Eight years in the making, a most exciting film about cargo bikes and family biking is finally here! Fresh off the film festival circuit, the first non-festival showing of Motherload will be here in Portland this Thursday at 7pm at the Clinton Street Theater.
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Hillsboro resident Aaron Harrison (he goes by Rambo) has a commuting style all his own. Rambo has worked in Portland bike shops for decades and he’s also a decorated track racer.

I’ve known about him for years now (I can recall he and his Orange bike flying past me with whooosh during Cycle Oregon years ago); but I had no idea about his love for music and artistic flair on Instagram. Let me explain…[Read more…]

Carolyn Jen (middle) with her husband, Michael, (left) and friend, Janet, (right) at the finish line of her first
Cycle Oregon in 2011 .
(Photo: Courtesy Carolyn Jen)

This story is by Ashley Baker, a graduate student in Journalism at University of Oregon. This is her first contribution to BikePortland.

On a January morning in 2011, Carolyn Jen woke up terrified.
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Danny Dunn hard at work.
(Photos: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

Have you ever looked around as you roll through the streets and thought, “Geez, there’s so much trash everywhere!” I certainly have. And while I’ve often thought of doing something about it, Portlander Danny Dunn has taken action.

Since the end of August, Danny has been picking up trash while he bikes around town. With a simple system of plastic buckets strapped to his front rack and a $25 grabber tool, Danny glides along, making Portland cleaner one piece of trash at a time.

I met up with him in Arbor Lodge yesterday.
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Ryder uses his customers’ existing bikes to build his distinctive cargo creations.
(Photos: James Buckroyd)

You may have seen Jake Ryder’s creations via J_ryde on Instagram, ogled the cyclocross images he shoots as Sellwood Cycles’ official photog, or heard his name from a friend who is into Zoobomb or freak bikes. Either way, Jake is a multi-talented maker who has carved a niche based on his unique perspective on cycling.

I visited his shop in southeast Portland recently to learn a bit more about him.
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Craig Fondren.
(Photo: CCC)

Well-known northeast Portland neighborhood organizer and nonprofit leader Craig Fondren has been hired as the Community Programs Manager at the Community Cycling Center.

Fondren was formerly executive director of the Sabin Community Development Corporation (CDC), a group that works to make housing more affordable for people of color and people with lower incomes. In 2011, Fondren was named Newsmaker of the Year by the Royal Rosarians for his work in bringing free technology and training to northeast Portland residents.

Here’s more from a CCC press release:

Mr. Fondren’s primary initial work will be leading the Community Cycling Center’s programs in the New Columbia / Portsmouth neighborhood of North Portland… Mr. Fondren will also be working with the parents, staff, and community at Cesar Chavez and Rosa Parks schools (both in Portsmouth) through our “Community Based Safe Routes to School” initiative. In the longer term, Mr. Fondren will work with the team at the Cycling Center to identify other needs and opportunities for Community Programs.

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A weekly ride in Forest Park is a staple for Team Nonstop.
(Photo: @teamnonstop/Instagram)

Welcome to the first of what we hope will be many more local team/club profiles!

Portland is full of great groups of people who share a love for riding bikes. If you’re looking for inspiration — whether it leads to racing or not — we hope these short profiles will help you find your people.

We’ll kick off the series with Team Nonstop. I’m not sure if it was their fun Instagram account or the cool tank tops they wore at a recent Short Track race that first caught my eye. Either way, I knew they were up to something worthwhile. I asked Carley Leins to share a bit more about the team…

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Alison and a few of her many inspirations.
(Photo: Zoey Abbott)

As often happens as I peruse the web for story ideas, I come across something wonderful and then forget how I ended up there.

That’s how I came across the work of Alison Farrell. [Read more…]