially when we were at mile 177! We did make it, along with thousands of other people, in a wonderful tour from Seattle through the Duwamish Valley, Puyallup, across Fort Lewis, along the back roads of southwest Washington, and down the Columbia into Portland.

We started talking about this back in March. My wife works for Group Health Cooperative, which sponsored this ride. So the cooperative encouraged all its employees and members to join up and ride.

Why this big emphasis on bicycling? As a health maintenance organization, Group Health is interested in making sure its members do just that – maintain their health. And a physically active lifestyle promotes good health. Plus the fact that one out of three Washingtonians owns a bike. So just get those bikes out and start pedaling.

Now, 204 miles in two days may seem a little extreme (but not as extreme as those animals who rode the entire 204 miles in one day), but the message is clear. Even if you ride 30 minutes a day, you can keep your heart healthy.

But you don’t necessarily need a bike. Two young guys in their personally re-engineered Big Wheels took 141/2 hours from the University of Washington to Centralia. When they arrived at close to 9 p.m., they were still full of energy.

The most impressive participant was a fellow in a racing wheelchair who was missing both legs and his left arm. He propelled himself along at 10 mph with his one good right arm. Talk about perseverance and courage.

The great thing about this ride is that it wasn’t just a bunch of jocks racing each other. There were thousands of ordinary people of all ages, shapes and sizes who got on their bikes and made the journey to Portland.

This was a multiracial crowd pedaling through Southwest Washington. Our own little group of seven ranged from age 15 to 58 and included two women, a doctor, a firefighter, an architect, an environmental organizer, Hispanic, African American, Jewish and Caucasian.

Most of us stayed overnight in Centralia. Downtown is a pleasant place, a real downtown as opposed to the suburban and urban sprawl most of us are used to. We shared a couple of beers with two Seattle police officers who were on the bike ride.

Bicycling through Napavine, Winlock, Vader and all the other towns of Southwest Washington, I was struck by the hospitality of their citizens.

But I also got a sense of this area’s economic disquiet. With the shrinking of the wood products industry; the inability of corporations or government to plan and implement an economic transition to new, growing industries; and the decreasing federal government support for education, cops on the street and small businesses, these towns have been left behind.

STP is a big economic boost for these small towns. Centralia was filled to the brim with cyclists drinking beer and eating out. Probably a minimum of $3 million is spent along the way.

STP sold out early, with 8,500 riders. All the other rides that the Cascade Bicycle Club organizes have more riders than last year. And it appears that proportionally more women are getting on their bikes. The ratio of men to women was 3 to 1 a couple of years ago. Now it is closer to 2 to 1.

What are the reasons for this upsurge in bicycling? A fellow from the Cascade Bicycle Club suggested two. The first is Lance Armstrong. Another is Group Health’s promotion of bicycling and exercise in all its advertising. And the two do go hand in hand. After all, Armstrong overcame testicular cancer to go on to win the Tour de France six times (now going on seven). And Group Health understands that the best way to prevent sickness is to promote health.

We can all get in the game here. People are realizing that you don’t have to be a racer to be a cyclist. On Sept. 16, Cascade is organizing a tour of Seattle, with loops of 33, 12 or six miles. You can sign up now at www.cascade.org/EandR.

It’s for your health!

John Burbank, executive director of the Economic Opportunity Institute (www.eoionline.org), writes every other Wednesday. Write to him in care of the institute at 1900 Northlake Way, Suite 237, Seattle, WA 98103. His e-mail address is john@eoionline.org.