Do you remember your first bike and when you learned to ride?

I had a hand-me-down pink bike with a banana seat. I remember transitioning from training wheels on that bike and will never forget the instant I realized my dad had let go of my seat, and I was riding on my own. It felt like falling, it was terrifying and exhilarating, and a moment I think most people remember very vividly if they’ve experienced that.

Where does riding take you now?

You know, I’m pretty boring and I work a lot but I ride my bike everyday, just around town, to and from work. It’ll always be better than driving. The big rides and multiday trips happen less often these days and are more focused on unwinding and unscheduled wandering. The San Juan islands are a favorite place to do that–I’ll never tire of roaming the San Juans.

Can you recall a special moment on a bike tour that stands out to you?

All of my best bike tour memories involve the strangers you meet along the way. Their kindness, their authenticity; people are just curious when you show up in a small town on a loaded bike. On my very first multiday bike trip–to Cape Lookout from Portland via the Trask River route (I know, chill first trip, right?)--my partner and I arrived in Tillamook as it was getting dark, feeling pretty broken and depleted. As we gobbled down pizza looking quite haggard, the person behind the counter gently inquired about what the fuck we were doing while offering us free slices of “dessert pizza”--which may have involved melted Snickers bars? Anyway they ended up offering to drive us the final 10 miles to Cape Lookout in the back of their pickup, saving us broken idiots from having to ride in the dark on that windy, narrow coastal road. Total sweetheart, absolutely saved our butts.

How did Makeshifter get started? 

I’ve always been into making stuff, both for the creative outlet and for the practical money-saving aspect of being able to make and fix things. I started sewing in high school on a very basic home machine, altering thrift store clothes and making ugly messenger bags. Starting in college I did a lot of hiking and backpacking, but found the gear far outside of my budget so I’d make my own, fix or alter things I found at thrift stores and garage sales. I remember using my dad’s frame pack from the 70s, cutting it apart to make this hideous backpack for my poor old dog so he could carry his food on camping trips. (He never forgave me, and in protest, promptly took himself swimming at the first sight of water, soaking his food).

In my late 20s I went on my first bike overnight (the aforementioned Trask River route) with my partner, Kevin. I borrowed bags for that trip and shortly thereafter made my first frame bag and a handlebar bag which I took on a weeklong tour. I noticed there wasn't much in the way of bike bags that matched the style and function I was looking for–everything was black, techy-looking, plastic–and I continued to experiment with making my own bags. I toured with my handmade bags down the Oregon coast in 2014 and on the Oregon Outback in 2015. My bags are distinctive with their bright colors and wool designs, and other riders frequently asked about them. I made custom bags for friends, and friends of friends, and Makeshifter sort of took off from there. It was a long road of making and breaking things, and having really smart and kind people try out my bags and provide feedback. It’s a tough biz though, a constant push-pull of maintaining the integrity of the work while trying not to break your body by sewing all day.

At the end of 2025 my friend Cody took over Makeshifter Canvas Works. It’s been a sweet transition and I’m so grateful he’s keeping the brand alive. He’s doing an amazing job.

How and when did you make the transition to directing educational programs for Cycle Oregon?

Well I was pretty burnt out on sewing and balancing my time at the bike shop (Golden Pliers, which I co-own with my partner Kevin). I applied to jobs off and on for like two years, totally unsure of what I wanted to do, until I found the right fit with Cycle Oregon. I used to be a teacher, so bike education was a perfect fit for me. 

Can you tell me a bit about the work you’re doing these days and who it’s focused on?

The work that I do for Cycle Oregon centers on bike education, programs for youth and families, basically getting resources, training and equipment to folks to facilitate more riding! My main gig is a contract with ODOT Safe Routes to School delivering the Jump Start program across the state. We maintain a fleet of over 400 bikes that we deliver to schools, and developed curricula for PE teachers to teach bike safety in their classes. It's very cool to bring this program to the far reaches of Oregon. I also run bike summer camps for kids, we started a rural bike giveaway program last year, and we have some smaller contracts to setup bike rodeos for schools in the metro area. We're building and growing so many things right now, I'm a little bit of a maniac at work this year. But it's all really rewarding work.

We serve the entire state of Oregon, and in our hearts we want to focus on rural areas. We do plenty of work in the Portland area too, but there are also more resources here and so I try not to duplicate the efforts of other bike nonprofits. It’s so great to go to the small towns; you’re so appreciated and the impact is felt so immediately. We’re starting a regional project in eastern Oregon that includes layers of community work–bike ed programs in schools, free bikes for kids, family events, and resources for local riders as well as bicycle tourism. I absolutely love going to tiny towns, the ones with like 5 kids in each grade level, and meeting their enthusiastic PE teacher who is hellbent on teaching every kid to ride. That’s who I want to spend all of my time serving.

We grew up in a time of almost unlimited freedom, but the situation is much different for kids these days. In your work with Cycle Oregon, what do you think the barriers are for kids discovering themselves and the world around them?

It's truly unbelievable how many young people don't learn how to ride a bike. I'll never get tired of talking about it to anyone who will listen. To folks from our (Gen X/Millenial?) generation and older, you just take for granted that everyone grew up riding their bike around pretty much doing whatever we wanted with no adults around. When I started this job at Cycle Oregon, we just had one curriculum that was intended for kids aged 8-13, teaching bike safety basics like hand signals and taking the lane. But the PE teachers were telling us how often they had significant numbers of kids who couldn't pedal, so instead they spent 2 weeks of PE trying to get kids to master that. I was really interested in this so I started asking PE teachers to estimate the percentage of students who learned to ride during the unit. The average across the state was 24%--in some schools it would be much higher, 50% even. And I'm not talking about little kids--these stats are for 3rd-8th grade. Because of this we were able to develop a Learn-to-Ride curriculum and offer that training to the teachers as well. 

