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6/20: Hello readers and friends. I am having my second (of two) total knee replacement surgeries today so I'll be out of commission for a bit while I recover. Please be patient while I get back to full health. I hope to be back to posting as soon as I can. I look forward to getting back out there. 🙏. - Jonathan Maus, BikePortland Publisher and Editor

Job: E-Commerce Marketing Specialist – Showers Pass – FILLED

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Sorry, this job has been filled. Browse more great jobs here.

Job Title
E-Commerce Marketing Specialist

Company
Showers Pass

Job Description

Showers Pass, Portland-based apparel brand is growing. The right candidate for this position will have a passion for cycling, the outdoors, and analytical data while being an effective communicator. We are looking for a self-starter that can work as part of the team and manage projects independently – with critical thinking abilities and motivation to take initiative. This person will be responsible for the production, execution, and KPI reporting for all e-channel marketing efforts including email, SEO, social, web and loyalty programs. The Specialist supports the Marketing Director to implement campaigns and production in support of the brand, e-commerce channels, product, and audience strategy.

Duties of the E-commerce Marketing Specialist:

Responsible for implementation of online activities
Copywriting, Content Marketing
Create & execute email channel marketing efforts
Working with our outside partners for coordinated execution of the plan
Staying up to date on software or data trends
Keep current and being progressive with regards to online trends
Keeping website current and accurate
Drive marketing automation
Interpretation of analytical trends
Search Engine Optimization (SEO), PPC, CMS, Social Media, Email marketing.
QA all marketing efforts for accuracy, pricing, conversion/call to action and tracking

Requirements of the role:

Excellent copywriting and content marketing skills
Content design, development & deployment experience
Understanding of digital best practices and how to implement
Ability to critique and adapt E-Commerce strategy & tactics
Digital marketing experience with proven track record
In-depth understanding of content flow and web analytics software
Retargeting and PPC experience,
Experience with the development and execution of email marketing
Data Analysis & Analytics interpretation
Experience using Shopify, MailChimp, Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Google Analytics and Amazon marketplace is a plus
Educated to degree level in Digital Marketing or any related field
Ability to manage multiple projects at once in a deadline-driven environment

Applicants must have 1-3 years of relevant experience. This position comes with full benefits after probationary period. Benefits include medical, vision and dental insurance, 401K and paid maternity/paternity leave.

How to Apply

THIS POSITION IS OPEN AS OF JAN. 19TH 2018. PLEASE APPLY BEFORE FEB. 16TH TO BE CONSIDERED.

Please send a brief cover letter and resume to careers @ showerspass . com

No phone calls, please.

Ovarian Psycos documentary is coming to Portland this Sunday

A documentary based on the East Los Angeles-based activist group known as the Ovarian Psycos will be shown in Portland this Sunday night as a benefit for the Community Cycling Center.

The “OVAS” as they’re often known — which stands for Overthrowing Vendidxs (vendidos, or sell-outs), Authority, and the State — began in 2010. They define their politics and activism as having, “feminist ideals with indigena understanding and an urban/hood mentality!” Using bicycles as a tool for power and organizing, the Ovas annual rides include the Black Mass (“Resistance on Two Wheels”), Clitoral Mass, protests against gentrification, and more. Beyond riding, they empower and inspire young womxn of color to become community leaders.

“We are connecting dots,” they write on their website, “becoming aware of community agencies, spaces and movimientos in an effort to solidify our local networks making everything and everyone more accessible for and to each other.”

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Walk or roll on Portland streets? You need more personal injury insurance protection

(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

This post was written by Portland lawyer Cynthia Newton. She previously shared her concerns about commercial truck operators. Today’s post is about the insurance gap faced by bicycle users. It’s an issue we’ve covered previously here on BikePortland, but it’s so important we felt it was worth re-upping.

This is one of those things that’s not pleasant to think about, but important to know.

