is to encourage and promote bicycling, increase safety, improve conditions and
provide a voice for cyclists in Colorado. Established in 1992, BC is a
non-profit 501(c)3 organization working for you, the road, mountain and touring
cyclist in Colorado. " To achieve these goals they work closely with bike
groups, bike companies and others state wide organizations that have an
interest in making Colorado a better place to ride. They have been instrumental
in getting a number of laws changed, such as requiring motorists to give a three
foot buffer when passing and are currently involved with open roads legislation
(Pl 1093) to require all public roads be open to bikers or alternatives be
provided.
Recently a bicycle summit was held in downtown Denver and at the Capital
building where hundreds of people where brought together statewide to discuss
issues. Since Summit Biking paid for a board member to attend this report is
being made to the members. The meeting was a two day affair with the first day
discussing biking in Colorado and the US and the second day on meeting with
state representatives to influence voting on bicycle issues.
The two important pieces of legislation with impacts on biking this time is a
mountain bike law to limit liability to land owners that open their land to
public access. Basically this allows mountain bikers to pass through private
land where the land owner have given permission without the land owner being
required to carry liability insurance. This was a senate bill and did not make
it out of committee, losing by one vote. Our representative is Jeanne
Nicholson, from Blackhawk, and she voted against the legislation. It is
expected that this bill will come up again and hopefully enough changes will be
made so it is accepted. Although I do not know all the issues with the bill it
seems there is a concern that passing it would limit liability to land owners
that build mountain park areas and then charge users. Ms. Nicholson did say to
me she would switch her vote if land owners had insurance to cover liability
issues similar to what ski areas currently cover. Her web site is
jeanne.nicholson.senate@state.co.us. The other piece of legislation is to keep
all public roads open to the public (PL 1093) mentioned above. Our
representative in the house committee involved with this legislation is Millie
Hamner, email millie.hammer.house@state.co.us. She committed that she would
support this bill in her committee and subsequently it passed Wednesday morning
by one vote. This bill will now be taken up by the full house and once passed
by house will be taken up by the Senate. At this point I would encourage Summit
Bikers to contact their House Representative. Since Millie Hamner has committed
it may be more beneficial if you vote in another locality outside of Summit
County to contact your representative. To find your representative's email and
suggested points to raise see the following web page;
http://bicyclecolo.org/articles/open-roads-act-action-alert-judiciary-pg1174.htm.
Bicyclist can look forward to a ciclovia coming to Denver soon. This is where
they close down the main roads to traffic in the heart of the city and open them
up to biking. The idea has become an international idea and the move is being
made to bring it to Denver.
On the mountain bike front there are a number of developments around the state
including new trail areas in Boulder and Castle Rock. Steamboat has a "Biketown
USA" initiative to greatly improve mountain biking there (they stated there are
500 miles of single track) and there are major plans to build a trail network in
Gateway, Colorado similar to Moab.
Like many of you I have not thought of the political aspects of biking but laws
to improve biker's safety and access to ride various areas can and does affect
all of us. As issues arise that can impact us we will try to make you aware so
we can let our representatives know where we stand on issues.
John Bowyer
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