Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Porches & Pints PLUS USA Pro Challenge, Bicycle Longmont and BIKEmont






Wow, I can't believe it's been a little more than a month since my last post. Let me catch you up on what's rockin' in BIKEmont!

1. Left Hand Brewing produced and with the help of BIKEmont's other brewers - Pumphouse Brewery and Oskar Blues, they put on the best Oktoberfest BIKEmont has ever seen. That took place on September 28th & 29th. This was also the same weekend we held our first ever BIKE Prom!
Bike Prom 2012!

Bike Prom brought out 30 of Longmont's most outrageous folks. We began the ride at Oskar Blues' Tasty Weasel and ended at Oktoberfest at Roosevelt Park. We had a grand entrance and really enjoyed ourselves. I think I speak for the group when I say - we can't wait for next year.

A few great ideas for 2013 Bike Night themes came out of the night, too. "Bridesmaids Gone Wild" and "Bridezillas". Needless to say a great time was had by all.

Oktoberfest benefitted Bicycle Longmont and from the generosity of those who attended, Bicycle Longmont received $7,000. Thanks to all of you who celebrated Oktoberfest.

Also - Bicycle Longmont was invited by the USA Pro Challenge to submit an application for a 2013 stop or start in Longmont. We are very excited about this. We presented to Longmont's City Council on  Oktober 23rd and received their support the same night. Much will happen over the next two weeks. If you'd like to support us please come to the November 13th City Council meeting at 7pm. The City Council meeting is located at the Civic Center at 350 Kimbark Street. Come join us! It will be fun?

Coming up on November 10th is the Historic West Side Home Tour. Bicycle Longmont's Holiday Bike Program will benefit from this great fundraiser. We are honored to have been chosen by the neighborhood where we cruise every Wednesday night. I hope you will join us on November 10th any time between 10am and 4pm. We will have a cruiser ride starting at 11am at Roosevelt Park.

For $20 you'll get admission to the home tour and a pint of beer at Left Hand Brewery and the Tasty Weasel. Our tour will take us to each home and to both tasting rooms. Please join us for Porches & Pints!

We're going to have lots of fun. Plus I'll pull the music wagon!

Lastly, On November 5th (next Monday) we are co-hosting a happy hour beginning after 5pm. The Happy Hour will be held at the brand new Longmont Bike Garage. We've got more than 30 people RSVP'd for the event. So make plans to attend. You'll get a tour of the shop and have time to mix and mingle.

The Longmont Bike Garage is located at 1250 Hover Road in the former Sears Auto Center located on the north end of Twin Peaks Mall. You can enter through either the east or west retail doors adjacent to the over head garage doors.

Wow - that's a lot going on!

See you Monday!

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Bike Prom: Party of 35 now seating!

Tomorrow is Bike Prom and the kick off to Oktoberfest in BIKEmont! Here's your weekend itinerary and how tomorrow will shake out!

Lunch:  Skip lunch and anything fizzy you don't want to be bloated for the big event. Also - Get over to Jesters Theater to get your costume, errr. Tux.


3pm - Meet up at the Tasty Weasel for a Bike Parade!

Our friends at Left Hand Brewing, and Bicycle Longmont built a ceremonial bike trailer to haul the "Golden Keg". The Golden Keg will depart Oskar Blues' Tasty Weasel at 3pm, making it's way to Left Hand Brewery, the Pumphouse and on to Roosevelt Park where Mayor Coombs will tap the Golden Keg at 4pm. This tapping is the opening salvo to the 2012 Oktoberfest!

The Golden Keg's Chariot!
At about 5pm we'll duck back to the Weasel to get ready for Pre-Prom (6 - 7:30pm) and the Grand March (ride) to Roosevelt Park.

Bicycle Longmont will have the Bike Valet going strong tomorrow night and Saturday evening - you won't need to worry about your ride.

The Longmont YMCA has Kid-toberfest going on Friday night, too. This is the perfect opportunity to get out and have fun with out the nerve racking babysitter bill dampening your fun. The YMCA will have bike art (the kids will ride the Y's Bikes through paint, then over paper!), 6' inflatable balls, swimming and games. They will also provide healthy snacks for the kids too!

Call the Longmont YMCA to get your child signed up.

