June is Bike Month in Colorado. So strap on your helmet and get ready to roll!
This is an aggregated list of bicycle events from all over Fort Collins. If I’ve missed an event (other than racing events) please let me know (meg@urbanfortcollins.com) and I’ll add it in next week. Events are listed in chronological order.
You’ll also find trail and street closures and improvements listed following the events list. Feel free to skip the events and jump right to the road news.
And last but not least, if you have some extra time this weekend and would like to read through some bike related articles, check out the list of items that rolled out this past week.
– Events –
Poudre River Fest – Saturday, May 30th, 9am – 6pm, Legacy Park
This festival is hosted by the Sustainable Living Association. It doesn’t have a bicycle focus, per se, but Bike Fort Collins will be there talking about our local bike trails and how to use and enjoy them safely.
http://sustainablelivingassociation.org/event/poudre-river-fest/
Go By Bike: Everyday Cycling – Monday, June 1, 6 pm, Raintree Athletic Club, 2555 S. Shields
Whether you are traveling to work, running errands or traveling to visit friends you can Go By Bike! In this presentation FC Bikes Bicycle Ambassadors will teach you about the benefits of using a bike for transportation and show you how to make it possible. Join us to learn what to ride, what to wear, what to carry, how to carry your stuff, route selection and safety techniques. We will also provide information about local classes, events and other cycling-related resources.
http://www.raintreeathleticclub.com/go-by-bike-everyday-cycling-a-free-seminar/
Adult Learn to Ride Class – Wednesday, June 3 & June 10, 6pm, 215 N. Mason Street.
Regardless of your age, it’s not too late to learn to ride a bicycle! In this class adults (14+) will learn to ride a bicycle through a safe, easy, and effective method. Students will learn how to balance, pedal, start, stop and steer a bike. Students also learn how to properly fit a helmet. If you do not have a bike or helmet we can provide them for use during the class. Contact jgaskill-fox@fcgov.com or 970-221-6987 if you need a bike and/or helmet. To register, please visit webtrac.fcgov.com (page 57 of Recreator).
Your Group Ride Live – Friday, June 5, 7pm, Illegal Pete’s, 320 Walnut St.
Your Group Ride and Bike Fort Collins are happy to announce the first of hopefully many YGR Live Events. On June 5th, at the Fort Collins Illegal Pete’s, we’ll have guest speakers: cycling attorney Megan Hottman, Frank Schwende cycling tourist, and Chris Johnson USA Pro Challenge Stage 6 Technical Director.
Megan will be fielding cycling related legal questions. Frank will be discussing his recent trip to Holland and Belgium and Chris will bring us up to speed on Stage 6 of the USAPC. We’ll also give you a rundown on the latest local cycling hubbub.
The event is free of charge and will take place at the FoCo Illegal Pete’s (320 Walnut St). The show will start at 7pm but please arrive early to snag a seat, food and drink. See you on Friday June 5th.
Also brought to you by The Ranch, Illegal Pete’s and the Hottman Law Office.
http://yourgroupride.com/index.php/site-information/60-news-and-events/665-ygr-live-june-2015
Safe Routes to School Instructor Training – Saturday, June 6, 9:30am – 1:30pm
Bike Fort Collins is looking for a few more instructors to help support the City’s school rotation plan and other summer programs. During the school year, Safe Routes to School will be rotating through all the elementary schools in PSD every three years with extensive bike and pedestrian safety lessons. Instructors teach our own curriculum in the PE classes for two weeks: one week in the gym and the second week outside on bikes. Summer programs abound where we will need instructors as well. If you like riding your bike and working with kids then you may want to become an instructor.
Please contact Dot Dickerson at dotdickerson@msn.com for more information or to sign up. Our instructors are paid through grants from Colorado Department of Transportation and City funding, so the class is free!
Open Streets – Sunday, June 7, 10am, W. Elizabeth St. (between Shields and Overland)
Fort Collins will host its second Open Streets (car-free) event. It will take place on West Elizabeth Street (between Shields St. and Overland Trail). This is a free, fun, family-friendly event that promotes active living, community and local economy. Community members are encouraged to enjoy the open space along the 2-mile stretch by walking, biking or traveling by other human-powered means. Participants also can engage with the 40+ partners that will host activities along the route. By temporarily creating a car-free environment, community members are able to enjoy their streets and surrounding environment in a safe, fun and healthy way. Over 100 car-free initiatives are in operation around North America as innovative ways for cities to support healthy living and community. For more information, please visitfcgov.com/openstreets.
June RAT Ride – Thursday, June 11, 6pm, Black Bottle Brewery, 1611 S. College, #1609
RAT stands for “Ride Around Town.” The goal of these monthly RAT Rides, hosted by Bike Fork Collins, is to explore the bicycle infrastructure in the city and give feedback to the City bikes and streets departments (and any other pertinent parties). If you would like to be added to the informational mailing list for this month’s ride, please contact the head RAT – Bruce Henderson (bruce.henderson(at)bikefortcollins.org).
Get Outdoors Day – Saturday, June 13, 9am, City Park
A fun, free, active day with a zillion things for everyone to do! National Get Outdoors Day Noco, presented by the University of Colorado Health, will be held in Fort Collins at City Park. Fish, bike, garden, climb, paint, build, paddle, learn, dance, eat, and play! Take part in interactive activities in each of Get Outdoors Day’s different villages, including the FC Bikes Bicycle Village! For more information, please visitwww.co.larimer.co.us/getoutdoorsnoco/.
Go By Bike: Cycling with Children – Wednesday, June 17, 6pm, Raintree Athletic Club, 2555 S. Shields St.
