with the functionality of a vehicle.” He and Brunner started FattE-Bikes with the goal of bringing a better product to the market. But they faced challenges from the start, aggravated by supply-chain slowdowns over the past two years. “Bikes are primarily comprised of alumi- num and rubber. We have a massive short- age of those two products as well,” says MacKenzie Hardt, owner of Hardt Family Cyclery in Aurora, a store participating in the e-bike rebate program. When those shortages are combined with “fuel shortages, truck shortages, cargo container shortages, labor shortages in the port...items that used to take four to six months are taking two to three years to get in,” Hardt adds. And this all came at a time when people were buying more e-bikes, with a goal of not just saving money and helping the environment, but simply getting outside during the pandemic. “We’ve seen a massive spike in sales within a massive downturn in supply,” Hardt says. The supply-chain issues have gotten a bit better recently, he notes. And in order to keep up with the rebate-inspired demand, his store, like SloHi, has been stocking up when it can. Since FattE-Bikes makes its own bikes, Fischer has been ordering parts months in advance so that it can guarantee that a cus- tom-made bike will only take a month, two at the most. Even so, he’s had to scramble. There’s not just competition to get bikes. There’s competition over where to ride them. The Cherry Creek Trail, which runs through multiple counties, is the crown jewel of the metro Denver bike infrastruc- ture. The Highline Canal Trail, the Platte River Greenway and the Bear Creek Trail are three more popular paths in the area. Some bike purists don’t appreciate seeing e-bikes on these trails, which they’re already sharing with walkers, hikers, rollerbladers and sometimes even horses. “I’ve noticed that a lot of e-bikers do not call out their pass. And some of the e-bikes, depending on the size of their tires, are whisper-quiet — you can’t even hear them coming,” says Alton Dillard, a member of the Major Taylor Cycling Club of Denver. “There have been a few times where you’ve been buzzed by somebody on an e-bike, especially in the narrows as you’re coming into downtown Denver through Confl uence Park. We want people just to make sure they’re being safe.” For Krishnamoorthy, the problem comes down to the individual user. “It’s more about the person using the bike,” she says. “If you’re using the trail correctly and leaving the space for other people, it’s not going to be as damaging. I think pitting bike users against each other won’t result in anything useful, but going to the heart of the problem is that there isn’t enough space because there’s an imbalance in the use of space.” “Where the tension comes is exactly what I was just talking about, where you don’t have enough space, where everybody is try- ing to use it,” says Jill Locantore, executive director of the Denver Streets Partnership. “We’ve dedicated so much of our public right-of-way for cars and people driving, and we’ve just left scraps for everybody else to be fi ghting over.” Bobby Brown and SloHi Bike Co. have been loving the rebate program. facility. People are now really calling for more high-comfort facilities. There’s been some frustration in the bike advocacy community in what the city is building.” An example of a high-comfort facility is a bike lane that runs along a street and has an actual cement barrier between the lane and the cars in the street. In determining whether to build a pro- tected bike lane or simply stripe a street with paint to designate a bike lane, the Denver Department of Transportation and Infra- structure relies on “data associated with how many vehicles are using the corridor as well as the speed along the corridor,” according to Emily Gloeckner, Denver’s traffi c engineer and director of transportation design. “If we start to see upwards of 7,000 ve- hicles a day using this street, that says to us that we need protection for this bike lane in order to provide that high-comfort facility. It’s a case-by-case type of implementation,” Gloeckner says. Colleague Jennifer Hillhouse, Denver’s director of transportation and mobility plan- ning, notes that there are “tradeoffs” and that “protection requires more space.” “Our standards are based on the value that all ages and abilities are willing to ride a bike. We’re designing for children, we’re designing for elderly,” Hillhouse says. But biking advocates like Locantore want the city to take more radical action — fast. “For decades, we’ve been solely focusing on making driving safe, easy and convenient. They have to be willing to start making these tradeoffs, they have to be willing to start doing things like adding more frequent parking. We’ve gone from protected bike lanes to neighborhood bikeways. Just paint on the street is not going to get it done.” Bike advocates are now making their wants known to offi cials working on Denver Moves Everyone, a plan that will guide transportation in the city from 2023, when the guideline is slated to be adopted, through 2050. “Denver Moves Everyone will build a road map and six-year capital plan that will be focused on not only where the invest- ments are needed, but will also be outcome- based,” says Gloeckner. “We have to be very strategic and thoughtful about where these dollars are spent to have the biggest impact.” E-bike dollars are having a big