🚨 Please note: BikePortland is currently on hiatus and only publishing guest articles. Learn more here. Thank you. - Jonathan 🙏

Don’t miss these two events!

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Two great benefit events happening this week:

On Friday there is a Bicycle Film Night Fundraiser to benefit Times Up!, an advocacy group in NYC. They need to raise a bunch of money for legal fees associated with their battle for cyclists’ rights against the NYPD.

The feature presentation will be “Still We Ride,” a documentary on Critical Mass that I’ve heard is quite good. And by the way, if you’re not concerned about the actions of the NYPD towards cyclists, read this article by Senator Jim Elliot from Montana: “Freedom to Be, Freedom to Ride“.

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Alan Koch; Super-retiree

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Just wanted to make sure everyone reads this article by Margie Boule in Sunday’s Oregonian. It’s about a retiree named Alan Koch. For his 65th birthday he got a new Bianchi and is in the process of riding his bike on every street in Portland. That is awesome.

It reminds me of one of Eleni’s favorite books titled “Supergrandpa.” It pays tribute to a 66 year-old man who in 1951 finished first in the longest bicycle race in Sweden.

And since I’m mentioning books, there’s a great new one for older cyclists called, “Bike For Life: How to Ride to 100.

Good luck Alan and I’ll see you out there.

Bike-powered sewing machine

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Just got these photos from Maggie Burrus-Granger. Maggie is a local artist and biker who combined her passions into this very nifty bike-powered sewing machine. She also makes embroidered pillowcases (Juli got me a set for our 5th anniversary!), knit sweaters and inner tube bags all with bikes on them. The name of her company is amelia b.

I asked Maggie why she creates bike crafts:

“When I’m not riding my bike, I’m crafting, and when I’m not crafting I’m riding my bike, and sometimes I make crafts on my bike. I dream about bikes.”

You can see the bike-powered sewing machine in action, meet Maggie, and peruse lots of great bike-themed crafts at the upcoming BikeCraft Faire on December 7th. Save the date!