Here's the  LINK  to the Longmont Traffic Safety Fund info page:

Apologies for an ill-spent Summer.....

This week marks the last Bike Night for the 2014 season.

The Longmont Bike Night Blog.is set as my homescreen. So every morning I see it and think to my self - "Gotta update that thing..."

Clearly, I didn't.

I know a lot of you get your BN info from this blog and I hope you accept my sincerest apologies. Next year.... will be better.

So - please join us this Wednesday for the final Bike Night. We meet at the flagpoles in Roosevelt Park at 6:30pm. Being that this is the last Bike Night we'll probably go somewhere afterward, too. So bring some cash.

Thanks for a good summer and a great Bike Night season!

Ryan

Bike Month Wrap Up!

Today marks the end of a HISTORIC coloRADo Bike Month. Read on to learn more about the awesome things you helped us do!

First the Bike Longmont Board of Directors want to send out a heartfelt THANK YOU, to everyone who took advantage of our programs, services or fun filled events this month!
  
Together we crammed: A history making City Council meeting, Oskar Blues Brewery's Burning Can, Bicycle Longmont's G'Knight Ride Left Hand Brewing Company’s Culture Jam, 5 Longmont Bike Night's, 6 Bike Valet events, 3 Saturday morning cruises, and Colorado Bike (and take your bacon) to Work Day into one month. AND, we supported the growing Kinetics at Union Reservoir.

 

During Bike Month we continued our regional activism, too! During June we helped Bike Fort Collins launch - Fort Collins' first Bike Night. They call it the Family and Bikes ride or FAB Ride for short!

We worked with Bike Carbon Valley 's Tour de Flight in Frederick to provide bike valet racks.

Bike Longmont did a fair amount of fundraising this month, too. With the help of the Colorado Beer Trail, Bootstrap Brewing Company and Left Hand Brewing Company we were able to turn beer in to bike money for our programs.

Through your participation in the G’Knight Ride we were able to raise money to support Longmont’s FIRST community based non-profit bike shop. The Longmont Bike Garage which will support an Earn-a-Bike program, bike rentals (including tag-a-longs) and the Kid’s Holiday Bike program, too.
Lastly – and possibly most importantly,- Bike Longmont made history this month.

After a year of hard work our tenacious efforts paid off. In June, Bicycle Longmont successfully created the Longmont Traffic Safety Fund.Through the support of City Council, Advocacy Advance, Bicycle Colorado, and the City Manager’s office, Longmont will have a fund that will provide ongoing funding for road safety programs to make our streets safer for cyclists, pedestrians and motorists!

Wow - That's a lot, BUT we need your help. In order to continue being successful we need more volunteers. Specifically we need volunteers to help with our Bike Vale service. Bike Valet volunteers typically enjoy connecting with the community and sometimes food & beer during brewery events. 

Bike Valet is easy and you can volunteer whenever it fits your schedule. Shifts are generally 2 hours and you're paired with a veteran, too.

We hope you'll consider helping us out. Bike Valet is Bike Longmont's most visible and substantive outreach service. If you're interested email us through info@bicyclelongmont.org.

Thanks for a great, historic Bike Month!

GKR 2014

G'KNIGHT RIDE IS TODAY!

SEE YOU THERE!

www.gkride.com

Git Yer TWANG on, Fort Collins Bike Night and GKR 2014!

Tonight's theme is Denim & Diamonds or Country & Western! Grab your #Coloradotuxedo and join us, 6:30pm Roosevelt Park near the flagpoles. Also - download the app "Glympse" to find us on the route. This app is great for finding Bike Night if you arrive late.

In other news, for all our fans in Fort Collins, Bike Night Fort Collins will launch on June 12th! Their ride's name is Families and Bikes or the FAB Ride! We're excited to be partnering with our friends if FoCo to launch this ride.

They will ride the second Thursday of each month. June's ride will meet at Spring Park in College Heights neighborhood at 6pm. Tell your friends in Fort Collins to attend.

Also - G'Knight Ride is NEXT WEEK! Are you registered? This year's band line up is AWESOME! We have the Freddy Jones Band ( check the video here), Fort Collins' THUNK and a host of other great talent. Join us June 14th at Roosevelt Park for our "Annual Celebration of Cycling".

See you tonigtht and next week!

May 21st, Bike Night will observe the National Ride of Silence.

We're asking riders to wear white t-shirts. The ride will meet at 6:30pm at Roosevelt Park near the flag poles on the east end of the park.

The ride will depart Roosevelt between 6:30 & 6:40. We will have music and carry on until 7pm. At 7pm the music will be shut off, and the rest of the ride will continue in silence.

We will pause at the top of Sunset Hill & Sunset Golf Course for a moment of silence. Then continue east through Old Town.

May 14th, 2014 we will be back, back in black, celebrating a decade of decadence! Join us at 6:30pm in Roosevelt Park near the flag pole/turnaround.

