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No two bike riders have the same experience on any given ride.

Our gender, our age, our abilities, our race, our bodies and much more—even the types of bikes we ride—contribute to our experiences on one, two, three or four wheels. There’s also a lot we have in common: many people ride for their own health, many for the environment, to save money, to connect with their communities, and some ride because it’s their only option to get around town. Together, these diverse and shared experiences form the kaleidoscope that is the bicycle community. 

Through our RIDE initiative—short for Respect, Inclusion, Diversity and Equity—we’re celebrating those different voices, as well as what we all share, to build a more inclusive and equitable movement for all people on bikes. Our RIDE work is supported by our RIDE Advisory Board (read on to find out more) and sponsored by Quality Bicycle Products, or QBP. 

Why building equity in bicycling matters

Serving all Coloradans is vital to the work we do at Bicycle Colorado because, while we each ride a bike for one reason or another, some of us are at higher risk to the effects of traffic violence, air quality, profiling, monetary constraints and more that can impact access to bikes and our safety while riding. 

Traffic safety

In Denver, nearly 40 percent of all traffic deaths occur in neighborhoods with lower incomes and high numbers of seniors, people with a disability, schools and community centers. (Denver Vision Zero Action Plan)

Physical activity

Of households earning $35,000 or less per year, fewer than half are getting 150 minutes of physical activity per week, worsening health and increasing the risk of health issues such as cardiovascular disease. (PFB & Center for Disease Control and Prevention)

Air Quality

Vulnerable communities of color are more likely to be exposed to higher levels of dangerous air pollution than white communities. Car dependency exacerbates this, which leads to increased risk of disease and shorter life spans.  (EPA)

Gender

Women today account for fewer than 25% of the trips taken by bicycle in the United States. In order to get more people of all genders riding bikes, we need to build a community of bicyclists as well as bicycling infrastructure that is safe and accessible for all types of riders. (Fast Company)

And representation matters, too

We need to make sure that everyone is included and represented in advocacy efforts, marketing, events and more, especially in our work here at Bicycle Colorado. We are all bicyclists no matter how often we ride, our abilities or what we look like, and you should see yourself and others should see you when we think of bicycling. With better representation, more stories and elevated voices of all riders, we can celebrate this diversity and build a more inclusive space for people who want to ride and improve bicycling.

What we’re doing

Our focus on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is a newer part of our work at Bicycle Colorado, formally introduced as part of our 2018 Strategic Plan. Our learning and improvement are and will always be a process. To help us, we are collaborating with external organizations and individuals to deepen our understanding of DEI and actively building relationships and trust with new communities and partners. Our team is grateful for opportunities like the examples below that are helping us better meet our commitment to DEI. Since 2018, we’ve: 

  • Established our RIDE Advisory Board (see below)
  • Participated in equity professional development opportunities through the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), the Colorado Nonprofit Association and with mobility justice leader Adonia Lugo
  • Engaged in internal trainings on racial equity with Dante James of the Gemini Group
  • Organized staff field trips to gain first-hand experience with different types of bicycling and backgrounds of bicyclists, including an adaptive cycling session with Denver Parks and Recreation
  • Incorporated equity discussions at our events and invited speakers to share with our supporters on topics like race, gender and ability
  • Listened and learned to build relationships with communities who we hope to better serve
  • Partnered to bring programming to communities excited about riding bikes but with limited opportunities to do so
  • Begun a photo series called Why I Ride highlighting bicyclists of different backgrounds and what riding means to them
  • Shared stories through blog posts of underrepresented types of riders

These experiences and relationships inform and better our work across communications, policy, events and education, as well as our internal culture and procedures. 

If you want to help us continue to expand our understanding and DEI work, please reach out to RIDE@bicyclecolorado.org and let us know.

Why I Ride

Bicyclists ride for a number of reasons. For some, it’s recreation, for some it’s transportation and many others it’s environmental justice, climate activism, community, fresh air and fun. Take a look at a few photos from our Why I Ride photo series to hear some personal stories. 

Read some of our RIDE stories from the blog

Reconnecting Communities: A vision for transportation equity in Colorado

Introduced by Rachel Hultin, Bicycle Colorado’s Sustainable Transportation Director Inequities in transportation are as complex as they are pervasive. And, like all inequitable systems, addressing one aspect can both improve other areas while also revealing...

Recalibrating Transportation: A 2030 roadmap

Bicycle Colorado, in partnership with SWEEP, NRDC, CoPIRG, and the Denver Streets Partnership, is asking Colorado leaders to meet greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goals and to begin to address historic inequities by identifying and funding transportation projects that...

Riding the Great Divide: An interview with Brooke Goudy

Brooke Goudy is a Co-Leader with the Denver chapter of Black Girls Do Bike, which champions “growing and supporting a community of women of color who share a passion for cycling.” She recently completed the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route with her partner. We spoke...

