A Colorado Springs bicycle shop in business for nearly 50 years is opening a satellite rental location. The plan has been more than a year in the making.
“When we had to shut down our rental system and department for COVID last year, it gave us a chance to analyze where we were actually making money on rentals and where we were losing money,” Criterium Bicycles owner Nic Ponsor told What Now Denver.
They discovered that tourism was the money-maker, so they wanted to give those tourists a closer location to bike around Garden of the Gods for a couple of hours. “This location will be half a mile from the entrance of Garden of the Gods.”
Ponsor explained that when he heard what Todd Baldwin, founder of Red Leg Brewing Company was doing, he was interested in being a part of the new venue. Ponsor was the first one to sign a lease. COVID, permitting problems, and constructions delays have extended Criterium Bicycles’ planned opening inside a shipping container at Red Leg Brewing Company’s property on Garden of the Gods Rd.
“I can’t wait to see when it’s all up and running how cool that’s going to be and how busy we’re going to be over there,” Ponsor said.
Criterium Bicycles was founded in 1973, and its current and only location is about eight miles from Garden of the Gods at 6150 Corporate Dr. in Colorado Springs. “For those tourists who wanted to ride that, that was like an all-day, epic adventure to try and get there, ride, and back.”
Along with rentals, the Criterium Bicycles satellite location will offer t-shirts, sun screen, minor repairs, and plenty of parking. “They’ll have food and drinks available there from the restaurants and brewery, so they can chill out and have fun afterwards. It made a lot of sense to make it easier for the customer base that we are looking to support,” Ponsor said.
Criterium Bicycles hopes to open the rental location in the spring of next year, but they are at the mercy of the contractors. If they are able to open earlier, the slow winter season will give them a chance to get rentals ready and create QR codes with route maps.
Ponsor is just waiting for the call to move in. “I’m really excited for the potential of it.”
