#30DaysofBiking: Meeting Matt

Matt suggested the theme for today: Meeting Matt. I've known Matt through the internet and his great blog Front Door Adventures for a while but we never actually met in real life until today. Matt rode over to Issaquah from Seattle and met me at the shop shortly before closing. We then walked the four blocks to my home where I grabbed the Octocog and we rode a quick loop up the Issaquah-Preston Trail to Highpoint, under I-90, back west along the northern edge of Tradition Lake, along the trail under the powerline and then back past the high school to my place. Matt's a very cool guy, adventurous and philosophical and not nearly as blurry in real life as he appears in the pictures I hastily snapped. We're already plotting future adventures together.

7 miles for the day. Matt wound up with a lot more, he rode back to Seattle.

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson

Issaquah WA USA

#30DaysofBiking: Low Light on the Lake

Today I don't get out on my bike until the early evening. The light is low and the shadows are growing long. I ride over to Lake Sammamish State Park and see a duck swimming along as the last of the daylight stretches across the water.

It's feeling like spring time and these are the busy days at the bike shop. But here, on the shore of this lake at the end of very full day, it is very quiet, clear and calm. It grows cooler as the sun goes down and now it's time for me to roll on.

My bike's own light punches a small hole in the growing darkness, a tunnel that leads me home.

5 miles for the day.

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson

Issaquah WA USA

Bike Works is Hiring!

Bike Works in the Columbia City neigborhood of Seattle is a great shop with a great mission. They are currently looking for someone to help them out this summer so I'm doing my bit to get the word out. Here's the info:

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Bike Works, the Seattle bike education and community-focused non-profit, is hiring for a summer position in our community bike shop. The position is approximately 40 hours per week (paid hourly), and runs from June 1, 2012 until August 31, 2012.

Bike Works serves people of many racial and ethnic backgrounds, abilities, sexual orientations, gender identities and religious beliefs. Bike Works actively recruits people of color and members of the LGBTQ community. Bike Works is committed to combating racism and oppression and seeks to do so in all areas of our organization, including within our community bike shop.

Job Overview
This is Customer Service/Mechanic position in our community bike shop will report to the Shop Director. This position will focus primarily on providing attentive, quality customer service in a small, fast-paced bike shop. In addition, this staff person will be asked to perform bike repairs as needed, especially walk-in repairs during busy summer days in the shop. The Bike Works community bike shop is a safe space for anyone, and aims to break down barriers so that anyone will feel comfortable and welcome in the bike shop, regardless of riding skill, mechanical knowledge, gender, race, sexuality, class, etc.

Primary Duties
• Deliver professional, accessible, and helpful customer service to a diverse customer base
• Perform bicycle repair, maintenance, and walk-in services on customer bicycles as needed
• Support daily bike shop operations
• Represent Bike Works in the neighborhood and act as a resource for the community
• Work in partnership with all Bike Works staff and community stakeholders to contribute to the organization's vision, participate in organization-wide programs, and help create a sustainable organizational culture

Desired Qualifications
• Excellent customer service skills (minimum three years of experience in busy retail setting)
• Solid foundation of bike knowledge with strong bike mechanical skills required
• Ability to work with youth and adults of diverse backgrounds
• Self-directed, energetic, flexible and personable
• Must be able to work independently and as part of a team
• Ability to work competently with computers, including Point of Sale software, word processor and spreadsheet applications.
• Strong interpersonal skills and a friendly outgoing attitude with a desire to work with the public
• Ability to mentor youth ages 16 to 18 in engaging and empowering apprenticeship relationship
• Ability to multi-task in a fast paced environment

Organizational Overview
Bike Works, based in Seattle, builds sustainable communities by educating youth and promoting bicycling. Bike Works has been working for kids, bikes, and community in Seattle since 1996. Our programs and services invest in young people and encourage bicycling through a community of adult volunteers. Our programs include Earn-a-Bike and weekly riding programs for youth, summer bike camps, a community bike shop, our annual Kids Bike Swap, adult classes and numerous volunteer opportunities. Our Bike Shop serves a large customer base with used bike sales, affordable repairs, and new and used parts and accessories. Each year approximately 300 youth, ages 9 to 17, participate in our programs and gain the skills and resources they need to translate lessons about confidence and leadership into their own lives. We also redistribute over 3,500 used bicycles annually to families in Seattle and internationally. We value and seek diverse team members who are passionate, innovative, collaborative, professional, fun, responsible and solution-oriented.

Compensation
$11 - $12 per hour, full-time non-exempt (starting salary depends on experience), in a flexible work schedule/environment.

How to Apply
Please visit our website at www.bikeworks.org for more information about Bike Works. Email your resume, cover letter, and contact information for three references to steve@bikeworks.org. Position open until filled; applications received by April 30 will receive priority consideration.

#30DaysofBiking: Kickstand Kind

In this world of bikes and riders there are many bicycles and many ways to ride. There are riders who race, or at least who rush, and those seeking speed favor minimalist machines. We do tend to move quicker when less burdened, so these riders are wise to be wary of weight. If your goal is to go with the least effort, take only what you need.

This is why you don't see kickstands in the Tour de France.

But there are other ways to ride and if your trips are anything like mine, they may involve at least as much stopping as going. If you saunter more than sprint, then perhaps you are not a racer. Perhaps you are another kind of rider, on another kind of ride.

Perhaps you are the kickstand kind.

A kickstand does nothing to make the bike go, but it's there for you when you stop. For me, on my rides, it's worth it's weight.

I stop and take pictures. I stop and eat. I stop sometimes just for the sake of stopping.

I am the kickstand kind.

I'll go riding later today, after the sun is up. I'm not sure yet where I'll go, but I'll update this post later with a mileage total.

I'm not sure where I'll ride, but it'll be somewhere. And I'll be stopping and putting down the kickstand.

Because I am the kickstand kind.

Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson

Issaquah WA USA

Evening update. 4 miles of riding around town. The best picture from the day is this one of McNugget the Rooster. He lives in a little house next to the espresso stand on Front Street.

#30DaysofBiking: Journey to see the Jets

Last week a fellow was raving in the grocery store to another customer about the wonders of the Museum of Flight. This guy was quite convincing and I realized that in all the years I've lived here, I've never actually been inside the Museum of Flight. I also realized that I had today off from work and that the letter for the day was "J". I decided to make a Journey to see the Jets.

I rode down the Issaquah Hobart Road, turned right at the Cedar Grove Road and then rode the Cedar River Trail to Renton. I'd arranged to meet my friend Mark Canizaro at Renton's unique public library. What's unique about the library is that is built over the Cedar River.

After lunch Mark and I worked our way west to the Green River and then rode north to Boeing Field and the Museum of Flight. Mark had other places to go but I paid my admission and spent a couple of very interesting hours in the museum.

Below are a bunch of pictures from the day.

After my museum visit, I rode north to Seattle and stopped for a warming coffee at Zeitgeist before riding home.

53 miles for the day.

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson

Issaquah WA USA

#30DaysofBiking: Issaquah

I live in Issaquah and I get around by bicycle. These pictures are from this morning's ride, all within the city limits. All within a couple of miles of my home, all within biking distance. I saw deer and ducks, songbirds and squirrels and far more flowers and trees than I could ever count.

It's a beautiful world and I live in a very beautiful part of it known as Issaquah, Washington.

5 miles for the day.

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson

Issaquah, WA USA