Colorado county seeks bike ban from public roads

PAPER'S PLEASE!

Liberty hating communist commissioners of Jefferson County Colorado want to steal your freedom and your right to travel! In a hearing, the county commissioners talked about having their lobbyist talk to Colorado state legislators about a law that would permit counties to ban bicycles from Colorado county roads.

The commissioners claim they're doing this in the name of safety. There is no move, however, to restrict the real safety hazard on mountain roads -- automobiles.

Since the commissioners claim they are responding to the emailed complaints of Jefferson County Road users, it's time for cyclists to email the Jefferson County Commission and, more importantly, show up at Jeffco Commission Meetings. MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD, CYCLISTS! You can also call them at +1 (303) 271-8525; and send snail mail to 100 Jefferson County Parkway, Golden, CO, 80419.

Jefferson County Attorney Ellen Wakeman is drafting the legislation. Her office's phone number is +1 (303) 271-8900; her administrative assitant's email address is cblake@jeffco.com. Keep them busy!

More:

• Jefferson County Colorado
  
  
• Bicycle Colorado Action Alert with background information.
  
  
• Columbine Courier: County to seek legislation granting more power to regulate bicyclists.
  
  
• Bob Miosnke: Is there a right to bike?

Denver bike share coming

Some 500 bikes will be available this summer at 30 to 40 stations around Denver. The Denver B-Cycle program got initial funding from a $1 million donation from the Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee. "We are confident Denver B-Cycle will prove equally popular while improving our fitness levels and our environment," said Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. "Our 358 miles of bike routes and trails combined with our 300 days of sunshine make Denver the perfect city in which to launch this citywide bike sharing system."

Read more in the Denver Post.

See also Bike Denver B-Cycle launch event invitation.

See also -- Denver transportation to focus on people, not cars: "A fundamental premise of the STP is that Denver must continue its growing trend towards relying on many modes of transportation, including walking, biking and using public transit in order to meet the transportation demands of the future."

While I'm focusing on bicycling in Colorado:

• Go Boulder is the city of Boulder transportation department resource site, where they proudly say, "In some places, people talk about the importance of using transportation options. Here, we walk the talk. Or bike it. Or bus it."
  
  
• Colorado Springs Cycling Club.
  
  
• Bicycle Colorado is Colorado's statewide bike advocacy group. They're doing wonderful work with Safe Routes to School programs throughout the state. Bicycle Colorado reminds cyclists that you can dial *CSP from your cell phone to report road rage to the Colorado State Police.
  
  
• Bike Fort Collins is the bike advocacy group in Fort Collins. The city of Fort Collins is pushing to go Platinum as a Bicycle Friendly Community.
  
  
• I cut my teeth on bicycle advocacy with Bicycle Longmont. Good people there!

Boulder's indoor velodrome on TV news

Welcome to Colorado's only indoor velodrome.

The facility, called Boulder Indoor Cycling, was created to give riders the chance to train on a wooden track in a controlled environment.

Read more and watch the video. Via. See also Boulder Indoor Cycling, which has an open house today from noon to 6 PM.

Boulder Velodrome grand opening December 1

The long awaited Boulder Colorado Velodrome plans a grand opening party and open house on Sunday, November 30th, 2008. This new velodrome is located in a former warehouse building at 3550 Frontier Avenue, near where Pearl Street crosses Foothills Highway (Hwy 157).

Via Ultra Rob.

While we're in Boulder, let's also visit Community Cycles, a group of bicycle enthusiasts whose mission is to educate and advocate for the safe use of bicycles as an affordable, viable and sustainable means of transportation and personal enjoyment. The Boulder Daily Comrade just posted a nice Community Spotlight on them. Community Cycles is located conveniently on the Goose Creek bike path and (literally) just across the tracks from the Boulder Velodrome.

Elsewhere, I've been busy posting stuff to Commute By Bike...

• Recycle those old election campaign signs into Fenders and flaps.
  
• Be careful in the rain.
  
• Kryptonite's monstrous new lock.
  
• Keep your bike gear running in the rain.

Have a wonderful weekend, all.

Tim DeFrisco Denver bike messenger photos

Tim DeFrisco is a photographer in Denver who apparently specializes in sports and "lifestyle" photography, including bike stuff, though he also has some killer portraits on his website.


His latest project has been a series of Denver bike messenger photos that will be displayed at Interbike during the Urban Legend Fashion and Art Show on Thursday evening, beginning at 5:00PM in the Venetian Ballroom G.

