Bike Night Advice: Be Safe, Well Lubed and Stylish

This week you get a two for one on the advice.

 Here. We. Go!

So far we’ve talked a little bit about safety and the Bike Night Rules. Please continue to remind your kids about safe cycling. Especially taking the time to talk safety with your family and what they can do to stay safe during Bike Night and on the road.

Now that you’re an expert with the safety and such, let’s look at your bike(s). Are your brakes working? Are your tires holding air? Is your chain rusty? Are your wheel bolts or skewers tight? If you have gears do they shift properly?

Like windex – grease or lubricant can fix a lot of woes. Make plans to go to one of Longmont’s bike shops and pick yourself up some chain lube, or if you’re cheap, like me, you can run over to your neighbor’s car and siphon out some motor oil, or, better yet, use your own from that `10-w40 quart sliding around in your trunk.

OK – now that you’re back from the store, your trunk, or the neighbor’s, apply a generous amount to your chain  while turning your crank. DO NOT APPLY LUBE directly to your derailleur (that thing dangling from your rear wheel). This could botch things up inside of the housing/mechanism.

Did you hear that? Your bike’s drivetrain just sighed with relief.

(BTW – you’re better off spending the money to buy chain lube – if you use motor oil, the oil will collect dust and ultimately you’ll need to “de-grease” your bike, which sucks).

Next – tires.

Like you (and me), your tires don’t like winter much, and like us if your tires aren’t used regularly they get flat and saggy. SO – grab your air pump and get busy. You’ve got miles to ride and there’s fun to be had!

Grab an air gauge and check your PSI. The proper tire pressure can be found on the sidewall of your tire. On 26inch cruiser and mountain bike tires, they usually clock in around 35 – 45psi. Road tires and 700c wheels often have much higher psi’s. BUT – I’m guessing if you have a road bike you might already know that.

There are two kinds of air valves – Presta & Shraeder. Shraeder valves are the ones everyone is accustomed too. They’re used on your car, on just about anything that requires air. So if you have shraeder valve stems you’re in business.

However, if you have PRESTA valves, well, you can do two things 1. Blame the French and 2. Buy a cheater. A cheater is a handy brass fitting available at any bike shop. A cheater converts your presta valve into a common shraeder valve. I highly recommend buying one for your bike(s).

Otherwise, with most cycling related pumps there are presta options and/or shraeder valve options. You shouldn’t have a problem finding a pump that has either or both.
Uh oh – you’ve got a hole in your tube. Good thing you went to the Bike shop and picked up that handy dandy patch kit, right? Patch kits are awesome, especially when they work. To find out the quick and easy way to change your tire and patch your tube – go to “You Tube” and search for changing a bike tube/tire fix a flat etc. There are a lot of great tutorials out there.

Now that you’ve successfully reinstalled, tightened, and aired your tires up, lubed your chain and things are shifting properly.  

Do you feel like something’s missing?

That’s right! A headlight, tail light and a bell. All three can be had at a bike shop or by going to any of the big box stores. However, the one headlight I like is one sold at Bike N Hike. It’s an LED light and has a rubber mount that stretches and fits any handlebar out there. It’s great for quickly swapping between bikes. I forget the name. But Dave or Rick will know what you’re describing.

Bells are great and I think they help you to make your bike your own. There are a lot of options and I’d search online and find one that fits your personality.

Speaking of customizing your ride – This week is all about that. Do yourself a favor and troll pinterest or google or whatever, and find some cool baskets, basket liners, stickers and helmets.

www.nirve.com has great accessories

www.electrabike.com is probably the cadilac of cruisers and they have a lot of really nice bike corture.

www.nutcasehelmets.com  AWESOME Helmets! 

You don't have to wear a helmet on Bike Night, but if your bike is a statement about you and who you are, why not have a helmet that says as much?

Right now much of the bike industry is scurrying to figure out what women want, and by-and-large- women are more likely to customize their bikes with items that are style driven and not-so-much functional.  So what I’m saying is there are a lot of cute things out there for your bike. 

This designer is local and her basket liners are awesome. Check em out.  Especially if you're into going to the Farmer's Market!

www.bettybasketliners.com/ 

Like a good little blogger I should have a ton of links for you – but I don’t. Except this one www.google.com . You can find just about anything there.

I hope this installment is helpful and you and yours will be safe, well lubed, and stylish. Bike Night is only 2 weeks away!

4 Weeks til BIKE NIGHT!

We are just four weeks until the new  10^th season of Bike Night begins. Between now and then I’ll be posting things you can do to get yourself AND your family ready for BIKE NIGHT!

