Bike Library helps FS Planners have greener meeting

Did you notice a few extra bicycles in the Building A bike racks during the first week of May?  The Fort Collins Bike Library loaned

Bikes from the Bike Library fill the racks at Building A.

bicycles to seven attendees of the Forest Service Regional Planners meeting in NRRC Building A.  With the help of a truck borrowed from Brave New Wheel bike shop, Stacy and Mikal from the Bike Library did their first on-site bike delivery.  The cyclists, who dubbed themselves the “back-pedaling planners”,  biked between the meeting and the Hilton hotel, and took advantage of the bike trails close to the NRRC campus.

Want to make the meeting you are planning greener?  See the post on Green Meetings and give the Bike Library a call.

The Bike Library delivers bicycles to FS planners attending a meeting on the NRRC campus.

Bike to work day

Bike To Work DAY!!!!

The Green Team hosted another successful Bike to Work Breakfast Station in front of  Building A this morning.  They had an array of beverages, sweet bread (donated by Great Harvest), sweet homemade jam and jellies, sweet banter, biking haikus and free bike chain cleaning (sweeeet!).  It was all good….

newbie Rich

Richard Teck was the star attendee, this was the FIRST time in over nine years that Rich has actually BIKED to work!   It all begins with the first pedal…..

Bruce

Bruce staffed the bike doctor station and did triage on bike chains.  Good thing, as some  on their last link…

Encourage visitors to travel Green

Are you hosting visitors to NRRC from out-of-town?  Encourage them to leave the rental car behind and visit Fort Collins by bus/bike/foot.  Two airport shuttles, the Hilton and the Fort Collins Bike Library make this a very feasible and fun option for business travelers to NRRC. Travelers picking up their baggage in DIA around the top of the hour can make it to the Fort Collins Hilton on a shuttle in about the same time it would take them if they rented a car.  For a three-day meeting this would save about $180.  The Fort Collins Bike Library loans bikes for free.  There are pick-up locations at CSU Lory Center and downtown.  For our Planner’s meeting in May, the Library has agreed to let us pick up and deliver several bikes right to the Hilton.  You can point your visitors to this custom Google Map that shows the area around NRRC or this electronic brochure that gives them all the information they need to plan their Green visit.

1st Quarter Bike-to-Work Trips Increase 15%

After riding around the world last year, Building-A employees have biked to work 15% more often in the first 3-months of 2011 over last year.

The table below shows total trips each month, cumulative trips, and the daily average number of riders each month as compared to a year ago.

                                 2010                                        2011                                 % 2011 of 2010

              Month     Cum     Avg          Month     Cum      Avg             Month       Cum         Avg

    1          293         293      15.4           339          339      17.0             116%         116%       110%

    2          277        570     14.6           289          628      15.2              104%        110%       104%

         3          424         994     18.4           516         1144      22.4             122%         115%       122%

Not sure why the significant increases – here are some possibilities I can think of – but we’d rather hear the real reasons from the dedicated saddle sitters directly.

• Same dedicated group of riders, just riding more days because they’re now in better shape.
• New riders adding bicycling to their commuting habits.
• Simple – a lot nicer weather this winter.
• I donated my car to New Belgium’s “year without a bike program” and now got no choice!
• My personal habits just turned a darker shade of Green.
• I got a new bike for Christmas!
• The four additional March riders are all recent hires that are also members of a local cycling club.

Whatever the reasons, it’s been impressive seeing the covered and uncovered bike parking areas heavily used during the typical slow period of the calendar.

So what’s your story?

Again, any input will be appreciated. Please share with the Green community, via a comment, what your round trip commute is and how often you ride to work.

– Stay Safe & Keep Pedaling!

Employees Pedaled Around the World in 2010!

NRRC Building-A Employees Pedaled Around the World in 2010!