See more of Tom DeSilva's work at his blog and his website.

Via Gwadzilla.

Free bicycles in Denver video

One interesting factoid I didn't know about -- several sharrows were apparently placed specifically in anticipation and for bike riders visiting Denver for the DNC!

Denver police: REI is a terrorist den

According to Denver Police, the REI flagship store near downtown Denver, Colorado is a haven for violent terrorist protesters who plan to camp out and disrupt the Democratic National Convention next week.

In a recently disclosed "Special Bulletin," the Denver Police Department are asking all area police, sheriff, fire and ambulance personnel to be on the lookout for items that can be used by terrorists. The items listed on their special bulletin include: Bicycles (they can block streets and sidewalks and stop emergency response vehicles), Bike helmets (because this is what terrorists wear, according to Denver police), Maps, and Camping information, especially when they're stored inside old buildings.

I've done my part to protect the American Way by informing the Denver Police of a very large stockpile of these items at old Denver Tramway building at 1416 Platte Street near downtown.

Seriously, what's especially offensive is the idea that bikes and bike helmets might seem "out of place" to police officers in downtown Denver. This bulletin is just the permission cops like Michael Cordova need to harass cyclists who just want to get around. I don't see any kind of motor vehicle on the list of suspicious items distributed by Denver police, yet cars and trucks are more capable at blocking sidewalks and streets and blockading emergency response than any group of cyclists. Cyclists can be physically lifted and removed.

In 2002, it was found that Denver Police kept records that labeled local citizens as "criminal extremists" in spite of a lack of any criminal record. This intelligence gathering started in 1953; the Denver Spy Files had information on over 3000 individuals and 200 organizations. The ACLU filed suit in 2002 and settled with Denver in 2003. Though Denver was supposed to have changed its spy gathering policies with the 2003 settlement, this document seems to indicate the same old stuff from them.

Bicycle excise tax pays for trail network

The city of Colorado Springs, CO, charges a $4 excise tax on new bicycles. In 2007, retailers in Colorado Springs sold 32,853 new bicycles, compared against 23,512 cars and trucks sold at car dealerships in all of El Paso County.

This bicycle tax was created 20 years ago to fund construction of bike facilities and has generated about $2 million in income since it started in 1988. According to Colorado Springs transportation planners, the current network of bike paths would not exist today without this tax.

Read more about this excise tax in the Colorado Springs Gazette.

Colorado cyclist hits bear

More cycling news from Colorado:

A cyclist in Boulder County was injured after a run-in, literally, with a bear.

Tim Egan, 53, was riding on Old Stage Road Tuesday afternoon when suddenly a bear appeared in front of him. Egan hit the bear and ended up skidding across the road.

"This bear looked at me with a look of terror on his face and sort of made a noise," said Egan. "I looked at him with a look of terror and we went, 'aaaahhhhh.'"

Old Stage Road is along a popular road cycling route off of Lefthand Canyon Drive in the foothills just north of Boulder, Colorado. Read more in the Rocky Mountain News. There's some interesting elaboration in this earlier Daily Comrade article:

While the man and bear collided, a buck wandered into the scene playing out on the road. The bear turned its attention to the animal and roared, scaring the deer off before running off itself.

Mentioned also in this 9 News article with the usual stupid comments from psuedonymous cowards.

I've had to stop for herds of mule deer and elk while cycling in the Colorado Rockies, and once blundered headlong into a herd of moose(!) but I've never encountered a bear on the road while cycling.

Colorado legislatures attack cycling on Bike To Work Day

Wednesday was Bike To Work Day in Colorado.

I have much more to write about Highlands Ranch in Douglas County, Colorado in particular, but for now I'll just reprint the press release from the Colorado state legislature and let it speak for itself. I have additional commentary about Highlands Ranch in this map I uploaded to Flickr this morning. For those not familiar with the area, Highlands Ranch is the poster child for suburban cul de sac traffic hell. Aerial photos of Highlands Ranch are used to illustrate articles on the evils of sprawl. It's a shame that these bozos want to turn bicycling into a partisan issue.

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“You’ve got to be kidding!”

That was the reaction today from Colorado State Senator Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, and State Representative Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, when they heard that Democrats are proposing “long bike ride(s)” as a solution to rising gas prices.

