Bikes are hard to forget.  They have served as a major part of human history and culture.  They represent freedom, escape and a lust for living.  In 1900 the Denver Post reported that the Mile High City had more bikes per resident than any other city in the United States.  

    For those craving a wild wheel adventure, there has never been a place better than Colorado.

    Denver and the  surrounding areas offer some of the most impressive natural beauty for bikers in the world.  There are countless paved and unpaved trails to explore.  Coloradoans and visitors alike can thrill in taking their bikes on trails with mountains, mesas and even metro views. 

    The benefits of biking are numerous.  There’s the aerobic aspect—biking is one of the biggest calorie torches around, burning around 600 calories an hour, depending on weight.  Furthermore, biking helps improve agility, motor skills and coordination, not to mention toning all of the major leg muscles.

When it’s time to get geared, there are numerous resources throughout the metro area.  Denverites can purchase gear from stores like REI and Dick’s Sporting Goods as well as from a multitude of local bike specialty stores like Turin Bikes Ltd. (which also provides tune-ups without an appointment), Wheat Ridge Cyclery (which offers Women’s Mountain Biking Group Rides and Women’s Maintenance Clinics) and Colorado Bike Service (which offers rentals and supplies for the advanced bicyclist).  Custom bikes can be created at Pedal Pushers Cyclery on Quebec in Denver while Denver Adventures in Golden offers guided excursions for half and full days. 

    Bliss on a bike is not an uncommon sentiment in the state.  Paul Carter, a resident of Boulder, and owner of Carter Painting, is proud of his two-wheel collection—he owns a Trek Mountain Bike and a Bianchi Road Bike.  Carter started his foray into bicycling in 1964, at the age of four.  “I started to ride to keep up with the neighborhood kids,” he says.  But nowadays Carter finds the different benefits of biking alluring.  “It’s a good way to get and stay in shape.  There is usually little impact on joints,” he says.