Fort Collins COMMUNITY BIKE FORUM
To Hear The Latest Cycling News And Voice Your Concerns
Fort Collins, Colorado, 06/12/08 — Bike Fort Collins is announcing its semi-annual Community Bike Meeting to kick-off Bike Week in Fort Collins at 6:00 pm on June 23rd at The Bean Cycle at 144 N. College Ave. in Old Town Fort Collins. Anyone interested in transportation or cycling issues in the Fort Collins Community is invited to attend. The public is also welcomed to bring any issues or concerns that may be addressed by our leaders in the Cycling Community. The agenda will cover topics such as the Larimer County Sheriff issues, Safe Routes to School, Information on Bike Week, Volunteer opportunities, and an Open Forum for discussion. The meeting will end with a traditional cycling schwag raffle giveaway with goodies from local bike shops and sponsors.
Bike Fort Collins is a non-profit organization funded by grants and donations. The organization has been leading bicycle advocacy and cycling programs in the Fort Collins Community for 3 years. With programs such as Safe Routes to School and the Bike Library, and the Bike Museum Without Walls, Bike Fort Collins has been influential in helping Fort Collins to become one of the safest and most fun cycling cities in the country.
]]>Bike Fort Collins will host another Bicycle Lunch Talk next Wednesday, March 12th, from 12:00 to 1:30pm. Bring a lunch to this BLT event for an informative and safe place to voice your opinions, concerns, likes and dislikes about the simple pleasures of riding a bicycle in Fort Collins.
This month's topic is pro racing. Don't miss this discussion if you're interested in racing, or if you're just curious about the racing scene in Fort Collins. Did you know that some Fort Collins pro racers are poised to garner national and international recognition?
Even if you don't care about racing, but you love bikes, you should come down anyway. These discussions are informal and offer a wonderful opportunity to meet like-minded cycling enthusiasts. We had a great showing last month and shared some wonderful ideas. Future topics will include, but are not limited to:
Getting involved: Making a difference in the Fort Collins cycling community.
Bike Commuting: Basic and advanced.
The Bike Library for non-readers.
Best Rides in Fort Collins.
Adventure cycling...and much more.
Pack your lunch, jot down your ideas, your questions and concerns, and pedal down to the Home State Bank at 303 East Mountain Avenue. Meetings are held in the community conference room in the lower level of the bank. We're just diagonal from the Fort Collins Food COOP. Bring your own BLT to the BLT. See you there!
Chris Pranskatis
chris.p@bikefortcollins.org
Thanks again for the wonderful opportunity to [champion] a table at the brainstorming session on Thursday. I’ve broken the summary of our work session into 4 sections.
A. Rediscovering an old friend. (Introductory remarks).
B. Wiping away the dust and climbing aboard. (My personal goals, questions and aspirations surrounding the project).
C. Taking the first pedal stroke. (Ideas born of the work session).
D. Smiling and riding. (Gathering momentum and moving forward: The next steps).
A. Rediscovering an old friend.
A bike mentorship program is not a new idea. Just type the words “Bike Mentor” into a search engine and pages replete with results instantly appear. Bike mentorship programs and other forms of newcomer initiatives exist across the country, from Seattle, WA to Charlotte, NC. Ironically though, the city of Fort Collins lacks an organized and comprehensive bike mentorship program despite its Silver Medal designation from the League of American Bicyclists as a bike friendly town. I am convinced that if we organized a program to get more people on bikes, and to continue using them, then we’d stand a better chance of developing and fostering the cycling culture and infrastructure that many of us cherish so deeply today. If nothing else, then perhaps we can help someone to rediscover an old two-wheeled friend. It is for this reason that I championed a table focused on newcomer initiatives, and more specifically, a bike mentorship program here in Fort Collins.
B. Wiping away the dust and climbing aboard.
I had a few of my own ideas before attending the work session. I envisioned a very comprehensive program that paired both newcomers and veterans with bike mentors that matched their particular needs and concerns. I saw a team of volunteers with each one specialized in a particular discipline, from family and senior citizen, to courier and urban chic. My grandest aspirations called for a comprehensive program with custom itineraries, guided tours, an informative web site, blogs and more. I imagined the mentorship program as a catalyst for much greater cycling culture and growth. Eventually though, I began to ask a few questions.
1. What were some of the successes and pitfalls that similar programs had experienced?
2. How large, or small, would we want to develop this program?
3. What are the liabilities?
4. Would we need funding, and if so, then what would be the mechanisms?
5. Would people actually want to use this program?
6. How would this integrate with other programs?
Suddenly the questions burst forth like a perennial mountain stream. Thursday’s meeting provided a wonderful opportunity to climb aboard and to begin the preliminary research.