impact on Denver right now. “Denver is really on fi re, and they’re doing a wonderful job with the rebate programs,” says Lance Camisasca, who is organizing (e)revolution, a national e-bike trade show, at the Colorado Convention Center in June 2023. Camisasca and his partners chose Denver for the event because of its central location and “vibrant cycling community”; the show will be geared toward retailers, manufacturers and consumers. “Denver is the right place at the right time,” Camisasca says. And the rebate program is the right tactic to keep things rolling, according to CASR. “We really do need to give the program a good number of months to play out to see how people are using the e-bikes. How does this lower greenhouse gas emissions?” MacLaren says. “The extent to which we are going to do it, we are hopeful.” While the trails are great for exercise and sometimes even commuting, Denver doesn’t have a truly connected bike path system through the city. In 2018, the City of Denver set a goal of building 125 new miles of bike lanes by 2023. So far, it has built 103 miles. “They’re doing pretty good in terms of funding and mileage. We’ve defi nitely seen increases over the years of the city regularly allocating money in the annual budget for the buildout of the bike network and an increase in the mileage of it,” says Locantore. “I think the biggest challenge is the quality of what they’re building, and it’s not quite keeping pace with the community in raising the bar in terms of what they’re expecting from a bike diverters to neighborhood streets. They have to be willing to remove on-street parking,” Locantore says. And the city may have to be willing to spend even more money on bike infrastructure. “We are committed to building out our network. A lot of it is funding-constrained. The more funding we have, the more op- portunity we have to accelerate the buildout of our network. It is a commitment that we have, and we intend to continue to build out. The amount of time will just depend on the funding,” says Gloeckner. “There are grandiose plans for protected lanes and different lanes, and they get wa- tered down,” e-bike rider Brown complains. “It’s usually local neighbors whining about CASR celebrated its two-year anniversary on July 1. The day before, the offi ce released its 2021 annual report to highlight some of the work it had done around Denver. In particular, the offi ce led the charge on reducing buildings’ reliance on fossil fuels, helped implement a policy to reduce the use of plastic bags at grocery stores and conve- nience stores, and implemented a policy to reduce the use of single-use items from delivery orders and drive-thrus. “The global climate crisis is contribut- ing to Denver’s longer and more frequent droughts, hotter temperatures and poor air quality, among other hazards. Scientists and experts agree that wealthier nations and cities must act swiftly to curb further greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change and support adaptation and resilience for those most vulnerable to ad- dress the impacts we are already experienc- ing today,” MacLaren notes in a statement attached to the 2021 annual report. As part of CASR’s goal of getting Denver to net zero for carbon emissions by 2040, the offi ce also earmarked $18 million for community solar energy projects. And CASR funded workforce development for under- resourced residents of Denver, planted over 2,000 trees to increase the tree canopies in climate-vulnerable neighborhoods, and helped pay for a free, on-demand micro- shuttle for residents in Montbello. And then there was the e-bike rebate program, which has a parallel state program. This past legislative session, Colorado lawmakers approved Senate Bill 193, titled “Air Quality Improvement Investments.” Senator Julie Gonzales, a Democrat who rep- resents north, west and downtown Denver, served as a prime sponsor on that bill, which earmarks $12 million for a statewide e-bike program. “We know that a lot of Coloradans want to make this transition. We know that if we can help folks understand how to be less car-reliant in order to get from one place in town to another, we can really have a big impact and reduce the impact to air quality, and help folks make that climate transition as well,” Gonzales says. The money will go toward traditional e-bike rebate programs statewide, like the one in Denver, and also toward local gov- ernments and nonprofi ts so they can set up e-bike share programs. Although Gonzales didn’t know about Denver’s planned e-bike rebate program when she was working on SB-193, she says she’s thoroughly impressed with the program and plans to land a rebate when it restarts on July 11. In the meantime, the state senator will be testing out e-bikes in stores around Denver. But I no longer need to share. On June 30, I got an email from REI: My e-bike was ready. I quickly headed over to Confl uence Park to pick up my brand-new e-bike that store staffers had put together. And then I hopped on the Platte River Greenway, feeling like the fastest kid in my gym class. I arrived back at the offi ce without a single bead of sweat on my forehead, breath- ing just fi ne in the mile-high air. I’m hooked. Email the author at conor.mccormick. [email protected]. 9 westword.com | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NEWS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | WESTWORD JULY 7-13, 2022 EVAN SEMÓN
