Bike to Work…or Don’t

Friday was Winter Bike to Work Day, one of the best bike events in Denver. The message is strong: riding a bike in the middle of winter in Denver is a totally reasonable thing to do.

For a lot of folks, riding to work is a once in a blue moon challenge reserved for Bike to Work Day. Biking to work every day can be a big hurdle for a number of reasons: kids need drop-offs all over creation, errands call and you don’t have a cargo bike — yet, work is too far from your house. And that’s totally fine.

Even if you can’t bike to work every day, there are a zillion places in Denver that you can go on a bike. Let’s expand our definition of “bike commuting” and consider the many possibilities. Bike racks beckon at places like The Denver Art Museum. (Maurice Sendak exhibit is up through 2/23.)

Ice cream at Nuggs pairs perfectly with a bike ride.

A ride and a show at the DCPA. Heck yeah.

A celebration of science at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

A rock climbing workout at Ubergrippen.

Or a heaping plate of wings at Fire on the Mountain.

These places are all accessible for anyone by bike. But there’s a clear problem with all these photos: there aren’t enough bikes on those racks! That needs to change. All of these trips are close, easy, and as beneficial as biking to work. And each trip makes a difference – for your health and happiness, for our traffic quagmire and air quality, and for the planet.

When biking to work isn’t possible, can you find other trips you regularly make where biking is actually an upgrade on the normal routine of driving, stressing, hunting for parking, and walking from your car to your final destination?

Let’s define bike commuting more broadly. It’s not just about trips to work; it’s about trips to any destination.