In support of promoting a greener, more efficient, and more connected existence, here are data, details, and discussion of the 2010 bicycle commute results for Building-A employees.
2010 was the first year detailed records were taken to help quantify the use of Building-A’s dedicated bicycle parking and parking structure. Well, the results have been tabulated and charted and with reasonable estimations, the bicycling employees of Building-A rode an estimated 27,580 miles to & from work in 2010. That’s a greater distance than circum-navigating the equator. On average, 22 persons rode an estimated 5 miles round trip on each of the 250 work days in 2010. Of this average, there seemed to be a core of 7-10 employees that chose to brave the journey regardless of road conditions or seasonal elements. Bravo!
On most every work day, the number of bikes parked in and around the bicycle parking structure were physically counted and recorded. Data for the few days not directly counted were interpolated based on trends and weather factors. Counts were normally taken middle to late morning when employee attendance was usually considered the most stable. The only bike not counted was the “green loaner” that sat daily at the ready to be ridden for short errands or to the Across the Tracks shopping area (via the bike path tunnel, of course).
The data: Tuesdays and Wednesday s were the most common bicycling days; Friday was the least. February was the slowest month while June was the busiest month. “Bike-to-Work” influenced about 20 more persons; such the case for both Summer & Winter events. An estimated 5,516 bicycle trips were taken during the 250 official federal work days in 2010.
This 2011 year is already shaping up to surpass 2010. January and February cycling trips totaled 628 with an average of 16 employees each and every day coming to work on wheels this winter.
To improve the quality of this year’s results, it would be great to get a range of trip distances for calculating average trip miles. Some employees may commute 4 miles one way while others may ride in from 8 miles or from just around the corner.
Please let the Green Team know, via a post or comment, what your round trip bicycle commute is and how many times a week (average) you ride to work. Any input will be appreciated.
– Stay Safe & Keep Pedaling!

BikeCountTable_2010

BikeCountChart_2010

Bike-to-Work Day Success!

Last week’s Winter Bike-to-Work breakfast station, hosted by the Green Team, was visited by thirty Building A bicycle commuters. Some routinely bike to work daily and others came just for the event. All were welcomed and greeted with fresh, hot sausage, egg, potato and cheese breakfast burritos and steamy hot spiced apple cider. Thanks for participating!

We were also graced by the arrival of The Wheel Dogs, who could barely dismount their bikes and waddle up to our breakfast table after visiting six other breakfast stations in Fort Collins!

The Wheel Dogs and Chef Dave

Chefs Kathy, Andy and Matt

Bike to work on 12/15 – Enjoy breakfast on the Green Team!

Building A bikers – on Dec. 15th is the City of Ft. Collins’ Winter  Bike to Work day. Numerous businesses are hosting breakfasts for bikers that brave the cold and commute to work on their bikes. For details see the City’s web page at http://www.fcgov.com/common/pdfs/spotlight-pdf.php?id=29 Our Building A Green Team will also be cooking a breakfast for bikers from approximately 7:30am to 8:45am or so. Well, it won’t be a complete breakfast but it will be a hot breakfast burrito plus some hot cider. We will be outside the bike shed (if it is really cold we may inside the bike shed!). We average about 30 bicyclists a day in the summer and are down to 15… so those of you that traded your bike in for a your car, please try your commute one more time on your bike! Hope to see you on Wednesday.

Welcome!

Welcome to the new NRRC Building A Green Team web site!

This site is designed to be your one-stop shop for information on local green events and updates for Building A projects. We will also post summaries of meetings and seminars attended by the Green Team. From time to time, we will post polls and surveys to get feedback and ideas from you.

Please bookmark us! You can also subscribe to our RSS feed or sign up for an email update each time we’ve posted a new topic.

We want to hear from you! Please visit our suggestion box and send us your thoughts or add comments on our posts.

We have been working hard to implement green projects for Building A! We’ve recently gained Climate Wise membership, designed the new bike and motorcycle parking area, and pushed for the installation of an energy-efficient revolving door at the entrance and whole-building composting and waste reduction—coming soon! We also have a comprehensive “to do” list of future projects, including water-wise landscaping and starting our own People’s Garden. Check back regularly to see how these projects are progressing.

Expanded Bike and Motorcycle Parking

Building A’s new bike racks and motorcycle parking accommodates approximately twenty additional bicycles and nine additional motorcycles and mopeds!

After negotiating the relocation of existing service, fleet and client vehicle parking spaces, the Green Team and facility administrators agreed on a final design from a list of alternatives generated by all interested parties in the building. The preferred alternative plan was approved by Building A’s agency executives in the spring of 2009 and given to GSA to implement.

After the concrete was poured in July 2009, two Building A motorcycle riders contacted the Green Team with an idea for efficient motorcycle and moped parking. Working with the Green Team, they carefully designed a “herringbone” pattern for parking motorcycles and mopeds as well as optimal spacing from the two bike racks.

The new bike racks and motorcycle parking area was completed by CSU in September, 2009.

New Bike and Motorcycle Parking Area

The Green Team is monitoring bike rack usage in order to add racks if their is sufficient need.