Event season at Bicycle Colorado begins with the Colorado Bicycle Summit in February and stretches all the way to VeloSwap in late October. This year October was particularly busy, and especially fun, with the addition of a new event, the Deschutes Street Pub.

Before I jump headlong into planning for next year’s summit and our Gala Fundraiser (hope to see you all there!), I wanted to take a minute to recap the great October that we had and shout out a few thank yous.

ICON Tour of the Moon

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We kicked the month off with yet another fabulous day at the ICON Tour of the Moon event in Grand Junction. Four of my colleagues went and rode the route through the Colorado National Monument, enjoyed fabulous weather and signed up new members (thank you!) at our tent in the event expo.

We’re so thankful for the generosity of Rocky Mountain Events for supporting Bicycle Colorado with a generous financial contribution through the Tour of the Moon ride. My colleague Scott did a great write up about the tour.

Deschutes Street Pub

This was quite the party! Deschutes Brewery, out of Bend, Oregon, embarked on an eight-city tour to bring their custom 402-foot bar across the U.S. and host a series of Street Pub events. A nonprofit beneficiary was chosen at each stop, and Bicycle Colorado was fortunate to be the beneficiary of the Denver event on October 17.

The event featured a wide range of Deschutes beer, including some special tastings. Deschutes also brought their chef on tour, creating culinary samplings in each city. Live music from local bands provided entertainment all day.

We were able to recruit 160+ volunteers (thank you!) to do everything from checking IDs and pouring beer to helping with set up and break down. We couldn’t have done it without you—and everyone who attended!

Deschutes emptied more than 132 kegs into Denver beer cups with all proceeds going to Bicycle Colorado. More than $56,000 was raised in a day. We’re so thankful to Deschutes, our volunteers and to everyone who came out to make the day a success.

Subaru VeloSwap

Bicycle Colorado has partnered with VeloSwap for many years. As most of you know, VeloSwap is the world’s largest consumer bicycling and sports expo that celebrates all things cycling. Each year, cyclists from around the area swarm the National Western Complex in Denver to buy and sell all things bike related. It’s a great chance to run into everyone you know who’s into bicycling.

Through an agreement with VeloSwap (thank you!), Bicycle Colorado staff and another fleet of volunteers (thank you!) are able to “work the line” outside prior to the show opening and offer a free entry ticket for anyone who signs up (or renews) as a member. It’s a “target rich environment” for us and a great way for folks to sign up who have been meaning to join our team but haven’t yet pulled the trigger.

Inside the expo, we sell memberships in addition to Bicycle Colorado jerseys and t-shirts. This year we had 149 people (thank you!) join or renew!

A pre-Thanksgiving feast

After coming together as a team to work on all these events, we also managed to squeeze in a group lunch to get together, show our thanks and talk a little about life outside of work. So thankful for the great team I get to work with every day![/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]