Bicycle riders and walkers who are involved in a collision with the driver of a motor vehicle often suffer serious injuries, requiring emergency medical care, surgery, hospitalization and short or long-term disability. Many Oregon drivers carry the minimal automobile insurance limits of $25,000. Serious injuries combined with this minimal amount of coverage combine to create a gap between the funds needed to pay medical expenses and to be fully compensated for lost income and non-economic damages. Put more simply: The injured’s damages exceed the at-fault driver’s insurance coverage.

As lawyers who work with bicycle riders, we see the consequences of this situation far too often.

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Oregon’s auto industry is booming: Is that a good thing?

Good news?

How can Oregon make progress in its fight against car abuse when cars represent one of the largest sectors of our state’s economy?

It feels good for Oregon bicycle advocates to talk about “bikenomics,” but the truth hurts: our state’s auto industry is a behemoth that casts a very long shadow. According to an article published Sunday in the Portland Tribune, there was $10.6 billion in new vehicle sales in 2016 (the latest year figures are available). That amounts to a whopping 17.9 percent of all retail sales statewide.

As the Trib story says, auto dealers are celebrating a “banner year” as they ready for their biggest moment — the annual Portland Auto Show held at the Oregon Convention Center this weekend.

Here’s more from the Trib piece:

Read more

Northwest Trail Alliance: The trail ahead (Part 2)

A rider finds the groove on a trail in Gateway Green, a signature project for Northwest Trail Alliance. (Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

[This is the second part of a two-part post from Northwest Trail Alliance President Chris Rotvik. Don’t miss Part 1, a recap of 2017.]

Almost 30 years ago, Theo Patterson spoke up to make sure mountain bikes weren’t banned from Forest Park. To help, Patterson founded Portland United Mountain Pedalers, or PUMP. In 2009, PUMP became Northwest Trail Alliance, and we turn 30 this year. With our Big Three-Oh looming, let’s glance back and gaze forward.

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Northwest Trail Alliance: The tide is turning (Part 1)

A father and daughter enjoy the new trails at Gateway Green’s Dirt Lab.
(Photos: J. Maus)
Standing with our partners (I’m on the left in green shirt) — including City Commissioners Amanda Fritz, Nick Fish, and Portland Parks Director Mike Abbaté — at opening day for the Dirt Lab at Gateway Green.

[We’re happy to publish a two-part article from Northwest Trail Alliance President Chris Rotvik. First, a recap of 2017. Then a look ahead to what’s in store this year.]

Throughout 2017, more than 1,700 mountain bikers — from shredders to striders — dropped in to Northwest Trail Alliance-hosted digging and riding events. And, all tolled, our volunteers carved a smidgen over 12,000 hours into our trails and the political arena that sustains the flow of riding in our region. Those hours equate to $360,000 of hard labor invested in elevating both our sport, and the tide on which our local cycling industry floats. Think of it as your membership and sponsorship currency, multiplied tenfold, and paid forward.

The urban scene captured the lion’s share of 2017’s effort. To date, we’ve brought forward more than 1,500 hours (and we’re not yet at the finish line) shaping Portland’s Off-Road Cycling Master Plan (ORCMP). Simultaneously, our expertise, labor, and equipment helped bring the Dirt Lab at Gateway Green — the prototype of how ORCMP will reshape our urban riding scene — to life.

Opened in late June, the Dirt Lab has reinvigorated riding and advocacy, and there’s much good yet to come of it— in Forest Park, River View Natural Area, Washington Park, and drizzled across the smaller parks in Portland. Icing that cake is our sweet partnership with Metro, who’ll soon be bringing delectable riding in the North Tualatin Mountains beyond Forest Park, in Oregon City, and in the Gabbert Buttes to the east of Portland.

So, after 30 years, the urban tide is turning. Are you out there, Theo Patterson?

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Take a Kid Mountain Biking day at Ventura Park.

