The Deschutes County Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) has selected the 2014 Big Chainring Award recipients. Robin Lewis with the City of Bend, Patrick Eckford and Trinity Bikes will be recognized on June 23 for their contributions to pedestrian and bicycle friendly environments in Deschutes County. In addition, recognition will go to Amy Nickell with the Redmond School District, Allen Tenney and Bryan Malone with High Desert Education Service District, Courtney Moran of Redmond Area Parks and Recreation District, Joanie Krehbiel with Wheel Fun Rentals and Ken Cardwell with Jericho Road.
The awards will be presented at the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners business meeting on Monday, June 23 at 10am in the Barnes and Sawyer rooms of the Deschutes County Services Center at 1300 NW Wall Street in Bend.
Since 1996, the Big Chainring Awards have been awarded annually to honor individuals, businesses and public agencies that have made significant contributions in support of better bicycling and walking in Central Oregon.
This year’s winners:
PETER HANSON MEMORIAL AWARD
Patrick Eckford
When Patrick Eckford moved to the Sisters area a few years ago, he brought along his passion for promoting safe biking and walking opportunities. Patrick has been an outstanding volunteer for promoting trail adoption in Sisters Country. He has dedicated many hours to planning and maintaining trails with the Sisters Trail Alliance (STA) and with other Sisters area events. In addition, he has worked with the STA designing and teaching a standardized format for all volunteers and assisted in producing STA related information for distribution. Eckford’s tireless efforts show a successful celebration of bicycle and pedestrian culture in Sisters and throughout Central Oregon.
BIG CHAINRING AWARD FOR SPECIAL PROJECT
Amy Nickell, Redmond School District
Allen Tenney and Bryan Malone, High Desert Education Service District
Courtney Moran, Redmond Area Parks and Recreation District
Joanie Krehbiel, Wheel Fun Rentals
Ken Cardwell, Jericho Road
The partnership between these entities and individuals has significantly advanced the bicycling opportunities for individuals with physical and mental disabilities in the Redmond community. This group helped make riding a bike a viable transportation option for 18 young adults between the ages of 18-21 as part of a year-long transition program. Redmond Area Parks and Recreation District loaned the bikes for the program and Wheel Fun Rentals loaned the three-wheeled bikes (deuce coupes).
Cardwell helped modify the bikes making them strider bikes for beginners. Tenney and Malone with High Desert Educational Service District assisted with the maintenance and modifications to seating, which included a seat for an adult in a wheelchair who has never before had been able to ride.
Redmond School District staff oversaw the program that taught them how to ride, rules of the road, basic maintenance and then at the end, took them on rides around town. The benefit to the participants was a newfound independence that allowed them the ability to commute to jobs without always relying on family or the bus and the confidence to ride a bike independently and enjoy the health and mental benefits of exercise. In the future, the group hopes to offer the program to high school students with special needs and then expand to middle and elementary school students.
BIG CHAINRING AWARD FOR COMMERCIAL BUSINESS
Trinity Bikes
Trinity Bikes has been very active in promoting bicycling in Redmond and Deschutes County through sponsoring multiple clean up and construction of trails at the Radlands complex in Redmond, building up BMX activity in Redmond and being more involved with trail and road bike activities. During the last two years, Trinity Bikes has held the Redmond cross races at the old golf course. In addition, they have always been gracious at their bike shop with free advice and technical help. Trinity Bikes has been extremely accessible to bicyclists, especially to those who are new in getting around on two wheels. Trinity Bikes is very encouraging, providing a lot of their time, effort and materials to the biking community in Redmond.
BIG CHAINRING AWARD FOR PUBLIC AGENCY
Robin Lewis, City of Bend
Robin Lewis, traffic engineer with the City of Bend, was a driving force behind the vision, grant application and design of the Riverside and Franklin Bicycle and Pedestrian Infrastructure project. Robin successfully applied for and received an ODOT Bike and Pedestrian Grant for the project. The project was completed in 2013 and highlights state of the art multimodal transportation safety. Bicycle elements included buffered bike lanes, green bike lane markings, sharrows, covered bike parking and floating vehicle parking. The project provides outstanding multimodal uses for all members of the Bend community.
County Associate Planner Cynthia Smidt, 541-317-3150
