Deschutes County Oregon -- 6/6/2011 --
The Deschutes County Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) has selected the 2011 Big Chainring Award recipients. Chris Kratsch, Cassondra Schindler, William Warburton, Lucas Freeman, and Robin Lewis will be recognized on June 22 for their contributions to pedestrian and bicycle friendly environments in Deschutes County.
The awards will be presented at the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners Business Meeting on Wednesday, June 22 at 10:00 a.m. The meeting will be held 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 include:
Peter Hanson Memorial Award: Chris Kratsch The Peter Hanson Memorial Award recognizes community members that have provided outstanding voluntary contributions. For over a decade, Chris Kratsch has been at the forefront of trail maintenance and construction for Central Oregon Trails Alliance (COTA), not only in the trails west of Bend but on trails all over Central Oregon. Chris first learned his craft working along Phil Meglasson beginning in the late 90s. Ten years ago, he came to the first big work party the Sisters Trail Alliance (STA) organized for the Peterson Ridge Trail. Chris proceeded to bring a gang of volunteers and a truckload of tools to all four of the big work parties STA hosted during the recent 20-month build-out of the Peterson Ridge Trail. He is the prime mover behind the semi-annual work parties for COTA, as well as the several monthly work events that take place in conjunction with local bike shops. Chris routinely takes advantage of the annual Forest Service spring training opportunities for trail construction and maintenance. He also arranges for STA members to attend these trainings as well, at the same time being a patient mentor to many local trail building enthusiasts. Trail building is truly Chris’s passion, as reflected in the many thousands of hours he has invested in our local trails. Chris’s tireless efforts have helped Bend develop its reputation as a mountain biking destination.
Big Chainring Award for an Individual: Cassondra Schindler Cassondra Spring Schindler first contacted Charles Youel, curator and creator of ARTCRANK, in 2009 and asked what it would take to bring ARTCRANK to Bend. ARTCRANK, a poster art show for cyclists based out of Minnesota, has been in areas with larger population bases including San Francisco, London, Portland, Minneapolis, and Denver. Since ARTCRANK is a lean operation, it can take up to six months to organize an event in a new region. With a belief in the talent of Bend's creative community and in the viability of a bike themed poster art show, Cassondra collaborated with community partners and individuals to bring the event to Central Oregon. Cassondra led sponsorship, location, and artist recruitment efforts with significant help from Sweet Pea Cole. Community support was also provided by Visit Bend, tbd agency, Deschutes Brewery, Dana MacKenzie, and Veronica Vega. ARTCRANK was one of a number of Cross Culture: Art + Bike Love festival events scheduled to coincide with the 2010 Cyclocross Nationals. Mr. Youel was quoted in a Bike Around Bend article, “Give me half a dozen Cassondra(s) and I could take over the world.”
Big Chainring Award for Non-Profit: William (Bill) Warburton, Bend Endurance Academy Bill Warburton is the cycling director and coach at the Bend Endurance Academy. Bill also does outreach efforts with Central Oregon Trail Alliance, coordinates the Bend Bicycle Film Festival, and contributes greatly to the vibrancy of the bike community in Central Oregon. At any of the dozens of races and cycling events in Central Oregon, Bill can be seen volunteering with course set-up or takedown. In 2009, he spearheaded the creation of a new junior road biking development program for young Central Oregon cyclists, encouraging a group of high school boys and girls to cycle and compete. Bill provided coaching, transportation, coordination, and equipment resources. He also encouraged parents and other members of the community to support and participate with the juniors, and he mentored them at their races and training sessions. Through his work with young cyclists, the participation of local junior racers at national level cycling events held in Bend and around Oregon more than doubled from 2009 to 2010. Each of these junior racers train on the roads and uses his/her bike as transportation. Bill’s work promotes the objectives of the BPAC by creating and developing the next generation of riders. As a USA Cycling Level 3 Coach, Bill was selected to coach the US team at the Winter Triathlon world championships in Finland. We are fortunate to have a coach of his caliber who works so tirelessly to instill the love of cycling in Central Oregon youth. His plan for the future is to continue to expand outreach for cycling to youth ages 6-18 through the Bend Endurance Academy ( or BEA at www.bendenduranceacademy.org), to create and grow a regional high school cycling league, and to hold community events hosted by BEA, such as bike rodeos and races.
Big Chainring Award for Advocacy/Group: Lucas Freeman, Bike Around Bend Lucas Freeman has made it his mission to be the source for alternative transport information for Central Oregon. He has contributed immensely to the cycling community through his website www.BikeAroundBend.com. Lucas’ website provides the following to the cycling community.
1.Encourages community input and involvement on valuable facilities and projects needed within the community
2.Provides fair and unbiased reporting of meetings and activities within Deschutes County
3.Provides continual updates on road construction projects that may affect commuter traffic
4.Provides announcements for upcoming events in the community
In addition, Lucas volunteered to build and maintain the BPAC www.bikecentraloregon.org site, providing visitors and locals alike an opportunity to find valuable Central Oregon cycling information.
Big Chainring Award for Public Agency: Robin Lewis, City of Bend Transportation Engineer In her position as Transportation Engineer with the City of Bend, Robin Lewis has been involved in planning many bicycle and pedestrian amenities in the last few years. She has been working to complete the cross-town, east-west link of the Skyliners-Galveston-Riverside-Franklin-Bear Creek corridor. With the new Miller Elementary School, she ensured the 10-foot wide asphalt multi-use path was extended to the school along Skyliners Road. In 2009, she worked to fulfill an ODOT grant with the neighbors to add sidewalks and bike lanes along Galveston Avenue from 14th Street to Skyliners Road. Furthermore, in 2010 Robin helped secure an ODOT grant for sidewalks and a new buffered bike lane approach to improving transportation along Riverside-Franklin Avenue on the stretch through downtown Bend to Galveston Avenue. She is an integral part of the new Galveston Avenue Improvement Corridor, which is in its beginning stages of design, to enhance further walking and biking along the Galveston business district between 14th Street to the Deschutes River. She is also working on a two-block stretch of added bike lanes and sidewalks on Bear Creek Road between the Larkspur Trail and Cessna Drive. As the transportation liaison to the Franklin Avenue project to eliminate flooding in the underpass of the Parkway and Burlington Northern Rail she is working on bicycling enhancements between 3rd Street and downtown Bend. Other projects that enhance multi-modal integration and safety include the Larkspur Trail crossing at Tempest Drive project, the enhanced NE 12th Street crossing of Greenwood Avenue (under construction to add a push-button activated rapid flash beacon), and the Colorado Avenue Bike Lane Safety Project. In addition, she applied for a research project to experiment with flashing yellow beacons at selected Bend intersections to reduce delay to all users at traffic signals.
For more information about the annual Big Chainring Awards, please contact Deschutes County Associate Planner Cynthia Smidt at (541) 317-3150.
