Mile High Guy

The Great and Late Bike Sharing Experiment: My Tribute To Denver B-Cycle

109 Rides. Over 7,000 calories burned. Roughly $230 burned.

These are just a few of the statistics that I was able to pull in regards to my usage of B-Cycle. While I was not an early adopter, I was someone that learned to appreciate what B-Cycle was for what it is.

When I started seriously using B-Cycle back May of 2019 to get to work, I never thought that it would be as consequential to my life as it has become. As someone that was an early adopter of the 5280 program and has written articles about it for Streetsblogs and DenverUrbanism, B-Cycle became my “beat” to an extent.

While it merely started out that way, B-Cycle became the “go to” for me when it came to getting anywhere within the Central Business District or to the 10th and Osage light Rail Station, which I used to see family and friends or get to work. Eventually, when I didn’t want to risk locking up my bike in places that I did not consider safe, B-Cycle was a reliable alternative, even allowing me to see one of my favorite ska bands, Streetlight Manifesto, perform at the Fillmore. I shifted from being a mere reporter on what B-Cycle was as a nonprofit and another contractor with the City of Denver and became an avid user.

Granted, I like many others, had my criticism of B-Cycle. They are big and clunky, occasionally had some issues that I attribute mainly to the wear and tear that most bicycles get, and occasionally docks would not have B-Cycles on them. However, B-Cycle was the first of its kind to come around, was effective in increasing alternative modes of transportation beyond single occupancy vehicles, and introduced many people in Denver to the joys of riding a bike, garnering hundreds of thousands of trips over its existence.

Yesterday, I took what will my last trip on a B-Cycle. After scavenging to find a station that had one, I checked one out at the 11th and Speer station and docked it at the 13th and Speer station adjacent to King Soopers. The lack of B-Cycles at the two stations that I had walked to felt like an unfortunate omen for what is to come as it relates to bike sharing in Denver. While options such as Lime and Jump exist for scooters and e-bikes respectively, the ability to dock a bike at an individual station, purchase monthly and yearly passes that cost a lot less than scooters when ridden consistently, and community of cyclists that B-Cycle built may be something that is lost to time, and will disrupt cycling in Denver going forward.

Rest in Peace B-Cycle

04/22/2010-01/30/2020

Tom’s Diner Review: A Middling Meal Bolstered By Nostalgia

Jake Jabs. John Elway. Dealin Doug. Tom Messina. To me, these names conjure up a time in Denver prior to the upheaval of the city by the tech and the cannabis boom. While the first three are fairly well known for sales and football, Tom Messina is the owner of the famous (or infamous if you ask some people) Tom’s Diner over at the mouth of East Colfax. Founded in 1999, Tom’s Diner has been serving the late night crowd of East Colfax ever since, whether that includes someone trying to get a bite after a show, or people trying to get in breakfast before work. After a prolonged fight to make the diner a historical landmark that ended in it being preserved by the National Register of Historic Places, Tom’s Diner is here to stay.

My biggest question after this whole debacle, however, is if the food is actually any good.

When I approached Tom’s Diner, I was taken aback by the Googie architecture that the building had on display, both outside and inside. I was meeting with a fellow coworker who is on nighshift, and got service immediately after sitting down.

After having some orange juice, I ordered the breakfast burrito smothered with vegetarian green chile sauce. After roughly 15-20 minutes, I got the burrito, which came with a side of potatoes.

