Fort Collins Bike Co-op

Fall in Love on the bike path

jtaggart — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:15:15 +0000

Keep an eye out next time you’re riding, you might find your future spouse.

Omnium On the Oval

jtaggart — Tue, 08 May 2012 20:06:17 +0000

It’s that time of year again, the Oval races are back!! As always, the races are presented by Associates in Family Medicine.

This year there will be four weeks of racing. Race entry is $10 each week, but anyone under 18 races for free. Registration starts at 3 PM with racing from 4-7 PM.

You can find more information at Your Group Ride

Climatewise Envirovation Bike

jtaggart — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:23:11 +0000

The Co-op recently built and donated a bike to the City’s ClimateWise program. This bike is fully functional and will “travel” each year to a different ClimateWise partner who exemplifies the meaning of the word Ambassador as it relates to getting the word out to other businesses and the public about their sustainable efforts and how ClimateWise can be a part of their goal setting. Each year, the Bike will be presented at the ClimateWise Envirovation event.

The bike is a 7 speed, custom built and accessorized to navigate Fort Collins city terrain and local climate safely, comfortably, and efficiently. It’s easily adjustable for different sized riders with minimal tools (included). A rear rack and removable pannier is also included for cargo. It was built re-using a donated ~20 year old mountain bike and all recycled parts, except a few new parts: namely 1) tires and tubes, 2) hand grips, 3) gear/brake cables, and 4) drive chain

A special thanks go out to Bike Co-op volunteers: Tim, Sam, John, Doug, Claire, Dave, Ben G., Justin, Tom and Ben who all contributed to this build in some way.

We also want to thank Randy at Ultimate Coatings who donated the powder coat finish worth over $100.

Bike Co-op Sponsors League Cycling Instructor Seminar May 4 – 6, 2012

Rick Price — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 17:11:01 +0000

(LCI seminar scholarships are provided in partnership with Safe Routes to School, a program of the City of Fort Collins and the Colorado Dept of Transportation.)

The Fort Collins Bike Co-op is sponsoring a League Cycling Instructor seminar at the Bike Co-op in Fort Collins May 4 – 6, 2012. The coach for the seminar is nationally recognized League Cycling Instructor, Preston Tyree.

League Cycling Instructors are certified by the League of American Bicyclists (LAB) to teach bicycle safety.

According to LAB:

“Becoming a League Cycling Instructor (LCI) certified to teach Smart Cycling is a great way to help cyclists in your community. Certified instructors can teach Smart Cycling classes to children as well as adults. Help bring the joy of safe cycling to others. If you are an experienced cyclist and would like to teach others please consider taking the next step towards certification. Becoming a League member and taking Traffic Skills 101 are prerequisites for a certification seminar. Instructors are trained at seminars held periodically throughout the year.”

To register for the Fort Collins seminar visit the web site of the LAB: http://members.bikeleague.org/members_online/members/calendar_of_events.asp

We are lucky to have Preston Tyree coach this seminar. Preston was the Education Director at the League of American Bicyclists from 2007 through 2011. Before that he was Education Director at Bike Texas from 1997 through 2003 where he implemented the Texas SuperCyclist Project and trained 3,000 teachers to teach bicycle traffic safety in schools.

If you are an experienced cyclist and would like to teach others how to bicycle safely please join us. By becoming a League Cycling Instructor (LCI) you can help Fort Collins become a safer bicycle community and you can help us move toward the Platinum Level Bicycle Friendly Community award.

Space for this seminar is limited to 15. The Bike Co-op has 8 scholarships available to cover the $200 registration fee for this seminar for local residents who will commit to helping build our safe cycling program in Fort Collins. Participants must pay the $200 fee and the $35 LAB membership fee themselves. The $200 registration fee will be reimbursed after the new LCIs assist with at least two Smart Cyclng classes.

For further information contact Rick Price (970-310-5238). Or check the Education Programs on the Bike Co-op web site: http://fcbikecoop.org/programs/education/index.php.

