Read more about it or just go ahead and register!

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 the 20th by showing up, bringing your family & friends, and spreading the word! Also, we recommend dessert – treat yourself, and treat BikeDenver too!

We’ve a long history with Watercourse Restaurant. In fact, we chose them as the first Bicycle Friendly Business of the Month honoree (July, 2009). Owner Dan Landes said: “Watercourse Foods has been offering a 10% discount to bike riders for the past 14 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.”

Check out the menu at Watercourse Restaurant

Learn more about how to become a recognized Bike-Friendly Business

Denver City Council sets pedestrian/bicycle safety as budget priority

“Someone said this might be the year of the bike,” said Council President Mary Beth Susman. “There has been this growth of information about the importance of energy savings and having a livable city. That is why it has hit everyone at a basic level that we need to figure out a way to help people get around and not use cars as much.”

 

At a press conference on Wednesday May 11th, Mayor Michael Hancock kicked off the “Heads Up” Campaign promoting safety awareness campaign for people on bicycles, pedestrians and people in vehicles.  Read more about it:

Denver Post 5/8/2013

Denver Post 5/9/2013

9News

The DenverChannel – 7News

5280

Dates/Times:

Friday, May 31: 6pm-9pm AND

Saturday June 1: 9am-5pm

Location:  Basecamp Conference Room at the Denver Zoo.   Find the Denver Zoo!

Fee:  $30 Includes Lunch & Dinner

Register Here: Traffic Skills 101 Registration Link

• The training is limited to 15 people in order to provide a valuable experience and time to conduct the bike training course. 
• Please sign up early to reserve your spot.
• Participants will need to bring their own bicycle and a helmet and be prepared to ride in cold weather.
• Dinner Includes: Giant Crostini, Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad, Pasta Salad and Dessert
• Lunch Includes: Vietnamese BBQ Pork, Chili Cabbage Slaw, Kettle Chips and Dessert
• See the League of American Bicyclists website for additional detail on the Traffic Skills 101 class here.

Course Description: Traffic Skills 101 is a League of American Bicyclists (LAB) class that teaches cyclists the proven techniques they need to ride safely and legally in traffic or on the trail. The class covers bicycle safety checks, fixing a flat, on-bike skills and crash avoidance techniques and includes a student manual.  This fast-paced, nine-hour, insured certification course presents the tools you need via a half-classroom, and half on-bike experience to give you a full understanding and confidence in vehicular cycling.

The course will be taught by League Cycling Instructors (LCIs). LCIs are League of American Bicyclists (LAB) certified experts in bicycle education and safety. Traffic Skills 101 is a prerequisite for LAB Instructor classes. To learn more about the LAB Instructor Program, click here.

Class size is limited to 15 to ensure a 5:1 Instructor ratio.

Dates:

Tuesday, May 7

Tuesday, June 4

Tuesday, July 2

Time:  6 p.m.– 8 p.m.

Location:  Basecamp Conference Room at the Denver Zoo.   Find the Denver Zoo!

Fee:  $15 Includes Dinner

Register Here:  Confident Commuter Bike Education Class Registration Link

• The training is limited to 15 people in order to provide a valuable experience and time to conduct the bike training course. 
• Please sign up early to reserve your spot.
• Participants can bring their own bike or sign up to use  B-cycle at the Denver Zoo B-cycle kiosk.
• Participants will need to bring a bike helmet.

 BikeDenver and the Denver Zoo will also offer a League of American Bicyclists “Traffic Skills 101″ certified bicycle education class on Friday May 31st and Saturday June 1st.  Learn more HERE.

Formerly known as the B-Boys, this band of bike heroes now includes two women, thus the name B-Crew. In fact, BikeDenver’s former communications coordinator Laura Baker jumped right back into the Denver bike world as part of the B-Crew after rehabilitating from her bike accident last August! The “B” stands for none other than B-Cycle, and their job revolves around the bright red bikes. As employees of Denver Bike Sharing, the non-profit that runs B-Cycle, the B-Crew works seven days a week ensuring that those red bikes get you where you need to go! They call themselves technicians, since their job involves much more than servicing bikes. Their responsibilities include checking that the software for the stations operates properly, “balancing” the stations (refilling stations with bikes or running bikes from crowded stations), helping out at B-Cycle events, and, of course, generously trucking our bike parking gear when we need it. One technician always stays in the shop maintaining bikes, but otherwise, it’s an outdoors, hands-on, social job. Not too shabby of a gig for a bunch of bike-lovers who are great friends!

Dan and Jeff, two of the most experienced technicians, explain that the mission of the B-Crew comes down to keeping customers happy. They definitely live up to this mantra, proof being that the bike sharing program in Denver expands every year, no doubt because the B-Crew has their system down-pat. In the morning, they know B-Cycles will flood into the downtown stations as commuters head to work, so they hustle to take the overflow bikes from downtown back to the neighborhoods. At night, the opposite happens, and the B-Crew refills the downtown stations with equal finesse! On weekdays, they focus on the commuters, and on weekends, 24-hour users dominate the usage patterns. Of course, to have happy B-Cyclists, you must have happy B-Crew techs. Since the techs are all friends, this is not hard, but sometimes those long days of running bikes around town call for a time-out! Where is the best place for a B-Crew pit stop? The 11^th and Emerson station, agree Dan and Jeff. They can chill at Whole Foods Capitol Hill (one of our Bike-Friendly Businesses), grab a tasty snack, get some water, and use the restroom.

