Roadside Mysteries

The League of American Bicyclists has awarded the town of Fort Collins the “Platinum” level for bicycle friendly communities. That means that this town is at the same bike friendly level as 1) Boulder (I don’t like biking in Boulder as much as the fort: Too hilly!);  2) Portland OR (There are a lot of cyclists there because of an overabundance of commuters who have lost their driving privileges); and 3) Davis, CA (Well, OK, they are decades ahead of everyone else, but who likes California anyway?)

Bike to the rails

Asad and Jimmy in front of car #21

These two were happily taking passengers from City Park to the historic Avery House and beyond (beyond being a block and a half further down Mountain Avenue) aboard the 94 year old Birney trolley. There were groups of CSU graduation parties who had time to take an historic ride before leaving for DIA on Sunday night.

Bike to the park:

Not the Yangtze River

But along Spring Creek at the College Avenue crossing there are these figures (possibly drawings on paper glued onto the concrete) that appear to be of ancient Chinese people. At least the two on the right look like depictions of Qin Warriors from the terracotta army of Xian.

Bike to Java ?

And lastly, a Javanese Gamelan Orchestra

Who were short one drummer and enlisted the trolley conductor as a last minute stand-in (He still is wearing his conductor hat)

…All on a Sunday afternoon.

The next Level is called DIAMOND. No towns in the US are that bicycle friendly… yet!

Entered on 12/12/12 at 12:12

Oh NO! Winter Bike To Work. Let’s go check out some of the breakfast spots:

Stop #1 Banana muffins and cinnamon rolls, coffee too.

Presented by ‘Branch Out Cider’ and the Ski Chicken Coop as featured in the Fort Collins Tour de COOP chicken coop bike ride which I have yet to participate. The cider company is looking for your apples!

Stop #2: Bacon Burritos!

…and some veggie burritos I didn’t try, but I’m sure they were good. Old town Spice Shop did this one, and the burritos were indeed spicy. This was located in the back parking lot of:

The OtterBox Company

They gave away a few goodies: I got an OtterBox hat  and an OtterBox Bicycle bell. Otterbox donated $1.3 million to the FCMOD for their Digital Dome theater. That’s why it’s called “The Otterbox Digital Dome Theater”.

New This Year

Riders can use their smart phones to check-in at each breakfast place. Since my cell phone is ONLY A PHONE = No Camera, No Internet, No cook stove, etc., I couldn’t read this QR code as it were.

Stop # 3 from the Rio and Climate Wise

This was on Oak Street Plaza where Bloco em FoCo plays on First Fridays. Beleza!

Stop # 4 at the Food Co-op and sponsored by the Bohemian Foundation

The Food Co-op was working on some kind of theme for this bike to work day. Because it was 12/12/12 they were getting ready for the zombie apocalypse by making sure the bike riders had an ample supply of espresso cookies,  java bites and gluten free oatmeal. They even had someone available for “Zombie Face Painting” in case you wanted to blend in with the zombies. ??

Stop #5 – The old standard = New Belgium Brewing with co-sponsor Ridekick

Here they had something called “Vegetarian Sausage” or apparently imitation pig scraps created by food scientists for vegetarian consumption.  Actually the ’sausage’ was not that bad. I also test-drove the new Ridekick Burley electric trailer conversion. Very nice! It would make a nice Christmas gift.

Stop # 6 In-Situ and Tastebuds

These guys seem to always have the best coffee but you have to ride the Poudre River path to get there. It’s worth it!

Stop #7 by the Bike Library and Bike Co-op

Serving oatmeal at the Happy Lucky. We’ve been to their basement for Haunted Fort Collins a while ago. It’s spooky still.

So, what about those QR codes? Well, if you had a smart phone you could have scanned in the code and by the end of the morning the bike Fort Collins folks would have collected data on your travels that might look like this:

Data from the FCGOV.COM website showing where I went on 12/12/12

Of course not having a smart phone meant that I came home after the ride and manually put the scans in. If they tracked the time, it might look like I traveled to all these places in less than 3 minutes. Ha!

and the Trans-American Electric Bike Tour!

With Boris and Anna

Who are riding across America on their Evelo Electric Bikes in an attempt to make bicycling more appealing? Well, not in Fort Collins where everyone rides a damn bike; It’s more for those who think riding a bike is too much work– hence the electric assist.

EZ Pedaler electic folding bike ($2140)

The A2B Metro ($3000)

Editor’s Note: The month of May has been a lost month because we now own a new Apple iPad, the one with the Retina display. I know, I was going to wait for the NEXT BIG THING but now the damage has been done. I have not touched my camera for two weeks; I’ve been practicing using the iPad camera functions. And those apps that you can load… I hope I can break the habit! Help Me!

and it includes beer:

The New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado

Makers of Fat Tire, 1554, Blue Paddle, Sunshine Wheat, Abbey, Trippel, Ranger IPA, Shift and a bunch more this location has what everyone says has the best brewery tour ever. Strange, I’ve been on  this tour before– I don’t think I ever stuck it in this blog. With the Tour de Fat being so crazy and all, who has the time?

Suzie, our tour guide

Everyone who works here seems happy.  If Willy Wonka made beer, it would be like this, but without the Oompa Loompas of course. (They would probably recite some silly song about the evils of public drunkenness)

Some brew kettles

Something you see more and more of in this town as microbreweries spring up on every corner. I just heard that even the elegant old Moot House is getting into the micro-brew game.

Suzie with more beer

You get to taste maybe five beers on this tour and if you are fast, maybe two more. It’s a free tour and even though there is a waiting list to get on the tour, on weekdays you may find an opening at the last minute. Just ask ‘em at the front gate if you visit NBB.

Fat Tire Bike

Employees get their own limited release Fat Tire bike on their first anniversary with New Belgium plus they get a catered free lunch on their birthdays. After 5 years it’s an all-expense paid trip to Belgium.  If I wasn’t so busy, I’d get a job at this place. Maybe beer tasting?