July 2014 Archives

Job: Full time bicycle mechanic – Allegro Cyclery (Walla Walla, WA)

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Job Title
Full time bicycle mechanic

Company/Organization
Allegro Cyclery in Walla Walla, WA

Job Description
Allegro has an opening for an experienced bike mechanic. Additional duties are maintaining the repair calendar, helping on the sales floor, operating the point of sale system, serving customers with bike rentals, helping with general cleaning, and performing other tasks as assigned.

Qualifications
The ideal candidate will have several years experience as a bicycle mechanic and in sales. He or she will have a thorough knowledge of MTBs and their components, strong customer service skills, and experience using computers. They will be an active bike rider willing to participate and lead shop rides.
Our shop and our community
Allegro serves all riders- road, MTB, commuters, hybrids and cruisers. We are active in our community- we lead weekly shop rides year round and organize the biggest stage race in the northwest, the Tour of Walla Walla, with enthusiastic support and cooperation from the community. We are known for the very best service a bike shop can offer.

Walla Walla is a small community of 30,000 residents on the dry side of the Cascades. Our road riding is phenomenal, with quiet country roads five to 10 minutes in any direction from downtown. MTB riding is a little further away, and hence been neglected by the locals. We have begun a campaign to grow the MTB and cyclocross markets.

How to Apply
Send a resume and cover letter to Steve Rapp at steve@allegrocyclery.com or 200 E. Main St, Walla Walla, WA 99362. We will contact the best candidates to set up interviews.

Driver cited in serious injury collision on SE Ankeny and 7th

View eastbound on Ankeny at 7th.

Two people, one on a bicycle and one in a car, collided while traveling on SE Ankeny this morning.

According to the Portland Police Bureau (PPB), the incident occurred just before 7:46 am at the intersection of Ankeny and 7th. The collision involved someone driving a car and someone pedaling a bicycle. Here’s more from the PPB statement:

Officers determined that the driver of the car had turned left while traveling eastbound on S.E. Ankeny, onto northbound S.E. 7th. The driver turned into the path of the bicyclist causing the accident.

The driver of the vehicle had stopped prior to turning and did not show any signs of impairment. It appears that the driver did not see the bicyclist.

Inspired by the changes on NE Multnomah in the Lloyd District, a new proposal would transform SW 2nd and 3rd avenues.
(Photo by J. Maus/BikePortland)

A coalition of 30 Old Town bars, restaurants and entertainment venues is proposing adding a quarter-mile of planter-protected bike lanes and street cafe seating to 2nd and/or 3rd avenues.

Inspired by nearby projects on SW Ankeny and NE Multnomah, the six-month-old Old Town Hospitality Group sees their experimental road diet concept, which could narrow the streets’ car-oriented area from three travel lanes to one or two and might remove some on-street auto parking, as a way to make the neighborhood safer, more comfortable and better to do business in.

Public employees, business owners, service providers, tourism officials, and biking advocates all came together for a networking event inside the pavilion at Marine Park in Cascade Locks last nights.
(Photos J. Maus/BikePortland)

The biking conditions on N Willamette Blvd leave a lot to be desired.
(Photos by J. Maus/BikePortland)

Could this finally be our chance to get a bit of an improvement to the biking environment on a key north Portland corridor? It might be, if the Portland Bureau of Transportation moves forward on a plan to widen the bike lanes on N. Willamette Blvd.

The move comes as city road crews embark on a major re-paving project that will rebuild 2.36 lane miles between N Portsmouth (near University of Portland) and N Woolsey (near Columbia Park). The project was announced last week and began on Monday.

Upon hearing about the paving project we asked if any lane re-striping was being considered. PBOT has a history of widening and re-striping bike lanes when roads are re-paved. Since striping has to be re-done anyways, these projects are a good opportunity to assess capacity needs and make needed changes.

(Screen capture from BikeCommuterAds.com)

Here’s an idea: a local business is setting out to sell ads attached to each side of local bike commuters’ front wheels.

