The first of many sharrows to go in on Denver streets occurred today in front of the City and County Building on Bannock.  This is great news personally, as I’ve been a major proponent of these markings since I moved to town.  For the full press release, and a fabulous picture from our own Josh Barker of how these sharrows appear to bicyclists traveling at speed, click here.

As per the press release, we will soon get sharrows on:

* 14th Street - Blake St to Civic Center
* 18th Street - Curtis St to Glenarm St
* 12th Avenue - Sherman to Speer
* Sherman Street - 12th Ave to 16th Ave
* Cleveland Place - 16th St Mall to Webb Building
* 19th Street - Arapahoe St to Broadway
* 16th Avenue - Broadway and Lincoln

If there are any areas you feel would warrant the Sharrow treatment, please send your requests to both the Mayor’s office at MileHighMayor@denvergov.org as well as BikeDenver at info@BikeDenver.org.  We are trying to make a big push for these traffic markings, and your local knowledge of your neighborhoods is important to this effort.

The best candidates are roads that bikes and cars have to share, where the cars can get a little, er… pushy, and where it would be helpful to show them how the road should be used.

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Have you heard of the Flobots? They’re a Denver band and they have a new single out called “Handlebars.” The song isn’t exactly all about bicycling, but it’s worth the watch!

Once again, thanks to Fritz for the alert.

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If you have been reading the Denver Post over the last few weeks, you know that well known Denver area cyclist Shahram Moghadamnia was killed on West 32nd by an out of control US Postal truck. It breaks my heart that this man was killed doing what we all love, cycling. If there is any good that can come from the death of a fellow cyclist, it is the discussion about the extra risk to bicyclists caused by poor driver behavior and bad road design. Whil Shahram’s death was caused by a fluke crash involving an out of control truck, we cannot help but realize the problems on that section of West 32nd. We will be advocating for permanent sharrows to be painted on that section of road ASAP, to be followed by a wider shoulder and strict enforcement of vehicle speed limits. Here is a telling video from the Post:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1504364485/bclid1419798684/bctid1539385012

The most telling part of the Post’s coverage is the hostility that many of the drivers demonstrate in the comments section of the article. There is no parity between a cyclist delaying the progress of a motorist, and the motorist taking actions that jeopardize the lives and safety of cyclists. If you are ever the victim of a hostile driver putting your safety at risk, please get the license and description of the vehicle, pull over, and dial 911 as soon as possible. While hostile drivers are the minority, they are a danger to us all.

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BikeDenver has been working on a big project the past few months with Bikes Belong, Humana, the City of Denver, and others to get 1,000 bikes to Denver for free use during the DNC Convention. Tim Blumenthal was recently interviewed by Westword about the details, read about it here.

The big news for all of us at BikeDenver, “the bikes will be available at six to twelve checkout stations at key locations around the city, and hundreds of volunteers will make sure that the bikes are distributed evenly among the stations and kept in working order.” Those volunteers will be us, and we need your help to make this program a success.

If you want to volunteer to be either a bike ambassador, a bike station agent, or a mechanic (roving and stationary!), contact us with the subject “DNC Volunteer”, and we’ll make sure you have the coolest job at the DNC this summer.

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The Park Hill Bike Depot needs your help! Volunteers are needed to help with demolition and construction of their new space at 2825 Fairfax. Help is needed on Saturdays, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. through April 12.

If you have any of the following, bring them along:
Safety goggles
Work gloves
Dust masks
Saws
Power screwdrivers
Duct tape
Shop vac
You get the idea!

Questions? Contact Gabi Tobar, Bike Depot Manager, @ 303-393-1963 or manager@thebikedepot.org.

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How much easier can supporting bike advocacy be than eating delicious food? We’ll be kicking off our Bicycle-Friendly Business program on Monday, Feb 25 at Watercourse Foods, which is generously donating a percentage of the day’s sales to BD. Ride your bike to 17th Ave & Emerson and we’ll see you there! Information table and Bicycle-Friendly Business award presentation at dinner.

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I ran across Cycle Jerks today. Take a look and get a little taste of Denver’s messenger scene. Bikes, beer, and even some blood. And, I apologize in advance for any objectionable content on the Cycle Jerks website. Just trying to keep up with those crazy kids.

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This week’s Westword features an interesting story about messengers, their organization, and the cultural implications of the messenger fashion fad.

Read the article:
Denver’s Bike Messengers Are a Union Divided

For those of us riding fixies and donning Timbuk2 bags, the question becomes:
Are we bike commuters making a difference for Denver’s health, traffic and air quality?
Or are we poseur wannabes, diluting the caché of a subculture to which we do not belong?

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