Babes in Bikeland 8 – Denver She Devils Take Minneapolis

Saturday, September 13th, marked the day of the 8th annual Babes in Bikeland event, bringing over 400 women / transgender / femme bike riders together to roam the streets of Minneapolis.

Take care to note that this was a 20+ mile bike race, the distance depending on the efficiency of your mapped route. With both a manifest of destinations and a time limit provided, how you finished (or mapped your route) was up to you! This is no small feat for even those familiar with the territory of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota. So, you may ask, what made so many individuals want to participate in this annual race? What makes this race so special?

The answer to that definitely presented itself before the day of the race. Continue reading

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Denver She Devils Head to Minneapolis

Today, the Denver She Devils (including myself, Kirsten) start making our way to Minneapolis for the annual Babes in Bikeland race. It’ll be great to see old friends, make new, and have a blast during this race! Follow the Denver She Devils on Facebook to keep up to date on what’s happening in Minneapolis!

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Ladies, if you’re looking for a great way to get back into riding or just looking for a new group of gals to ride with, please come join the She Devils for a weekly ride, or contact the She Devils through Facebook. Continue reading

Chalk it Up – Denver Chalk Art Festival Faves from 2014

Another reason why Denver is the coolest – the annual Chalk Art Festival on Larimer Square a few weekends ago (May 31 – June 1st). Free for all ages, artists gathered and created replicas of photos that were often displayed next to their work in the Square.

Here are some shots of our favorite moments and works from the festival:

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Photo Credit: Kirsten Ebey, June 2014.

 

Not only were there 200+ artists creating these beautiful works of art, live music, food, and beverage tents were also a part of the festival, much of which supported by Colorado businesses.

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Photo Credit: Kirsten Ebey, June 2014.

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Photo Credit: Kirsten Ebey, June 2014.

Many of the artists are local students competing for cash, backed by local businesses. Check back on the Denver Chalk Art website to find out who the winners are.

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Photo Credit: Kirsten Ebey, June 2014.

 

Chalk art, or street painting, dates back to the 16th century in Italy – it’s amazing this tradition is still prevalent all over the world today.

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Photo Credit: Kirsten Ebey, June 2014.

 

Yet another spectacular event in downtown Denver. We love having so many things to do and see downtown – it’s what makes the city great! What Festivals are you looking forward to this summer? Let us know!

 

Follow our adventures on Facebook.

 

DenverSpeax – A Reminder

 

 

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The power of reminder can be very interesting and thought-provoking, to the point of near meditation:

A song comes on the radio, and you’re instantly placed into a time previous of extreme joy, or maybe content, or possibly sadness.

You head west out of Denver to visit the Rockies, and you’re reminded of your first trip to Loveland Pass, or your first drive through the Eisenhower Tunnel.

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View from Arapahoe Basin – Click on the photo to see more beautiful pictures in this area.

These places serve as reminder for us as to why we moved here, and why we started DenverSpeax. It’s important to reflect, and have our reflection over the past (almost) year rejuvenate our spirits and provoke motivation. I thought it would be good to pass this along to you all who have supported us.
The Story:
When we moved here, we had a few friends from back home, but they were fairly new as well. It was difficult to find places to go or see because we didn’t know what we were looking for, per se – try using Yelp to find a restaurant when you’re in the mood for a certain atmosphere, or when you’re trying to make friends – is there a filter for those? Although we believe Yelp is a great application and very helpful, sometimes a star-rating just doesn’t cut it. Sure, there’s another great site called TripAdvisor – we use it when we are traveling…but we weren’t traveling any longer. We weren’t looking for advertised Bed & Breakfasts and their ratings – we were looking to call a place home.

 

The best way to learn and begin to understand a community is by fully emerging yourself. This is what we’ve learned in our various travels domestically and internationally, as well as with this move to Denver. Out of boredom, and lack of known resources within the Denver community & beyond, DenverSpeax was born.

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City Park hosts City Park Jazz for many Sundays each summer. Click on the picture to read more!

We roam around Denver and the surrounding areas looking for what’s good in the community. The good comes in all shapes, sizes, and experiences. We support small, local businesses when we eat out, and prefer to stay local with our purchases as well. Luckily, there are so many festivals, parks, food and beverage, volunteering, and natural beauty here that we’ll never run out of things to write about.

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Walking around on the 16th Street mall can be a ton of fun. Click on the picture to check out more!