The burrito met my expectations, which were roughly mid-level when I entered the building. While I have only been to Tom’s one other time while under the influence of alcohol (and, therefore, don’t really remember the taste of the food) I was impressed at the burrito and a little disappointed in the potatoes. Price wise, it wasn’t too bad as well, with the final bill being about what I would normally pay for similar diner food at a place like, say iHOP or Denver Diner After leaving Tom’s on a full stomach, I was content with what I had ordered and felt alright with my choices. 7.8/10

Featured Image is an exterior shot of the logo sign for Tom’s

Clear Goals, Better Me: How a Paradigm Shift can Help You Succeed in 2020 and Beyond

The end of the year has a way of sabotaging a lot of the goals that we try and accomplish. We often gain weight over the course of Thanksgiving through Christmas, spend lavishly on vacations for both respective holidays to celebrate with friends and family, and fall into routines that, in the long run, slowly chip away at the fabric of our goals. By December 26th when the next year comes around is generally the time that people think about what their resolutions should be. Phrases get tossed around, and many people throw around the phrase “New Year, New Me!” a lot as a recognition that things will be different in the New Year.

Besides generally agreeing with critics that New Years resolution often are abandoned and can be ineffective by mid-January of the New Year, I also take issue with using the mantra of “New Year, New Me” as a phrase of motivation for a couple different reasons.

First, it implies that the “old” version of you is a complete mess. While I can understand the perspective that a lot of people focus on the person that they want to become versus the person that they are now, the phrase seems pessimistic in nature in that it casts who you are in the moment as someone that is at the bottom and is constantly trying to claw your way out of a bad situation whether it is health related, financial, or social. It assumes that you are at a 0 starting point and that you have to work your way out of a bad situation.

The second part that I take more issue with with the “New Year,” component. Many New Year’s resolutions assume that, whatever goal that you are trying to achieve is something that should be done by December 31st, 20XX or else you are a failure. It does not allow for ample pacing, and assumes that whatever you want to achieve is something that can be rushed through in about a year. One goal, for instance, that I have made for myself both in this year and in the next is to write at least one post per week. Its a recurring goal, is not time sensitive, and is something that, since I have been chasing it. Has been improving my writing. If I were, for instance pressuring myself to write 52 posts by the end of 2020, I know that I would burn out faster than if I were to write 1 piece per week.

To counter the paradigm of “New Year, New Me” I propose an alternative phrase: “Clear Goals, Better Me.” Instead of doing New Years resolutions, I look at some of the goals that I have made throughout various points in my life, see what has helped me achieve them and what hasn’t, and adjust accordingly. Generally, I do not propose any resolutions for the New Year unless they are things that I feel incredibly motivated to accomplish or are sub-goals of things that I currently am doing. I know that limiting myself by casting myself as someone that doesn’t innately have potential, or as “old me” is bad. I also know that setting a year as an arbitrary time to complete tasks and accomplish goals that are often part of the lifelong learning process (such as healthy eating) is a practice in futility. Clear Goals, Better Me assumes a better starting point, is a way that to incorporate SMART Goals into your life, and make you all around a better, not a new, person in 2020 and beyond.

A Vegetarian Goes to a Steakhouse: An Unexpected Review

I have been vegetarian for about 7 years now, and generally try and avoid super heavy meat places unless they have sufficient veggie options. Simms Steakhouse in Lakewood, while it was meat heavy, had options that I found to be good enough to satisfy this need.

When one goes to a steakhouse with the dietary restriction that I have, it tends to be somewhat awkward. The great thing about Simms Steakhouse is I didn’t feel that. When I tried to order the onion soup, I was informed that the soup had a beef stock in it. So, I ordered Mac and Cheese as an appetizer.

The Mac and Cheese was rich to the point that I felt full before I got my main course, the Spinach salad. Topped with strawberries, blueberries, and red onions, the salad was the little extra “oomph” that I needed to be completely full.

After the main course, we got slices of cake for dessert. I ate a peanut butter and pecan slice, and felt completely satiated and beyond full by the time that I was finished.

The ambience of the place was nice too. One of the draws of many people are the views of Downtown Denver from the windows, and that failed to disappoint. The fire pits and Christmas trees were great too, and complemented the intimate atmosphere.

Overall, I would rate the experience as 4/5. While I was slightly overwhelmed by the Mac and Cheese & suspicious that it may have been cooked on some sort of surface with meat on it, the main dish was great, and the skyline of Denver was an excellent touch.

