It doesn’t take the Elephant Rock Ride, the Mayor’s Ride, the Starlight, Ride the Rockies,  or a clean-up day for Section 16 Trails to make June the time to celebrate riding bicycles if you are already a cyclist.*  You are already out there reveling in the sunshine.

There’s just one thing more to consider:  it is a good time to put some of that post-ride euphoria to work on recruitment.   Criterium’s motto is ‘Start Here,’ with lots of ideas for getting your partner, your friends, kids, or co-workers excited about cycling.  Sometimes it just takes an objective, like an organized ride.  Sometimes it’s a tune-up and a more comfortable seat.  Sometimes one of our bike fits will help create confidence.  And sometimes it is a rental–our tandem for a date, or a full suspension mountain bike to make your easy trail into someone else’s achievement.

Our lobby has lots of ride ideas, as well as information from cycling organizations:  People for Bikes, Adventure Cycling, the League of American Wheelmen, Bicycle Colorado, Colorado Springs Bike Club, and lots of organized rides.    Join in, and bring a friend along for the ride.

*All of the events and links are available at Peak Region Cyclist.

Looking for a great price on a bike maintained by some of the best mechanics in town?  Our legendary holiday rental sales will be happening again this year!   Criterium is open Memorial Day, the 4th of July, and Labor Day.  On each holiday, a portion of the rental fleet is retired from service.  Many bikes are current year models, and all have the better part of their useful life ahead of them.  Stop by to keep your eye on a prize.

29er mountain bikes are the big news for this season.  If your friends already have one, they will tell you it’s the latest-greatest, and you can’t live without it.   Here are a few clarfications about the hubbub, and a suggestion to help your decision process:

29″ wheels are the same diameter as road wheels (700c), so the bikes stand taller on the trail.  This is good for speed and comfort.  Tall may not be what you want for slow-speed, technical work.

Some riders have moved from full suspension back to hard tail 29ers to save weight.  The bigger wheel diameter increases comfort while maintaining the stand-in-the-bumps feeling of hard tail mountain biking.  Our Cannondale Flash 29ers are the lightest 29ers in the shop.

29ers are a big category, with hardtails from $549 to $3000, and full suspension bikes in typical full suspension price ranges from $1800 to well over $4000 for full carbon frames. For 2011, we also have two women-specific Myka hardtail 29er’s in 15, 17, and 19″ frame sizes.

To help customers sort out this new category of mountain bikes, Criterium has hardtail 29ers and full suspension models in our rental fleet.  This provides a day, weekend, or a full week of test riding.  If you purchase a bike from us, we will apply one days’ rental fee to the purchase price of your new bike.  It’s a great way to make a fully informed decision.  Love the rental bike?  It has a buy-it-now price, too.

What do bike shop guys do in February?  Some sign up for the roller races at the Triple Nickel.  Aaron won the Gold Sprints by out-spinning the competition (high rpm’s = massive pain the next day, but who cares?)  Josh won the beer sprints by drinking a beer, placing the mug on his head, and then riding 250 meters.  We think that Jose won the race home.

Check out the video of the Colorado Springs Golds Sprints.

Spring orders arrive daily at Criterium with new innovations, new colors, and sometimes, even lower prices!  The clothing department is bringing back some 2010 favorites (Pactimo and Terry), and adding some great new products for kids and women (Pearl Izumi).  We will keep our tights and jackets out for several months, too, along with the warmers and gloves that make Springtime in the Rockies rideable!

Stop in for the open house night to see the new stuff and get your motivation cranked up…

We are planning an open house night for March 3rd from 6-8pm.  We will have three mini clinics covering topics like planning your cycling vacation for 2011, bike fitting, and fixing flats.  We also will have reps from some of the brands we stock on hand to answer questions on their new 2011 products, and of course food and beverages to enjoy while taking it all in.  At the end of the night we will also have drawings for prizes just as an added incentive to come take part.  All we ask is that you RSVP via email (criterium@earthlink.net) with how many people you are bringing so we can make sure we have enough food and drink.  A big thanks also to Tara Nolan, a local financial adviser for helping us plan the event.  She will be on hand also for anyone wanting to sign up for her teleconference series or inquire about her services.

Criterium will be open 10-6 on February 1st.  It is unusual for us to shorten hours of operation, but the extreme cold and snow make it unsafe for our staff to open early and stay until 8 p.m.

Picture a 5-mile connector trail between Barr Trail and Jones Park.  The trail will necessarily cross the Utilities portion of the Pikes Peak watershed, and has been name the ‘Missing Link Trail’ because of the hundred years it has been closed to the public.  In 2011, the Medicine Wheel group has the opportunity to build that trail.  And all of us can help, just by watching a film that we already want to watch….

The New Year will bring some new events to the Pikes Peak Region, including an international pro cycling race with the Prologue in Colorado Springs, and the 24-hour mountain bike national championship at the USAFA.

We have better maps (including a booklet of road rides), better trails, and our loaded GPS units to encourage exploration of new places to ride.  Our Monument Ride Center is your base camp for exploring the northern end of El Paso County, and the trails and open spaces of Douglas County just across County Line Road.

So, make a New Year’s Resolution to go outside–Explore, Compete, and Celebrate– all of the riding opportunities right here in the Pikes Peak Region.  Our staff is here to help you meet your goals and live your dreams.

The solstice is past, so daylight is on the way up again.  It looks like we will have one of those winters with both good ski conditions and great bike days.    Criterium will be open New Years Eve 8-4, and closed New Years Day, so that our staff can embark upon the traditional New Years Day ride.

We’re sorting through the inventory, and we found some things to mark down so that your gift cards will go further:

SPECIALIZED  OPTICS:  remaining sports glasses in stock — $70 glasses now $47;  $140 and over – now $99.

‘010 PACTIMO JERSEYS: you love the shorts; now try the leftover 2010 jerseys @ 30% off original retails

F-7 CANNONDALE MOUNTAIN BIKE: 2010 best-seller, just one left, reduced from $610 to $549 (blue&white, Large)

F-5 CANNONDALE MOUNTAIN BIKE : 2010, BBQ BLACK – MED-LARGE-XL, reducted from $829 to $759

There are more mountain, full suspension, and road bikes marked down to make room for the 2011 models.  Take a test ride on a sunny afternoon!

Renting? You may deduct one day’s fee from any floor bike, or from the Buy-It-Now price on our entire rental fleet.

HAPPY NEW YEAR – HAPPY FITNESS – HAPPY RIDING!