Newbie at the BTA

Hello Portland! Allow me introduce myself. I’m Angela Koch and I’m the newbie at the BTA. As the new Safe Routes to Schools Director for the statewide Safe Routes program I’ll be managing bike safety education and a few other things throughout Oregon. I’ve been here almost two weeks now and I still have a perma-grin on my face at how thrilled I am to be here. Yes, I’m that girl with bugs in her teeth because I’m giggling to myself on my entire six mile commute home…giddy at how good it is to be here at the BTA, and pretty much living my dream!

If you’re interested in knowing more about me, here goes. I’ve lived in Portland for seven years now, having moved here from the east coast (I’m a Carolina girl) to follow my heart. At the time I had one very young daughter so we selected Portland for our new home in part because of its friendliness – specifically its bike-friendly and kid-friendly reputation. Yep, I’m a transplant and proud of it and no, I can’t go home again!

Professionally I’m kind of a mutt – I have a fine arts degree so my early professional experience was as a designer. But once here in this amazing city of roses I followed another dream, most likely because of the permanent coffee buzz I had the first few months here. (Thank you very much to Stumptown!) After a year of research, writing and self-directed business planning torture, I created the world’s first kid’s cafe, Peanut Butter & Ellie’s. I had great fun with that, learned more than I imagined possible, and left it two years ago in the very talented and dedicated hands of its new owner. I spent some time bopping about doing a little here and there but mainly playing the very tiring yet immensely fulfilling role of full-time mama to my two daughters. And then I set off again to find the next big thing for me. Boy, is this it!

As far as my cycling history goes, I’ve had an on-again, off-again love affair with living car-free for over ten years but finally realized having a family kind of required bigger wheels. However, I commute these days and ride as much as a mama can. I’ve also flirted with triathlons in the past and I’m trying to rev that flirtation up again now that my kiddos are older (last time I raced Clinton was still in the White House). We’ll see what happens. However, I’m admittedly mechanically dumb, so I’ve never been a full-on, hard core cyclist, living and breathing bicycles every minute of the day like so many Portlanders. I’m envious of those folks, but unfortunately, as an artist, my experience is far more on the emotional side of the spectrum. But that’s OK, right? I keep all you mechanics out there in business!

My entire family bikes, my oldest even commutes with me on some nice days all the way from our Kenton-area home to her school in southeast, Buckman. My youngest is still trailer-bound on long rides and commutes (she keeps me in shape with her demands “faster, Mama, faster!”) but scoots around on her own bike with training wheels in our front yard. And my husband (newlywed, thank you very much!) does it all: bike mechanics, BMX, touring, commuting when he can; he’s definitely the non-discriminating cyclist of the group and he hopes to build frames someday soon. He keeps us all rolling.

You may find that I’m the family-oriented one around here, always looking for the kid-friendly rides and safety solutions. As I grow in my role I hope to take Safe Routes to a higher level. All kids (and parents!) should be experiencing the joy that my daughter Ellie and I share on our longish ride to school! She’s only in second grade so it’s pretty cool that she makes it the whole way. We talk and giggle together in our ‘Just-Ellie-And-Mama’ time, she uses her hand signals and asks tons of surprisingly thoughtful questions.

So that’s me, as best I can describe myself to you. I’m happy to be here and look forward to my work getting more kids out there on their bikes. Cheers and safe riding!