1. Round of applause for everybody involved in the “bike to play”, “bike to work” week:
RMNP- Mark Kougl and Daniel Basch
EP Marathon – Belle Morris
Town of Estes Park – Frank Lancaster, Kate Rusch, Suzanna Simpson, Lexy Jacboson, Rita Kruelja, Russ Franklin and Tonya Ziegler
Estes Valley Recreation District – Cheryl Sarnwick and Skylar Rorabaugh
EP Medical Center – Kerrie Hill and Karen Nicholson
EPCC – all of us!
2. Safety Promotion and Education (Mark Kougl and Alicia Mittleman)
Start focusing on advocating & trying to avoid conflicts with other drivers. Maybe partner with the police department, make a pamflet. Don’t forget we have to show good behavior on the road and lead by example. Even when that isn’t always easy because the infrastructure can’t handle a lot of people on bicycles yet.
We also have to reach out to schools (taking “bike to school” as an opportunity to reach adults through their children)
EPCC will start a ‘Safety & Education’ committee. This committee will provide a strategic framework in the next couple months so we can set up goals and see what is possible to achieve. Mark K. will be the contact person for this committee
3. Erica became a member of the ‘trails committee’ (part of Parks & Rec) She will keep us informed about the building of new trails and the designation of existing paths as multi-use trails. Because of the flood, a lot of planning and building is postponed to 2015
Erica also had a meeting with Charley, VP of the Stanley. He is very interested in everything we do to make Estes Park a ‘health destination’
4. Bike Racks:
Here is a list of bike racks maintained by the town:
- 1 @ Visitors Center
- 2 @ Confluence Park
- 1 @ Library
- 1 @ Moraine Ave restrooms
- 1 @ Tregent Park
- 3 @ Performance Park
- 1 @ Town Hall
EPCC will try to set up some more bike racks in the future. What the city (public works) needs from us is: location (needs to be close to a business or destination where the functional cyclist will park (1 car spot can host +-14 bicycles)), design (maybe local artists), who will pay for the racks, what the maintenance cost will be.
Funds can come from sponsoring (integrated in the design ?) or a fundraiser. We can also ask Public Works if they have some unused racks available somewhere.
5. John Simmerman from Active Towns attended our meeting.
Active Towns helps groups like the EPCC to create an environment that helps people with creating a healthy behavior. An environment that stimulates walking, cycling instead of taking a car to go from point A to B.
His points of observation were:
- Culture proceeds infrastructure.
- Connect to quality of life, don’t let people see you as just cyclists. Broad the mission, widen scope on healthy lifestyle with cycling as part of that lifestyle. We have the opportunity with the flood recovery and the Medical Health Center.
- Show courtesy in traffic. Thank positive car drivers with a thumbs up for example.
- Stop the mantra that it is dangerous to drive around in Estes Park. Take of your helmets when you go for a stroll in town. For some drivers, a person or family in normal clothes without helmets on bicycles is more positive than an athlete strapped in lycra racing through downtown 😉
- Check in some federal programs that already exist (‘safe routes to school’ for example
- The higher the speed of traffic, the more infrastructure is needed to guide cyclists safe through traffic.
- Reach out to the whole community, try to educate all layers / groups in the community (Hispanics)
- Use the activity asset mapping tool (how well is everything connected, how easy is it for somebody to go from point A to B without using a car)
Here are the two links John Simmerman provided Belle S. Morris earlier.
Ben starts speaking at minute 17
And this is the 14 minute video on Poynton…
6. New T-shirt colors
We have new colors available in our web shop (https://www.bikeestes.org/shop/)
7. Social Rides
Super Moon Century ride on Aug 10th. Ride from Estes over Trail Ridge to Grand Lake by moonlight, then eat breakfast at Grand Lake at 6am, and ride back to Estes. All weather-permitting of course. (check facebook/forum for updates)
If you have ideas for group rides, use our facebook page, facebook group and/or bikeestes.org forum ( you can also use this link to add an event on our calendar: https://www.bikeestes.org/calendar/community/add )
Next meeting: Wednesday August 20th – Twin Owls Steakhouse
