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Pedal Power

Dig into the numbers behind cycling in Colorado and beyond.

100 million

Amount in dollars committed over the next four years by Colorado’s Governor John Hickenlooper to launch the Colorado Pedals Project with a mission to make Colorado the best state in the nation for cyclists.

18

Miles of bikeway trail open as of March 1, 2016 along US 36 between Denver and Boulder thanks to the completion of Phase 2 of the US 36 Bikeway project.

2

Number of new downhill mountain biking trails open at Powderhorn Mountain Resort with access via its new high-speed quad lift. The resort is also working with local bike shops on a downhill bike series.

4

The chair number to take at Purgatory Resort in Duragno Colorado to ride the new 2.5 miles of purpose-built Divinity Flow Trail.

0.55

Percent of American workers who use a bike as their main vehicle for commuting according to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2010.

11

Average number of bicyclist fatalities per year in Colorado.

93,077

Members of the national nonprofit organization PeopleForBikes in Colorado.

34,500

Number of frequent bike commuters in Colorado according to People for Bikes.

6,800

Pounds of bike tubes repurposed by Green Guru into bags and other gear so far in 2016. That adds up to about 13,000 individual tubes.

8,100 

Vertical feet racers climbed over 41 miles last month during stage three of the 2016 Breck Epic, circumnavigating Guyot Peak and topping out at 12,046 feet at French Pass.

13 days, 22 hours, 51 minutes

The record time for the 2,745-mile, self-supported Tour Divide set by British cycling monster Mike Hall in 2016. The epic race runs along the Continental Divide from Alberta to the Mexican border.

2,000

Feet of climbing in just 3.7 miles on the Bergan Peak Trail near Evergreen, one of the hardest mountain bike rides in Colorado. Good luck.

158

Maximum heart rate of Nigerian-born British cyclist Chris Froome, while winning the Tour de France in 2016. The average target maximum heart rate for his age is 190 beats per minute.

42

Kristin Armstrong’s age when she won gold in the cycling time trial at the Olympics last month.

2

Wheels on a bike, which poses this mystery according to quantum physicist Michael Brooks, wrting in the New Statesman: “It turns out that taking into account the angles of the headset and the forks, the distribution of weight and the handlebar turn, the gyroscopic effects are not enough to keep a bike upright after all. What does? We simply don’t know. Forget mysterious dark matter and the inexplicable accelerating expansion of the universe; the bicycle represents a far more embarrassing hole in the accomplishments of physics.”

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