Ryan

Subtle reminder. In case anyone was wondering or had forgotten! 

See you in 4 Weeks!

Annual Party and Bike Night Returns

 I want to invite all y'all to the Bike Longmont Annual shin-dig at Left Hand Brewery tomorrow afternoon (3/16/2014) from 3-5pm.

It's going to be fun and we'll update you on what we've got going on this summer. We're going to have a great time. Join us!

One other thing, Bike Night returns 5/14/2014!

Click here for the link to the Bicycle Longmont presentation given at the Colorado Bike Summit.

TIME TO RIDE!

Football & Bikes?

Besides being sports and major pastimes for many Coloradans, Bike Longmont saw the Bronco’s win, as an opportunity to reach Bronco fans who, may or may not ride regularly.  The Orange Ride is a fun, laid back way to have fun and get a little rowdy on a Wednesday night.

There are a lot of folks who enjoy cycling and football. Bringing the two together to support the Bronco’s seemed like a good idea. Bicycle Longmont prides itself on taking a non-traditional approaches to getting more people on the road.

Since 2010 Bike Longmont added Longmont Bike Night. Since then the two have done some pretty cool things. The Orange Ride is just another in a long and fun list.  

Why craft beer. 

If you’ve followed Longmont Bike Night you know Left Hand is a favorite stop and Oskar Blues is a storied supporter of  It seemed to make sense to include Longmont’s favorite craft breweries in our ride.

Bike Night and the G’Knight Ride. Also – in an interview Payton Manning mentioned he’d have a Bud Light following the interview. Colorado is the epicenter of craft brewing in the nation.

Headlights are needed and helmets encouraged for adults and required for kids.

Route & Timing:

There will be stops along the way, but the ride IS family-friendly and free. We encourage you to bring your family to Cyclhops at 5:00pm with the ride leaving  at 5:30pm on Wednesday the 29^th. However, if you have elementary or younger children, we ask that you meet us at Roosevelt Park at 7pm. We will take a safe route along Dry Creek greenway to Twin Peaks Mall, then east to Price Road and on to Left Hand for a brief stop before climbing into Old Town. If you venture with us from Southwest Longmont the ride will easily top 15 miles.  Joining us at Roosevelt Park will put the ride easily within the range for elementary kids. We will finish before 8pm ending at Breaker’s downtown at 4^th & Main Street.

What if I can’t make it? Is anyone else doing this?

The Orange ride is more than just Longmont. Bike Longmont reached out to other social rides across Colorado. We are urging people who’ve participated in the G’Knight Ride, Longmont Bike Night, Boulder’s Happy Thursday Ride, Pueblo Cruiser Rides, Buena Vista Cruisers, and the Denver Cruiser Ride to do their own Orange Ride and publicize it through social media.

While the big game may come around every year, our team and state pride, only gets one shot at a win every now and then. If you’re into cycling and cannot make the Longmont Orange Ride, do your own thing. The next two weekends look great for biking in the cul-de-sac, downtown or to your favorite craft brewery.

How many people will show up on Wednesday the 29^th. At 7pm, Roosevelt Park?

1 more if you do, twice as many if you bring a friend!

Thanks!

The 2013 Bike Night season is over and we had a great run. We kicked off the new season with over 210 people taking part. Huge numbers continued to roll with us through June. Our June average was 187 people per ride!

What does that mean? It means Bike Night gets folks on bikes. This year we had more people participate than in any other season. Our season total was 2,405.

Through out the season we had a GoPro camera mounted on the Audio Rockit and on a number of bikes. From all that footage we cobbled together the video below. I hope you enjoy it and share it with friends.

If you're like me you've got friends who just don't quite "get" bike night. Perhaps the video will help them.

See you in 2014 on May 14th - to be exact!

Ryan

One. MORE. BIKE NIGHT!

Get out here this Wednesday night! We're 38 people away from breaking 2,400 riders this year. Don't leave us hanging!

You might wonder what the impact of 2,400 riders might be? 2,400
16,800 miles ridden
252,000 calories burned

Which is roughly equivalent to 2,117 beers or 507 cupcakes!

If your friends think Bike Night is cute - but not for them, ask 'em how they feel about cupcakes & beer!

See you tomorrow night for ONE MORE BEAUTIFUL BIKE NIGHT!

Also - If you're looking for a way to give to the flood relief effort there is a new way to do so. Oskar Blues Brewery has created a Foundation that will distribute donated funds of up to $100,000 to flood victims.

Check it out at foundation.oskarblues.com.

ORANGE RIDE! This Wednesday.

Grab your favorite orange something-or-other for the Bike Night Orange Ride!
Meet up at 6:30pm at 4th & Terry Street. It's gonna be awesome. Our route will take us around the west side but plan on cruising the east side, too!

rjk

Grease Sing-a-long - Wednesday!

