🚨 Please note: BikePortland is currently on hiatus and only publishing guest articles. Learn more here. Thank you. - Jonathan 🙏
It feels strange to write this during a heat wave, but cyclocross season is here. And if you’re new to Portland’s bike scene, let us be the first to tell you this is a very big deal.
“We’re incredibly lucky,” Lumberyard co-owner Will Heiberg said this morning from the roof of his building on Northeast 82nd just south of Siskiyou. “If you would have talked to me last night at about 6:30 I would have said it was all gone.”
There’s a lot to like about Portland. Our plentiful bike lanes (for an American city, that is) and our high percentage of bike commuters (again, by American standards), our temperate weather, and one of my favorite Portlandy things: our food cart pods!
While I love hanging out and eating at food cart pods, lately I’ve realized there are a lot of them that aren’t exactly bike-friendly, which downgrades them to almost perfect spots.
**READ THIS UPDATE WITH NEW PHOTOS FROM THE SCENE**
A large brush fire that became a major fire at about 6:30 pm this evening has caused damage to the Lumberyard Bike Park.
A project on North Lombard Street that aims to reduce driving access and the injuries and crashes that come with it, will now include upgrades to a key intersection.
For five precious hours yesterday, the City of Portland gave us a gift: They prohibited the use of cars on a loop of roads through downtown and the Central Eastside.
This week’s Roundup is brought to you by the Tour de Lab, coming to a brewpub near you on September 1st.
Here are the most noteworthy items we came across in the past seven days…
Over 40 years have passed since former Portland Trail Blazer Bill Walton brought NBA championship glory to our city.
Speedvagen Customer Service
Speedvagen / The Vanilla Workshop
Primary Duties
Communicate with Speedvagen customers professionally over the phone and via email
Manage general inquiries by phone and email, forward relevant communications to appropriate team members
Schedule customer visits and custom bicycle fits
Coordinate Speedvagen deposits and orders
Create estimates and invoice customers
Other Duties
Parts ordering for Speedvagen customers in coordination with Production Manager
Coordinate with Inventory Manager on supply ordering
Experience and Skills
Knowledge of bicycle industry
Excellent communication, coordination and customer service skills
Computer skills in Quickbooks, Google Drive, etc
Concise and polished writing
Ability to learn and retain new knowledge and be able to relay it to customers.
Work well as part of a small team and strive for efficiency
Stay current on industry trends and work with our partners to keep customers and coworkers informed
Benefits:
This is a full time position after 90-days probation
Health insurance is fully paid by Speedvagen
Two weeks PTO
Industry discounts
Speedvagen Single Speed Cyclocross team issue bike optional
Overall the ideal applicant would not need to be an expert in any of these areas. Some base knowledge, a willingness to learn and grow, and a good attitude are the most important qualities we are looking for.
Apply to hiring@vanillabicycles.com with a cover letter and resume.
As this week’s cover story in the Willamette Week makes clear, we aren’t doing enough to make our streets safe for everyone. On Wednesday we had the 36th fatality on Portland roads, two more than all of 2018.
While those who work at PBOT and City Hall struggle to make progress on Vision Zero goals, they might want to take a look out their office windows. There are simply too many cars and too many people who use them irresponsibly.
We’ve received information about another intentional act of violence against users of off-street paths.
Justin D. contacted us this week to share a harrowing story about what he refers to as a “booby trap” on the Willamette River Greenway Trail.
Justin says he was riding his electric skateboard (a.k.a. “e-board”) on the path under the Sellwood Bridge (on the west side of the river) on Friday night around 11:30 pm when the incident occurred. He says a trip-wire was placed across the path and it caused him to crash violently. He wasn’t seriously injured and credits a helmet for saving his life.
Here’s how Justin describes what happened (photos of his injuries and damage to his helmet below):
Crossposted from Sightline Institute. Senior researcher Michael Andersen is a former news editor at BikePortland.
Many North American cities are oddly un-city-like compared to their peers in Asia, Europe, Africa and even South America. Our cities are weirdly spread out and the damage to our environment and economy is colossal.
Why did this happen?