Let’s step from the urban scene to our front-country venues: First, we wrote Stub Stewart State Park the equivalent of a $60,000 check in the form of 2,500 volunteer hours, the highest across all our sites (Gateway Green and Growler’s Gulch ranked second and third at 1,800 and 1,600 hours, respectively). At Stub, we put paid to two new bridges, two new coach-ready, skill-building loops, a significant trail re-route, and two riding events. Next, the trail gnomes of Southwest Washington topped the mileage charts by adding — with their usual surgical precision — another five miles of new line to the fabled Growler’s Gulch system. (Digging is your ticket to entry, so if you’d like to ride Growler’s magic carpet, sign up for the work parties … find them on nw-trail.org.)

Elsewhere in the region, we buffed-out the trails. And buffed some more, for a total of 1,900 hours of wax on, wax off at Sandy Ridge, St. Helens, Coldwater Lake, Scappoose, Tillamook, Lacamas, Cascade Locks, Eichler, Powell Butte, Hagg Lake, and Whipple Creek. That’s the equivalent of re-shaping and brushing seven hours a day, five days a week, year-round. Mister Miyagi would be proud.

OK, then. We’ve brought almost two thousand of our new best friends to the party, opened a bike park, gained significant urban mountain biking momentum, raised Stub and Growler’s yet another notch, kept Sandy Ridge a premier destination despite the onslaught of almost one hundred thousand gravity-fueled runs, and sustained 10 other regional riding destinations. Not bad, eh?

While 2017’s achievements just might be a high water mark for the organization, we’re already over it, aside from just one thing … our gratitude. If it weren’t for you — member, sponsor, volunteer — mountain biking in the region would be dirt poor. Thank you for all you do for our shared passion.

Oh, and 2018 promises to be a gangbuster. Care to join us?

— Chris Rotvik, President, Northwest Trail Alliance

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BikePortland needs your support.

Comment now: What should the transportation system do for greater Portland?

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Now through Feb. 17, tell leaders what or how you would focus investments in our transportation system.

We all use our system of throughways, roads, bridges, sidewalks, bikeways, and transit and freight routes. So, we should all get a say in how we create a transportation system that is safe, healthy, reliable and affordable. Regional leaders want to know how you would prioritize the next 20 years of transportation investments.

With 500,000 more people – more than half from growing families – and 350,000 more jobs in greater Portland by 2040, we’ll see more economic activity and more people and goods traveling on the region’s transportation system than today. This means more traffic and congestion, busy buses, and more people walking and biking.

The 2018 Regional Transportation Plan will establish priorities for state, federal and regional funding and help set the stage for the new and expanded options for people and products to get where they need to go. Projects are submitted by city, county, regional and state partners and evaluated for what they will do for the people and businesses of greater Portland.

What things are most important to you?

Comment now through Feb. 17
• Take 5-7 minutes to share your thoughts through the online survey. Go to the survey at 2018rtp.metroquest.com.
• Find out more and explore an interactive map projects at oregonmetro.gov/2018projects.
• Send comments by email to transportation@oregonmetro.gov or mail to Planning and Development, 600 NE Grand Avenue, Portland, OR 97232.

Velocirque Custom & Vintage Bike Show February 24

Bikes are fun, bikes are cool, bikes have soul, bikes have history.

Welcome to the world of bike geekery, of fascination with frames and componentry, clever design and sublime craftsmanship, fillets and lugs, gear-inches and effective rim diameters, shiny bling and soulful patina.

Our winter celebration of bike geekery will on Saturday February 24, at the “Velocirque” weekend at Velocult. This is the fourth Velocirque; Velocult started doing these shows in 2016 and if you have even a little bit of bike geek in you, its well worth a visit.

We’ll oogle over old-school “classic and vintage” bicycles and newer “custom” bikes with old-world workmanship. 1960s Italian city bikes to 1980s racebikes, English three-speeds to kitted-out randos, from Weigle to Merz, Cinelli to Mercxx, if it is cool and full of soul – it is welcome in this DIY bike show. Bring a bike stand if you have one.