For the itinerary of Oktoberfest see below:


Friday, September 21, 2012

Bike Prom - September 28th. Make Plans

Longmont is going to be hoppin' next weekend September 28th & 29th. Oktoberfest rolls into town and  Bicycle Longmont is planning some formal fun to go along with it. Start shoppin' for that tacky prom dress, or maybe it's time to bust out one of those bridesmaid dresses! Either way - meet us at the Tasty Weasel at 7pm for Pre-Prom. Have a drink and we'll roll out to Roosevelt Park for Hey Lady and take in some Oktoberfest goodness.

The Ride is free but Bicycle Longmont hopes you'll make a $10 donation to the Kid's Holiday Bike Program, too. Check the poster below.


Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Tonight is the LAST Bike Night......

For 2012.

http://rapidfirefashion.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/ds-spring-2006.jpg
Tonight we'll host our first ever "Fall Formal" ride. Come dressed in whatever Formal means to you. I'll be in my best Colorado Tuxedo.

Our route tonight will begin at Roosevelt Park where we will gather at 6:30pm and travel the standard Old Town Route. We'll head West to Sunset then through an abreviated East side loop ending at Abondanza's. If you can't join us for the ride please join us at Abondanza's patio off the alley.

Thanks for a great, great, 2012 Bike Night Season! 

Monday, September 03, 2012

September = Great Nights for Bike Night

Well, here we are - September. 3 Bike Night's until the season ends on September 19th. After that it's all over until next Spring. Come out and join us this week. We will keep it real, in Old Town.

On the 12th we'll venture one last time to the Greenway and Lefthand brewery.

The Last Bike Night will be a fundraiser for the Kid's Holiday Bike Program. We're going to do a version of Bike Prom so come dressed in whatever formal wear you can find. If you have a favorite Prom song, let me know and I"ll create a playlist for the 19th!

Catch you this Wednesday at 6:30pm at Roosevelt Park!

rjk


Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Bike Night We're STILL Riding: Politicians & Celebrities

Good day!

Tomorrow is Bike Night and we're STILL RIDING! We'll be cruising Old Town this week. Art Alley and all!


I'm fresh off the USA PRO Challenge trail and I gotta say we live in the most beautiful state in the USA! Come out tomorrow night and see the local sights with us.Our theme this week is Politicians and Celebrities.

Catch you tomorrow night - same time, same place. Roosevelt Park - 6:30ish!

Ryan

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Bike Night is Jersey Night!

In honor of the USA Pro Challenge, Grab your  favorite sports jersey, be it Broncos Rockies or Liqui Gas (which is fun to say)! We will rock Longmont and roll to Menchies at 17th & Main Street.

We will meet at 6:30 and start at 6:40ish.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Mustache Bike Night + Flash Mob!

Tonight we will gather at 6pm to practice the electric slide to the song "Electric Boogie!" Later the ride will meet at it's regular time, 6:30pm, we'll do a brief cruise of Westside of Main Street then, cross at 6th Avenue. Once there we will park our bikes between Main Street and the Alley between Main & Kimbark. At that time we WILL do our very first EVER ----- FLASH MOB!

In addition I will have mustaches for all! Come early and dance!

See you there!

rjk

Wednesday, August 08, 2012

Monday, August 06, 2012

How's your summer?

Each week or, at least, each time I blog/post/write/type something here I try to bring a little lighthearted fun to your desktop, phone or tablet. My hope with each post, picture or link is to persuade you to ride your bike more often, to get your family, spouse, your kids, or even your parents or grand parents to ride more often. This post will be no exception. I promise.

Last spring the Bike advocacy world erupted with the realization that if we wanted to get more people riding we'd have to get families riding. Specifically, the cycling world needed more women riding, more often. 

Each spring the League of American Cyclists holds the national bike summit in DC. This year there was a focus or "track" aimed specifically at women. There was a lot written about the topics covered, the presenters, the failings, the successes and what should be added in the future. I won't try to recap all of it here but, if you want to check out a good synopsis check out Girl, Bike Love. You may want to bookmark that site too. It's a good one. 