Short, Early, and Hit Driven: A Review of Phantogram at Larimer Lounge

Prior to winning the tickets to Phantogram, my experience with the band was similar to most people. I knew the songs “When I’m Small” and “You Don’t Get Me High Anymore*”, but couldn’t necessarily associate them with any particular band or group. After winning the tickets, I did a deep dive into the band, learning the history, watching past performances on YouTube, and most importantly getting a feel for the catalog. To me, it seemed like the marriage of the beats and instrumentals of trip hop artists like Massive Attack and similar vocal elements of Cranberries and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Whatever it was that drew me to the band, I liked it, and eagerly awaited the show.

We got to the venue about 20 minutes before the show started, and it was completely packed. A promoter from the local radio station came out a couple of times to warn when the band was coming out, and we grabbed our complimentary drinks from the bar. At 8:00, the show began.

Through the first part of the song “Black Out Days,” the vocals seemed to be a little sketchy when it came to sound quality, but the song itself was solid. The duo, with a new backing band that they had not had on previous tours, played their big hits, blasting through “Mouthful of Diamonds” “Cruel World” and “You Don’t Get Me High Anymore” while playing the (relatively) new song “In A Spiral” and promising new material beyond that. After finishing a solemn performance of “Answer”, the band finished off the night with their big hit “When I’m Small” and did a short Q&A session with the local radio host.

The one thing that stood out to me during the show besides the tightness of the backing crew was the energy and power that the two principals, Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter had over the crowd. While we were packed in sardines, Sarah’s stage presence and Josh’s delivery of backup vocals brought everyone to at the very least a head bob. It made a set that lasted roughly 45 minutes seem incredibly special, and was something I really appreciated.

Overall, the concert was a solid experience. While much more abbreviated than many shows I have been to recently, the energy that Phantogram had on stage coupled with the intimacy of the venue brought the night up to a good level for me.

On Snow, Streets, and Sidewalks Part 2: Dear Westword

I normally try to steer clear of directly criticizing articles from other publications, but after reading this doozy from Westword, I knew it was time to use my platform to speak out.

Ever since I have lived in Denver proper, I have been car free. What this entails is that, when I want to go somewhere, I either need the ability to walk, ride (the bus or train), or bike there in what I would consider to be a reasonable amount of time. As of recent, I have shied away from riding my bike due to the slickness in a lot of the bike lanes being a deterrent logistically. Because of this, I have one of two options: ride a bus or train to my destination, or walk. When a sidewalk is not shoveled or is haphazardly maintained after a storm, I become an amateur figure skater that is unable to afford a good set of skis, and have fallen as a result of under-shoveled or unshoveled sidewalks. If I cannot walk, bike, or walk to a bus stop (which is also a risk), I would have to throw my hands up in the air and call an Uber or Lyft to get to wherever I need to go.

While drivers have plows that come fairly frequently on main roads to plow after storms, pedestrians have to rely solely on the property owners to follow the rules when it comes to shoveling snow on sidewalks. If a property owner does not shovel or de-ice well enough, it can make a sidewalk inoperable for the elderly, people with disabilities, and mail carriers. The fine, while imperfect compared to an ideal and incredibly costly solution where the city takes up the process of clearing sidewalks, is the stick needed to encourage businesses and individual residents to do what is right. So, I am encouraging city sidewalk inspectors to do what is right and enforce the fines so that Denver can be a city where everyone can get around, regardless of ability. And please shovel your snow.

Love,

The Mile High Guy

Featured image is a patch of unshoveled snow relatively close to the author’s residence

On Snow, Streets, and Sidewalks: How Winter Storms Punish Pedestrians

I am one of the lucky Denverites that lives close enough that I am confidently able to walk to work most of the year from my apartment in Lincoln Park. While roughly 90% of the time I have not had many issues with the sidewalks themselves, the 10% of the time can be particularly brutal depending on the circumstances, mostly related to water. Sprinklers, large puddles, and, most notoriously, ice and snow, are some of the biggest threats to my wellbeing when I walk anywhere in the city.

