The famous Trek Bicycle Company got some press about a new adoption for 2009, the Gates Carbon Drive! Indeed, as the AP reports, Trek has two models available this Christmas, the District and the Soho, which incorporate this trouble free chain replacement. Even better for us, Gates is a Denver company, they’ve been active in donating funds for completing bike trails in Summit County, and (though I may be jumping the gun here) Gates has been involved in talks to bring a bike station to the new Union Station redevelopment. (DO IT!)

One other thing I should mention, remember during the DNC when Humana promised to donate a bikesharing system to Denver? Well, we’re working on it, and though the delivery date got pushed back a bit and some other complications have come up, one idea that’s kicking around is getting Trek to build the fleet of bikes using the Gates Carbon Drive. It makes sense given Denver’s early fall and late spring snow storms, salted roads, and large daily temperature fluctuations. If we want these bikes to go the distance, we need to be creative in the kind of hardware that’s on them. Exciting times indeed.

And in case anyone from Trek is reading this, obviously, no one told you guys that bubble gum colored deep section rims are going the way of the hypercolor shirt, and will soon be replaced by box section 29er rims. When I saw the pink Deep-Vs with a sperm and egg motif in Salvagetti’s, I knew this day would come.

The City and County of Denver is hiring a Multi-Modal planner! Job responsibilities include:

Coordinates complex multi-modal transportation planning projects, which often require coordination with multiple departments, agencies and/or/multi-jurisdictions. Develops long and short term plans, programs, goals, and policies involving city/wide multi-modal transportation planning initiatives and their potential impact on economic development, environmental stewardship, infrastructure development, and land use. Develops multi-modal transportation planning policies and works to incorporate such policy into the regulatory (zoning code, rules, regulations, permitting) and capital improvement systems.

Participates in the development and maintenance of existing multi-modal transportation plans and other specialized plans pertinent to the Department of Public Works and/or other city agencies. Focus on pedestrian and bicycle planning:

Implementation of the Strategic Transportation Plan
Implementation of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plans
Implementation of the Sidewalk Rules & Regulations
Staffing Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Committee
Organizing the City’s annual Bike To Work Day events
Develops project scopes of work and schedules which may include preparation of existing conditions assessment, environmental research and assessment, public involvement, data analysis, timelines, and budget.

Serves as a technical consultant and adviser to official planning committees, neighborhood groups, City Council, and other stakeholders related to transportation planning policies/standards, issues, processes, procedures, and regulations and requirements.

Facilitates meetings and/or presentations to bring together interested stakeholders to discuss proposed transportation planning initiatives, assess obstacles, evaluate opposing views and interests, and determine areas of support.

Designs and conducts research to collect and assemble original data from land use maps, plans, reports, and surveys and uses data to define issues, assess trends, make recommendations, and identify relationships among disparate data, issues, and positions.

For more information, go here.