It seemed going into June the coverage was amplified in magazines like Bicyclist, Bike, & Biking plus a host of blogs. I also noticed most magazines like tourism magazines, family magazines, as well as adventure travel magazines featured stories that included "touring by bicycle". Most pictures featured photos of women riding, laughing and enjoying themselves as they rode with families, spouses and friends through vineyards, peach orchards, scenic trails in the mountains, valleys and deserts. Of course there were also those standard photos of men and women slogging through mud, rain, and wind as they were grinding to the top of some distant mountain pass. 

My point is this, if you were feeling targeted, well, you were. 

Following the Girl.Bike.Love post and reposting here, I asked how can we get more families riding bikes? The blogs and media outlets were saying "moms", women, get them riding and the families will follow, and your community will be healthier.

So I did some "target marketting" too.  I retooled the messaging, ie th posts on the Facebook page along with this blog to reflect the conversations I was hearing during bike night, between women.  After taking mental notes over the first several bike nights and asking long time bike nighters this specific question 

"What are you guys talking about back there?" 

Most times the smiling reply was "How nice it is you're entertaining 40 kids up front so we don't have too!" Followed with "We get to be adults and have fun."  

I needed a benchmark for success. I figured Bike Night's facebook page demographics would be the best indicator. In May I looked at the demographics of the Longmont Bike Night Facebook page. That's right, demographics, statistics, ugh. math. The stuff of sophomore nightmares, anyway, I found it interesting in March the Longmont Bike Night Facebook page was split 51/49 female to male. The age bracket with the most likes was the 35 - 54 bracket. 

After a summer of blogging and reaching out to the ladies of Bike Night and through the continued success of the G'Knight Ride the overall Bike Night counts are up and our gender split has widened.  Last year Bike Night drew an average of 95 people per ride over the 19 week season. This year we've drawn as many as 233 riders. If the numbers stay on track our average will be higher than 100 riders. The interesting thing about this, is the gender break. The gender split is 61/39 female to male. The largest demographic is women ages 35 to 45. 


Even with the intentional tracking of riders, the eb and flow of website traffic, the mental notes, and the insights from popular culture, I fall back on a law of advertising and marketing - Personal testimonials and word of mouth are the best sellers of any product or service. To that point, my family and I were at Sunset Pool enjoying a lazy Saturday swimming, when a guy who was new to Bike Night  walked over and said, "My family loves Bike Night and I wanted you to know that." 

I said "Thanks." It's a fun thing and I'm glad you and your family enjoy it". 

He said, "I'm a mountain biker and cruising isn't my thing, but, my wife was talking to some friends at a party in our neighborhood, and [our friends] couldn't stop talking about how much fun they have on Bike Night. So two Wednesdays ago we packed up the bikes and the trailer and drove down to join you on our first ride. We had a blast!"
 I said, "That's awesome." 

Considering we're a little more than half-way through the Bike Night Season, this is great to see. I know from leading the rides each week there are more kids riding, there are more families coming from more places (not just Longmont), and we are getting more people riding. 
Lastly, I gotta say last weekend I got to take Anna on her first Mountain Bike Ride to Heil Ranch in the foothills west of Longmont. It was a great experience getting to ride with my first grader. We didn't go far, but we did have fun. She got to accomplish her first climb and a super fun downhill.
After we got back to the van I asked Anna what was her favorite part of the ride? I fully expected to hear, "Riding with you, Dad!" Instead, it was - "All the girl mountain bikers saying good job to me". 

Awesome.    

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Christmas in July - Happy Summer- Christmas Eve!


Bike Night is back tomorrow night! 
We’ll celebrate Christmas in July. Bring your best Christmas get up and we’ll see you at 6:30pm at Roosevelt Park!

If you sat at home thinking no one would miss you - well let me tell you  - you were missed! We had 70 riders join us last week, can we push it over 100 again this week? I think so! 

Tonight is the final Roosevelt Concert in the park ! Come down to Roosevelt and catch Two Dog Tuesday. 

These ladies ROCK!   

Also on Friday is the final Downtown Concert on 4th Avenue, and it’s the ColoRODan’s Cruise-In weekend! There will be lots of vintage cars along Kimbark Street and, I’m sure, a few retro cruiser bikes, too.

BTW – If you haven’t followed through on any of your New Year’s Resolutions – next week on August 1st we’ll celebrate New Years Day all over again! Bring the tinsel and noisemakers!

See you tomorrow!

Ryan Kragerud

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Wagons West! HO!


