GJ Walking & Biking Trail Summit

Yes, you read correctly! Join GVB for the inaugural Trails Summit to highlight the importance of a walkable and bikable community here in our Grand Valley.  The Summit will bring together local businesses, leaders, engineers and citizens as well as a national visionary, Dan Burden!  Register at www.trailsummit.com today and be part of the conversation on March 8th!

 

Click on the poster to enlarge it and email us at grandvalleybikes@gmail.com to receive a poster to hang at work.

Grand Valley Bikes , your local 501c3 bicycle advocacy organization, applauds the City of Grand Junction of setting their goal to be “The Most Livable Community West of the Rockies” by 2025.  We appreciate the added bike lanes, sidewalks, wider shoulders, and trails that have been added as new projects have been built. The continuation of the Riverfront trail has been an outstanding example of adding to the livability of the Grand Valley. We encourage the City Council to continue adding multimodal facilities to create safer pedestrian and biking in Grand Junction and to continue toward being the Most Livable Community West of the Rockies.

GVB has seen many issues come up that highlight the need for pedestrian and bicycling infrastructure around district 51 schools, community parks, east-west bicycle corridors and connectivity to those areas. There is now an opportunity to improve and clean up some of the problem areas that have developed in past years. The City of Grand Junction is asking Grand Junction voters for permission to retain tax revenues to continue to fund projects that benefit the community and the economy. The full story can be found on the city's website.

A livable community allows everyone to move around safely, especially those that aren’t driving including elderly populations and school-age children. We want to welcome a burgeoning retirement community, who may target the Grand Valley as home, as well as young professionals looking for a great place to move to and raise children. A walkable, bikeable, livable community benefits all ages of people and improves the economy, health and of our community.

PLEASE take the two-question online survey. Perhaps suggest the City take this opportunity to make our Grand Valley The Most Livable Community West of the Rockies by 2025 by devoting upcoming funds for multimodal transportation infrastructure in areas where problems currently exist.

We want 100 miles of bikes lanes for Christmas

How would you improve the community of Grand Junction if you had $100 million dollars to spend?

The City of Grand Junction is asking Grand Junction voters for permission to retain tax revenues to continue to fund projects that benefit the community and the economy.  The full background story about the funds can be found on the City of Grand Junction’s website at http://www.gjcity.org/Administration.aspx?id=2147530954.

The two leading project ideas on the table target car-based investments and, we believe, don’t accomplish the city’s goal of becoming “The Most Livable Community West of the Rockies” by 2025.

Grand Valley Bikes has seen many issues come up that support the need for pedestrian and bicycling infrastructure around D51 schools, community parks, and just about everywhere you want to go in the Grand Valley. The City Council should be encouraged to add bike lanes, sidewalks and trails as a major component to any potential plans. (We’d like to see 100 more miles of bike lanes, but you can't get everything you want for Christmas.) A walkable, bikable, livable community benefits all ages of people and improves the health, environment and economy of our Grand Valley.

Please! Contact City Council and give your opinion:

1) Attend the Open House

Thursday December 6 at the Two Rivers Convention Center from 4-7pm

2) Take the online survey and give written comments

http://grandjunction.us.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_9zRoABN5B4Hlfal

We know the holiday season is busy and fun and open houses are, well, not that fun, but if you love the simple pleasure of bicycling please take the time to comment before December 21.  This is a crucial topic with easy ways to be heard by the City Council.

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Also, on the state-level, CDOT is revising their Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan. Your input is encouraged through an online survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XVK9HSS. Deadline to respond is December 21.

Kids Get Schooled on Bike Safety

GVB just finished implementing more bicycle and pedestrian safety programs in our District 51 Elementary Schools.  Tope, Rocky Mountain, Dual Immersion Academy and now Fruitvale have embraced the Safe Routes to School program.  Don't take our word for it, check out the local news coverage by clicking on the links below. 
If your child's school isn't among those listed above, feel free to email us at grandvalleybikes@gmail.com and see if we can add your school to next year's list! 

News Channel 11: http://www.nbc11news.com/news/headlines/Fruitvale-Elementary-students-participate-in-bicycle-rodeo-173188401.html

News Channel 5: http://www.krextv.com/news/around-the-region/Kids-Get-Schooled-on-Bike-Safety-173222381.html 

Sept. 29 Junk Ride

The pedal-powered litter reduction effort along Rim Rock Drive was awesome!  Thanks to the GVB folks who helped make it happen on the bike seat, the NPS staff behind the scenes, REI for organizing a full spread of lunch and prizes, and the herd of bighorn sheep who yielded at the roadside to let us continue eastbound.
I look forward to next year's Public Lands Day and to coordinate something fun with the following weekend's Tour of the Moon. 

Public Lands Day Rim Rock Drive Junk Ride- literally a bike ride to pick up litter!

The Colorado National Monument is organizing myriad ways to pick up trash in their area in honor of Public Lands Day on Saturday, September 29, 2012.  Go to the National Monument website to see all the details. 

Grand Valley Bikes is partnering with the National Monument to provide a bike-powered litter pick-up effort along Rim Rock Drive!

