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Blog Entry 287 of 623 What's Going On
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Idiot to bicycle to Boulder for ice cream, award

Contributed by: Brendan Leonard/YourHub.com   on 4/5/2007

A couple of months ago, Amy Gahran decided she wasn't going to buy another car. On April 20, I have to ride my bicycle 36 miles from downtown Denver to an ice cream social in Boulder.

There is a rational, if not sensible, explanation for the connection between these two events.

Amy started her blog, Carless in Boulder, on YourHub.com in early February, sharing with us the process that goes along with deciding to go carless -- learning the bus schedule, figuring out how to get to DIA from Boulder, using the Car Share program, and hopefully, if my peer pressure works, buying a bicycle.

Last week, Go Boulder named Amy its 2007 Car-Free Commuter of the Year, and rightly so, in my own biased opinion.

Unfortunately, Amy is going to be out of town on April 20, when she'd be the guest of honor at the Walk & Bike Week Ice Cream Social. She mentioned that hey, maybe someone from YourHub.com could go in her place.

I replied that I could:

a) Bike to Boulder to accept the Car-Free Commuter of the Year award for her.

b) Drive the Rocky Mountain News' Power Tools H2 Hummer to the event and accept the Car-Free Commuter of the Year award for her. Ha ha ha. Wouldn't that be funny.

Then Travis said, "Yeah, I think they gave that H2 away to someone."

Then Amy said, "That would be awesome if you biked there," or something like that.

Man. I bike everywhere I can -- work, library, coffee shops, and even though it's kind of a pain, to the grocery store. All these places are a couple of miles at most. From my apartment on Capitol Hill to Boulder? 36.4-something miles.

I go on longer rides from time to time. Last weekend, for instance, my girlfriend and I rode out to Morrison. Round trip, 42 miles. But that was all we did, all day (besides drink coffee and eat pastries). I mean, riding to Boulder and back is something for guys with $1,500 bikes, shaved legs and full lycra uniforms, not an idiot riding in jeans on a 1989 Trek 330.

Thirty-six-whatever miles is not going to be a little afternoon jaunt, especially if there's any sort of a headwind. But I kind of have to do it. I figure at the worst, I can always take the Boulder Express bus back to Denver after I pound several ice cream cones. But I'd rather ride back.

I mean, you can't really drive a car, carrying only one person, to an event where you're accepting an award for someone who's dedicated themselves to alternative (non-car) transportation, can you?

You can't.

So I'll do it. I found a route on the U.S. 36 Transportation Mobility Organization's Web page that will keep me out of the heavier traffic most of the way to Boulder. Amy gave me directions that will put me mostly on the bike path once I get to Boulder, which was nice of her (not as nice as pedaling my bike for me would have been). If I bike back, I bike back. If not, I'll have to take the bus, which is okay, too, since it's still carless.

I'd like to point out two things:

1) I live extremely close to a provider of totally superior ice cream. Liks, the best ice cream shop in Denver (some people will tell you it's Bonnie Brae, but I support the home team), is a mere 6.4 blocks from my house. According to my research, Liks is almost exactly 36 miles closer to me than this Walk & Bike Week Ice Cream Social.

2) At this job, I've done the following things for story/blog material: Run a marathon, run a four-mile race in a gorilla suit, and run up all 1,014 stairs in the Wells Fargo building. I'm beginning to feel like a poor man's Tim Cahill, only less funny and way less successful.

So, if you're at the Walk & Bike Week Ice Cream Social, say hi if you see me. I'll be the sweaty, dehydrated guy toting around a beat-up red urban assault bicycle. I will also probably be double-fisting waffle cones.

I will be accepting:
-Company on the bike ride to Boulder (I pedal slow, so keep up) or back to Denver
-Best wishes
-Rides in electric or hybrid cars back from the ice cream social
-Snickers bars
-Sponsorship

Congratulations, Amy, and good luck, Brendan.


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Submitted By: Charmaine Robledo
posted on 4/6/2007 @ 10:35:52 AM
Rated Blog Entry
During the summer, my brother and I used to bike from our home near the DU campus to the Denver Public Library downtown. I think we usually took the bike path and the scenery was awesome. I had a mountain bike, though, which was probably not that practical for a long-distance trek.
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