The B-Crew team may or may not think about the impact they have on bicycling in Denver, but we think about it, and we realize that their hard work is part of the core that puts Denver at the top of the list for bicycle cities in the U.S. Easier access to bikes means more people on them. With the dedicated crew at Denver Bike Sharing, out-of-town guests and local commuters alike get to experience the city by bike, hassle-free. Thanks B-Crew, for keeping things smooth!

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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.

To nominate a Bike Hero, please send a photo and a brief description of why you think they should be recognized (100 words or less) to the Bike Hero Program.

Our Bike Heroes get a nifty certificate, the public notoriety of being named a Bike Hero, and a $50 gift card from supporter Bicycle Village!

Bicycle Village has been a Colorado owned and operated business for more than 30 years. From modest beginnings in an 1800 square ft. building in West Denver, Bicycle Village has grown into the largest bicycle retailer in the Rockies. www.bicyclevillage.com

People know IconLasik is bike-friendly. Employees and patients often bike in, since both Denver offices are near bike paths. Many clients are also recreational riders who end up riding with the doctors outside of the office! The local company also sponsors the USA Pro Challenge, which they have been involved with since day one. “It’s really cool to support the best cyclists in the world,” says Brad Anderson, who handles promotions and special events for Icon. The Pro Challenge puts bicycle racing on the national stage, and we think it’s really cool that IconLasik is doing their part to put the sport in the public eye, just like football or baseball. Other rides the company sponsors include the Elephant Rock ride in Castle Rock, and Tour of the Moon in Grand Junction, of which they are the title sponsor. For this event, Brad explains they wanted to introduce a recreational ride to the Western Slope to increase bicycle awareness out there. The Tour of the Moon route takes riders through epic desert landscapes, setting a perfect scene for an organized ride. The ride always benefits a local organization. Proceeds from this year’s event go to the Colorado Riverfront Commission and Bicycle Colorado.

With IconLasik’s support, the Riverfront Commission was able to achieve a goal: the construction of the Riverfront Bike Trail, which winds from Fruita to Grand Junction. Also with IconLasik’s support (and skilled doctors), pro cyclist Tom Danielson reaches his goals. The guys at Icon like to tell the story of how Tommy D. pulled ahead in a breakaway at Independence Pass during the USA Pro Challenge, and cited his laser eye surgery for his success. Apparently, at the finish, he suggested to the cyclist he left in the dust (Lucas Euser) that he get laser eye surgery to improve his vision, and thus his performance.

While they enjoy having Tommy D. to vouch for their quality as a company, we know that their involvement in all aspects of the bicycling community has a great impact on their business. In turn, IconLasik’s “culture of cycling” has stemmed outward from their office doors and impacted bicycling in Colorado in a big way. They contributed to the creation of a bike path. They are in the midst of the action with pro cycling’s largest event in the country. And they continue to give back to the community organizations that keep the culture of cycling going strong.

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BikeDenver’s Bicycle-Friendly Business (BFB) of the Month Award highlights 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 140 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.

This program is generously sponsored by Clif Bar & Company.  Clif Bar 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

Gregory started Chocolate Spokes a year and a half ago. He used to work as an architect, but his background as a Bike Depot volunteer and mechanic school student drove him to open the shop in the unique space at the corner of 28th and Downing. The confluence of neighborhoods there interested him. LoDo, Five Points, and Whittier are all in different phases of gentrification, so all bring a different clientele. There was the older woman who thought it was a chocolate shop, and ended up being quite surprised at all the bikes…not to mention the top-notch selection of chocolates! There was the alcoholic who bypassed the liquor store and bought a chocolate bar that day instead of his usual vodka. And then there are the bike-loving customers that normally populate the store. No matter who comes in, Gregory creates a space that is comfortable for everyone, connecting people from the different communities. He accomplishes this and more in the tiny space!

What else goes on at the shop? Most often you’ll catch Gregory fixing up bikes. (His favorite kind to work on? Clean ones!) His has a passion for building frames and a welding machine tucked in the corner, so he can craft you a bike too. He can tell you a story about every chocolate bar on sale, describing its origins and flavors, and why he only sells U.S.-made bean-to-bar chocolate. (It fits the theme of hand-crafted, artisan products like his bike frames, business cards, and paper bags.) And while you can buy certain commercially-made bicycles there, Gregory hopes one day all the bikes in stock will be hand-made by the owner, old-fashioned-bike shop-style. He has already nailed the old-fashioned hospitality!

Gregory says the chocolate puts Chocolate Spokes on the map as a destination, while the bikes cement it down as a reliable neighborhood spot. We also realize it’s a world away from the busy intersection outside, and what better way to make magic happen than through bikes (and chocolate)? Gregory knows…it’s all in the details!

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BikeDenver’s Bicycle-Friendly Business (BFB) of the Month Award highlights 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 140 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.

This program is generously sponsored by Clif Bar & Company.  Clif Bar 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

Get yours today! New reflective piping and bright white shoulders!

Click here to order your jersey  – $55 until March 31, 2013 after which the cost will increase to $70.00