The Portland United Mountain Pedalers (PUMP) are now known as the Northwest Trail Alliance and a new era in off-road advocacy has begun.
PUMP, a group that celebrated its 20th anniversary last year, has gone through big changes in recent months and with last night’s unveiling of a new name, new logo, and a new mission statement, the transformation is now complete.
[Publisher’s note: This article is by our Family Biking columnist Marion Rice. Marion’s last two columns have been about biking while pregnant. Today she talks about negotiating a first bike purchase with your child.]
Starting at about 10 years old, I can remember going everywhere on my bike with my group of friends on the weekend. We would pack lunches and take off for points unknown. Of course we would have to bring a dime or two to call home and check in with our parents during the day. Sometimes we would call to beg for a ride home after having biked a good 20 miles away.
Job Title
Sales associate
Company/Organization
The Bike Gallery
Job Description
The Bike Gallery is seeking enthusiastic individuals to join our seasonal retail sales force. If you are driven, service oriented and passionate about cycling and the cycling lifestyle, then we want to hear from you!
This is a unique opportunity to be a part of what makes Portland such a great place to live and the Bike Gallery continues to be the top rated bicycle retailer in the area and one of the top 100 in the nation. We offer a fast paced and dynamic work environment, competitive benefits package*, a supportive and team oriented culture, employee merchandise discounts and opportunities for advancement within a growth oriented, locally owned and operated business.
Bicycle retail experience preferred, but not required. Specialty retail experience preferred, but not required. Bicycling experience is helpful and passion for customer service excellence is a must.
* Benefits may not be available to seasonal or temporary staff.
How to Apply
send a cover letter and resume to resumes@bikegallery.com.
In America, there are many unseen barriers to creating a more human-friendly transportation system. Many of them reside in national engineering manuals that were created — and continue to be “updated” — by auto-centric engineers. Other barriers are entrenched in policies and processes at those familiar bastions of the status quo; state-level Departments of Transportation.
Among the many powerful transportation planning tools that the Oregon DOT holds jurisdiction over is setting speed limits on city streets. It should go without saying how vital speed limits are in creating a bike and pedestrian-friendly city. High-speed, arterial streets — especially through residential areas, where even a 35 mph speed limit feels unsafe — are often the location of very serious collisions.
What: The New Belgium Brewing Urban Assault Ride
Where: Pioneer Courthouse Square
When: Sunday, May 31st, 9am
More Info:
The Urban Assault Ride is the biggest bike scavenger hunt series in the world! You and a teammate will take to the streets on a city-wide bike adventure. Plot your own course to checkpoints around town where you’ll take on physical and mental obstacle courses. Be the 1st team to hit all the checkpoints and you’ll win a pair of New Belgium Brewing cruiser bikes (and be the first team to the beer tent 😉
The event is well known for its funky obstacle courses which must be completed before moving on. We’re talking modified Big Wheels, Bike Jousting, The Keg Walk, Inflatable Slides…and much more. Obstacles change every year and at every UAR. It’s a killer event for anybody who can pedal a bike (ages 7 and up). After the fun at the checkpoints there’s a ragin’ after party with a huge prize raffle and plenty of New Belgium beer.
It’s a Pedal-Powered Urban Adventure!
Must register in advance! Details here.
What: Summer BikeCraft at the Multnomah County Bike Fair
Where: Colonel Summers Park, SE 20th and Belmont
When: June 27, 2009 from 2:00pm to 7:00pm
More Info:
BikePortland’s BikeCraft Fair is a twice-annual venue for Portland-area crafters to show and sell their hand-made, bike-related art, crafts, clothes, jewelry, bike accessories, and more.
Now in its fifth year, BikeCraft is a unique expression of Portland’s diverse and creative culture and DIY spirit around bikes. This year is the first full-sized summer BikeCraft, though smaller editions have been at MCBF in the past. Join us on the Bike Fair midway to support local crafters and purchase awesome gifts, gear, and get-ups to help express and expedite your love of bikes!
About Multnomah County Bike Fair:
MCBF is the catastrophic culmination of 2+ weeks of Pedalpalooza bike fun. Featuring:
– Local bikey artisan craft bazaar
– “Biking around large vehicles” clinic by TriMet’s Dan Christensen.
– Affordable lights and helmets from Protect Your World.
– Local food carts including bike-based Soupcycle!
