Clif Bar and BikeDenver are pleased to announce Denver Regional Council of Government (DRCOG) as the May Bicycle Friendly Business of the Month. The Denver Regional Council of Governments, or DRCOG, brings together city and county governments and other interested groups in the metro area each year to plan Bike to Work Day as a way of raising awareness of bicycle commuting. DRCOG is headquarted in Denver.

BikeDenver’s Bicycle Friendly Business (BFB) of the Month Awards help highlight organizations that are making standout contributions and offering great success stories from among BikeDenver’s Bicycle Friendly Business (BFB) Program members. The BFB program, with 100 honorees to-date, recognizes businesses, organizations and workplaces that are leading the way to make bicycling an easy and accepted form of transportation in Denver. Nominate a workplace as a Bicycle Friendly Business here. 

What’s the story? The Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) is presenting a greener and more focused Bike to Work Day! Two big improvements presented for 2010 are the brand-new, functionally enhanced website, and mission statement.  The new website offers online registration for companies and individuals, the opportunity to organize and publicize group rides, create communities and the opportunity for breakfast/bike home stations to add themselves and information about their offerings to the online map, making sure that cyclists have the most up-to-the-minute information on all Bike to Work Day activities. Materials are provided in downloadable format, making the event more eco-friendly. 

How did they do it? Designing and deploying the new website involved substantial effort from almost every division at DRCOG: transportation and GIS planners, communications staff and RideArrangers staff, not to mention IT and administrative support. The vision for the new site website took shape through discussions in a working group hosted by DRCOG and made up of representatives from local governments and biking interest groups, as well as some members of the business community.   The working group also created a new mission statement (click here for the full story) to re-focus the event on getting people to try riding their bikes on Bike to Work Day and more throughout the year.  Bike to Work Day is a regional event which draws more than 29,000 riders and 1,000 organizations to participate each year.  DRCOG takes pride in acting as the convening organization, soliciting regional sponsors, providing the website and customer service for registrants, creating an array of promotional materials and hosting working group meetings to bring interested organizations to the planning table. Everyone is invited to ride their bikes and “Make a Fun Shift!”

What people are saying:

Keri Olmstead, Bike to Work Day Coordinator – “We have exciting changes this year and I feel they will be beneficial to the event and really further the goal of getting people to ride their bikes more throughout the year.”

Piep van Heuven, Executive Director BikeDenver – “We are very excited about the new website and its added features, as well as the tone and look of the promotional materials that will support Bike to Work Day efforts this year.  The changes will benefit everyone in the community, from participants, to those of us on the planning end, the media, and the residents and communities that will learn about the benefits of biking via these efforts.  Thanks, DRCOG, you hit a home run!”

What makes DRCOG a great bike-friendly workplace? Linda Dowlen, Transportation Demand Management Program Manager, says - “Being a bicycle-friendly business can be easy, and DRCOG certainly walks the walk. Some employers may only need to provide employees a map of nearby bike racks. DRCOG has taken an extra step by providing bike lockers and working with the health club here in the building to offer affordable shower availability. Whether it’s a small first step or a major accommodation, employers who encourage bicycling to work will find they need less parking and have healthier employees.”  

(Courtesy Bicycle Colorado) Governor Ritter signed Senate Bill 204 into law last week. The bill passed the State Legislature on the last day of the session increasing the penalty for convictions of Careless Driving Resulting in Death. The new bill increases the number of points added to a drivers’ license from four to twelve. When a driver accumulates twelve points, their license is revoked.

Bicycle Colorado testified in support of this bill along with the Colorado District Attorneys’ Council. The bill was sponsored by Senate President Brandon Shaffer and Representative Judy Solano.

“We can never make up for the loss of a life,” Governor Ritter said. “But this new law says in no uncertain terms that when you drive, you have a duty to be careful. Colorado roads will be a safer place to drive with the enactment of this legislation.”

Read more about Senate Bill 204 here.

Due to sold out shows in Denver - Ride the Divide will be held over at the Starz FilmCenter for a full week starting this Friday May 28.

BikeDenver wants you to eat at Watercourse for breakfast, lunch, dinner (or all three!) on Monday, May 24!  Why? We’re the Non-Profit Monday Fundraiser beneficiary and a portion of the restaurant’s proceeds that day will go to benefit BikeDenver! 

We’ve been partners with Watercourse for quite awhile, and we know Watercourse is a favored stomping grounds for many of you – they’ve got GREAT food, and they helped pioneer the concept of giving bicyclists discounts. Please show your appreciation to Watercourse and BikeDenver on Monday by showing up, bringing your family & friends, and spreading the word!  Also, we recommend dessert – treat yourself, and treat BikeDenver!

Watercouse Restaurant was selected as the first Bicycle Friendly Business of the Month (July, 2009) by Clif Bar and BikeDenver. Owner Dan Landes said: “Watercourse Foods has been offering a 10% discount to bike riders for the past 12 years. Our motivation was to encourage alternative transportation from outside of walking distance, to alleviate parking congestion and provide a benefit and incentive to our clientele. We were honored to be the first recipient of BikeDenver’s Bicycle Friendly Business Recognition Program in 2008 and display our decal with pride. I believe being a BFB has worked wonders for our restaurants and I would encourage other businesses to consider what they can do to make their operation more bicycle friendly.”

