BikeDenver is pleased to announce this month’s Bike Hero, Kelly Brough! President and CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, Ms. Brough believes bikes play a vital role in enhancing Denver’s livelihood and quality of life. She’s excited about the City’s commitment to making Denver more bike-friendly than ever by installing new bike lanes, improving existing paths, and implementing bike-sharing, all of which make it easier to get around town on two wheels. Having a solid bike infrastructure is not only a boon to business, “it gets people thinking about how fun bicycling is,” she says. (Photo Credit – The Denver Post)

A longtime bike-commuter and recreational cyclist, Brough makes her 13-mile roundtrip commute by bike most days during the warmer months, and is encouraged by the steady proliferation of bicyclists she’s witnessed since she started riding to work in 1991. “There were very few cyclists out then, and cars rarely expected bikes,” Brough says. “Now, paths are packed—especially on weekends—and drivers expect bikes, too.” She sees both as positive indications of Denver’s attitude toward bicycling, and thinks riding is a great way for people to enjoy the city and spend time with their families. Brough fondly remembers teaching her own daughters to ride, as well as their regular, 7-mile family rides along Denver’s paths to Grandma and Grandpa’s. “We’d take lots of breaks, have picnics. It was a wonderful way to spend the day together.”

Lucky for Brough (and for Denver), biking’s also a good way for her to spend time with other local movers and shakers. She’s been known to take lunchtime jaunts out to Cherry Creek Reservoir with Chamber COO Robert Blankenship, or join Governor Bill Ritter for an early morning ride. Obviously a good sport, Brough laughs over a ribbing she took from the City’s Director of Strategic Marketing, Steve Sander, for showing up to a Denver Post interview last summer sporting fresh road rash (and assures us that she had nothing to do with the governor’s own well-publicized crash!). BikeDenver salutes Kelly Brough for putting a positive spin on spinning around the city! (Photo Credit above – Kathryn Scott Osler | The Denver Post)

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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 Kelly Brough, 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!”