On Monday, April 22, 2013, which is the 43^rd anniversary of the first Earth Day, Golden, Colorado will be proud to  host the Inaugural 2013 Mayors Ride for the National Bicycle Greenway.

Golden, a League of American Bicyclists “Bicycle Friendly City”  has been building new bike and pedestrian trails for years. We will use some of these new trails as well as some of the roads (with well-marked bike lanes) as we ride from Golden Oldy Cyclery (The Sustainable Museum Of Sustainable Transportation) to City Hall.

At City Hall (along the side of “Clear Creek”, a river which originates at the Continental Divide about 40 miles to the west), we will be met by Mayor Marjorie Sloan and a couple of Golden City Council members. There the Mayor will make it National Bicycle Greenway Day in Golden with a proclamation.

We will then ride west along the Clear Creek trail, passing the National Championship Canoe/Kayak Course and viewing Lookout Mountain in front of us. On Lookout, near the Buffalo Bill Gravesite and Buffalo Bill Museum we will see Para-Sailers launching and spiraling about 1500 feet above us (if the wind is appropriate).

We will then turn north and climb to the upper trail along the side of “Church Ditch” (a Victorian irrigation channel which contributed to taming the west and feeding the Gold prospectors in the 1870’s and 1880’s) to ride past the Golden Community Gardens with a wiew of South Table Mountain and it’s “Castle Rock” in the background.

Castle Rock is famous for a few things:

· The symbol on the Coors Beer Can for decades

· Home of a 1920’s dance hall which was only reached by riding a funicular up the mountain side from Golden.

· Some of the best views of:

–  The largest brewery in the world (Coors in Golden)

–  The Front Range of the Rocky Mountains

–  The American Mountaineer Center (and museum)

– The Colorado Mountain Club rock climbing training cliffs on North Table Mountain – across the Clear Creek gorge.

– The Colorado School of Mines with it’s Gold Domed “Guggenheim Hall” . Yes, Guggenheim (famous for museums around the world) was a Geology graduate of the Colorado School of Mines in Golden before he struck it rich in mining in Colorado.

He donated a lovely building to his Alma Mater with a dolden dome.

–  The Scar of the “Golden Fault” which divides the part of Golden which is in the Plains and the half which is in the Rockies. Golden is both a mountain and a plains city.

– The porcelain clay mine along the “Hogback Scar” on the fault.

After we pass the Golden Community Gardens, we will continue a loop back to the City Hall where some riders will wrap up with one mile under their belts. All others will continue east on the Clear Creek Trail for a couple of blocks and then tour the downtown with it’s many bicycle shops and museums.

We will ride over the starting line of the Coors Classic Bike race of the 1980s (won by Greg Lemond as well as the “Badger” in various years) … and featured in the Hollywood movie “American Flyer”… by Stephen Tesich (who also was the Academy Award winning  screenwriter for “Breaking Away”).

We also pass over  the starting line of the “USA Pro Cycling Challenge” when it was here for  its final stage in 2011 and stage 6  in 2012. We will then pass the old Colorado Territorial Capitol Building, the home of  W.A.H. Loveland – the explorer who has a city named for him and who identified Loveland Pass (where I-70 crosses the continental divide) in the 1860s. We will also pass the home of Edward Berthoud who was a soldier, explorer, professor, and engineer. He also has a city, ski resort and a mountain pass (where US 40 crosses the continental divide)  named for him…

When we continue east on 10^th Street in Golden, we will pass Coors brewery (for a couple miles) where we will be able to (looking left) see the rock climbers above us on the Red Rimrock Cliffs. They are the remains of the lava flows from 67 million years ago when the current Rocky Mountain range was lifted up and dinosaurs were killed.  We then turn north on Easley Road. This part of the Pro cycling challenge course was named for a lady cyclist  of the 1890’s. Her picture (with bike) hangs in the gallery at Golden Oldy Cyclery.

I believe that Joe Breeze (the father of modern mountain biking – on Mt Tam) will love to visit this park when he comes to Colorado to visit Golden Oldy Cyclery and study how he can adopt some of the Sustainability features in his New Marin County Bicycle Museum scheduled yo open later this year.

We will continue a counter-clockwise loop of North Table Mountain with ever increasing elevations until at the NW corner, we will start the grand decent on Ford Street.  The next rapid mile is over the course which was covered by bicycle in May of 1869 by Jim Boyd. When Jim came down the Ford Street Hill, he was on an 1869  Velocipede and achieved speeds (ill-advisedly) that caused his feet to be thrown from his pedals and he and his (over 100 pound) bicycle were in for the ride of their lives. As the article in the Colorado Transcript says: “as it passed the mill, Jim’s mount ‘shied to the side‘ and he missed the bridge over Clear Creek” … plunging into the spring runoff swollen river. This was the first recorded bicycle accident in Colorado.

If riders tuck and do not use their brakes on this hill they can reach 45 miles per hour (in a 25 MPH speed zone). This gives the possibility for cyclists to be cited for going 80% over the posted speed limit – a trophy ticket if any there is.

After arriving back in downtown Golden we will pass the spot where Horace Greeley wrote the famous line “go west young man, go west” after he visited the Central City gold diggings in 1859. We also view where he crossed Clear Creek before the first bridge was completed. We will then pass the Downtown Hill on Washington Ave. where the 1891 Colorado State Championship  Bicycle “Hill Climb” competitions were held.

Riding South on Jackson St we will return to Golden Oldy Cyclery where there will be an open house of the museum for the riders. The total ride will approximate 15 miles.

The pace will be a fun/intermediate rate… to accommodate older and young but less experienced riders. Helmets are required for safety and mirrors are suggested.  The ride will leave from Golden Oldy – to start – at 9:30.

At Golden City Hall, we should be there by 9:50 for the 10:00 re-start.

Steve

Steve Stevens

Golden Oldy Cyclery

“The Sustainable Museum of Sustainable Transportation”

“Setting an Example for Museums Everywhere in how they can set an Example for their Patrons and for the World”

www.goldenoldy.org

1-720-497-1100

·         Grossly Energy Positive.

·         Net Zero Electricity Since 2006.

·         Net Zero total  Energy since 2008

·         Carbon Negative SINCE 2008

·         Producing Fruit (Tropical and Temperate)

and Vegetables from the former landscaped

0.19 Acre lot.

·         Powering 2 Plug In Cars…

While Selling ~ 8500 KWH surplus power back …

to the grid annually from  the Rooftop.

“Home & Museum Powered By the SUN &

FOOD POWERED BY the SUN, BIOCHAR and ALPACA POO…

and delivered FARM to TABLE by FOOT”.

Video Tour:   http://youtu.be/t3jvittg60I

Remember, We have just one Planet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VYkfQKwiCM&feature=endscreen

We need to share it … and care for it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZgMEPk6fvpg