“Colorado families are struggling at the pump and the answer we are getting from Colorado Democrats is shut down oil and gas production in Colorado and ride your bike: Unbelievable,” said McNulty. “I’d like to see how they expect a mother of three in my district to get her kids to school and to buy groceries for her family using a bicycle.”

The press announcement that Democrats sent out yesterday states: “As gas prices continue to spiral toward $5 a gallon, many are taking a stand – or in some cases, a long bike ride.”

McNulty and Penry said they are supportive of celebrating “Bike to Work Day” today, but said that it’s not realistic for Democrats to hold bicycling up as a way to address skyrocketing gas prices.

“Bill Ritter's "New Energy Economy" now has a mascot: it is the bicycling politician who thinks we can peddle our way to energy independence,” Penry said. “This is the most absurd, ridiculous and totally convincing explanation of why Colorado Democrats are clueless when it comes to addressing our energy crisis.”

Penry and McNulty have supported many of the governor’s renewable energy initiatives, but say that it is only part of the solution. They have both been critical of Gov. Ritter’s approach to stunting energy development in Colorado, an approach they say will lead to even higher energy prices for Colorado consumers.

Colorado bike to work day

Wednesday, June 25 is Bike To Work Day in Colorado. GO Boulder appeals to all Boulder cyclists to register yourself for Bike To Work Day with DRCOG. According to Boulder transportation planner Marni Ratzel, "We use Bike to Work day numbers to show the potential for biking in Boulder. If we could show that it is possible to get thousands of people on bikes in Boulder, we will make Boulder the biking capital of the world."

According to Ratzel, even if you don't work or work from home, any trip you take by bike will count for registration.

If you register you get entered to win all sorts of prizes, including a Yeti bike,a fully load commuter bike, messenger bags and other great stuff.

This registration with DRCOG is for all Denver and Boulder region commuters and is used to gauge the effectiveness of bike promotion efforts. Make your ride count and register yourself now.

Colorado bike haiku

Carl ran a bike club for students at Columbine Elementary School in Longmont, Colorado. The bike club was for the Walk Or Wheels ("WOW") program at the school, which encourages students to walk or bike to school and which has an astounding participation rate of over 90%. Carl started the club as an additional impetus to get the kids out of their parents' cars and to teach them to ride safely.

He assigned some homework to the children, asking them to write some "bike haiku" or baiku. Read the student's baiku here.

Enjoy the weekend, all!

Bicycle education material in Spanish

To better serve families and communities throughout the state, Bicycle Colorado's education team is translating key Safe Routes to School materials into Spanish. More than 70,000 school-age students speak primarily Spanish in Colorado, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

"Providing our handouts and education materials in both English and Spanish allows us to effectively reach out to more students and families within our communities with bicycle and pedestrian safety messages," said Maggie Thompson, Bicycle Colorado education director.

Bicycle Colorado wants all bicyclists in the state to have access to safety information and the rules of the road. After all, when more people ride bikes more often, everyone benefits.

Colorado teacher continuing education

One of the goals of the State’s Safe Routes program is to reach children statewide with bicycle and pedestrian safety education. Bicycle Colorado educators are traveling around the state bringing Safe Routes to Durango, Buena Vista, Yuma, La Junta, and Steamboat Springs to train teachers and administrators to implement Safe Routes programs in their areas by teaching students, parents, and teachers safe bicycling and walking practices. Teachers leave the training with classroom toolkits, including complete lesson plans and worksheets.

Upcoming training sessions in these areas:

Yuma - Friday, March 21st, 9am-5pm
Buena Vista - Friday, April 4th, 9am-5pm
La Junta - Thursday, April 24th, 9am-5pm
Steamboat Springs - Friday, May 2nd, 9-5

These bicycle education courses are accredited through Adams State College, providing participating teachers with continuing education credits required by the state.

For online registration for these classes and more information about the Safe Routes to School program in Colorado, visit the Bicycle Colorado Safe Routes page.

9% of Boulder commuters commute by bike

From 2006 U.S. Census data, as reported at Go Bike Boulder.


In a survey of larger cities, Portland, OR had the highest percentage of bike commuters at 3.5 percent. Nationwide, the share of commuters biking to work in 2006 was 0.4%.

In the chart, "SOV" means Single Occupant Vehicle.

Good life cyclist

Mike the cyclist commutes 24 miles from Centennial, Colorado to Lakewood. He recently started spreading the good word about cycling on Good Life Cyclist, where he shares all things good about riding a bicycle in Colorado.