This week focus on bike safety with your kids.

Make time at dinner, riding in the car, or waiting in line to talk about bike safety. Start by asking “What does it mean to be safe when biking?” Some answers can be, wear a helmet or ride on the correct (right) side of the road. Another question could be “When riding on the street should we ride in the bike lane or on the sidewalk?” The answer to this is we should always ride in the Bike Lane)  whenever one is available or on the street, with kids, staying to the right as is safe.

My favorite question is “What are the rules of Bike Night”?

1. Have fun!
2. Kids in the bike lane!
3. Is Bike Night a race? (NO!)
4. What do we say if there’s a car BEHIND US? (Car BACK!)
5. What do we say if there’s a car INFRONT of us? (CAR UP!)
6. If there is a car back, we MUST move over to the right and let the car pass.
7. If there is a car up, we MUST move over to our right and let the car pass.
8. Do we ride all over the road? (NO) We must stay in our lane and never cross the yellow or white lines.
9. Should we stop at stop signs? (YES!)
10. Should we ride on the sidewalk during Bike Night? (NO! Never, ever ride on the sidewalk).
11. The last rule of Bike Night – Tell your friends and neighbors to join us EVERY Wednesday!

Have fun and lets hope this snow melts, SOON!

Marching ON!

Well, it’s been awhile!

Here’s an info graphic that sums up a year in the life of Bicycle Longmont! Notice that all ya Bike Nighters constitute 22% of the total participants of Bicycle Longmont’s rides! Woohoo! We’ve got a lot in store for Bike Night this year, the G’Knight Ride and a lot of general bike related goodness!

BUT, First!

These warm spring-like temps have got me thinking spring! Who’s with me on this? With spring comes a host of events that should get you in the mood and on the right path to have the best biking season, yet!

First Up is Lefthand Brewery’s Hops & Handrails on March 23^rd!  Left Hand’s new winter event will feature 23 of Colorado’s finest craft breweries alongside a 25’ high ski ramp at Left Hand Brewery from 2-7 p.m. Hops & Handrails Beer Fest & Rail Jam will bring the best Colorado has to offer in a family friendly winter wonderland loaded with skis & snowboards, great music, local food, and craft beer. Hops & Handrails will benefit 3 different nonprofits, SOS Outreach, A Woman’s Work, and the Colorado Brewers Guild.

Check  this out for more info!

Next, we have Bicycle Longmont’s 3^rd Annual Film Fest: Our film fest is back and is coming up on April 17^th & 18^th. We will hold it at the Dickens Opera House doors will open both nights beginning at 6pm. 

The first night, April 17^th will be a double feature Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (7pm)  & Breaking Away (9pm)! We will have lots of cool stuff to give away and we will even have a couple bikes on hand that were in the “Little 500” race depicted in “Breaking Away!”

April 18^th, we welcome back Mike Dion who last brought us “Ride the Divide”, will be back to present his latest feature film “Reveal the Path”. This is a great movie that follows several mountain bikers as they embark on a journey to ride a handful of “Epic Rides”. Along the way each rider talks about their personal journey that is heartfelt and sincere. This movie will get you inspired for your cycling season.

Mike Dion will be available following the film for a question and answer period. So bring your questions and enjoy the films!

April 19^th Bicycle Longmont will benefit from the “Microbreweries for the Environment” fundraiser at the Boulder Theater. Over 20 local breweries will be on hand pouring their beverages. Bicycle Longmont and Oskar Blues are providing transportation for 30 of our super fans aboard the OB Beer Trolley.

Festivities will begin at 5pm with a happy hour at the Tasty Weasel that will go from 5pm to 7pm. This, too, will be a fundraiser for Bicycle Longmont with a buck from every beer sold during that time going to support Bicycle Longmont.

We are sure we have more than 30 super fans so we will also organize a group bike ride to Boulder, too. 

The ride will leave the Tasty Weasel around 6:30, via the LOBO trail. There will be a limited number of tickets available for sale at the Tasty Weasel beginning Monday, March 18^th, 2013. If you’d like to participate please purchase your tickets online by going to the Boulder Theater’s website. www.bouldertheater.com . Tickets are $24 online.    

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!

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:

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.

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

For 2012.

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! 

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

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

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.

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

Bike Night tonight! Theme - School House Rock

Hey All,

Quick post to let you know tonight's theme is School House Rock!

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.    

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 4^th 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 1^st we’ll celebrate New Years Day all over again! Bring the tinsel and noisemakers!

See you tomorrow!

Ryan Kragerud