This article is the fourth in a series profiling the varied and amazing nominees for the 2009 Alice B. Toeclips Awards, which will be presented to five winners at the Alice Awards & Auction on March 7th. You can also read the list of nominees online. This profile was written by BTA correspondent John McLaren.
Gary Bonacker has a resume packed with accomplishments that include fighting off cancer. In 1980 he helped start the Cascade Cycling Classic, now the longest running stage race in the country. In 2005 he organized the Tour des Chutes, a charity ride that has grown to nearly one thousand riders. His Bend, Oregon, bike shop Sunnyside Sports is a hotbed of local cycling 
activity.
He also raced bikes for many years and was a Category 2 certified USCF race mechanic. In that capacity he traveled and worked with many professional teams, including the Dutch National Women’s Team, AC Pinarello, and Coors Light. He also worked with the Ore-Ida/Powerbar women’s challenge from 1992-96 and led mechanical support for the Cascade Cycling Classic for more than 10 years.
Bonacker was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2003. Ten months after a surgery that removed only half of the tumor, Bonacker rode with fellow cancer survivor Lance Armstrong at the Ride for the Roses in Austin, Texas. Inpsired, he returned to Bend and established a cycling event – Tour des Chutes, named for the Deschutes River that runs through the middle of town – raise funds for the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the St. Charles Medical Center Cancer Survivorship Program.
In four years, the multi-distance Tour des Chutes has raised about $200,000 for the fight against cancer.
Many local rides originate at Bonacker’s shop, Sunnyside Sports. Riders of varying abilities on mountain and road bikes can opt to join competitive workouts or no-drop casual rides. Sunnyside hosts a number of annual organized bike rides, including the Sunnyside Century, arguably Oregon’s oldest continually running century ride. While he does not lead shop rides, Bonacker continues to work there 20-30 hours a week, freely sharing his knowledge and experience.
He says the shop is faring reasonably well in these difficult economic times. “While we feel the recession, we are fortunate to be in a business that supports economical transportation alternatives,” he says.
Bonacker, 55, has been with Sunnyside Sports since its beginning in 1972. He started as a mechanic and is now a co-owner. The shop evolved over the decades to become a premier outlet for goods, service and advice. Bike maintenance classes offered by the shop cover everything from flat tire repair to complete overhauls. Bonacker taught these classes for more 20 years, and some students credit the classes with inspiring them to become home mechanics who keep their bikes in top shape. Bonacker has also taught bicycle commuting classes, elementary school classes, and has volunteered his mechanical skills to many Central Oregon groups and organizations.
Bonacker has been a year-round bike commuter in Bend for decades and demonstrates by example that is possible and fun to ride in Central Oregon’s extreme weather. A lifelong bike commuter who spent six years in the 80s without owning a car, Bonacker is now back to 100 percent bicycle commuting; seizures caused by his brain tumor make it unsafe for him to drive a car. Bonacker is likely one of very few cancer patients who arrive at appointments with their doctor by bicycle.
An admirer says of Bonacker that he “has touched the cycling lives of many thousands of people over the years in many, many ways.”
