It’s perhaps no secret anymore that Denver’s best kept secret is that we get 300 days of sunshine. That’s what is so great about the Mile High City; more time to be outside and be active! Things may look a little… or a lot different this year (looking at you Covid) but that doesn’t mean we can’t be outside and still practice social distancing! One of my favorite activities this summer has been to bike ride around town, so you can imagine my excitement when I learned about Way to Go’s 2020 Summer Bike Challenge that is running from June to September.
In case you don’t know, Way to Go is a program of the Denver Regional Council of Governments and their mission is simple: Improve Denver’s air quality through decreased traffic congestion. I think we can all get behind that! You likely know them from the popular Bike To Work Day, which is always so fun to take part in! The 2020 Bike Challenge is encouraging us Coloradans to swap our cars for our bikes for many of our day to day tasks. Running to the store? Going to meet a friend for a drink? Headed to the park? Leave the car at home and take out your bike instead! This simple act will help eliminate our footprint and get us in a better habit of taking our bike on these short trips rather than the car. I have been loving biking to the park, biking to friend’s houses, and even to local restaurants to grab a bite outside and enjoy the summer!
As you guys probably already know, I am a Colorado native and a total fan girl when it comes to our city. DENVER IS THE BEST! Sorry, not sorry. There’s no other place like it in my opinion. Where else can you hop on multiple bike paths and be in so many awesome locations from your two-wheel transportation so quickly! Denver is such a biker friendly city! I love hopping on the Cherry Creek trail and cruising from downtown to Wash Park to Cherry Creek and more! A typical Sunday for us means biking to the farmers market and loading up on fresh produce for the week (and then my husband giving me a hard time for buying too much and making the backpack too heavy yet again, but that’s neither here nor there).
If you’re looking for some inspo on where to bike, then another fun aspect of the 2020 Bike Challenge is the Pedal Pursuit Scavenger Hunt, which is a fun way to explore new areas and win prizes! All you must do is bike to five or more locations and then you are entered to win! You can track your trips here and find additional rules and regulations by clicking here. I mean, who doesn’t want to win a REI prize pack valued at over $500… am I right?! I downloaded the locations checklist here and my husband and I did it last week. We had so much fun exploring places that we normally wouldn’t think to go to. Went biked to Dairy Block, Mile High Stadium, the Molly Brown House, the City Park Pavilion and more! It’s such a fun way to spend a Saturday or Sunday and another great excuse to get outside and take advantage of our amazing city!
Since many of us are working from home this year, Way to Go also decided to change Bike to Work Day to Bike to Wherever Week where you can pledge to ride to, you guessed it… wherever! This will be occurring September 21st through the 25th and you can get more details by clicking here.
Hope to see you all out there on your bikes! If you spot me on my pink cruiser, be sure to say hi! Post your summer bike pictures and use hashtag #SummerBikeChallenge to be entered for more sweet prizes! Let’s do our part, in a fun way nonetheless, to keep our city and state clean and beautiful!
Happy cruising!
