Back in 2011 after a great debut last June, The Denver Century is slated for June 11 and 12 this year!  There’s a little something for everyone in the Community Fun Ride, Metric Century and the Century Course, and it’ll be all right here in our backyard!  But wait, there’s more!  This year the Rocky Mountain Bicycle Festival will be back in Denver and they’re teaming up with the Denver Century Ride for two full days of bicycling fun all centered at Invesco Field. 

Plan to ride?  Now is the time to register and take advantage of early-bird pricing. Thanks for supporting Denver’s own ride. And thanks for supporting BikeDenver. We’re proud to be one of the benficiaries of DCR! Get going right here!

Clif Bar and BikeDenver are pleased to announce January’s Bicycle-Friendly Business of the Month: The Bike Depot! Located at 2825 Fairfax Street, this innovative nonprofit bicycle collective serves Park Hill and its surrounding neighborhoods in ways that standard for-profit bike shops often can’t. So what exactly is the The Bike Depot doing differently? Mendy Evans, Development Director, explains: “As a nonprofit community bike shop, we’re distributing bikes to under-served populations in the Denver community, helping avid bikers to keep their bikes rolling, helping beginning bikers learn more about the benefits of cycling, and working with the cycling community to advocate for improved biking in Denver.” Amazingly, with only 3.5 employees and several volunteers, The Bike Depot is able to offer an impressive array of programs, classes, and services to help achieve these noble goals.

The Bike Depot’s free programs include Earn-A-Bike, which allows neighborhood folks to volunteer at the shop in exchange for skills training and a refurbished bike; Bike Rodeos, which are super-fun events that equip kids with bikes and the skills they need to ride them safely; and the Fix-Your-Bike program, which provides workbenches, tools, and mechanical know-how from volunteers and staff. The shop also holds a slew of reasonably-priced classes ranging from basic to advanced mechanics and bike building, and from beginning safety to winter riding skills and touring (see current class listings here). Other community services include small niceties such as providing a dedicated flat-fixing station, and big ones like refurbishing donated bikes and putting them in the hands of people who might otherwise go without (learn how to donate here). Plus, there’s a happy side effect from all of this: a unique opportunity for bike-lovers from all walks of life to help one another and make cycling in Denver better than ever! To find out more about The Bike Depot’s mission, programs, or how you can get involved, stop by their shop in Park Hill (map) or visit their website: www.thebikedepot.org.

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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 125 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.

The Bike Depot enhances Denver’s cycling scene by bringing neighbors together in a collaborative effort to make cycling more accessible, safer, and more fun for all! www.thebikedepot.org

BikeDenver is Denver’s bicycle advocacy organization. BikeDenver promotes and encourages bicycling in Denver and works to make Denver a better place to ride your bike. Why? Because it’s healthy for you, and healthy for Denver. www.bikedenver.org

Clif Bar & Company started on a bike ride. Founder Gary took a bite of another energy bar and thought he could make a better bar. Today, Clif Bar is a leading maker of all-natural and organic energy and nutrition foods and drinks. www.clifbar.com

Bicycle Friendly Business of the Month Awards: Since partnering in July of 2009 to launch the monthly awards program, Clif Bar and BikeDenver have recognized Watercourse Restaurant, Historic Denver’s Story Trek, Downtown Denver Business Improvement District, Jones Lang LaSalle, Human Powered Transit Authority, Denver Pavilions, the Alliance for a Sustainable Colorado, Salvagetti Bicycle Workshop, Little Man Ice Cream, Denver Water, Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG), Sweet Action Ice Cream, MIGHTYkarma, Quiznos, REI Denver Flagship Store, Solera Green Living, Holland & Hart, Grand Hyatt Denver, and The Bike Depot.

More about BikeDenver:

See BikeDenver’s PSA’s and learn about the great reasons to ride in Denver: “Priceless”“Why I Ride”

You can help make a better place to ride a bike by becoming a BikeDenver member: Join BikeDenver!

Want to hear our zippy new radio PSAs? Click here. Hear them here.

