Better GJ through Bikes

We’re glad you’re here.

I’ve done a lot of things and worn a lot of different hats during my time here in Grand Junction, but not one fits as well as Bike Night. I’ve usually been content to live a relatively anonymous life, passing through, just doing my thing, etc., etc. But as soon as I realized the true potential that our merry band of bikers has, and the vibrant community we’ve grown into, I immediately felt like I’d found my home.

For me, every Bike Night feels like a release at the end of the week, an opportunity to return to something simple after ‌a long and arduous week. To know that we had created something where others in the community could feel the same, meet friends both old and new, and enjoy the simple pleasure of riding a bike, scratched a deep itch I didn’t know I had. 

The first two weeks of Bike Night had 20-30 people come out, unsure if the event was real or just some overly optimistic Instagram posts. However, that third Friday, Sept. 9th, 2021, featured almost 100 riders from the first two weeks, their friends, family, roommates and anyone else they could convince to join this new and exciting staple of the GJ scene. After over a year of isolation and limited social contact, being surrounded by a wide range of people all reveling in a warm summer afternoon and two wheels completely changed my perspective on life and how it is lived.

Of course, the beginning was not without its hiccups. Guiding almost 100 riders safely through a city bisected by large four-lane roads and highways is not very easy. But we eventually figured out our systems and roles, and the excitement continued to spread. Every time I told someone of this new Friday night option, they’d show up, tentatively start talking to folks, and by the end of the ride be grinning ear to ear and saying how excited they are for the next ride. 

The summer before Bike Night started, I was lucky enough to do some traveling, first to Reno, and then to Boston. One blustery Wednesday night in Reno, my brother and I went to the  Reno Bike Night, a long-running monthly group ride through The Biggest Little City in The World. That one ride will forever stand as my first experience where city streets are taken back entirely by people and the city is full of the sound of life; where the streets are fully democratized.

Later that summer, my family and I visited Boston. My family originally hails from the Northeast, so I’d heard tales of Boston being filled with incessant honking, ludicrous drivers, and the most aggressive road rage anywhere in the US. My experience was the complete opposite. In fact, we didn’t need to use a car once, as the city proudly guided tourists, residents, and delivery drivers around their shiny new protected bike lanes. Another first for the summer, I now knew that not every public infrastructure project needed to be for cars only, but could in fact expand to provide options for all. The public streets could truly return to the public, regardless of age, ability, or social status. The combination of those two facts that streets can be democratized and we can build streets for people to live on rather than drive through led to GJ Bike Night. Through community events, activities, and activism, we can form a more cohesive voice in the push for a Grand Junction that is built for everyone. Folks have long said that Grand Junction is a city on the rise, but it’s about time they start saying Grand Junction is a great city.

When settlers first came to the Grand Valley, their first instinct wasn’t to build sprawling suburbs and malls and big-box stores, but rather ‌to do what humans have always done. They built dense grids with everything they could possibly need within a short walk. Work, food, healthcare and housing were all mixed into an amalgamation of human productivity. Until the 1950s, Grand Junction followed the same city design principles that humans have been experimenting with since the very first cities appeared in the Fertile Crescent.

However, once WWII ended, the U.S. embarked upon a grand experiment. Overturning thousands of years of collective knowledge, dense grids of vibrant communities dispersed to outlying suburbs, emptying the vital commercial core, and ever-widening roads severing pedestrian connections within the city. Grand Junction became just another stop along I-70, a city fractured into pieces unable to achieve its full potential. In just a few decades, the entire fabric of the city changed completely, from one built for living in, to one built for driving through. 

Although its veins are clogged with cars, Grand Junction still has the bones of a vibrant, people-focused city. The flow of cars through the city on North Ave, Patterson, and the I-70 Business Loop put a chokehold on pedestrian and bicycle traffic from North-South, forcing only the most destitute or enthusiastic to brave the streets. Anyone who’s ever tried to ride their bike to Las Colonias knows the struggle. Being shunted into a glass-filled gutter masquerading as a “bike lane” is not how we create vibrant and safe corridors through town. Safe, comfortable, and separated bike lanes and sidewalks are so much more than they appear to be at face value. It is well documented that bike and pedestrian infrastructure that is available to everyone increases health, saves money for citizens, reduces congestion, and proves an economic boon for businesses. Safe and connected bicycle infrastructure is safer for drivers and cyclists alike, correlating to lower average speeds and decreased likelihood of collisions. Safe and accessible bike lanes and sidewalks are proven in cities across the globe to boost spending in commercial cores, provide consistent access to employment for lower-income folks and reduce traffic congestion for all. 

So many of my friends and schoolmates have left Grand Junction for opportunities in other cities. While there are significant efforts to attract and keep jobs in GJ, the quality of life doesn’t measure up to the competition. I have no proof of this, but I believe they are leaving because CMU is an island cut off from the rest of Grand Junction. The only way to safely see the city is through a glass window, moving at 35 mph to your destination. There is little opportunity to connect with the city, to see the same cat sitting in the window every morning, to wave hi to a neighbor, to see a face and give a smile. Traveling through town is a solitary affair, no matter what method you choose. In a car, you are surrounded by others but see no faces, only other large metal boxes speeding toward their destination. On a bike, you feel ‌you’re playing a very large and very real game of Sharks & Minnows, where you most certainly are not the shark.

The situation we find ourselves in is not a “bike thing” or a “car thing”, but ‌a people thing. How Grand Junction is built actively discriminates against those who cannot afford or physically drive a car, those who must decide between paying for gas and feeding a family, the people who hesitate when asked “Do you have access to reliable transportation?” and the folks who simply want to live a healthier life. After all, it’s not just a bike lane, is it? It’s a lane towards self-sufficiency and reliance, personal growth & development, connection with your city and the people we share it with, and most of all, a lane into the future.

I am still in Grand Junction because I see the potential for us to meet and exceed anything else being done in the U.S. Our infrastructure may be broken, degraded, and actively hostile to anyone not in a car, but that gives us the opportunity to redo 30 years of bad decisions and make Grand Junction the best damn city in the U.S. 

I hope you feel the same, and if you ever want to sit down and talk over coffee, my phone number is (719) 761-3378. If you’d like to keep up on further news, follow GJ Bike Night on Instagram @gjbikenight. In addition, I have recently been appointed to the Urban Trails Committee, so ‌all ideas, suggestions, comments, and concerns about how to improve the transportation fabric of GJ are welcome and encouraged! As always, GJ Bike Night is every Friday at 7 PM, 544 Rood Avenue, bring bikes, lights, speakers, helmets!

If not us, who?

If not now, when?