|
What is PortlandCycling.net?
How is PortlandCycling.net different from other cycling clubs?
How much does a PortlandCycling.net membership cost?
Why do I need to register?
Who are you and why did you put this site up?
Q: What is PortlandCycling.net? A: PortlandCycling.net is an online cycling community. It is designed to give you - the Portland Area Cyclist - resources to make your riding experience fun, positive and safe. Our maps database will show you places to ride that you may not have considered or heard of. Our ride calendar lists organized group rides from many local-area cycling clubs and groups. We have pointers to cycling community events and organizations like BikePortland.org, SHIFT and the BTA, where you can plug into a wealth of recreational, commuting and alternative cycling opportunities.    Q: How is PortlandCycling.net different from other cycling clubs? A: PortlandCycling.net is an online cycling community and not an actual cycling club, like the Vancouver Bicycle Club (VBC). These fine organizations sponsor weekly rides and yearly events and have monthly face-to-face meetings. They reach a section of the cycling community that is concerned mostly with recreational rides and riders. PortlandCycling.net draws from local club calendars and also participation from various local bike club members for content, but our goal is to reach a much wider audience. There are many cyclists in our area that enjoy riding solo or with friends and not in organized groups. They are looking for new places to ride and might be enticed to join a club ride if they could find one that is right for them. PortlandCycling.net provides maps and event calendars to help this group of riders. Bike commuters are another audience - folks who take on cycling as part of their lifestyle, in addition to their leisure time activity. I am not personally a bike commuter, but I hope to find some folks quickly who can provide some resources/content to share on the site. Finally, there are many cyclists outside of Portland - and even Oregon - who may be thinking of coming to the area to cycle. We want to help them come away with the most positive cycling experience they have ever had. It happened to me a couple years ago, and I was so smitten I decided to move here. That's not the ultimate goal of PortlandCycling.net, but you get the idea.  Q: How much does a PortlandCycling.net membership cost? A: Nothing. Nada. Zero. Your membership is free and will be always be free. Q: Why do I need to register? A: You really don't, if you don't want to, and you will still get access to 99% of the site content. The only thing you will miss out on is the ability to subscribe to the newsletter and calendar events, but that's not coming until January 2006 anyway. Also coming in January 2006 will be a discussion forum, blog and volunteer opportunities listing, all of which will require that you register with us. If you decide to register, we promise to never share your information with anyone, we will never sell your info and we will never send you anything you didn't ask for in the first place. Building a virtual community means we need to know how to reach out to our members, hence contact information. We respect your privacy and your right to refuse. you'll still get a great experience at PortlandCycling.net! Q: Who are you and why did you put this site up? A: My name is Carlo Delumpa and I am a local cyclist with a passion for our sport and an equally intense passion for technology. I am an experienced web designer, starting back in the early 90's with first-generation browsers and extremely unsophisticated web server technology. Since then technology has progressed to the point where I can easily put sites like this together in little time and concentrate more on content for the site. It makes things more interesting. Last year, I noticed that, although there are some great clubs in the area, there is a disproportionate number of cyclists that actually don't belong to a club. I wondered to myself how they find out about where to ride and what's happening in the area. I also have many friends who don't wish to join a cycling club, but are avid cyclists. They also were at a loss as to the wealth of cycling in the area. Over the past couple years, I have learned many cool things about where to ride, who I can ride with and what events are going on in Portland and surrounding areas. Now I want to share that knowledge with the folks I described above, who may never be part of a formal cycling club. So combining my techie skills with my sporting passion was a natural fit for me. I put this site up for the love of cycling and the web. I am hoping that some of you can join me to help keep it going, by providing your events, stories, photos and other cool content that you think folks like us will enjoy. |