Community Cycles is sending out a thanks and a request to all for the success of the recent Great Kids Bike Giveaway and a request for filling in the gaps from the donations received from the bike give away. They are a 501c so your donations are tax deductible!

Donating to Community Cycles

Thanks to many many volunteer and staff hours, we gave away almost 300 bikes last week. It was a blast of an event. Many families got bikes, and many kids had a great holiday gift waiting for them as a result.

We had an original goal of a suggested donation of $20 per bike, with no one being turned away for lack of funds. In the end, we raised about $3 per bike.

If you're counting bikes given away, it was a huge success. If you're counting money raised from the event, we're a little short of our goal.

If you are in a position to donate something to help us offset the cost of getting these bikes ready with new tires, new parts, and lots of love, please donate today. You can donate directly on our website, or just make a check out to Community Cycles and drop it in the mail.

If you still have end-of-year donations to make, please consider helping Community Cycles and our work.

You can see a video about the giveaway, and some of the bikes and kids in action here from a Channel 4 news story here:

http://cbs4denver.com/local/community.cycles.bicycles.2.1383109.html

Thank you, and Happy New Year!

Community Cycles

Below are the top cycling news stories in Colorado based on web traffic, your emails and my own personal opinion.

• Boulder Velodrome Opens. For those who have been around Boulder for awhile you will know how many times this has been attempted, South Boulder, Valmont Park, Lyons, Erie, Broomfield, etc all attempts to get a Velodrome so many were, "We will believe it when we see it". Well it came! Hundreds have attended classes, sessions and parties at the Velodrome... they even held a pretty cool Cyclocross race there this fall. Look for interesting developments ahead in 2010 with the velodrome like their upcoming Boulder Madison Square Garden event in Jan(limited details out).
  
  
  
• Lyon's Bike Park Opens, Valmont Bike Park get started. Valmont Bike Park has been a work-in-progress for many years with the help of few like Bobby Knoyes and Mike Eubank this park has really made this dream of having a world class Bike Park a reality, really a first of its kind. Then early this summer with the speed of a Colorado flash flood the Lyon's Bike Park pops up and host the Teva games there. Now communities around the nation are getting Bike Parks.
• Lance and Ritter talk about future big race. This item received the most emails as big news for 2009 which I agree is big but if these talks are true then this will be HUGE in 2010 so stay tuned!.
  
  
  Gov. Ritter signs in
  Colorado Safety Bill
  (photo bicycleColorado)
• Bicycle Safety Bill Passes. Love it or hate it, the new bicycle safety bill came into law and has sparked a tension point with motorist and some question whether it has made cyclist safer.
• Lefthand canyon residents and motorist battle with Sunrise century
• ACA changes race schedules, some love it, some hate it.
• Walker Finch of Fort Collins wins #1 rank in expert ABA BMX for 12yr
• Trees vs. Bikes on 30th street
• Cyclist killed on Hwy 36
• UCI level racing returns to Colorado with 2 days of cross racing at the Boulder Cup and Blue Sky Velo Cup
• Colorado does well at Cyclocross Nationals
• Return of the Rocky Mountain Bike Show
• Best Bike Video 2009 best non-colorado video Performance
• Third time is a charm for the Koppenberg
• Lyons to Boulder Trail shoot down
• 2009 Master Track Nationals at 7-11 Velodrome
• Lance wins Leadville 100
• Most Bizarre Story, L'alpe D Flag
  
  
  
  Single Speed World Championships came to Colorado
• Rider Assist Problem at Copper
• Sheriff Alderdern at it again

For those who could not attend here is what you missed. Check out Mudandcowbells.com for more words and videos on the event.

Temperature is 16F and 4 inches of snow is on the ground... "cool" you say because today is Wednesday Worlds but if you cut off outside cycling once the temperature drops below your age then the next few months could be a bore but a big requirement if you have any desire for the races that happen before June. Check out some of the boredom fighting videos at epicPlanet.tv. I like these videos because they have the perspective of the bike, its like I'm riding in a exciting warmer place! I did contact epicplanet and they have plans in 2010 to create a Colorado DVD.