Tag Archives: pdw

Help Fight ALS, Win Prizes from Portland Design Works and Nuun

The Raffle is officially over. Thanks so very much to everyone who donated and thanks again to PDW and Nuun for their support! Follow up post coming shortly.


You can win this awesome stuff!

I don’t usually write about personal stuff on this site, but for the next couple weeks I’m going to use this pulpit to raise money for a good cause.  In exchange for helping out with the cause, I’ve got seven awesome prizes that you can win from Portland Design Works and Nuun!

The Story

On July 23-24, my girlfriend Becky and I will be participating in the ALS Double Day ride in Washington’s Skagit Valley. The two-day ride raises money for the Evergreen chapter of the ALS Association and helps fund ALS research and the community-support program the ALS Association does for ALS patients and their families. Though it’s a worthy cause for anyone to support, it’s particularly important to me and Becky. When Becky was 8, her father passed away after a hard fight with ALS.

ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, is a horrible degenerative nerve disease that often leaves those affected by it wheelchair bound and eventually unable to care for themselves as it progresses. There is currently no cure.

But you can help.

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PDW’s Dan Powell: Succeeding as the Little Guy in a Big Bike Industry


Dan and E.T. escaping the Feds at a Portland cross race.

Portland Design Works‘ Dan Powell has gumption. It’s a fitting word to describe a man who left his job at Planet Bike to move halfway across the country to start a new bike accessories company (along with fellow ex-Planet Biker Erik Olson) as the US economy crumbled around them. Almost three years later, the company continues to grow and PDW continues to garner recognition in the bike world (thanks in part to the press garnered after Dan purchased a mini velodrome and installed it in their warehouse. I spoke to Dan about the foundation of his company; the struggles of a little company in a big, established industry; the ups (and downs) of living in America’s biketopia, and the general awesomeness of owning a miniature bike track.

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