Read about previous Bicycle Friendly Business of the Month honorees:

December 2010 – Grand Hyatt Denver

November 2010 – Holland & Hart

October 2010 – Solera Green Living

September 2010 – REI Denver Flagship Store

August 2010 – Quiznos

July 2010 – MIGHTYkarma

June 2010 – Sweet Action Ice Cream

May 2010 – Denver Regional Council of Governments

April 2010 – Denver Water

March 2010 – Little Man Ice Cream

February 2010 – Salvagetti Bicycle Workshop

January 2010 – The Alliance for a Sustainable Colorado

December 2009 – Denver Pavilions

November 2009 – Human Powered Transit Authority

October 2009 – Jones Lang LaSalle

September 2009 – Downtown Denver Partnership & BID

August 2009 – Historic Denver’s Story Trek

July 2009 (Inaugural) – Watercourse Restaurant

BikeDenver is pleased to introduce Doris Kimbrough, a chemistry professor at University of Colorado Denver. Dr. Kimbrough has a surefire formula for keeping fit, saving cash, and avoiding traffic congestion—and it doesn’t come from a beaker; it comes from a bike!

Kimbrough rides to campus more often than not, and says that Denver’s abundance of sunny, dry days and well-maintained bike paths make her commute a snap. But even on not-so-nice days, she appreciates that “the Denver Parks and Rec Department does a terrific job of keeping those bike paths clear of ice, snow, and mud.” Further simplifying her commute, Kimbrough’s bike is equipped with saddlebags for hauling books, lunch, purse, computer, etc., and she also carries a rain suit in case the weather gets dicey during the day.

Dr. Kimbrough says she enjoys biking to work because it’s healthy and green, and she doesn’t have to pay to park. She also notes, “I am far more alert and ready to work on the days that I ride than those I don’t, and it takes about the same amount of time to ride as it does to drive, park, and walk to the office.” Fortunately, you don’t need to be a chemist to appreciate this near-perfect transportation solution, and we “solute” Dr. Kimbrough for showing us how simple it really is!

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Bike Hero of the Month Awards highlight different people 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.

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 Doris Kimbrough, who ride bikes or 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!”

They open up the world of bicycling to kids with disabilities and their families.  Come meet Assisted Cycling Tours on Tuesday, January 18 at their Open House and learn more about how to get involved with this great non-profit! 

Where: ACT Offices at 12665 W. 52nd Ave, Arvada

When: Tuesday January 18, 6-8pm

What: Food, drinks, and information

What are you waiting for?  RSVP at volunteer(at)assistedcyclingtours.org.  Check out the flyer here.

Bicycle Village Aurora is a partner of Tour de Cure Woodlands Parks (Colorado Springs) and Longmont.  They are having a kickoff party at their Aurora location February 19th with some cool prizes like Cycle-Ops indoor trainers and professional bike fits and for those of you in search of a competitive experience: a three hour spin challenge!

(Courtesy Park Hill Bike Depot) Our full-blown Master Mechanics course takes place over the course of five weeks. This course gives students hands-on experience with overhauling hubs and bottom brackets. It teaches them how to true wheels, repair broken chains and much much more.

The course costs $150 and includes a syllabus as well as Park Tool’s essential text: the “Big Blue Book of Bicycle Repair.” Five-Part course, every TUESDAY beginning on January 11, 2011.

Where: The Bike Depot – 2825 Fairfax St. – Denver, CO
When: Tuesday, January 11 at 7:00pm – February 8 at 9:00pm
More Info: Park Hill Bike Depot Classes

 (Courtesy Bicycle Colorado) The Colorado Bicycle Summit will take place February 7-8, 2011, in downtown Denver. Hosted by Bicycle Colorado, the Summit will bring together advocates, industry leaders, on- and off-road recreational cyclists and commuters, elected officials and staff from across the state.

The purpose of the Summit is to educate and empower advocates and attendees, identify common issues in our local communities, set priorities for improving the future of bicycling in Colorado, and demonstrate the economic impact of our state’s bicycling community!

Who should attend? If you are interested in seeing better bicycling in Colorado, this Summit is for you! Attendees will include people with interests in job creation, tourism growth, transportation planning and design, mountain bike trails and land preservation, investments in bicycling, health and wellness, and the environment.

Monday’s agenda includes keynote presentations by Tim Blumenthal of Bikes Belong, John Burke, President of Trek Bicycle Corporation and Randy Neufeld of SRAM Cycling Fund. Topics will include advocacy training for issues on the 2011 legislative agenda, and feature breakout sessions focused on Complete Streets, Safe Routes to School and Mountain Biking.

Attendees will spend Tuesday morning at the Capitol building meeting with our state’s elected officials, demonstrating the power of the unified voice of Colorado’s bicycling community.

To register, please visit: www.bicyclecolorado.org or contact Amy Morfas, Deputy Director of Bicycle Colorado at amy(at)bicyclecolorado.org.