Buy/Bike Local

When local businesses think about bicyclists, their eyes should light up with dollar signs.

Unfortunately, some Denver businesses, most recently on 29th Ave., have reached the opposite conclusion and have fought against new bike infrastructure.

This is a missed opportunity because marketing to bicyclists is a way for businesses to reach more people. For the businesses on 29th Ave, here’s the area within a 15-minute walk.

And here, shown by the blue hexagons, is the area within a 15-minute bike ride (using the Bike Streets 15-Minute Map.)

A 15-minute bike ride doesn’t take much more time than a drive from the same origin, especially when you factor in the time it takes to park and walk from your car.

If you own, say, a bagel shop, the population within a 15-minute bike ride should be an ample audience from which to draw and have a thriving business.

On a recent outing to Wash Park from Sunnyside, I disobeyed Lois, the Bike Streets turn-by-turn lady and took a different Bike Streets route that I hadn’t ridden for a while. Here’s the original route.

The new route Lois gave me provided a delightful tour through Sunnyside, the Ballpark District, Cap Hill, Speer, and West Wash Park.

As I rolled around the State Capitol I realized I needed a gift for my mom and the excellent Off the Bottle Refill Shop was coming up at 13th and Sherman.

If I were driving, I probably wouldn’t stop because parking there is a pain. Instead, I locked up to the sign out front. (They need a bike rack and we’re working on that with them.) I found a few things for my mom and spent about $30, including this block of dish soap.

Yes, bar dish soap is a thing! (Highly recommend.) That’s $30 spent on a local business that wouldn’t have happened if I was driving.