DenverSpeax exists to promote positivity within the community, helping out natives and transplants alike with what to do, where to go, and how to experience all of the good that’s so aplenty here. Know someone who’s moving to Denver? Show ’em our website. Ran out of things to do and experience? Look through the site! Planning a trip to Denver and want the real feel of our diverse community? Well, we have a website for that!

Thank you for your endless support. We are devoted to continue to bring you the low down on what’s good in Denver. A few things we’re looking at tackling next:

  • Volunteering – how can we give back to the community we love so much? There are so many ways – we just need to DO IT.
  • Collaboration with other Colorado start-ups that need support with getting noticed in the community.
  • Visiting Bed & Breakfasts local to Denver so that we can provide our visitors with features on great places to stay.

How you can help: Come with us! Or, let us know…

What other features would you like to see on the website?

What is local and positive that you just can’t live without?

For more on what’s good in Denver, follow us in real-time on Facebook, Instagram (@denverspeax), or Twitter (@denverspeax).

 

 

 

 

Dishcrawl Denver: Cap Hill Edition

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Visiting Central Bistro in LoHi on our last Denver Dishcrawl. Photo Credit: Kirsten Ebey, Mar 2014

It’s time for another Dishcrawl, Denver style. This time around, we’ll be exploring  good eats in the Capital Hill area, starting off with City O’ City, a great eatery we’ve heard a TON of great things about, but haven’t been to yet. Starting at 7 pm, we’ll stroll around Cap Hill, lead by our fearless leader, Maggie, and hit a bunch of restaurants that are a MYSTERY until arriving at the meet up place.

Check out Dishcrawl Denver to sign up for the 30th event and others coming up. If you’re vegetarian, just make sure you let them know when you sign up! Spread the word – this is a great way to get to know different communities, small businesses, and new people around Denver.

Check out our other features on the last Dishcrawl and a taste of what it’s all about: Stop 1: LoHi Tavern and Stop 2:BambuCycles.

Hope to see you there, friends!

Kombucha, Bamboo Bicycles, Juicing, oh my! – BambuCycles

 

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Check out BambuCycles in the Highlands – stop in and slam a green one for us, Credit: Kirsten Ebey, Mar 2014

Healthy, scrumptious things to consume and cool bicycles are two things that Denverites go bananas over; it’s not hard to see why Denver, Boulder, and the Loveland areas made top 10 on a recent study’s slimmest cities! Check out this local business that’s helping us reach such lofty fitness goals – Stop #2 on the March 2014 Denver Dishcrawl, BambuCycles.

 

Using a masticating juicer (that means no blades, my friends) the fruits and veggies juiced by the guys at BambuCycles leave nearly all of the vitamins and nutrients in tact, extracting all of the pulp and fiber; the process uses a slower, crushing and squeezing method than other commonplace juicers. Another cool fact: BambuCycles in LoHi succeeds at extracting about 90% juice instead of the typical juicer’s 60% return. They make our Jack LaLanne juicer look like a joke! Check out the differences between masticating (more expensive) and centrifugal (more common, less expensive) juicers here for an easy run-down on the two.

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BambuCycles doing what they do best! Credit: Kirsten Ebey, Mar 2014

The guys at BambuCycles juiced two, glorious samples for us- one green, and one made of fruits including pineapple, cantaloupe, and watermelon. Ever wondered about how juicing works, or wanted to take advantage of the many health benefits juicing provides? Stop in and chat with Angel and the guys; not only a wealth of knowledge, the staff are happy to assist you with customized juice orders, detoxes, and cleanses.

 

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Bright and full of flavor – The Mexican Salad at BambuCycles. Credit: Kirsten Ebey, Mar 2014

Some of the fruit was saved from juicing and chopped into small salads with a spicy twist (pictured above).

Try a rendition of this vibrant, flavorful melon salad:

  • Take your favorite melons (cantaloupe, watermelon, etc), and chop into 1” chunks – we like to fill a standard dinner-bowl full of the fruit to split between two people.
  • Drizzle lemon juice (to taste). We prefer a TON of lemon juice simply because the tangy and sweet combination of the lemon juice and the fruit is incredible.
  • Dust some cayenne (we prefer) or chili pepper throughout the salad – be careful! (also, to taste)
  • Sea Salt (to taste).
  • Mix the fruit, lemon juice, salt, and cayenne / chili pepper together, making sure each piece of fruit gets this crazy combination of ingredients for the best variety of flavors in every bite. Seriously, it’s like a party in your mouth.