It's good to be back! Anna and I recently returned from our 2 week trip to Northern Minnesota, rested and energized!

Wagons EAST!
While visiting Minnesota I had the opportunity to hang with an extraordinary band of  volunteers who staff the Fargo Moorhead Bike Workshop. These people  are committed to doin’ good in the neighborhood!  

I was interested in finding out more about the Bike Workshop so I stopped into the Great Northern Bike Shop .  I spoke with Tom, the owner, and Alex, a motivated and energetic mechanic, among others. Both people felt their shop benefited from the work of the Fargo Moorhead Bike Workshop. 

In their words, the Bike Workshop gets people who aren’t going to buy a bike shop bike on safe and reliable bicycles. The Workshop provides wrenching services that help teach customers how to build, maintain and fix their bikes. These are services a bike shop can’t offer.

Throughout the week I got several chances to experience the Bike Workshop not only as a spectator but also after volunteering a couple of hours. During that time on a very hot and humid Thursday evening I got a chance to talk with Steve and Alex in depth about how their non-profit “collective” works and how jobs are divvied up. The FM Bike Workshop has a collective group of volunteers who meet on Sundays who identified the jobs that didn’t get done from the previous week, assemble a bike parts order, discuss current topics and plan for upcoming community events.


I returned later that week on Sunday for their collective meeting. Items on the agenda were shop cleaning, organizational development and collective oversight, how to fill out the receipt book, how to register a sale of fundraiser bikes, the weekly parts order, and a discussion of BikeBike! Which had just taken place in Vancouver BC.    

It was refreshing to hear a group of dedicated volunteers having a progressive and positive discussion about bikes, with the a common vision of moving Fargo forward. Fargo had recently been recognized by Bicycling Magazine as an up-and-coming place for biking. Fargo had made great strides in becoming more bicycle friendly over the past few years. According to a couple of riders I met during the Great Northern’s weekly “Fargo Family Bike Night” A lot of this is due to advocates in the community and an increasing number of organized rides led by community volunteers.

The night Anna, my Dad and I rode with them  there were upwards to 40 people riding along. It reminded me of Bike Night 4 or 5 years ago.
Cruising Broadway!

Having been born and raised in the Fargo-Moorhead area I thought I knew Fargo backwards and forwards. After the ride I clearly understood – I have become a tourist in my hometown. It was great riding bikes rediscovering the town where so much of my life was spent.  

Prior to leaving the Bike Shop on our family cruise I remember hoping we’d return by riding Broadway. Shortly after leaving  Island Grove Park we made our turn north on to Broadway. Cruising Broadway on bikes was great, something I hadn’t felt since riding bikes for the first time down Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis shortly after graduating from college in 1994.

I took away several things from my time in Minnesota and Fargo, North Dakota. 1 is getting people together to ride bikes is truly a community building event. 2. We really want to do good for other people. 3. Exploring new and new-to-you places is more fun when there’s bikes and free Gelato involved. And, finally, eventhough my family got a brief mention here, they are a super-fun bunch of people!

Wagons WEST!
This Wednesday is our Bike Night so please join us at 6:30pm at Roosevelt Park. Last week 158 people joined us. This week the theme will be Disco! So grab your platforms, Gold Lemay and your jump suit and join us.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Wednesday - Princesses Bike to Work!

Ok, not really. Unless you want to ride to work in a ball gown, then by all means Bike to Work like the Princess you are!

Tomorrow is the 2012 Colorado Bike to Work Day and it also happens to be Bike Night, too! Bicycle Longmont and the City of Longmont have done a stellar job lining up a total of SEVENTEEN! (17) stations for your cruising pleasure!

The list includes 13 breakfast stations and 4 after-work stations. Tomorrow morning you will get anything from pancakes (Civic Center, 350 Kimbark Street) to Santiago's Breakfast Burritos (Twin Peaks Mall, (near the RTD Park N' Ride at the SW corner of Twin Peaks Mall), the YMCA (9th & Lashley), Johnston Chiropractic (Mtn. View & Hover Road), and Ace Hardware (17th & Main Street)! Panera Bread is donating bagels to all 13 stations as well. Great Harvest will provide bread slices and other goodies at the Longmont Musuem, too! In addition to these fine foods, you'll find a variety of fruit, Lara Bars, biking information, and drinks.

