You know about the  Cherry Creek Arts Festival.  This weekend’s event is a world-class and award-winning celebration of the visual, culinary and performing arts, and over 350,000 visitors are expected during the 3-day event. The CCAF gives patrons the FREE, rare and exciting opportunity to meet and talk with international visual artists, sample fine cuisine, and enjoy live musical performances and artist demonstrations. Admission is FREE. So is parking your bike in our supervised bike corrals (donations appreciated) - right by the east and west entrances to the event.

Here’s the array of parking choices at the Arts Festival. Which one looks most convenient for you?:

BIKE: Go green and healthy — ride your bike to the Cherry Creek Arts Festival! Valet parking for bikes is available at two “corrals”: 3rd Ave & Steele St, and 2nd Ave near Columbine. A suggested $2 donation for bicycle valet parking contributes to Bike Denver’s 501(c)(3) non-profit mission.

DENVER B-CYCLE: Four locations serve you in Cherry Creek! Learn more at: http://denver.bcycle.com. Denver B-cycle is the first large-scale municipal bike sharing system in the United States.

DRIVE (and pay): There are three $5 “Festival Premier Parking” on-site locations, each benefitting the Arts Festival: 1) the Janus Capital Group building garage at 151 Detroit, 2) The Clayton Lane garage at 2nd and Columbine and 3) The Whole Foods parking structure at 2nd and University. The Cherry Creek Shopping center offers free parking. Please observe all City of Denver parking signs in the neighborhood surrounding the festival.

Click here for festival information: Cherry Creek Arts Festival Fast Facts HERE

Volunteer to help BikeDenver staff the two bike parking corrals: Volunteer to Park Bikes HERE.

Check out all of our volunteer opportunities and events: Find out about other fun volunteer opportunities HERE

The Urban Assault Ride™ is the biggest bicycle scavenger hunt series in the nation! Here’s how it works: You and your teammate will set out on a city-wide quest for ‘checkpoints’ on your favorite two-wheeled steeds. At each checkpoint, you’ll drop your bikes and complete a funky/adventurous obstacle course, then remount your bikes and hit the streets for more.

The goal is to complete all the checkpoints in the shortest amount of time. You choose your own route and checkpoint order. This means that the most clever are often the victors. Of course, it may also help if you can pull a mean big-wheel powerslide and fly across an inflatable slip-n-slide

After your pedal-powered adventure, your team will cross the finish line and enter a massive celebration of New Belgium Brewing Co’s whimsical ways, bikes, and big wheels. The after party is just as much fun as the ride itself, thanks to the craziest raffle prize contest you’ll ever experience.

Basic Denver Event Information:

Online Registration closes Friday, July 22nd at 5pm.
Race start is Sunday, July 24 at 9am at Skyline Park 16th and Arapahoe
Price: Only $40 – 60/person! (Price increases two weeks before race day)

Learn more about UAR and sign up to race SIGN UP TO RACE HERE

Join the elite BikeDenver volunteer teams that staffs the fun and funky checkpoints (and get excellent schwag plus drink tix) SIGN UP AS A BIKEDENVER VOLUNTEER

BikeDenver is pleased to introduce Jill Bergmann, this month’s Bike Hero! Jill is fulltime mom to 2½-year-old daughter Geneva, whom she happily hauls around their Platt Park neighborhood in a Burley trailer for almost all their daily errands and activities. And though we hope Geneva doesn’t hear it here first, she’ll soon have to start sharing her ride with more than groceries, as Jill is expecting a second little passenger in October–and has no intention of giving up her preferred version of the family station wagon!

Jill, who used to work for Bicycle Colorado, says she was always a recreational rider “for exercise, out to brunch, etc.,” describing her husband as the real cyclist in the family. The two decided to become a one-car family back in ’07, but had to question the practicality of that once Geneva was born. “We said, ‘Can we really do this?’” Jill recalls. “And then we realized the answer was ‘Yeah, totally!’ Not only does it fit our values, we’re so excited to be teaching Geneva a car-free lifestyle. We love that our kid says, ‘No, no, no!’ to the car.”

Ride on, Jill, for passing the bike riding baton to a new generation with true Bike Hero style!

[Submitted by Erin Hilmer]

*****

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 Jill, 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!”

Clif Bar and BikeDenver are thrilled to announce our June Bicycle-Friendly Business of the Month: Illegal Pete’s! Pete’s just signed on as BikeDenver’s official burrito sponsor; not only will they be providing 500 free burritos for our Summer Solstice Ride, they’re offering up still more for the Cactus Bike From Work Bash the following evening! In addition, Illegal Pete’s will also be providing a coupon for a free burrito to new and renewing BikeDenver members (see sign-up link on the right side of our home page) as well as supporting Volunteer Night and other BikeDenver functions in 2011.

Pete Turner, Illegal Pete’s founder and namesake, says, “Illegal Pete’s feeds a lot of members of the Denver Bicycling community and employs many of them as well. We are excited to support BikeDenver in their bicycle advocacy and their continued success in making Denver a more bicycle-friendly town.”

Likewise, BikeDenver’s Piep van Heuven says: “We’re proud to partner with Illegal Pete’s, a great local business that does more than their part to get out and support the local community. Bicyclists love Illegal Pete’s for the ambiance and terrific food, so their sponsorship this year is really exciting for all of us. Support from Illegal Pete’s will help us provide fun events that engage more people in biking, thank our hard-working volunteer teams and grow our membership.  Thanks Pete!”

[Submitted by Erin Hilmer]

*****

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 more than 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.

Illegal Pete’s feeds, employs, and supports the Denver metro area bike community. Their generous contributions to BikeDenver’s advocacy efforts go a long way toward making Denver a better place to ride a bike! www.illegalpetes.com

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 more bicycling has great benefits for you, and 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, The Bike Depot, Snooze a.m. eatery, Tony’s Market, eGo CarShare, Primal Wear, and Illegal Pete’s.

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 to hear them here.

Read about previous Bicycle-Friendly Business of the Month honorees:

May 2011 – Primal Wear

April 2011 – eGo CarShare

March 2011 – Tony’s Market

February 2011 – Snooze a.m. eatery

January 2011 – The Bike Depot

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