Team Evergreen offers friendly bike challenges for everyone

Team Evergreen is the largest bike club in the state of Colorado. Known for their legendary Triple Bypass and Mount Evans Hill Climb, Team Evergreen does a lot more than produce exceptional events. They’re also a non-profit organization supporting charitable...

Commentary: Cycling Towards Upward Mobility

This guest post was originally posted on Streetsblog Denver. Ann Nguyen is a landscape architect and planner with Otak and a member of the Bicycle Colorado RIDE Advisory Board. She is an avid bicyclist, car-free for almost a decade, and committed to providing safer...

What’s the deal with adaptive eBikes?

Quinn Brett is a Program Analyst with the Wilderness, Outdoor Recreation and Accessibility divisions in the National Park Service (NPS). She is also a bicyclist with a disability. A former Climbing Ranger in Rocky Mountain National Park (RNMP), Quinn took a climbing...

Better requires work: Remarks from Stephanie Puello, co-organizer of the Denver Solidarity Rides

The Denver Solidarity Rides are hosted by a collective of bicyclists in the Mile High City. We use the bicycle as a vehicle to protest and call attention to the violence disproportionately affecting Black people and people of color at the hands of police in America....

Finding the right gear when things aren’t made for you

When Deirdre Moynihan was Executive Director of Front Rangers Cycling Club, she led bike rides with a group of Somali girls at Denver’s Sun Valley Youth Center. She noticed that the girls, who were Muslim, were having trouble safely riding while wearing their modest...

Social justice in bike advocacy

Over the past several weeks, like so many others, the Bicycle Colorado team has been struggling to comprehend the senseless murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and other Black Americans made possible by structural racism in our society. Their deaths...

How a visually impaired bicyclist adapts to change

Michael Stone is a bicyclist, a Triathlete, and owner of Colorado Multisport, a bike shop in Boulder. He’s also legally blind with a degenerative eye disease. Michael is a public speaker, and talks about living with adversity and uncertainty, and is a member of...

Denver Century Ride offers fun and approachable urban routes for all kinds of riders: Q&A with participant Eduardo Aguirre

The Denver Century Ride (DCR) on June 20 brings together bicyclists of all ages, experience levels and abilities to explore the city on five supported routes, from a family-friendly 10-mile route to the 100-mile “century.” After the ride, participants are encouraged...

Building the bicycling community with Team Evergreen

Team Evergreen has long been known for their legendary Triple Bypass and Mount Evans Hill Climb. The Triple Bypass, Team Evergreen’s best known ride, provides bicyclists with several distance options (including a single 40-mile and a double 75-mile Bypass) to ride...

Four ways women+ are being elevated in bicycling in Colorado

Have you noticed more women getting after it? Have you seen the gap closing in gender equity in sports? We’ve noticed. And we want to share more information with our members. Read on below to learn more about four ways we’re seeing women+ being elevated in...

Honoring Major Taylor, “one of the great heroes of the day:” Q&A with Darrell West, president and CEO of the Major Taylor Cycling Club of Denver

Denver’s Cherry Creek Trail got a new mural in late June honoring Major Taylor (1878-1932), the first black bicycling world champion. Bicycle Colorado sat down with Darrell West, president and CEO of the Major Taylor Cycling Club of Denver, to talk about Major...

Bicycle opens new avenues—and much more—to para-cyclist Clara Brown

Oh my gosh. It has totally changed me as a person. It sounds corny, but it’s true. I can’t imagine life without biking at this point. Those words come from Clara Brown, a 23-year-old para-cyclist training for the summer 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games at Colorado Springs’...

Guest Blog: Bicycling brings the freedom of choice

Cesar Olivas, a member of our RIDE committee, shares what bicycling means to him   This story was originally published in Ride Time News, our bi-annual print newsletter for members of Bicycle Colorado. Want to receive future editions of Ride Time News? Become a...

Back-to-school safety tips for drivers

Our Education Team works each year with students to teach them how to ride and walk responsibly on their way to school. Ultimately, though, it’s the adults driving cars near schools and in residential areas who have the most responsibility for keeping children safe on...

Guest Blog: Asking Women Bike Colorado, why not race?

Jessica McWhirt is a Cat 3 road racer, avid cyclist and active participant in Women Bike Colorado, a Bicycle Colorado initiative aimed at getting more women on bikes.  As a female Cat 3 Road Racer and avid cyclist, I don’t just want to see more women on bikes, I want...

Women Bike Colorado night at the movies!

“The worst day on a bike is still a pretty good day.” Spoken by a pro woman cyclist, that was one of the lines that stayed with me from Jennifer Hardacker’s film, The Wind In Our Hair. The documentary, which follows an eclectic and engaging cast of...