1. Flight Deck @ the Airport off Airport Road
2. Vics Coffee @ Nelson & Airport Road
3. Mr. Bean - Coffee Shop near 17th & Hover
4. Johnston Chiropractic at Mountain View & Hover - Breakfast Burritos
5. Longmont United Hospital
6. Twin Peaks Mall - Breakfast will be near Dillards in the SW corner
of the parking lot - Hot Breakfast - Breakfast Burritos
7. Ace Hardware - 17th & Main Street
8. Civic Center - 350 Kimbark Downtown - Hot Breakfast - Pancakes
9. Java Stop - 3rd & Main Street
10. Starbucks at 17th & Pace
11. YMCA at 9th & Lashley - Hot Breakfast - Breakfast Burritos
12. Red Frog at Harvest Junction - Ken Pratt Boulevard
& Main Street
13. Longmont Museum - Quail Road


For your post-work ride we've got you covered. Oskar Blues Brewery will host riders at both the Homemade Liquids & Solids location (Hover & the Diagonal) as well as the Tasty Weasel. Riders will enjoy $2 pints at HMLS and the first 50 to the Tasty Weasel will get Water Bottles and stickers!

Lefthand Brewery's Tasting Room will specials for Cyclists, too!

Menchies, Longmont's newest Yogurt shop will have special deals to cool you down, too!

Following the Bike to Work day festivities run home and grab your cruiser and join us for a fun trip around Old Town. We'll meet at Roosevelt Park at 6:30pm and cruise the streets, Art Alley and the Historic Eastside Neighborhood.

Fourth of July there will be a Bike Night - however, we will need a ride leader for this ride!

I will be in Hawley Minnesota for that week.

Enjoy the day, stay cool and get ready for Bike to Work Day and Bike Night, tomorrow!

Monday, June 18, 2012

G’knight Ride Wrap Up – & - Bike Night Brings the Jammies!

Well here we are on the other side of another great G’Knight Ride. I’m sitting here eating my lunch and thinking about the fun and excitement that led up to the best damn cruiser fest in Northern Colorado

I really love the Monday after the event. This is the time where people get to ask their co-workers, “What did you do this weekend?”  I just know every G’Knight rider smiled & said, “Well…. Let me tell ya!”


So I’m askin’? Leave a comment below and tell everyone your favorite part.

I think mine was seeing everything coming together, transforming Prospect Park into “party central”.  Raising the big screen and seeing all the smiling faces shining back. Having a beer grooving to the Samples, rockin’ to Runnin’ with Scissors. Maybe it was rollin’ through Longmont’s coolest neighborhoods, seeing neighbors in lawn chairs watching the parade, or seeing lil’ kids selling Lemonade. Or maybe being just one of the masses at The Tasty Weasel & Lefthand Brewery. Of course there was 5th & Main, too. Mmmmm. Donuts.
Anyway you look at it, the G’Knight Ride is fast becoming a hallmark event in Longmont!

Photo Courtesy Century Cycles - Cleveland
As we close the chapter on the G’Knight Rdie and begin reading people’s G’Knight stories, we get to start looking toward Longmont’s weekly cruiser ride – BIKE NIGHT!  It’s coming up fast.

This Wednesday we’ll do a destination ride – Old Town to Oskar Blues’ Tasty Weasel. As you might recall, Wednesdays in June are “Ride Wednesday’s” which means when you buy a beer at either the Tasty Weasel or Lefthand Tap House, show them your helmet and Bicycle Longmont will get a buck!

WOOT!

You may be wondering what the theme is, well being that this is our Solstice Ride – you’ll be out late, so jump in your jammies and ride to Roosevelt. Our route this week will take in a little Old Town, then make the trek to the Tasty Weasel.

For those folks not wanting to ride all the way to the Tasty Weasel, we’ll have a bail out as we pass Roosevelt a second time on our way ‘round the neighborhood. See the map for the route. 

Photo Courtesy Century Cycles - Cleveland OH
As always we’ll meet at 6:30PM in front of the Senior Center. This is also the week where we typically start at 7pm. To honor that commitment we will pass through the park again at 7:15ish. This will be great for those wanting to start at 7pm.

So bring your jammies, I’ll bring the jams, and we’ll all rock to the Weasel.
rjk