Bike Stories
We've started writing up profiles and collecting stories from neighborhood people who ride bikes to work, for fun, and for fitness. Check out our first installment of "Pedaler Profiles" with Maureen Cassidy. If you know anyone that we should interview, of if YOU want to be interviewed, contact us.
Rider Report: Adrienne Fajen
Adrienne (far right) along with Wind-Blox co-owners and management team
Employer: Co-owner and Managing partner of Wind-Blox
Neighborhood: Happy Valley
Commute Distance: 15 miles, sometimes combines trip with MAX
Ride (s): an old orange bike named Flora
Favorite part of riding: Admiring the beauty on the way, arriving to work happy and calm
Least favorite: Drivers who are unaccustomed to being around people on bikes
Adrienne has been riding bikes for fun, transportation, and for work since she was six years old. She was a teacher before starting her own business; and while she’s now in the bike industry and steeped in all things bike that doesn’t mean she’s competitive or even rides to work every day. Since her commute from Happy Valley is about 15 miles each way, she often combines it with transit, catching MAX at Clackamas Town Center. Combining her trip with MAX makes it much more doable, especially on hot summer days and rainy winter nights.
Adrienne works in the bike industry because she loves riding her bike, and shares her love of biking through her company, Wind-Blox. Wind-Blox makes attachments for your helmet straps that block wind noise, so you can hear the sounds you need and want to. She recently moved her from the Central Eastside to Lloyd because she feels safer riding here. She says the lack of infrastructure there made her feel uncomfortable, and she appreciates all that Lloyd has done to make biking safer and more pleasant. She says it makes a big difference.
Adrienne rides along the Springwater Corridor Trail for most of her commute. She enjoys the beauty and says riding is meditative for her. She’s also happier and able to focus on the day ahead when she arrives to work. Sometimes Adrienne and her husband, who also rides a bike to work in Lloyd, stop for dinner in Sellwood on the way home.
At first Adrienne had to find the right pannier to carry everything, and that took a few tries, but she got it figured out and is happy with her gear and her ride. She offers the following advice to anyone who wants to start riding: “Get a good seat!”
To purchase Wind-Blox products, visit www.Wind-Blox.com or search on Amazon.
Thanks Adrienne--see you in the bike lane!
