We’re excited to announce the winners of our Ride Along contest!
We launched the contest last month with Portland Design Works and a promise of up to $300 in new gear for the winners. Over 70 people submitted essays about why they wanted to share their daily bike ride with the community.
We heard from all types of people from throughout the region, including a 12-year old boy and a woman aged 62.
PDW’s Jocelyn Gaudi and I were simply amazed at the quality of the entries. Here’s how Jocelyn put it: “In going through all the applications, it was very apparent that the Portland cycling community is a remarkable crowd full of unsung heroes — you guys are our inspiration!”
I wholeheartedly concur. I wish we could have picked many more winners. But alas, here are the three folks I’ll be joining for their daily rides in the coming months: William Sanders, Ben Cogdill, and Kimberlee Chambers.
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We chose these three for two main reasons: We liked how they answered our question (“Why do you want to share your ride with the community?”), and we think their route will provide interesting fodder for the Ride Along post.
William is a firefighter who lives in Vancouver and rides all the way to downtown Lake Oswego — a 20-mile route that he follows with a 24-hour shift before riding home the next morning.
Ben lives and works downtown. He commutes daily on streets in the central city with his pre-school aged daughter. “Commuting by bike has expanded our relationship with Portland,” he shared in his contest entry, “and regularly fills me with varying levels hope and disgust.”
Kimberlee told us her 12-mile work commute — from inner southeast Division to Gresham — is a “daily adventure” that takes her by “many challenges and pleasures.”
Each winner will get their bike fully outfitted with Portland Design Works goods and will have the option to visit the company’s north Portland headquarters to have it all installed.
Then, over the next three months I’ll join each of them on their ride. As usual with our Ride Alongs, I’ll hear and see how they navigate the streets and experience the riding environment from their eyes, then share the whole experience right on here on BikePortland.
If you weren’t picked, don’t be surprised if you hear from us in the future. Thanks to everyone who entered and stay tuned to meet Ben, William and Kimberlee!
Thanks for reading.
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edit: please correct to say “as usual…” or “per usual…” but never “as per usual…”
I am looking forward to reading about these Portlanders!
Actually, two Portlanders and one Vancouverite.
Looking forward to more coverage of Central City-centric commutes to highlight the sad state of bicycle infrastructure on the west side.
Agree. It would have been nice to see some west side representation.
Thanks Peter and Reza,
I’m glad to hear you are so enthusiastic about this series!
We picked 3 winners. There are more than 3 parts of our region. That means some areas are not represented.
But guess what? These are only the next 3 Ride Alongs. We can do as many of them as we want and we will certainly continue to expand the geographic scope in the future.
In what world is a commute to Gresham a “central city commute”?
One of my favorite pieces on BikePortland! 😉
Looking forward to reading/viewing each of their commutes in the coming months. But, really wished that you would do three per month.
Keep up the great work, Jonathan!!
I’m really looking forward to these! I hope there will be more, too, because despite receiving responses from “all types of people,” these three represent a somewhat limited demographic.
Hey Gary, thanks for your feedback. To be clear, we didn’t ask riders to submit a photo with their application and we didn’t require them to submit any specific demographic information. Our selections were based strictly upon their responses to the essay question Jonathan noted above.
Just because people look alike, doesn’t mean their lives and experiences are. Hopefully you’ll agree after the three columns have been posted. Thanks for reading along!
Thanks, Jocelyn. I’m not trying to shame you or Jonathan, or to imply that these people have had similar experiences because they’re white. I’m saying it’s worth hearing about and seeing the experience of other demographics—especially those that are underrepresented in the cycling and bike advocacy community. A Ride Along would be perfect for that! Maybe next time.
Gary brings up a good point. I have no doubt whatsoever that there neither Jocey nor Jonathan made their choices based on any biases, but there is a bias in the way the contest is advertised. By which I mean to say: on a bike blog; on a (relatively high-end) bike company’s webpage maybe, etc. That’s going to reach only a certain type of person. As Gary pointed out, there are many cyclists who are not part of the dominant Portland cycling scene and would probably feel unwelcome- or at least disconnected- based on race, income level, age, etc. I’d like to see a ride-along with someone who works the swing shift washing dishes somewhere during the hours when TriMet isn’t working or something like that. Again, I’m not criticizing the contest, the winners, or the selectors- just saying that there are many bike-commuters who, while relatively invisible to most of us, might have fascinating experiences and insight.
I hear you Ryan and I am very well aware of that. Before the contest even began, Jocelyn was hoping we would be able to choose someone with a swing shift just like describe. I agree with you completely about the many bike riders in Portland who would never enter our contest and who currently never interact with our site. Please send people our way if you meet them and feel like they’d be a good Ride Along candidate!
+1 to what Ryan said. I personally would love to hear/see the 12 year old boy and 62 year old woman’s story.
Kelley,
Unfortunately both of the young boys who entered are close personal family friends of mine so I didn’t feel it was right to choose them. And the 62-yr old woman had a route that we’ve already covered and didn’t feel was really that interesting. Like I’ve tried to say in other comments… We had several factors we were considering in picking winners.
For a site that is always talking about diversity, there sure isn’t much in this mix.
I wonder if reaching out to the Community Cycling Center would be a way to find under-represented Portland bike commuters to profile? Maybe CCC staffers could nominate someone from their Create-a-Commuter program, or someone from the New Columbia Hub, etc. Just a thought.
That’s a good idea Ryan. Maybe we could partner with them for a few Ride Alongs next time we need new candidates.