Yes, DIY. This is the people’s bike show. YOUR bike show. Bring your cool ride and show it off.

Special call for three-speeds and randonneur/touring/bikepacker bikes! Bring ’em!

VELOCIRQUE BY VELOCULT
Velocult, 1969 NE 42nd Avenue
Saturday February 24 – ride 10:00 am, show 3:00 pm

BikePortland Event Calendar listing

Oh, and there’s beer, too.

Finding heaven on the Hell of the North Plains

And then there was this bright green meadow on our way up to the top of Wildcat Mountain.
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

Sometimes all it takes to find a good adventure on two wheels is to just look a little harder.

Many of the best roads on Saturday’s Hell of the North Plains ride were in places I’ve ridden or driven near for many years. But somehow, someway, the routefinding raconteurs at Our Mother the Mountain (OMTM) manage to go deeper into (relatively) local backroads than most of us will ever venture on our own.

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The Monday Roundup: Dallas’ dock-mess, de Blasio’s hypocrisy, a velodrome in Detroit, and more

Welcome to a new week.

Here are the best stories we came across in the last seven days.

I’ll have what they’re having: This piece in Governing caught my eye because it highlights the decrease in traffic deaths in San Francisco and New York City last year. Do they know something we don’t know?

From our Sponsor:

Don’t miss the Tacx Indoor Trainer Demo Night at Western Bikeworks tomorrow night (Tuesday, 1/23)!

A “hot trend”: More momentum for e-bikes in the U.S., and about as mainstream as you can get. Stories like this one are why many of us got into the bike business to begin with!

The lifesaving bicycle: This wonderful essay comes from a woman who was at her personal rock bottom — only to find that the simple act of riding a bicycle helped get her life back.

Read more

Job: Retail Specialist – Community Cycling Center (FILLED)

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Job Title *
Retail Specialist

Company/Organization *
Community Cycling Center

Job Description *
Start Date: February 2018
Reports to: Retail Manager
Status: 32-40 hours per week, including weekends
Location: Portland, OR
Compensation: $13.50 per hour to start
Organizational Overview

We love Portland and bikes. So we put our two loves together over 20 years ago, creating a nonprofit organization on a mission to broaden access to bicycling and its benefits.

Our vision is to help build a vibrant community where people of all backgrounds use bicycles to stay healthy and connected. We believe that all Portlanders—regardless of income or background—should have the opportunity to experience the joy, freedom, and health benefits of bicycling. This is the motivation behind everything we do.

In addition to delivering dynamic programs that benefit underserved communities, we operate a full-service bike shop in NE Portland that is staffed by highly experienced mechanics from diverse cycling backgrounds. Combined, our programs and shop services help riders build their skills and confidence; empower young people to ride to school and adults to ride to work; offer educational opportunities for teens to earn school credit; and support everyone in riding for health and recreation. We also collaborate with numerous community partners to generate pathways to employment and engagement within the growing bicycle movement by training new educators, leaders, advocates and mechanics.

Our goal is to help create a healthy, sustainable Portland for all community members.

The Community Cycling Center is an equal opportunity employer and strongly values diversity, equity and inclusion. Individuals with diverse backgrounds, abilities, and experiences are encouraged to apply.

General Position Summary

The Retail Specialist is responsible for providing excellent customer service, maintaining a clean, welcoming, and well-stocked retail environment and developing strong customer relationships. This position will require experience working with point of sale and inventory management systems, experience in a high volume retail environment, the ability to refine and develop workable systems, and the ability to work both independently and collaboratively as needed.
Responsibilities

Greet customers and provide welcoming retail environment for people of all backgrounds
Provide excellent customer service in all aspects of retail sales
Clean and maintain retail space and stock retail floor on a daily basis
Work collaboratively with all shop staff to maintain reliable and relevant inventories
Work with retail management to create displays, signs, and labels to showcase products in innovative and efficient ways
Maintain and improve storage systems and retail environment to increase efficiency, capacity, and inventory reliability.
Participate in team meetings
As a non-profit we believe that fundraising is everyone’s job. There is an expectation that all employees will support fundraising efforts.

