Riders ‘suffer’ to raise money, awareness for “BLMtoPDXBikes’ campaign

Portlander Devin Bailly likes to suffer. He’s known in local cycling circles as that crazy guy who loves climbing and is one of the caretakers of the three toughest bike routes in Portland: Ronde PDX, La Doyenne, and Giro PDX. Those three routes rise an average of over 7,000 feet each in only about 50 miles (trust me, that’s tough).

But Bailly knows his suffering is a choice. The death of George Floyd and rise of the Black Lives Matter movement has made him acutely aware that for too many Americans the lifelong suffering from racist actions and policies is never a choice.

To help support the movement Bailly has leveraged his social network, expert route-making skills, and passion for climbing hills into a campaign he calls “BLMtoPDXBikes”. In its first month the effort has raised over $25,000 and he’s looking for more people to get involved — whether that means hopping on a bike or hopping online to be a sponsor or donor.

Here’s how it works:
— Make a donation to a non-profit organization working to advance racial justice.
— Email the receipt(s) to BLMtoPDXbikes@gmail.com before 7/31/2020.
— Campaign sponsors will match your donation.
— BLMtoPDXBikes will email you back a receipt verifying the matching donation was made.

If you donate $25 or more Bailly will email you the secret GPS data for one of this two new Portland Classic routes that are still in beta mode: La Flèche PDX (“starts in Tigard and explores all the best bits of Sexton, Cooper and Bull Mountains”) or PDX Gold (“A bunch of the cutty bits and hard climbs of NW and SW PDX that didn’t fit into the Ronde and the Giro PDX”).

Riders are also taking Bailly’s challenge to ride the Classic routes and post pictures tagged with #BLMtoPDXBikes on Strava and social media to show support for the movement and getting more people involved.

Whether you want to ride and spread the word, donate, or be a campaign sponsor (to help with matching funds), check out this Google Doc for the latest details. You should also check out the official Instagram account for more information, including a free bag of Elevator Cafe & Commons beans for the biggest donor of the week.

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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