NEWS-BLOG
Welcome to the Bike Fort Collins News-Blog. Browse or search below for articles, news, press releases and content by category–or you’ll find that we link to content here from other web pages, eNewsletters and our other digital communications.
February Letter from the ED: We Crushed It
We crushed it. NoCo Bike Show has been dear to my heart since Dan Porter and I dreamed it up 5 or so years ago now. The vision was born of my frustration at how often I was asked to speak on a niche topic within bike culture, and spent a day preparing materials and a slide show and showed up to find single digit crowds waiting, bored half way through my planned hour. I had the idea that...
January Letter from the Executive Director – Results are In
Where to start!? Its been a particularly busy January here at BFCHQ. If you've been pining for the newsletter all month, wondering where the heck we went, well... we kept thinking we had this thing sewn up and then POW, another huge piece of news dropped. Before we dive into survey results below, here's some highlights and some time sensitive items to get on your calendar: NoCo Bike Show is...
Reflections on Jose Piñon
On Friday, there was an article in The Coloradoan about the sentencing of Jose Piñon in the death of local cyclist Steve Studt. Last month, Piñon pled guilty to felony negligent homicide only days before his trial was scheduled to begin. He was sentenced to a short jail stint, a hefty community service requirement, and as a result of his immigrant status and felony plea, he may face an...
December Letter from the Executive Director – Looking Back and Planning Ahead
First of all, I want to apologize for missing our November newsletter. As we mentioned in the newsletter, in October we said a fond farewell to our events/volunteers/marketing/communications/development/membership/advocacy/Bike Share genius Kelly McDonnell. Kelly was truly the heart of Bike Fort Collins over the past few years. Especially since I stepped in, with an ambitious vision that...
Sustainable means Affordable
Over the last couple of months, in my "Letter from the ED" I've leaned pretty heavily on a couple of surprising statistics about the relationship between public safety and city planning. The first, in my September letter, was a traffic fatality study by the National Safety Council that connected the sharp increase in traffic fatalities in the US over the past few years with an increase in the...
October Letter from the ED – We Bike, We Walk, We Vote
I first got directly involved with Bike Fort Collins a little over a year ago, when, after a series of senseless, heartbreaking deaths of Northern Colorado cyclists on local roads, BFC reached out to me to help lead an emergency bike safety town hall. In attendance were council members, traffic engineers, county road engineers, state patrol, the sheriff's office, state senators and over 200...
FC Walks: A Step in the Right Direction
Everyone is a pedestrian. Whether you drive a car, ride a bike, or take a bus, at some point you get off and walk. The walkability of a city has been tied to improved health, increased real estate prices, more money staying within the community, and greater overall resiliency. Studies show that building infrastructure for pedestrians (and for bicyclists) creates more jobs per dollar than...
Beginner & Family Friendly Mountain Biking in FOCO?? You bet there is!
When you think of mountain biking in Fort Collins, what comes to mind? Horsetooth Mountain Open Space. Devils Backbone. Foothills Trail, Coyote Ridge and Ginny Trail. Long steep climbs…rocky technical descents. These are definitely some of the most popular rides in town for the experienced rider. But to the young or new rider, these areas can be a painful and unpleasant introduction to the...
September Letter from the ED – the Big Picture
It was a big week for bad news about the future of the human race. In particular, two reports popped up that caught my eye. They've fortified some of my thinking about how BFC needs to evolve in the role we play, and in particular how we can leverage our limited resources and time to best advance our vision of more bikes • safe streets • one voice united for Northern Colorado cycling. In...
Racks to the Future: How Bike Parking Can Make or Break Small Businesses
Small businesses need any advantage they can get in this world of big box stores, online shopping, and chain restaurants. One often undervalued asset for local retailers and service providers is a sturdy, secure bike rack located near the establishment's entrance. It might not seem like good bicycle parking would make any difference to a business's bottom line, but studies show that it can have...