Qualifications & Characteristics

Required

Personable, receptive, and compassionate approach to customer service
Prior retail experience
Ability to maintain composure and a respectful, cooperative attitude through high stress situations
Attention to detail and a methodical approach to accomplishing tasks
Capacity to work independently and deliver on objectives
Experience with POS and general computer systems
Ability to work a flexible schedule
A strong desire to learn and develop professional skills in the bicycle industry

Preferred

Proficiency in Spanish strongly desired
Prior Bike Shop experience

Compensation

Full time, non-exempt employee, 32-40 hours per week, including weekends
$13.50 per hour to start
Benefits: Health, dental and vision insurance after 30 days, Paid Time Off, $85 Used Parts Allowance, $200 Labor Benefit, Cost +10% pricing on new parts, flexible scheduling during off-season

The Community Cycling Center is an equal opportunity employer. Women, trans, gender non-conforming encouraged to apply. People of color encouraged to apply.

How to Apply *

Submit resume and cover letter to jobs@CommunityCyclingCenter.org with “Retail Specialist” in the subject line.  No phone calls please. Deadline for applications is January 31st, 2018.

The Community Cycling Center is an equal opportunity employer. Women, trans, gender non-conforming encouraged to apply. People of color encouraged to apply.

Job: Customer Service Representative – Stages Cycling

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Job Title *
Customer Service Representative

Company/Organization *
Stages Cycling

Job Description *
Stages Cycling came to market in 2012 to completely blow the category of power measurement apart. We seek to provide all our customers from our most elite professionally sponsored partners, to new cyclists just getting started with outstanding levels of customer service and the highest quality data for training.

We are looking for someone to join our team in serving our customers in the following ways:

• Provide sales and technical support to our domestic consumer and dealer accounts
• Support pre-sale and post-sale technical support on our products
• Communicate with customers via inbound and outbound phone calls
• Communicate with customers via internet contact
• Interact with other departments in Portland and Boulder office through appropriate channels
• Work directly with warranty team to achieve timely resolution as needed
• Respond to customer service “tickets” submitted via email, the website, and occasionally social media
• Provide exceptional customer experience in all communications with customers

A good fit for this role would be a candidate with the following qualifications:

• Able to work full time.
• Knowledge of and experience with common bicycle drivetrains and components, especially in regard to bottom bracket standards.
• High level of organizational skills.
• High level of flexibility and creative problem solving.
• Ability to work independently and self-manage duties and tasks.
• Ability to use customer management and order processing systems, with training.
• High level communication and interpersonal skills, including high-volume telephone and written correspondence.
• Intermediate communication skills: Ability to read and interpret documents such as safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions, and procedure manuals. Ability to write routine reports and correspondence. Ability to speak effectively with customers or employees of Foundation Fitness/Stages Cycling.
• Intermediate math skills: Ability to calculate figures and amounts such as discounts and percentages. Ability to apply concepts of basic math.
• High reasoning skills: Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists. Ability to interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form.

We encourage anyone that is interested to apply! We will make a selection based solely on job qualifications and will make reasonable accommodations if needed.

This position will come with a benefit package including Medical Insurance, Dental Insurance, Vision Insurance, Long Term Disability Insurance, access to our Retirement Savings matching program, paid time off and holidays. Additionally this position gets to work with a team of great people that like to ride bikes.

This role may service either our cycling products or our indoor commercial fitness bikes featuring our power meter for rides inside. More information and a full job description to be provided upon request.

How to Apply *
To apply, please e-mail jobs@stagescycling.com with your resume and cover letter.