This Wednesday's theme is Grease! Dust off your leather jacket, shake out your poodle skirt and join us for Greaser's & Poodle Skirts AKA Grease sing a long. We meet at 6:30pm at 4th & Terry Street, tomorrow night - Wednesday! Our route will take us through Old Town.

Bike Night wants to know - What's your function!

Conjunction, junction - what's your function????

Figure it out and then join us tonight as we celebrate "Back to School" with School House Rock! See you tonight at 6:30pm - 4th & Terry Street. Times Call parking lot!

Attention SUPER HEROES & Super Kids!

Happy Monday!

The Theme for this week’s Bike Night is SUPER HEROES! Plus we will have Kid’s Night Bike Night!

We will meet for SUPER HERO Bike Night at 6:30pm. HOWEVER – Kid’s Night will precede the regular Bike Night at 6pm. If you show up earlier, that’s OK.

Kid’s Night Bike Night is a long standing tradition that goes back to 2009. At that time one of Bike Night’s regular families proposed a night where kids could play bike games and learn to ride safely.

Since then Kid’s Night Bike Night has grown and become a lot of fun. We now offer Kid’s Night closer to the beginning of the school year. My goal through Bike Night is to get more families riding together and to get more kid’s riding safely to school.

This is the reason Bike Night asks that kids ride on the street and learn to signal turns and be aware of what’s going on around them. Kid’s Bike Night focuses on teaching kids to ride together, ride safely, and to have fun!

Kid’s Night will begin at 6:00pm. Games will follow and will conclude with a mini- cruise around the  neighborhood. The mini-cruise will go from the Times Call Parking  lot around Thompson Park and back.

Games will include a few Bike Rodeo activities plus Bike Night favorites:

1.      Rock Dodge

2.      Newspaper Delivery

3.      Riding in a group.

4.      Helmet Check

5.      ABC- Quick Checks

6.      Straight – line riding

7.      Calling turns and working on stopping.

8.      Plus much more!

There will be a Kid's Cruiser Ride beginning at 6:20ish.

Lastly – we are fielding a team we’re calling TEAM BIKE NIGHT! If you’d like to be a part of the Bike Night organizing group let me know. I’m hoping to do trainings during the August Bike Nights that will enable more people to be Bike Night leaders next year!

See you Wednesday!

Wednesday - Jersey Ride THURSDAY - le Tour DQ! & Chicken Dance Video

Howdy!

Welcome to Tuesday night! Just 24 hours until the next installment of Bike Night kicks off. We began last week at 4th & Terry. This was the first start from a different location in over 10 years. I'd say it went pretty well. Thank you to everyone who found the location and to those of you way-finders who found us.

Last week as you know was our Flash Mob Bike Ride and I'd say it went swimmingly. The counts for riders were upward to 180ish people. Nice work. I've posted the chicken dance video from Youtube! Enjoy.

Bike Night - 2013

BIKE NIGHT - WEDNESDAY
This week we do our part as bike riders to celebrate the le Tour de EPO, errr, I mean France. Therefore, you are encouraged to dawn your best lycra,jersey, or otherwise (Bronco's, Nuggets, Rockies, Rapids, the Lacrosse team, USA Pro Jersey whatever) and join us on Wednesday night.

I am going to try and piece together something with Bob Roll and Phil Leggit, so wish me luck.....


ON THURSDAY!!
Because so much of everything revolving around "THE" tour could be likened to a circus, we might as well have fun, too! So Bike Night, Bicycle Longmont and DQ are presenting the first ever le Tour DQ. (It's funny. You should be laughing now!).

We will begin at Roosevelt Park somewhere between the Senior Center and the Memorial Building at 6:30pm. Why not 4th & Terry? Because we didn't include non-Bike Night's in our insurance rider. So, we're back to Roosevelt for this one time special ride.

PLEASE Bring or get a headlight for your bike, especially for the kids, and helmets are encouraged. The ride will be longer than Bike Night and we will finish later than typical.

le Tour DQ will be about 13 miles probably a little more with weaving and random departures from the route. Follow the previous link to view the most likely route. We will swing pass Roosevelt on our way south to the Hover DQ. At that time - Parents, guardians, friends, countrymen, with kids, needing a break, can bail out early. Otherwise - we will be on our way south to the Ken Pratt Boulevard/Hover DQ!

We will depart the south DQ destined for our end point - the downtown DQ.

Disclaimer - you do not need to buy ice cream at every stop, or, at any of the stops. Like Bike Night - there is no need to spend money to have fun on a bike.

PRIZES
We will have coupons for free blizzards - AND - we'll have some other cool things for people to win. 

We will have a prize for 
Best lit bike, 
Best Costume 
Most creative use of the term French! (Remember, there will be kids there......) 

Until I remember some other detail...... We'll see you tomorrow night at 6:30pm for BIKE NIGHT!