Bike-to-Work Day ridership surpasses expectations

By 8:30 A.M. the cupboard was bare at the NRRC Green Team Bike-To-Work-Day breakfast station.  Three hundred twenty two riders wolfed down 220 La Luz burritos, 19 loaves of Great Harvest bread and 32 quarts of juice on the 25th annual celebration held on June 27, 2012.

Most excellent banner by Sheryl Romero

The city-sponsored event featured 42 breakfast stations throughout the city and 6 evening stations for the ride home.  Like most stations, ours also offered expert bike repair support.  Eric Drake of Drake Cyclery offered a quick lube or brake adjustment for those who dusted off a neglected steed for the event.  Bicycle ridership at Building A on the NRRC campus was also up for the day – 50 bicycles were counted in the racks and adjacent trees at noon.  This level participation gives us an “effort index” score of 2, meaning our participation was twice as high as would be expected for a company (building) of our size.  The “effort index” is a formula that adjusts for company size.

Thanks go to volunteers from the NRRC campus, patrons of the NRRC Green Team fund-raisers, Larey Kerling for the great Fort Collins Bike buttons and to Barbara Menzel for the great photographs.

La Luz burritos – YUM

BTWD revelers ham it up before chowing down.

Servers had to move quickly to keep up with the rush of bike commuters.

Bike Fort Collins buttons compliments of Larey Kerling in Bldg. A.

NRRC to host “official” Bike-to-Work day breakfast station

Volunteers from NRRC will join with local businesses to sponsor a Bike-to-Work day breakfast station on the Spring Creek trail, 7:00 – 9:30 a.m.  on December 14.  The NRRC-A Green Team will be joined by volunteers from other USDA buildings on campus, La Luz Mexican Grill and Drake Cyclery to provide tasty breakfast burritos, hot drinks and light bike repair to cyclists participating in the event.  Our breakfast station will be located where the Spring Creek trail goes beneath the railroad,  northeast of the NRRC campus.  The annual event, sponsored by FC Bikes, will feature 16 other breakfast stations across the city.  If the promise of a free hot meal is not enough to lure you from your winter den, our station will offer a rare appearance by Smokey Bear, sponsored by the Arapahoe & Roosevelt National Forests (building E). Come join your fellow cyclists and Smokey for a hot breakfast in the crisp winter air.  “I have a bike; I go to work; I ride my bike to work – no big whoop.”