About Mark

As Mark's wife, Julie, I want to share a little history about Mark and bicycles. Mark always loved riding his bike. In 1981 at the age of 24, he moved from Portland to NYC to move in with me, and he brought with him a small suitcase of clothes, many boxes containing his record collection, his guitar, and his bicycle. Long before bike commuters and bike lanes were common, Mark regularly rode his bike from our apartment in Little Italy in lower Manhattan to Hunter College on the upper east side. As he pursued his BA and then MA in Geography, his love of bicycle riding aligned with his passion for mapping and navigating.

When we moved to Portland in 1989 to raise our family, bicycle riding became an even bigger part of our lives. Mark became something of a bike collector and increasingly, a bicycle advocate over the years. Mark found his dream job soon after we arrived in Portland; he joined Metro three weeks before our younger daughter was born. He proudly worked on the first Bike There! map created by Metro and on each one thereafter. He was part of the group who visualized and implemented the Policy Maker's Ride in Portland. This ride gives government officials the opportunity to take a 40 mile supported bike ride in a different part of the metropolitan area each year that travels through some of the best and the worst biking infrastructure. The idea is to spark understanding and conversation and creative problem solving around biking needs in the region.

The first time Mark rode Cycle Oregon was when his best friend was going through a divorce and approached Mark to sign up and train with him as a way to keep busy and healthy through a difficult time. Mark jumped in with both feet and a helmet, planning new routes to ride almost every weekend, reaching out to others to create an informal network who rode together, and even introducing his friend to the woman who became his new wife as they rode and trained together that summer of 2004.

Mark rode in Cycle Oregon for two years, and then he found his passion as a volunteer on the ride. He worked in Rider Services on Cycle Oregon for four years during the September ride, savoring the opportunity to answer questions, to point people in the right direction, and to lend a hand wherever it was needed. As we raised our two daughters, money was something we watched carefully, and Mark was sensitive to the cost of Cycle Oregon. The opportunity to join Cycle Oregon as a volunteer worked for our family budget.

When Mark went missing from Cycle Oregon on Sept 16, 2011 we all thought that the nightmare would end soon. As the days and weeks stretched on and on until now we're into the second year of missing Mark, his disappearance continues to be a mystery. However, I know for a fact that Mark would love the idea of having his name attached to a scholarship designed to get a first time rider to experience Cycle Oregon, removing cost as an obstacle. Mark was always fixing bikes, lending bikes, helping people to get on their bikes and to gain confidence on their bikes. The Mark Bosworth Fund is another step in what Mark loved to do his entire life.

Julie Bosworth
January, 2013