Bicycling “super sheroes” are taking flight

This winter is the one year anniversary of the launch of Women Bike Colorado (WBC)—a Facebook group for women who bike. When we started this, we honestly didn’t know what would happen. Just one year later, we have over 1,300 members, a fun WBC graphic, a WBC...

Want to share your story? 

We want to hear from you. Whether you have been biking for decades or are new to two (or one, or three or four!) wheels, your stories inform the work we do at Bicycle Colorado and help us build a stronger movement. Share yours by emailing RIDE@bicyclecolorado.org and let’s set up a time to talk.

Meet our RIDE Advisory Board

Since 2018, members of our RIDE Advisory Board have gathered bimonthly with Bicycle Colorado to share their experience, expertise and ideas—as well as perspectives we don’t currently have on our staff. They have supported us in building a more inclusive organization and bicycling movement.

RIDE members help us evaluate our practices and programs, grow our understanding of DEI and hold ourselves accountable as we work to be more diverse, equitable and inclusive. With RIDE’s collaboration and through other learning opportunities, we look forward to better representing everyone who rides and improving access to safe, affordable and rewarding options for everyone to bike and be active.

Our RIDE Advisory Board is sponsored by QBP. 

We are grateful for QBP’s support to help us continue our RIDE work. For their second year, QBP is the sponsor of our 2020-2021 RIDE Advisory Board and this year will also be sponsoring ongoing DEI stories, events and learning. Learn more about QBP’s commitment to racial justice and actions to advance equity and their Equity and Diversity Internship Program

How you can help us build a more equitable bicycling movement:   

In 2018, we released our Strategic Plan, in which we published Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Here is our commitment: 

We are dedicated to ensuring that Bicycle Colorado and our movement are diverse, equitable and inclusive. As a statewide organization, it is our responsibility to thoughtfully serve and represent all Coloradans who want to ride bicycles; doing so makes our movement stronger. It is also, simply, the right thing to do.

To meet this commitment, we will deepen our understanding of and prioritize our work in these areas. By building new and existing partnerships and elevating the voices of underrepresented populations, we will identify, understand and remove barriers—starting with those embedded in our own organization—that prevent all people from experiencing the many benefits of bicycling. We will proceed with humility and empathy; seek out and actively listen to all perspectives; examine, question and learn from our assumptions and biases; and encourage our current members and supporters to join us on this journey.

Our core values

COLLABORATION

We value and seek purposeful long-term partnerships, to work with organizations and communities to make a positive impact and connect others so they can form valued partnerships as well.

Our core values

COURAGE

We take a stand on issues important to people who ride bikes, and do so with humility.

Our core values

CREATIVITY

We take risks to discover new and creative ways to accomplish our goals, even when confronted with unforeseen challenges.

Our core values

CURIOSITY

We are curious, open-minded, active listeners, eager to improve and willing to learn.

Our core values

EQUITY

We use our skill and passion to ensure all people on bikes are treated equitably in Colorado.

Our core values

HONESTY

We are transparent, honest and do what we say.

Our core values

INCLUSIVITY

We value and proactively engage people of diverse backgrounds and perspectives, and we act with kindness and respect.

Bicycle Colorado
@BicycleColo

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  • DON’T DELAY: We’re placing another order for #BicycleColorado masks made by our friends at @primalwear TOMORROW (5/14) at noon! Click the link in our bio to get yours now!
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We’re thrilled to see so many people out enjoying (and often rediscovering the joy of) riding a bike right now, and we’re asking ALL bicyclists to do their part to prevent the spread of #covid19 by wearing a mask or other face covering when out for a ride. Doing so keeps you, your loved ones, those around you, and all Coloradans safer while helping reduce stress on our medical system. If you still need a mask, click the link in our bio to pre-order one now and support our advocacy work! Thanks so much to everyone who has already purchased, and to @primalwear for supporting our efforts over the years. Ride on.
  • #BicycleColorado volunteers and staff members spent time today helping @denverurbangardens and @denverfoodrescue deliver “Grow a Garden” food boxes to home-bound families in Denver—via bike! Supporting our community on two wheels makes for a great way to spend a sunny day. Many thanks to our friends @ddchen47, David M., and @juggernautcargo for your help! Head to denverfoodrescue.org or dug.org to learn more about these great local organizations. #rideyourbike
  • Tonight the #BicycleColorado team celebrated Stacey, our outgoing Development Director, with a virtual happy hour. Stacey has been an absolute rockstar for BC. We’re sad to see her leave, but thrilled for her as she heads out on a new adventure (hopefully in the #BikeAdvocacy space!) in North Carolina. Please join us in wishing her well!