December 9, 2025
Topics:
- Airport and Lodging Shuttles – let us know if you need this
- Donations for Bike Camp – Šináata Scholarship
- Bike Camp – access fees
- Bike Camp – reduced tent prices
- Bike Camp – rider cancellation policy
- Bike Camp – tipis available!
2026 Registration: Last-Minute Notes
Hi, everyone -
We have a bunch of key information bits for you, but first a little insight from BRNW Headquarters (as it were): Every year, right before or when registration opens, something technology-related goes sideways. It’s like a scary movie where the characters are walking through the dark woods, looking over their shoulders, wondering where the attack is going to come from.
Here’s this year’s version: Our hosting service has been down, and then up, and then down, and then up, for the last week. It happened again this morning: No access to our website – to see it, update it, or click on the Register Now button. This is not ideal.
So, this is important: If you can’t get on our website to click on the Register button when it’s your time to sign up, use this direct link: https://www.bikereg.com/brnw-tours-2026.
We’re also creating a workaround for getting to our BRNW Retail page to order Tent & Porter, jerseys, chairs, Community Grant raffle tickets, etc., in case the hosting server is down. When you register, you’ll get a confirmation email from BikeReg with two link options for our Retail page. We’ll make sure you can get there, one way or another.
(On a personal note: It’s great to demonstrate that BRNW can fix problems, pivot quickly, etc., but does it have to happen so often? 😊)
Other topics for this last-minute email are listed below. (Creating a new event like Bike Camp Walla Walla is a reminder of just how much detail there is when you’re starting from scratch.)
- Retail Page – When/how it goes live
- Airport and Lodging Shuttles – Let us know if you need this
- Donations for Bike Camp – Šináata Scholarship
- Bike Camp – Access fees
- Bike Camp – Reduced tent prices
- Bike Camp – Rider cancellation policy
- Bike Camp – Tipis available!
BRNW Retail Page
Just a few clarifications, to head off possible confusion. The Retail page is set up to open tonight for early registration (with limited T&P spots). If you look at it right now it will let you select an item to add to your cart, but there’s no checkout available. That will only change once registration is open for you. (And, for you schemers: No, the item will not still be in your cart then.)
For Bike Camp Walla Walla retail items, the inventory will show “Out of Stock” up until that registration opens Friday night. Don’t worry – the full stock of inventory is ready; this is just how we have to separate out week-long tours and Bike Camp on the same Retail page.
Airport and Lodging Shuttles
Because both of these items are optional and demand is unpredictable, we’re talking a different approach to planning efficiently. We’re essentially using an “interest list” approach. What we want is to know how many people WANT these services, so we can plan accordingly. Both shuttles for both rides will be items available on our Retail page, but when you click on them the price will show as $0.
So, if you’ll be flying into a week-long tour (Portland for OR 26, Seattle for WA 26), please “purchase” the airport shuttle for $0 once you’ve registered for the ride.
If you plan to stay at our partner lodging properties and use our baggage/passenger shuttle, please “purchase” that for the ride.
(Make purchases for each ride if you’re doing both.)
For Walla Walla there’s no lodging shuttle, but same thing for the airport shuttle: If you’ll be flying in, please “purchase” the airport shuttle item once you’ve registered, so we can see the level of interest. Note: We'll be deciding between Tri-Cities Airport in Pasco (closer) or Spokane (more flights) once we see what the level of demand is.
For all these, later we’ll create a real item to purchase, once we know the cost and details based on interest.
Donations for Bike Camp Walla Walla
We’re trying to keep the process of fundraising for the Šináata Scholarship as simple and easy as we can. Participants will have two opportunities to make a donation beyond their event fees: at registration, and at the event. At registration you’ll have the chance to make a direct donation at multiple levels, and at the event we’ll have a silent auction for experiences, items, packages, etc.
At registration, there will be two optional questions on BikeReg. One will offer five giving tiers, named after the five categories of Tribal First Foods (roots, berries, water, fish, game). Each tier offers a thank-you item, and each higher tier includes the previous tiers’ items.
If you choose a donation tier on BikeReg, you won’t be paying for it there. Your registration confirmation email will contain a link for you to go to a Whitman donation site, where you’ll make the actual donation and indicate that it’s for Bike Camp Walla Walla. This way your donation is tax-deductible and there are no transaction fees against it.
There will also be a second optional question asking if you’d like to donate another way. Some people like to gather pledges to multiply their giving power, but some people don’t enjoy that method, so it’s there only if you want it. And if you or your company would like to offer a matching amount, we can do that as well. Plus we welcome ideas for other ways you’d like to contribute.
Bike Camp – Whitman College Access Fees
Whitman College’s Facilities department handles all the on-campus events, including ours. They have an access-fee charge for each person at an event who requires access to entry-controlled buildings (such as dorms). Each participant is issued a proximity/scan card to access the appropriate buildings. This fee is currently $60 per person, but the school has generously offered to reduce the fee for our event. We’re still waiting to hear the final number, so the current posted prices for the sleeping options (which include the $60 fee) will be reduced – we just don’t know exactly how much yet. When you register, the price shown will be the final cost.
Notes: Two people sharing a tent or room will have to pay for two access passes. People sleeping off-campus won’t need an access card, and won’t pay a fee.
Bike Camp – Reduced Tent Prices
The idea behind offering tent camping at Bike Camp was to have a lower-cost option so more people would be able to afford the registration; we want this to be an inclusive event. After looking at the initial price of a rental tent relative to a dorm room, we reduced the tent pricing. As a comparison, a tent for one person will now be $175 plus the access fee for five nights; a dorm room for one person will be $350 plus the access fee for five nights.
Bike Camp Rider Cancellation Policy
We realized that we needed to adapt our overall rider cancellation policy to fit the Walla Walla model. It’s the same principle, just tweaked. We don’t want to go on too long here, so if you want the details, read all about it here.
Tipis at Bike Camp
Exciting news: Two local Tribal families have graciously offered to donate their custom tipis to Bike Camp Walla Walla! The families will set up and take down the tipis themselves, and the tipis be right next to the rental tents, between the dorms and the dining hall. These are large tipis; we’re offering them for groups of up to four, at $75 per night for the group. These two tipis will be available on a first-come, first-reserved basis, starting at 6:00 p.m. Pacific on Friday night.
That’s our final report. We hope everything goes super smoothly. (Wait, what was that noise behind us...?!)
Cheers,
Jim