Like a lot of other things in Denver, roads get prioritized much heavier than sidewalks do after a snowstorm. While residences have to clear sidewalks within the next day after snow starts to fall and businesses have to clear snow immediately after the storm or potentially face a $150 fine, that often isn’t the case. Even when residences and businesses follow city code and shovel their sidewalks, their efforts are often negated by snowplows that send snow towards the sidewalk, or subsequent snow that gets overlooked due to the icy snow underneath keeping it from being shoveled. This often causes entire neighborhoods and areas to become virtual slip and slides for residents, including myself, who want to try and walk without having to constantly be watching the sidewalks to make sure there isn’t an icy patch.

In contrast, high priority roads are taken care of fairly quickly after the storm by snowplows, both at the state and city level. The one to two particularly bad days of driving that a snowstorm causes are quickly negating by the high level of maintenance that roads are given, while sidewalks can be left snowy for weeks, dis-proportionally affecting people with disabilities, the elderly, and children trying to merely walk to where they want to be.

There are a couple of ideas that may help remedy the problem of having practically unwalkable sidewalks. While Denver already has the snow angels program to help those that cannot necessarily shovel due to whatever circumstance, perhaps adding some sort of incentive to join the program (volunteer recognition, money, etc.) would be a way to get more volunteers to take part in it. Additionally, the city needs to be more proactive in making sure businesses that do not shovel in front of their sidewalks are fined, perhaps increasing the fine to encourage shoveling sooner than later. Regardless, more should be done to make sure that pedestrians are not punished by simple acts of nature while drivers are able to feel more safe knowing the roads will always be plowed consistently.

Featured Image is of an unshoveled sidewalk on 6th and Kalamath next to a completely paved road.

Walking in the Snow: A Year in Review and How I Rise Again

Perhaps it is a little weird to write a retrospective piece while there is still a little over 30 days of the year left. Perhaps I am stretching it when it comes to how personal this writing is when this is a Denver-centric blog. Regardless of these reservations that I have, I am going to continue writing this piece, if anything to learn from the missteps and the mistakes of the past year.

For me, the entire dynamic of the year shifted in Mid-April when I found a place to live near Downtown with an old high school friend. I absolutely love the area and the community that I live now, and it is walk-able to anywhere that I would want to be. I have seldom had any issues with my roommate, and the apartment has never had too many issues since I have lived here. At the time, I was still working at the museum, and having the ability to walk there was something that I valued extremely.

One thing that I also noticed in restrospect was the manic levels of energy that I seemed to have. I rode that mania as often as I would ride my bike to work, and ride my bike everywhere else as well. The tipping point of this mania seemed to occur roughly a month after I got a new job working at a company that provided a software for futures traders on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. I started feeling significantly less energetic when it came to riding anywhere but home, my extraversion seemed to slowly disappear and fade to nearly nothingness as the summer dragged on, and I felt like I was going back to some of the old thought patterns that I had been in when I wanted to cause myself physical harm in my late teens. Getting out of the role seemed like the best thing to do, and I left in mid August.

By this time, due to a mix of this and a lot of inactivity on my part, I had wiped away a lot of the weight loss that I had accomplished over 2018. I creeped up to about 195 pounds, and broke 200 after a trip back to California in Late August/Early September to see family members and nurse my wounds to an extent. Thankfully, I was able to get a job after about a month of searching, but it didn’t turn out to be the right fit and I went back to my comfort zone at the museum.

At this point in my life, I weigh 205 pounds, roughly 10 pounds overweight for someone my age and height. I try to remain active, but with the recent snows and my recent aversion to eating unhealthy, it has admittedly been very tough. I have thankfully been able to carve out more time for writing, and am trying to get out and be social again. Medication management is something I am taking seriously for the first time in awhile, and I am starting to be more mindful and take a step back to recognize when I get into bad thought patterns. The role of alcohol in my life is also something I have called into question for the first time, particularly as I have raised my use of mind altering medications in my life.