The bike ride details:       Meet at 8:00am in the lunch loop parking lot for a warm-up ride along South Camp and South Broadway to the West Monument entrance.  Ride at your own pace, everyone will regroup outside the Visitor’s Center at about 10:30am and be assigned 3-mile cleaning sections.  When you arrive at your cleaning section, your bicycle will be shuttled ahead and locked at the end of your group’s section.  You then bicycle the rest of Rim Rock Drive to the picnic spot!  Lunch (hamburgers, veggie burgers, brats and hot dogs) will be provided by REI at 1:45pm at the Devil’s Kitchen Parking Lot.  Please come to the ride prepared with snacks, water, helmet, front and rear lights, etc. for your personal well-being.   All other considerations will be provided by the National Park Service and there is no entrance fee.  A map of the route can be found at http://tomorrowhillfarm.com/JohnHodgebicycleMapsCNM.html

To participate please RSVP:         grandvalleybikes@gmail.com

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Safe Routes to School 2012-2013

Grand Valley Bikes, in partnership with the City of Grand Junction, is proud to expand the Safe Routes to School education and encouragement program to include five District 51 elementary schools.  Tope and Rocky Mountain Elementary Schools spearheaded the project in 2011-2012 with great success.  Dual Immersion Academy, Fruitvale and Chipeta Elementary Schools will implement the program this school year.  Learn more about the program at www.saferoutesinfo.org.

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Three Sisters Trail Building, Saturday October 6

COPMOBA (Colorado Plateau Mountain Bike Trail Association) has organized an inaugural trail building day for the new Three Sisters Park addition to the Lunch Loop Trail/Tabeguache trail network.  The trail will be an extension of the beginner/interpretive trail "Kid's Meal".  About a mile will be added to this trail!    This event is in conjunction with Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day.  Some folks will ride with their kids in the morning, and build trail in the afternoon.  Others will just come to build trail!  This is a great way to introduce everyone to the joys of riding and trail building!  There will be a big BBQ celebration at 3:00pm after work and riding is finished for the day!

If you are interested in helping with this awesome project, check out COPMOBA website or email coordinator@copmoba.org.

Spring Newsletter

Hello Bicycle Enthusiasts!  There is no lack of fun things to do this spring in our beautiful valley.  GVB is participating in some activities that we think you’d enjoy - keep reading for details!

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The April Junk Ride will be held tonight Thursday, April 26th at 6pm.  Meet at the garden near the corner of 10th and Main in downtown GJ and get ready to ride your socks off to celebrate spring.

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Take Life by the Handlebars

Grand Valley Bikes (GVB) has been busy implementing Grand Junction’s Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program in School District 51!  The SRTS program creates a sustainable culture of walking and bicycling at each school by increasing the safety skill-set of students as well as incorporating parents and guardians to monitor routes to school.  Children in physical education classes learn walking and bicycling road-safe skills from GVB bicycle instructors and practice them in a bicycle rodeo course that includes multi-colored cones, sidewalk chalk, helmets and a fleet of bicycles.  Our time at Tope and Rocky Mountain Elementary this school year has been loads of fun and we are thankful to their staff and students for being superb hosts.  We are looking forward to celebrating Bike to School Day with over 900 students at these schools on Wednesday, May 9.  You should switch gears too and bike to school (or accompany your children to their school)!

Then on March 22^nd, 2012 the  Colorado Transportation Commission unanimously approved GVB’s second Safe Routes to School (SRTS) project  application for $30,365 to expand this comprehensive wellness policy to three additional elementary schools; Chipeta, Dual Immersion Academy and Fruitvale!  The program fits well into the system D51 currently uses with other mobile classrooms, such as gymnastics and bowling.  Physical Education teachers check-out the mobile bicycle classroom and conduct the program independently.  In this way the SRTS curriculum is adopted and sustained by each school and student instruction will continue each year. 

If you are interested in having SRTS at your child’s school or to volunteer at these educational events, email grandvalleybikes@gmail.com or visit www.saferoutesinfo.org

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Run/Walk/Bike Family Fun Day

You don’t want to miss the second benefit event of 2012 to honor the Riverfront Trail’s 25^th Anniversary on Saturday, May 5^th from 8a-12p. The fun begins at Corn Lake on 32 Rd (parking cost is covered by the registration fee) at 9a with a 9- or 14-mile bike loop led by GVB, a 5k run/walk is also available that begins at 9:30a.  The bike loop allows for a shorter and longer option:  everyone begins on the new Riverfront Trail section east of Corn Lake, turning south on the new pedestrian bridge and continuing south on 32 ½ Road, turning west on B ½ Road, THEN EITHER turning north on 29 Road to the Riverfront Trail and east back to Corn Lake (9 miles) OR continue further west on B ½, winding through residential Orchard Mesa to Eagle Rim Park, north across the river on the pedestrian bridge and east  on C ½ Road and the Riverfront Trail to loop back to Corn Lake (14 miles).  To register or for more information go to http://riverfrontproject.org/events/18-family-fun-day-5k  OR call 970-683-4333 for a registration form.

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Bike Rodeo Course for Everyone!

GVB has been taking the rodeo course, a sampling of bikes and helmets to the streets.  We set up the rodeo at MOG Fest on April 14^th with great success-people ages 8 to 60 years old were taught hand signals and proper helmet fit among other things.  We look forward to educating with fun at more summer activities including Earth Day on Sunday May 6^th from 11a-5p.  Come out and see us!

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Colorado Bike to Work Day & Month

June is Bike to Work Month and Wednesday, June 27 is Bike to Work Day!   Mark your calendar and get pumped up for breakfast, prizes and amusement on your bike commute to work!  Email grandvalleybikes@gmail.com to get involved or for a Bike to Work Day poster to hang at your workplace!

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Bike to School Day is Wednesday, May 9^th (in case you skipped the SRTS article).  Switch gears and bike to school, or accompany your children on their ride to school!