Nominate a Bicycle Friendly Business:
Bicycle Friendly Business Nomination

Read about our previous Bicycle Friendly Business of the Month honorees: April Bicycle Friendly Business of the Month

Ride the Divide is an award-winning feature film about the world’s toughest mountain bike race, which traverses over 2700 miles along the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains. The film weaves the story of three characters’ experiences with immense mountain beauty and small-town culture as they attempt to pedal from Banff, Canada to a small, dusty crossing on the Mexican border.

The film, produced by Denver’s Mike Dion, recently won Best Adventure Film honors at the Vail Film Festival and showed to packed houses. 

See the amazing trailer here: Ride the Divide Trailer

Buy tickets to the Denver May 20, 21, 22 or find another screening date and location here: BUY TICKETS

The Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GBMBR) is the longest off-road mountain bike route in the world. It is over 2700 miles long, has over 200,000 feet of elevation gain and crosses over the Continental Divide 30 times. It’s highlighted by long dirt roads and jeep trails that wend their way through forgotten passes of the Continental Divide. The Route travels through Canadian Provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, and the United States of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico (map). By Route’s end a thru-rider will climb nearly 200,000 feet of vertical (equivalent to summiting Mount Everest from sea-level 7 times). Divide racers are unsupported, carrying all their own gear as they time-trial the longest mountain bike route in the world. 

Divide racers must not only be conditioned to endure weeks of consecutive 16+ hour days in the saddle, they need to bring other skills to the trail.  The Route is unmarked and circuitous, requiring navigational acumen. It travels through remote backcountry with Grizzly and Mountain Lion density. Intervals between services are frequently 100+ miles and demand calculated food/water resupply – or else. Riders must also find shelter each night or bivouac trailside. In minutes the Rockies’ dynamic mountain weather can wreak havoc on route surfaces, skewing even the most near-term travel projections. Of course, it wouldn’t be a grand tour without the geopolitics of negotiating the, albeit lower-security, international border crossing at Port of Roosville, Montana.

BikeDenver is pleased to introduce you to Paul Brekus, our May choice for Bike Hero of the Month!  BikeDenver’s Bike Hero of the Month Awards highlight one person each month, and help encourage other people to bike by telling the Hero’s personal story.  The goal of the Bike Hero Awards Program is to showcase the diversity of citizen-cyclists and the people who support them in Denver.

Meet Paul Brekus: Paul has been a bike commuter for about 19 years, the last 10 on Penny Farthings. He is a fixture in Denver, and almost everyone you talk to who rides the Cherry Creek bike path has looked up to see and greet Paul peddling along.  Last year Paul logged over 6000 miles, and 2200 so far this year. He lives near Berkeley Park, and commutes to the Wellington E. Webb Municipal Building (the “Wellie”) near Civic Center Park where he works as a Technologies Systems Administrator.  Paul’s commute is about 12 miles round trip, and he rides as long as the roads are not slick. He can regularly be spotted on 47th, Tejon, the pedestrian bridge on 16th that crosses I-25, the Cherry Creek bike Path, Larimer, 14th, and 15th Streets.

Many of us wonder, “How does he get up onto that thing?”  Paul says he starts next to it with a slow run, steps up in the peg, gets seated and pedals away.  Check out his technique at left!  We’ve also wondered how he fixes a flat – it turns out those tires are solid and don’t ever go flat, but they do wear down and have to be replaced every 7,000 miles (once a year for Paul)!

Why Paul rides: Paul says: ”I ride for health and the environment”.  When people ask him why he rides a Penny Farthing, Paul just says: “I’m Nuts”.  Actually, Paul is both a collector of antiques, as well as an avid cyclist.  About 10 years ago, the two merged.  Now, Paul owns two Penny Farthings.  The one he rides the most is a 10-year-old copy of the 1885 Victor bicycle with a 58” front wheel. He also owns an 1882 Columbia Expert (56” front wheel), riding it only on special occasions due to its age and fragility. Check him out (left) riding out of a meeting room (and ducking his head) at the Denver Convention Center as the 1st participant in the Denver Green Festival’s Bicycle Fashion Show!

BikeDenver’s Executive Director Piep van Heuven says: “We introduced the Bike Hero awards because we want to encourage a friendly environment for and public image of bicyclists in Denver.  One of the ways we can do this is to showcase the different faces of and great stories about people in our community, like Paul, who ride bikes and help others get out there and ride.  Through the Bike Hero awards, BikeDenver honors bicyclists of all ages and walks of life, from the first time bicyclist to the rain or shine bicyclist!  We all know people (our neighbors, co-workers, family members or community leaders) who inspire us to reach for the handlebars instead of the car keys. Take a moment to look around you and help BikeDenver recognize the people in our community who are making a difference for Denver, one ride at a time!”

SO SIMPLE, YET SO COMPLEX

Happy Coffee Co is a bike shop with a coffee shop built right in.

They have a coffee menu.

And, they have lots of bike parts.

You can order both.

Seriously, you could order a pair of 29er tubes and 3 lattes, and they’ll sell you both out of the same place. Mesmerizing. Fun. Exciting. Tell your friends. Follow them on FaceBook.

(Courtesy Denver Post, May 13, 2010 – By Sheba Wheeler) This is “The Year of the Bike” in Denver, in case you didn’t know.Earth Day saw the debut of Denver’s new bike-sharing program, one of the largest of its kind in the country. An extensive update to Denver’s Bike Map, new bike lanes, and a comprehensive plan linking off-street trails to street bike paths all go live this month. Read the full article at denverpost.com here.