C. Taking the first pedal stroke. (Ideas born of the work session).
Sixteen people signed in at our table, and a few more dropped by without getting a chance to sign the register. All totaled, we probably entertained 20-25 people during the course of the night. About half of that number, (most the original attendees), remained at our table for the entire duration of the meeting and expressed various ideas that they would like to see implemented in a bike mentorship program.
E. Smiling and riding. (Gathering momentum and moving forward: The next steps).
Thursday’s meeting provided the impetus for a mentorship program in Fort Collins. We took the first pedal stroke so where do we go from here?
About half of the group decided that we needed to reign in a few of the ideas and narrow the scope of the project. One member in particular called for starting small and then letting the program grow and develop over time. Almost everybody expressed an interest in future meetings and a few volunteered to continue with the preliminary research.
Therefore, the plan thus far is as follows:
1.Follow up with the group members and organize another meeting after the holidays. The first half of January works well for our group. I am already in contact with some of the group members.
2. Continue the preliminary research. Contact similar programs around the country.
3. Analyze our findings and begin to assemble a detailed plan.
In the spirit of Thoreau: We have built our castles in the air, now let us put the foundations under them.
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The 2008 and 2009 national collegiate cycling championships are coming to Fort Collins, bringing with it 500 racers each May to the city selected because of its bike-friendly attitude and scenic courses.
The Colorado State University's cycling club, boosted by local enthusiasts and business leaders, worked to secure the event, which will include competitions in a time trial, road race and a downtown criterium. USA Cycling is sponsoring the championships, which will take place May 9-11 of each year.
T.G. Taylor, president of Rams Cycling, the CSU collegiate club sports team, said picking the courses was easy.
"They're the courses we like to ride every day, and courses we knew it would be possible to run a race on," said Taylor, a CSU graduate student.
For the most part, the courses are the ones used by the Fort Collins Cycling Festival, although Taylor said they had to modify the courses to eliminate some of the hills, especially in Rist Canyon.
While cyclists from, say, Florida, are as fit an any from Fort Collins, they just aren't used to riding down hills, Taylor said.
USA Cycling was "worried it was too challenging for people who had never ridden up a mountain, let alone down one," he said. "In Florida, their idea of a hill is an overpass."
Taylor said he and other club members put out feelers earlier this year and quickly found support from the cycling festival and the Fort Collins Convention and Visitor's Bureau. Taylor said he's trying to make the CSU cycling club the best in the nation. It was named national collegiate club of the year for 2007 by USA Cycling.
"We live in such a great town ... and we came up with the idea that if we want our team to be the best team, we want to host the premier cycling event," Taylor said. "The next thing you know, we had a meeting of 15 people who wanted to help bring this thing to Fort Collins."
Taylor said the group is still seeking local sponsors and community members to help with the event.
Larimer County manager Frank Lancaster on Friday afternoon said the group does not yet have a required permit for the races and gently reminded them to get one quickly.
"This is a great event to have here in our community, and we're looking forward to hosting the championships," Lancaster added.
Fort Collins is a nationally recognized "Bicycle Friendly City" by the League of American Bicyclists. This week, it hosted a winter Bike to Work Day that drew about 100 participants. The summer version typically brings in about 1,800 cyclists to 16 breakfast stations around town.
The Fort Collins Bike Co-op will pay $5 a year to lease prime downtown real estate, thanks to City Council.
The council recently approved the lease agreement at the old Fort Collins Creamery, 222 LaPorte Ave., for the volunteer-based nonprofit organization that refurbishes donated, abandoned and recovered bikes and gives them to low-income families.
"This space is absolutely crucial to what we're trying to do," co-op member Coleman Morris-Goodrick said. "We have been operating out of a garage since we started five years ago, and the use of this space will allow us to expand and grow the program, taking it to the next level."
Mayor Doug Hutchinson said the vote was easy to make, equating a bicycle-healthy community with economic stability.
"I have spoken to many businesses who have told me they are better able to attract and recruit some of the world's best talent to Fort Collins because of the bike paths and open space and other amenities," Hutchinson said. "I think this program is an extension of that. It will have a positive impact."
The city's facilities department completed roofing and plumbing repairs to parts of the creamery site, and the city attorney's office helped draft ordinance language to change the land-use plan to allow for the operation.
"Before, the police department was shipping off all the bikes they recovered to California to go up for auction, with very few of those proceeds every being realized," said Dave Kemp, the city's bike coordinator. "Essentially, the city was just shipping them out there because they didn't have a place to store them all."
Allowing the co-op, which works in partnership with the Recycled Bike Project, to use the city space allows the bikes to be put to good use locally.
"We aren't giving bikes away to just anybody who comes here," Kemp said. "We want to make sure we're getting them into the hands of children and people in the at-risk population."