Mike enjoys mountain biking in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. "I call the foothills my backyard playground," he writes. "From my house I can ride 20 to 30 minutes and explore Green Mountain, Red Rocks Park, Mount Falcon and Lair Of The Bear. I loop these all together for a 40 mile training ride."

Regarding his commute, Mike writes, "I love it - this is my main way to get in the training hours while still doing something I have to anyway (get to work) and saves gas, wear and tear on the car. However the money I have been spending on bicycle gear might balance out the gas savings."

What is he training for?

My main cycling goal right now is to train, prepare and finish the Great Divide Race in 2008. The Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (aka GDMBR) was put together by Adventure Cycling and is the longest off-pavement bike route in the world. It crosses the continental divide a total of 27 times. Its total length is 2,490 miles starting in Montana at the Canadian border and finishing in New Mexico at the Mexican border.

The route is the longest and most challenging off road bicycle tour in the world. It is the Holy Grail of the mountain bike world. My goal is to complete it in under 20 days. The record is 15 days 4 hours and 18 minutes. Only 5 people have ever completed this in under 20 days.

Mike, as a television commercial producer, plans to record his experience of the Great Divide Race 2008 and produce a documentary. Check out Good Life Cyclist.

Denver 16th Street Pedestrian Mall

I feel like ranting today.



What's wrong with this picture?

The 16th Street Pedestrian Mall is a 16-block long pedestrian mall running through downtown Denver. 16th Street is closed to absolutely all vehicular traffic -- including bicycles -- EXCEPT for the free mall shuttle buses that circulate regularly up and down 16th Street.

I didn't think to take a photo of it while I was there, but this pedestrian mall is completely devoid of (wait for it...) pedestrian traffic! Actually, there are plenty of pedestrians, but they're all jammed onto the ridiculously narrow sidewalks, just like anywhere else in downtown Denver. The street portion is given completely to the mall shuttles, and in fact jaywalking is illegal. Did I mention you can't bike on 16th? Not only that, pedestrian traffic is so heavy that walking a bike through the sidewalks is impractical.

When I crossed mid-block before taking this photo, a shuttle bus driver actually accelerated and came within inches of running me down! Shortly after taking this photo, I was standing at the edge of the sidewalk -- a bus pulled along side me skimming the curb and the side mirror would have hit my head if I didn't move away at the last minute! One woman on the crosswalk near this sign screamed when the bus driver didn't slow for her until the very last second.

These shuttle drivers on the pedestrian mall are belligerent to the pedestrians who are in "their" street. I wrote a letter to my RTD representative about this, who ignored it just like the previous two letters I've written to him.

Wiens vs Flandis @ Leadville 100

UltraRob has posted several photos of the battle between Dave Wiens and Floyd Landis at the 2007 Leadville 100. He promises a writeup of the epic race later.

Tom Danielson at the Mount Evans Hillclimb

Discovery Team cyclist Tom Danielson, who is recovering from an intestinal illness, plans to race the Mount Evans Hillclimb this weekend in Colorado. The race begins at 7000 feet above sea level and climbs for 28 miles to the top of the highest paved road in the United States at over 14,000 feet. Danielson is the current course record holder on the climb which he accomplished in 2004 while riding for the Italian Fassa Bortolo team.

Danielson will be up against 6-time winner of the event, Scott Moninger of the BMC cycling team as well as climbing specialist, Drew Miller and other top professionals.

For more info about the Bob Cook Memorial Mount Evans Hillclimb, visit bicyclerace.com. Mount Evans is one of three Colorado "fourteeners" I've been to the summit of. I'd like to do it by bike some day.

Hat tip to Pete in Colorado for this news.

Bicycle lending library

Fort Collins aims to increase bicycles for transportation

The city of Fort Collins, Colorado, received a federal grant to pay for a new bicycle lending program. According to city bike coordinator Dave Kemp, "We are encouraging daily trips around Fort Collins by a bicycle instead of a car. We're trying to make it easy to bike instead of use a car. We want a clean city to live in."

The Fort Collins Bicycle Library, scheduled to begin in early 2008, will make 50 bikes available for free use from various locations around town. The program, a joint effort between FC Bikes and Bike Fort Collins, will offer road bikes for the business person who wants to bike the commute rather than drive, cargo bikes for anyone who needs to deliver packages or take items with them and cruisers for those who are looking for a recreational trip.

Read more in the Coloradoan. See also this profile on Dave "DK" Kemp.