“It’s a first-of-its-kind-in-the-nation business, because it’s basically for the bike commuters, the year-round riders,” BikeCommuterAds.com founder Gary Courter said in an interview Tuesday. “They’ve been riding green all this time for nothing — years! — and we’re trying to change that.”

“Where did we get the idea that a bike is too expensive to buy and maintain but a car is not?”

That’s one of the questions addressed by an interesting comment this week from reader Yvette Maranowski, who describes herself as a bike promoter, a community health worker and a member of the North Portland bike club We All Can Ride.

Catch the Tour at Portland Bicycle Studio’s new location (NW 14th and Raleigh) every morning at 7:00 am.
(Photo courtesy Portland Bicycle Studio)

The Tour de France is already well into its first week and the action is heating up. For many fans “Le Tour” is a must-see race, but unlike the World Cup it’s not always easy to find a reliable (and cheap) television feed. That’s where bike shops and cafes step in to fill the void with viewing parties and big screens.

Big time bike racing is headed back to the North Park Blocks!
(Photo J. Maus/BikePortland)

“Soccer City, USA meets Bike Town, USA.”

Corporate marketing professionals know a good tie-in when they see one. Perhaps that explains why Volkswagen will sponsor two bike events during the festivities leading up to the 2014 Major League Soccer All-Star Game that’s coming to Portland next month.

At NW Raleigh and 20th via @abaraff on Twitter.

The blinking bike lights debate has taken a new turn in Portland.

Two readers have contacted us this week about a message painted in large red letters across roads in northwest Portland that reads: “Fuck you and your epileptic bike lights.”

If that’s how someone feels about
a Prius owner, I can only imagine what
they think of bicycle riders.
(Photo from Rollin Coal & Raisin Hell
Facebook page)

Prepare to be depressed about the current state of civic relations here in America…

Remember our two recent reports about “rolling coal”? That’s when someone who owns a truck drives it close to another road user and then purposely spews a huge cloud of black exhaust fumes at them. We first reported about it after a man claimed he was a victim of it while riding near Mt. Tabor back in February. Rolling coal made our front page again last month when a truck driver did the same thing to a group of people riding bikes in Beaverton. In that case, one of the people on bikes turned out to be an off-duty Washington County Sheriff deputy who then pulled the driver over. (Note, we initially reported that it was a member of the Beaverton Bicycle Patrol Unit and have since learned that was incorrect.)

Fast-forward a few weeks and it seems “rolling coal” has broken through beyond YouTube videos and truck enthusiast forums and onto the major online news media. Stories this week on Talking Points Memo, Slate, Huffington Post, and other outlets have brought the behavior out of the shadows.

Oregon Walks Executive Director Noel Mickelberry.
(Photo courtesy Oregon Walks)

Few local nonprofits have changed more in the last few years than Oregon’s main walking advocacy group.

Since 2010, Oregon Walks has renamed itself, relocated its tiny office, passed most of its board seats to new volunteers and shifted its strategy away from direct oversight of local government and toward grant-funded partnerships with other community organizations.

When Executive Director Noel Mickelberry took the reins Monday morning, the group’s transition was complete. We caught up with Mickelberry, 26, as she prepared to start the 24-hour-a-week job to talk about the differences between walking and biking advocacy and the new vision she’s been hired to execute.

Job: Full time bicycle mechanic – Allegro Cyclery (Walla Walla, WA)

Driver cited in serious injury collision on SE Ankeny and 7th

Seeing business upsides, Old Town retailers propose protected bike lanes on 2nd, 3rd

In Cascade Locks, it’s all-hands-on-deck for bicycle tourism

City mulls wider bike lanes on N. Willamette Blvd

Portland business lets you turn your bike into a rolling billboard

Comment of the Week: Rethinking car/bike choices among public housing residents

3 places to watch the Tour de France in Portland

‘Stumptown Crit’ and a family bike ride to be part of MLS All-Star Game festivities

Grafitti in northwest Portland rages against blinking bike lights

‘Rolling coal’, deemed illegal by the EPA, enjoys 15 minutes of fame

Leading the march: 10 questions for Noel Mickelberry of Oregon Walks

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From the Archives

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