– Root beer garden for the kiddos.
– As always, live music and crazy competitions.
Bring your friend. Bring your bike. Bring your sunscreen. Bring your camera. Bring your best game. Bring your bandages. Bring your bike fun.
What: Happy Friday! Ride (formerly known as the SE Peep’s Ride)
Where: Meet by Palio, 1996 SE Ladd Avenue, Portland, OR, 97214
When: Friday, May 29th, 5:45pm
More Info: Please join us for a safe, mellow, family-friendly ride through a few (mostly) S.E. neighborhoods on Friday, May 29th, to help spread a little joy and bikey good will along the way – the route is about 10 miles long, and takes about an hour. Let’s meet up outside of Palio on the big circle in Ladd’s Addition starting at 5:45 p.m., and kick off promptly at 6:15 p.m. Come on out and celebrate Spring! If you have any questions, please let me know. If you’re looking for a bit of rabble-rousing, you won’t find it here. Peace and Blessings, all – take good care, and have an enjoyable short week! ~ Misha
It’s the morning after for Governor Kulongoski’s big transportation bill and a coalition of concerned advocates are trying to rally opposition. Last Friday, a special joint committee polished off final amendments and sent House Bill 2001 to the House and Senate Floors for a vote that will likely happen this week.
After seeing those amendments, leaders from statewide advocacy groups including Environment Oregon, the Oregon League of Conservation Voters, 1000 Friends of Oregon, the Oregon Environmental Council and the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, re-stated their strong opposition to the bill.
The BTA has focused their lobbying efforts on a new Urban Trail Fund. They made some headway in making that fund perform better for bike projects, but that fight pales in importance to the broader implications of the bill.
The Urban Assault Ride, the self-described “biggest bike scavenger hunt series in the world” is coming to Portland for a second year, this Sunday, May 31. Teams of two will compete by racing around town, hitting checkpoints scattered across Portland, and completing various and sundry obstacle courses of ingenious design.
The goal of the ride is “to show folks how easy and fun it is to use a bike for transportation,” as well as serving as a benefit for the Bicycle Transportation Alliance.
I’ll be covering the ride as a participant, and will be creating a photo essay of the fun.
The race is ridden on a self-determined route: as long as you hit all eight checkpoints, you can ride almost-anywhere you’d like. (Several, more hazardous streets are prohibited, including Sandy, MLK, Grand, Hwy 26, Burnside, Macadam, and Greeley; racers can cross them, if needed, and they can be ridden in sections with bike lanes.)
Five of the eight checkpoints have been announced: Laurelhurst Park, FatTire Farm, River City Bicycles, Sunnyside School Park, and Plan B Bar. The other three are “mystery checkpoints” that will be revealed only through riders’ wit and cunning.
Online registration is open until this Friday, May 29th, but the last chance to register is at Plan B (SE 8th & Main) from 11-2pm this Saturday, the 30th. The ride is supposed to be family friendly, and anyone ages 7 and up can participate. All participants *must* pick up their race packets at Plan B on Saturday, 11-2pm.
Registration, route and safety information can be found at the Urban Assault website, http://www.urbanassaultride.com/
The race starts at 9am on Sunday at Pioneer Square, and I’ll see all of you there! (I’ll be the one choking on the dust y’all leave behind…)
Here in Portland, we’re used to our top-notch selection of local framebuilding talent, but how about some locally-made, custom clothes to wear on your locally-made, custom bike? And no, we’re not talking about tight hipster-jeans, or roadie lycra and spandex.
Enter Emily Horton, who is putting the finishing touches on the patterns and designs for her bike-specific, custom clothing. Horton is proprietor of M-Horton Clothing Designs, a one-woman custom-clothing and sewing house.
Horton says that when she got started commuting by bike at the age of 26, she immediately felt her wardrobe was lacking.
Intextication, carfree streets, LaHood strikes back, bike parking manners, bike-up apartments, funding woes and roads, reporting on crashes, and more.
News roundup, Memorial Day and state budget crisis dual edition.
– The big news in transportation this week was Obama’s announcement of stricter mileage and emissions standards for new cars.
– “A vibrant U.S. train industry would employ more people than car makers do now.”
– New York City has begun returning swathes of Broadway to the masses. Streetsblog has reported that the first phase of the pedestrianization of Broadway around Times Square has begun, and the streets are already full of life.