The volunteers have refurbished and repaired thousands of bicycles for the community, sometimes servicing 40 or 50 bikes each day during the summer months, program volunteer Rafael Cletero said.
"We outgrew our old location two or three years ago but didn't really have anywhere to go," Cletero said. "We have gotten so much help from the city and the community though, and now we're excited to see where we can take it from here."
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Nov. 7 - Economic Advisory Commission 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.– CIC Room in City Hall adjacent to Council Chambers
Nov. 8 - 7:30 a.m. Downtown Development Authority (DDA) Home State Bank Meeting Room (Basement) 303 East Mountain Avenue
Nov. 14 - Senior Advisory Board, 1:30 p.m. at the Senior Center (we have a Bike Lunch Talk that same day – I’ll leave at 1 p.m.)Nov. 28 - NRA Board – to be announced.
Nov. 28 5:30-9:00 PARKS and REC, 215 N. Mason, Community Room, 1st floorDec. 5 Youth Advisory Board, December 5, 7 p.m. at the Youth Activity Center
groups, organizations and agencies regarding youth-oriented issues and
makes recommendations to City Council in reference to these issues.
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"Fort Collins is a bicycle-friendly city. At least, that’s what the sign on the East Prospect gateway to the city says. After all, the weather is good most of the year, most of our local terrain is flat, and we have a large network of bike trails and lanes. An estimated 4-5 percent of city residents bike (or walk) to work regularly, and the number spikes during the annual Bike to Work Week."
Read more of his spirited discussion of Fort Collins city budgets and bicycling in Fort Collins Now.
]]>The Bike Library lends bicycles to residents and visitors for basic transportation in Fort Collins. Loans are made for a short term from headquarters or other locations in Fort Collins. These bikes will be equipped for transportation purposes (i.e. baskets, lights).
Performance road and/or mountain bikes will not be made available, so be sure to check with one of our great local bike shops or tour operators if you need more! See list of Fort Collins bicycle sites.
The Bike Co-op is a community Bike Project dedicated to keeping good bikes and parts out of the landfill, to keep our community riding, and to educate our neighbors in all things bike.
This group is run entirely by volunteers and is dedicated to:
- keeping the bikes in the Bike Library working.
- keeping bikes out of the landfill
- refurbishing and donating bikes to a wide variety of charity events and programs which provide bicycles to those in need.
- teach bike repair and maintenance to those who wish to learn
Questions about the Bike Co-op? Contact coordinator@fcbikecoop.org
If you'd like to volunteer with either of these initiatives, you can send an email to Bike Fort Collins and we'll get you in touch. contact us at: info@bikefortcollins.org
]]>is a nationwide program dedicated to getting more school children to bicycle or walk to school. Through education, encouragement, enforcement, and engineering we hope to make walking and biking to school the preferred mode of transporation for Fort Collins students!
Bike Fort Collins is working closely with the City of Fort Collins and Bicycle Colorado to provide volunteers and support to make this project a success. A grant through CDOT is allowing the city of Fort Collins to implement the program at 5 local elementary schools. Read more at City of Fort Collins Safe Routes.
If your school is interested in introducing bicycle and pedestrian safety, we can help you get started. If you'd like to volunteer, please contact us at info@bikefortcollins.org
The FCBPP is a visionary planning document written by a group of citizen volunteers in Fort Collins in 1995. The purpose of the Plan was to propose priorities and recommend actions to "improve the bicycle system and bicycle friendly nature" of Fort Collins. Thus far, the plan has been very successful but financial constraints imposed by the city budget are jeopardizing the continuation of the Fort Collins Bicycle Program. You can view the Bike Plan document here. You'll also want to take a look at the City of Fort Collins bicycling website, there's lots of good information, such as a reporting tool for close calls/accidents, bike maps, schedule of events, and more!
Contact the Bike Library or drop it by 222 Laporte Ave. Or contact the Bike Co-op
Home State Bank 12 – 1:30 p.m.
Lower Level Conference Room (enter through the parking lot on the south side of the building)303 East Mountain Avenue, Fort Collins
Bring your own brown bag lunch (the Food Coop is right across the street)
Join us for informal discussions about better bicycling in Fort Collins.
Sometimes there will be a focus for our discussions, sometimes not. Join us!]]>
Would you like to be involved in making Fort Collins the best biking town in the USA? Then come out and volunteer, we'd love to have your help. Stay informed of volunteer opportunities by subscribing to our Google group (see the home page). Listed below are some of the upcoming projects we'll be needing volunteers for:
If you'd like to be involved, complete the volunteer form or send email to our Volunteer Coordinator at info@bikefortcollins.org. Be sure to add your name to our Google group and you'll get regular postings of upcoming Bike Fort Collins events.