Do you want to commute, run errands or travel to school by bike with your children? In this presentation an FC Bikes Bicycle Ambassador will give you tips and tricks for how to get the whole family rolling. You will learn about the benefits of cycling with children, kid-friendly gear and clothing, safety considerations, route selection, and how to teach children the rules of the road through bicycling. To register, please call 970-490-1300.
28th Annual Bike to Work Day – Wednesday, June 24, Starts at 6:30 am
Since 1988, the City of Fort Collins has hosted an Annual Summer Bike to Work Day. In celebration of the 28th Annual event, over 40 breakfast stations will be located all over town to encourage community members to get out and ride their bikes. Participants are encouraged to take a post event survey. To check out a map of station or see a list of station hosts, please visit fcgov.com/bikemonth.
Bike Fort Collins Art Show – Friday July 3, Downtown Artery
Adult Learn to Ride Class – July 9 & 16, 6-7:30pm.
Traffic Safety 101 – July 18, 8:30am – 4pm.
Adult Learn to Ride Class – August 6 & 13, 6-7:30pm.
USA Pro Challenge – Stage 6 – August 22 — Loveland to Fort Collins (I know. This is a race, not a transportation event. But it’s also a celebration of bikes event. So I’m including it here.)
Tour de Fat – September 5th
Traffic Safety 101 – September 26, 8:30am – 4pm.
Traffic Safety 101 – November 14, 8:30am – 4pm.
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– Road and Trail Closures –
Poudre Trail: There are (at least) 2 closures along the trail. (There may be more due to flooding. I’ll hopefully add that type of info in the future, but right now I’m not sure how accurate the online data is. So I’m just not gonna go there.)
The Mulberry underpass will be closed until around November 2015. If you’re traveling southbound, follow the detour and hop back on to the trail on the west side of Shields. But if you’re traveling northbound, you have two options. You can get off the trail on the east side of Shields, then either take the sidewalk or take the lane north on Shields. You’ll have to cross both Mulberry and Shields (follow the detour signs) to hop back on the trail. OR you can stay on the trail, travel under Shields, then ride the wrong way northbound on the Shields sidewalk. This way you’ll only have to cross one street instead of two, but it does mean you’ll be traveling the wrong way on the sidewalk.
Tafthill Road to Lee Martinez Park is still closed due to the work the county is doing on the N. Shields bridge. There are detour signs posted, but this closure is for such a long distance, and the detour roads are rather sub-optimal, that you might be best off checking in with either the City bike map or Google (Bike) Maps to find a better route.
Poudre Trail to W. Vine Spur has been put on hold. The water flood mitigation work has been completed, but the bike trail spur has seen funding shift to other projects on the south and east ends of town that were able to leverage grant monies to complete large projects.
Horsetooth and Timberline Intersection: The section of Horsetooth west of Timberline will be closed starting Monday, June 1. It is estimated to remain closed until July 25.
The project will add four new turn lanes to the intersection, bicycle and pedestrian improvements and landscaped medians. The project is funded by a federal grant (congestion mitigation) and the Building on Basics (BOB) quarter cent sales tax. The construction of the turn lanes, pork chop islands and reconfigured medians will improve the safety and signal timing of the intersection. To find out more, check out the “Horsetooth and Timberline Intersection Improvement” page on the city’s website.
Mountain Avenue between Shields and Washington: Eastbound Mountain is shut down while new water pipes are installed.
Shields and W. Vine Intersection: The planned round-about is listed online as starting mid-June. “Vine and Shields Roundabout Improvement.”
North College Improvements: We’re mid-project on this one and we can finally see some progress getting made. Woo hoo! To find out more about the project, or to see occasionally updated photos of the work, check out the “North College Improvements” page.
Timberline at Prospect Improvements: This project will be starting some time this summer. “Timberline Road Improvements.”
Laurel between Remington and Mason: Work begins soon to restripe Laurel street. The changes will include a protected bike lane and a few other bicycle facilities that are being tested out. And I should emphasize that point. This is a chance to test ideas around a particularly difficult intersection. If they work well there, they might be useful in other places as well. If not… well, at least we tried it out.
The Remington Greenway: I’ve written about the changes to Remington already, but here’s a brief synopsis. There will soon be a mini-round-a-about at the intersection of Laurel and Remington. And the stop lights where both Pitkin and Elizabeth cross Remington are being changed to 4-way stops.
– Bike News and Views –
“Time Ticks on in Windsor, Larimer Shooting Investigations,” by Jason Pohl in the Coloradoan on 27 May 2015. They still haven’t found the man who shot and killed John Jacoby twice while he was cycling near Windsor.
“Bicyclist sought in hit-and-run motorcycle crash,” by Jason Pohl in the Coloradoan on 27 May 2015. Bicyclist apparently darted in front of a motorcyclist, causing him to wreck. Then the cyclist left the scene of the accident. (Don’t do that, people!)
“Price: Cycling Tips Will Help Keep You Safe,” by Rick Price in the Coloradoan on 25 May 2015. Rick gives basic tips to riding safely.
“Locantore: It’s not about congestion; it’s about freedom,” by Jill Locantore in the Denver Post on 23 May 2015. We’re facing increasing density and congestion issues. Perhaps its time to “impose a fee for driving in congested locations or at congested times of day” in Denver, as other cities have done.
“Four Cities Race to Finish the Country’s First Protected Intersection,” by Michael Andersen in StreetsBlog USA on 28 May 2015. The cities of Austin, Salt Lake City, Davis and Boston are now in a four-way race to create the first working protected intersection in the United States.
Blank calendar from blankcalendarprintout.com.