I have so many big thoughts and feelings about why and how kids aren't riding bikes anymore--it's the thing that's on my mind all the time, whenever I work with kids or hang out with my nieces and nephews. It's tied to so many things--screen time, a culture of fear and anxiety, the entitlement of drivers and a cultural acceptance of streets that are dangerous for anyone not in a car, a waning trust in our neighbors, a general practice of parents and society not letting kids do anything on their own, daily life being so fucking hard that we can't imagine adding the struggle of riding a bike, or teaching our kids to bike. It's easy to get in a panic about. I find that when I bring this up with most adults--parents, teachers, neighbors--they're in agreement. Kids need independence, they need skills and experiences that scaffold them toward adulthood. We want them to get themselves around, go on adventures, take risks and become resilient confident people who know how to do things. Riding a bike is just one little ticket down that path, and it's the one I'm hoping to spread far and wide. 

Read The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haight. I know the title sounds doom and gloom, but the author offers lots of practical solutions to combatting the tide of endless screen time and limited youth experiences (which leads to anxiety and depression). This book has very acutely shaped how I approach my work and why I’m so passionate about it.

And how does learning to ride a bike help kids grow into resilient, confident adults?

Whenever I do a teacher training for bike education, I start the day by asking the PE teachers to share a childhood memory of getting themselves around–on foot, bike, skateboard, etc. Their stories are inevitably funny, full of injuries and dangerous decisions, but always told with a smile. Often the stories include the first time they, as kids, used their own money to buy candy, which I think is a vastly underrated milestone toward adulthood (you did math! And talked to a strange adult! You made independent decisions!). At the end of this exercise, everyone is talking about how rare it is for today’s kids to go out and have similar experiences. Within a few minutes we’re talking about the reduced emotional capacity of far too many kids, how hard it is for them to try new things, how ill prepared they are to fend for themselves.

Kids these days (yikes, I said it) are mostly driven around by their parents, often with an iPad glued to their hands (faces?). That’s what feels safe and normal to families. What they miss in that experience is a chance to develop spatial awareness, an intimacy with their surroundings, an understanding of how to get from point A to B, or any skills that are required to get themselves around (navigation, how to cross the street, how to interact with neighbors, etc.) and take care of themselves. Riding a bike, or even walking or skating, opens the door for kids to start doing things on their own, even if it’s just riding down the block to play with a friend. These types of scaffolded independence–those trips become longer and more complex as the kid ages–allow kids to feel independent and trusted by their parents. As they grow, they may use their bike to get to a babysitting or lawn-mowing gig, which are more opportunities for them to take responsibility and be trusted and valued by others. Being trusted with responsibility contributes to improved self-worth and feeling valued within families, neighborhoods, and communities.

What are the positive changes and effects that you’re seeing through this work, with kids and the teachers you’re interacting with?

The kids love learning to ride in school, and it takes a lot of stress off of parents who have been struggling to get their kid off training wheels. I hear that constantly–kiddo had zero interest in riding, but a few weeks of biking in PE class and they’ve built some proficiency and are having a great time riding. They ask their parents for a bike, then their parents and often the teachers have a renewed interest in biking, and sometimes that even leads to a referral to the local bike shop which is good for them and the local economy. 

In the rural areas, there’s this sense that someone finally offered the schools a meaningful, enriching opportunity, and they’re stoked to offer their students something beyond the bare-bones resources that a public school can provide. Small schools and communities that sometimes feel forgotten and under-resourced are so grateful when you bring them free, relevant teacher training, a high-quality fleet of bikes, and specialized adaptive equipment for special needs kids (who so often don’t get to participate in PE). 

One of the most incredible bits of feedback I got was that daily attendance increased during the bike education unit. Across Oregon, chronic absenteeism has been a huge problem, particularly since the start of the pandemic. But during the 2-3 weeks that the bike trailer was at the school site, attendance was consistently higher than average. Kids woke up excited to go to school because they got to ride bikes in PE. 

It feels like there has been a lot of growth in these programs, between the Safe Routes to School program and the emergence of Bike Buses. How do you feel about the future of this area of advocacy?

Oof, that’s such a tough call. The statewide programs are funded by ODOT, and we’ve all heard what a rough few years they’ve had when it comes to funding. That funding flows through from federal funds, and it seems like the current administration views kids on bikes as “hostile to cars.” So, I don’t know, we hold on from year to year, but without funding there’s not much we can do. It seems like every day I read about bike lanes being torn out, funding being pulled from programs and infrastructure projects. I feel lucky to work in this field, though–basically nobody is mad at cute kids on bikes. It’s the one bit of bikey promotion I feel like I can do without it becoming a political meltdown, or being perceived as an attack on one’s ability to drive a car.

Lastly, what is your favorite current or past bike you’ve owned?

My favorite bikey thing of late is my Bullitt (bakfiets-style e-cargo bike) that I bought from a co-worker so that I could bring my dog with me on rides. My dog Benny is super smart and active; he likes challenges and is motivated to learn new things. It didn’t take long to train him to jump in and out of the box, and to stay in the box while riding. He absolutely loves it, and it makes everyone smile when we ride by with this cute spotted dog in the box, ears flapping in the breeze. We recently went on our first dog-bike-camping trip to Milo McIver, and he did great! I need to invest in some doggles, though–this was our first time doing 40mph descents!