 

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Another great experience provided on this Dishcrawl stop? Kombucha on tap! If you’re not familiar with Kombucha Tea, let us explain: Happy Leaf is a well known Kombucha producer, pulling from multiple types of tea in their brewing: green, white, and black. Benefits of Kombucha per The Food Renegade:

#1. DETOX!

 

#2. Helps with those pesky joints

 

#3. Digestion & Gut Health

 

#4. Boosts the Immune System

 

Check out The Food Renegade for more great info on Kombucha.

 

 

BambuCycles offer a stylish ride that stands out in a crowd. Not only are they cool looking, but they also provide natural shock absorption that simply can’t be replicated by other machined bikes. Stop in and check out these sweet rides!

 

Alright, alright… juicing, healthy & delicious snacks, Kombucha, AND bamboo bikes? Does BambuCycles NOT do anything awesome?

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Annelise, enjoying some juice and Bamboo Bikes. Photo Credit: Kirsten Ebey, Mar 2014

The answer is obviously no. They offer some serious benefits to the LoHi community, and definitely have a blast doing it. We look forward to stopping in again soon and learning more about their interesting business.

 

 

 

Gociety – Get Outside with Awesome People

 

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Gociety hooks you up with people of same outdoor interests – what a great platform to motivate more Coloradans to get outside and mingle with like-minded, awesome people! Check out Gociety on Facebook by clicking on their logo above – Photo Credit: Gociety Facebook Page, April 2014

Gociety is a site we’ve been watching for a while, and for good reason; their concept is fresh and new, and provides a GREAT service to the Colorado community. With Gociety, you can meet people from all over Colorado getting outside and doing what they love!

For example, we are avid bikers and appreciate meeting new people to bike all over Denver with – Gociety is a platform that will help us out with this.

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Road biking lets us exercise and see new parts of town; on Gociety, I can meet new people that love to do the same. Click on the picture above to check out the Gociety Facebook Page. Photo Credit: DenverSpeax Archive, 2013

Creating a Gociety profile is super easy – we just made one! By visiting Gociety, you can join via Facebook profile, OR email. Fill out  info about how you get down in the great outdoors of Colorado, and BOOM! – you have a Discovery Feed outlining multiple outdoor activities in areas all over Colorado. From Cat Skiing to to Fly Fishing to multiple runs and triathlons, there is a TON to do – and what better way to find it than one, organized Discovery Feed via your personal Gociety profile. Search options on the right-hand side make it easy to limit the feed to your interests only.

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Get outside and hike Mount Evans! Photo Credit: DenverSpeax Archive, 2013

 

With an easy-to-use platform, it’s no wonder more and more Coloradans are catching on to Gociety‘s awesome idea. We can’t wait to sign up for a few events (aka, Gocieties) and meet new, awesome people that love getting outside. We’ll be sure to give you an update as well as an inside look of our experience. Stay tuned!

For the meantime, go check Gociety out on the web or on Facebook and see what they’re all about for yourself.

OneSpark – Day 1 & 2

We’re having a blast here in Jacksonville, Florida, promoting our CitySpeax expansion project. If you haven’t visited our project on OneSpark and registered to vote for #20643, please do! Your vote helps us get NOTICED and, hopefully, funded. 

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Steve manning the booth at OneSpark! This was before our banner was created / hung as well as our signs created. Watch out our booth evolves over the next few days – we’re learning new things each day!

 

At OneSpark, we hope to expand the “speax” branded websites to CitySpeax, one brand that supports all of the “speak” city websites promoting small business through features, recognition, offering of small business solutions including advertising, social media, and consultation.

With the CitySpeax brand, we  can support small businesses and strengthen communities as we have through our separate websites for Jacksonville, New Orleans, and Denver

Check out our project, Creator #20643, here, and vote for us!

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Hemming Plaza in Jacksonville, FL – check out the traffic around all of the cool Creators. You can see all of the projects by clicking on tho photo and visiting OneSpark.com. Credit: Kirsten Ebey, Apr 2014

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Beautiful Sunset at the end of Day 1 at OneSpark. Click on the photo to check out project and vote for us! Credit: Kirsten Ebey, April 2014.

 

OneSpark 2014 – CitySpeax Project Promo Video

Thanks to all of our friends and family that have made this trip to OneSpark in Jacksonville tomorrow possible. Watch our brand expansion project’s video – CitySpeax – your city, your love.

Also, please please PLEASE vote for our project to get NOTICED and FUNDED here. “Bookmark” it, and help us rise through the ranks of popularity. Thanks again for your support!