The Barr Lake and Milton Reservoir Watershed Association (BMW) in collaboration with the Colorado Stormwater Council (CSC) and the City and County of Denver Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI), created a virtual bike tour for 2020. The tour went ‘live’ and was posted to YouTube on June 23rd. Registration was free for all participants. Other groups that provided support include: Water Education Colorado; Metro Wastewater Reclamation District; The Greenway Foundation; Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Metro DNA, El Laboratorio, and the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT). The tour has 13 likes and has been viewed over 300 times (and only a few of those were me).
Because of the Coronavirus pandemic, the tour had to become virtual. Speakers were contacted to set up filming. Amy Conklin, along with Donny Roush and Mackenzie Runciman, both with DOTI, would accompany the filming sessions practicing social distancing. Videos were edited using iMovie Video Editor. Credits and music were added along with maps. Drone footage of some of the stops was provided by DOTI. Videos of biking the trail, speeded up to a few seconds, was provided by Lucas Boyd. Lucas is a nurse and avid cyclist. He posts many of his cycling videos to Instagram. He was delighted to contribute to the project and we were delighted to distract him from his duties saving people from Coronaviurs.
A diverse set of speakers shared their expertise with the group: Jennifer Williams, with DOTI spoke at Barnum Park. Jorge Figueroa, with El Laboratorio spoke at the confluence of Weir Gulch with the South Platte River. Alex Trout with CDOT spoke at CDOT Headquarters on Lakewood Gulch. Jeff Shoemaker, with the Greenway Foundation and Dana Coehlo, with Metro DNA spoke at Shoemaker Plaza. Jeff Ullman, with CDPHE spoke at Denver’s stormwater structure at 33rd Street and the river. Ryan Crum with DOTI spoke at Globeville Landing.
Our sponsors provided critical support for program development, outreach, marketing, materials for the participants, and mailing. The 7-question survey results in Attachment A show how well received the bike tours are. This year we only received four (4) responses. They were very positive and provided good feedback even if there weren’t a lot of them. T shirts were provided to all participants who sent a mailing address. So far, more than half of the T shirts have been distributed and the rest will find good homes as outreach materials.