For information about the LCI program at the national level visit: http://www.bikeleague.org/programs/education/

Support the extension of the Poudre River Trail

jtaggart — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 20:45:52 +0000

If you’re familiar with the Poudre River Trail, you know that there is a large gap between Fort Collins and Windsor. There is a petition making the rounds that proposes to close this gap. If the grant for this project is landed the Poudre trail will be connected between Arapaho Bend Natural Area and River Bluffs Open Space among other things. So, make sure you sign the petition at the following link.

Dynamic Stability

dcutter — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 16:36:08 +0000

Come see this

capstone project

by one of the

Bike Co-op volunteers,

Tess Witler.

Bike Collective Short Film

jtaggart — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 19:00:37 +0000

Our friends over at the Bicycle Collective just posted this new video. We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

Bike Co-op recognized with Environmental Stewardship Award

dcutter — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 23:45:51 +0000

Ben Gannon accepted the Environmental Stewardship award on behalf of the Bike Co-op and all of our recycling volunteers.

The Board of Larimer County Commissioners today announced the 2011 Larimer County Environmental Stewardship Awards. These awards, began in 1995, are given each year to honor the environmental efforts of county residents, businesses and organizations. To date 58 awards have been presented to programs, people and organizations since the program began 17 years ago. Today five more recipients are added. Winning programs are innovative and proactive, and show exceptional effort and concern for stewardship of the environment of Larimer County.

The County’s volunteer-citizen Environmental Advisory Board reviews the nominations and makes recommendations to the Commissioners who determine the recipients.

The Fort Collins Bicycle Co-op, for their comprehensive actions designed to make bicycles and bicycle riders sustainable. These efforts include: bicycle safety education for children, such as the bike rodeo and helmet distribution; repairing and returning refurbished bikes that were abandoned or unclaimed to the community and to Ghana as part of the village bicycle project; recycling the steel, aluminum, and rubber from worn out bikes; and, embracing the principle of sustainability and providing an important example.

Thanks to all the volunteers who make this happen for our community!

More details about additional recipients here:

http://www.larimer.org/news/newsDetail.cfm?id=1280

With My Own Two Wheels

jtaggart — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 04:38:02 +0000

The Bike Co-op is proud to announce two Fort Collins screenings of the feature length documentary With My Own Two Wheels. Two Wheels weaves together the stories of five individuals across the globe into a single narrative about the bicycle as a vehicle for change. The documentary was shot on location in Zambia, Ghana, India, Guatemala and California. Each screening will be followed by a question and answer session with the Producer/Co-director of the film Jacob Seigel-Boettner.

The screenings will take place at 7:00pm on December 7th and 8th at The Lyric Cinema Cafe. Tickets for each night can be purchased before the event for $10 at the Bike Co-op or The Lyric Cinema Cafe. Tickets will also be available at the door for $15. Seating is limited, so buy your ticket early. Each ticket purchase includes a complimentary New Belgium Beer (For those of legal drinking age). Hey, $10 for a movie and a beer! Just try to find a better deal.

All proceeds raised from the two night event will help to support the Fort Collins Bike Co-op and World Bicycle Relief

Sponsored by Poudre Valley Health Systems and New Belgium Brewery.

Movie Trailer

Bike Co-op’s “Watch for Bikes!” Campaign Takes Off

Rick Price — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:31:15 +0000

The Safe Cycling Program of the Bike Co-op ordered 10,000 “watch for bikes” stickers last winter and has gone through nearly all of them. While the stickers are designed

to go on the bottom of the rear view mirror on the driver’s side of your car, the City has decided to put them on the windshield just below the oil change sticker. So far we’ve delivered 1200 stickers to the City motor pool.
At the CSU Smart transportation fair two weeks ago three campus agencies requested stickers and we ended up giving out 3,000 to the CSU motor pool, parking services, and the CSU Police Department. Parking services intends to distribute a sticker to anyone who gets a parking permit to park on campus.
Finally, the County motor pool called and requested 600 stickers for the smaller county vehicles. Hopefully they’ll find them valuable on every single county vehicle.
The stickers are popular among school kids (any sticker is) and they don’t last long on foreheads or the backs of hands. But they last on bike helmets and on bikes where a lot of them have ended up. They also look great on bathroom mirrors in middle schools and Old Town bars.
If you know of a business with a lot of vehicles that might make use of these, write Click For Email and we’ll see that they get a few hundred!