Tag: Festival di Ticino.

Emiliano Jordan, who won one of two grand prizes, stands with one of the Electra bikes.

By Emiliano Jordan

I moved here for the community, not for the racing. Don’t get me wrong, the racing is hard and competitive; the courses are challenging and beautiful and the calendar is full. But if I only wanted racing, I would have moved to Southern California or stayed in Tucson. It’s the community that surrounds bike racing — the cycling community at large — that drew me to Portland. It’s the number of cyclists, the amount of bike paths and the recognition of cycling as a legitimate form of transportation and even materials transportation.

At the center of this is the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA), the beneficiary of a fund-raising raffle that took place Friday night at Bike n Hike with generous donations from companies like Chris King, Rapha, Showers Pass, Endura, Doctor Will Bar, Ortlieb and, of course, a double grand-prize donation of two $1,100 Ticino city bikes from Electra. The raffle brought together an eclectic crowed that mixed bike racers, promoters and coaches with recreational or soon-to-be recreation riders, and even a Frank Zappa look-alike in old school pink BMX pants.

The specific goal of this fundraiser was to help the BTA with the “Build It” project, a project aiming to add 600-700 miles of bike paths to Portland with the end goal of seeing 25 percent of Portlanders using a bicycle as a habitual form of travel. I was happy to see Brad Ross of the Cross Crusades and the Portland Twilight Criterium, Chris Swan of Upper Echelon Coaching and a slew of other promoters, coaches and racers supporting the BTA. Read more…

PORTLAND — The Bicycle Transportation Alliance has spent 20 years working on the behalf of cyclists. To celebrate these efforts and help promote community involvement, Bike n Hike is raffling two Electra Ticino Bicycles and thousands of dollars worth of bike gear.

The Festival di Ticino begins tonight at 7 p.m. at the downtown Bike n Hike at 400 S.E. Grand Ave.

“The evening’s theme is bicycle artistry, and the grand prize for the raffle is an Electra Ticino Lux – a bicycle inspired by the work of Portland’s bicycle and accessory building community. Come and enjoy live music and organic refreshments, and Electra Ticino series bicycles “dressed up” with accessories by bicycle companies from Portland and beyond.”

Admission is $4, which includes refreshments courtesy of Hopworks and a raffle ticket. Additional raffle tickets will be available for purchase for $3,. All proceeds will go directly to the BTA.

WHEN: Friday, Feb. 5, 7-10 p.m.

WHERE: Bike N Hike, Bike N Hike, 400 S.E. Grand Ave., Portland