Oregon Sierra Club Moves Office by Bicycle

Over a weekend in late August the Oregon Sierra Club, having outgrown its old offices, moved to a new location in Portland, hauling everything by pedal-power! Nine bikers pulled trailers nearly a mile, making two trips each to complete the move.

"Jill Workman, our chapter chair, sent out an a-mail to local leaders asking for help packing up and moving the office, and I had this flash of insight that we should do it by bike" says Columbia Group volunteer leader Wes Kempfer, above at right.

Along with Kempfer, riders/movers included Tom Wilburn, Jenny Fosmire, Russ Willis (above), Jene-Paul Lemiuox (below), Timo Forsberg (co-founder of Shift2Bikes), Lisa Sagrati, Roger Noehren, and Nick Littlejohn, who made three trips with his high-capacity home-built rig.

"This kind of thing is an institution in the Portland biking community," says Kempfer, who has twice moved the contents of his home as far as five miles by bicycle, including sofas, beds and dining room sets. "Biking is an underrated method of moving goods and materials, and it can turn something that is drudgery into a fun, community-building experience."

Read more about making your next move by bike.

All photos by Tom Wilburn.