November and December have always been introspective months for me. From when the turkey hits the table at Thanksgiving to thinking about and re-assessing some of the long-term goals in my life closer to late December, I try and carve out time to be thoughtful of what I have achieved, and think about what I can achieve going forward.

As I stand at the precipice of a new job at an old workplace, I am reminded of a sight that I witnessed earlier today. As I was walking towards the light rail station to meet up with some friends in South Denver, I noticed some people walking in the middle of the road, as the sidewalks had not been shoveled quite yet. This adaptation to the new in the face of adversity is a lesson that I am taking to heart in the new year. 2020 will be the year I rise again.

Three Long Years: 2016 and What has happened since then

November 8th, 2016, to be blunt, was one of the roughest nights of my life. While hindsight is indeed 20/20, there is a good possibility that the results of Election Night 2020 hindered me for a brief period in my life.

The night started for me at Union Station, with a friend that had just moved to the Denver area and I watching early returns on my laptop. Nothing could really be determined at that point, other than the fact I and most of my colleagues at my recently acquired position at the Denver Art Museum thought the election was decided the day that Donald Trump won the nomination. We thought that, despite the tough primary between Hillary and Bernie, Democrats would come together to fight the existential threat that Trump posed to the country.

We were wrong.

My night ended at the Colorado Democratic Party’s state watch party. I distinctly remember the turning point for the evening there when Florida came in for Trump. When the “Midwest Firewall” began to collapse, I left on the train going home.

The ride home was one of the most difficult rides of my life. Hillary conceding and the future of the free world going to a man that had had zero political experience in the past was something that haunted me throughout the week, but later solidified the importance of not being neutral in the face of vast political changes.

Reflecting over 3 years later, I feel like my emotions were and are justified. The first presidential transition that I had experienced in my adult life would be from a fairly competent Democrat to someone that was initially laughed at as a candidate at the first debate. How things will go a year from now is yet to be seen.

Featured Photo is from Denverite’s 2020 election party. Photo Credit to Kevin J. Beaty

Concert Review: Itchy-O Hallowmass Night 2

I almost didn’t go to this show, and I am glad I made it out.

The night was the tail end of a freak October storm, with ice still on the side of the roads as we walked up to Summit Hall. About half of the attendees still had costumes on, from simple animal onesies to an elaborate Mugatu costume. On the left side of the stage there was an alter for the Dia de los Muertos holiday, attendees used to honor their passed relatives and friends. Around 9:00, the show started.

The first band, PPL MVR, positioned themselves as a strange group of yeti/aliens that came and played a mix of originals and covers. The highlights of their performance was both their covers of Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy”, the times that the lead singer came out into the audience, and the final song, a cover of Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind”. It was a great opener that only got me more hyped for the main act.

Itchy-O began as people wearing full body suits started setting up speakers and the band’s logo in the middle of a sea of people. After the setup, during which a long sustained bit of white noise was playing, a member of the band began a semi-intelligible speech, and the band began to play.

While the sound of the band could be considered to be orchestral, saying that would underplay the weirdness of the whole experience. Members of the 57 member troupe would randomly come into the audience and band cymbals, streamers and confetti would drop from the ceiling, and various inflatables, including two giant insect looking inflatable and a gnarled looking tree were elements in the show. Along with that, there were several points where a rope was passed above the audience, with the audience playing a game of tug of war throughout the show. At the end of the show, they played one of their most well known hits “An Eagle Brought Me Honey” to end out the show, leaving on a pretty big high note.

The uniqueness of the show cannot be overstated. While the music when listened to in isolation is fairly decent, the theatrics of the show make it even better. Out of all of the shows I have been to, I would give it a rating of 9/10