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So long as they obey the rules of the road and stop at stop signs, I don't have a problem with them Bicyclists get legal use of roads, too.
On the other hand, it is a gripe thread, and there are a lot of cyclists here...
Bikes have every right to be on the road. Some states have passed laws that say you don't have to stop at intersections on bikes if traffic is not present. Colorado has not gone that far yet but laws have been added to allow cars to cross the yellow line to give space. Remember it is the law that you give at least 3 feet of space to bikers.
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lack of O2 makes you tired sometimes
Only if you are out of shape. Perhaps riding a bike would be a good thing no?
Bikes have every right to be on the road. Some states have passed laws that say you don't have to stop at intersections on bikes if traffic is not present. Colorado has not gone that far yet but laws have been added to allow cars to cross the yellow line to give space. Remember it is the law that you give at least 3 feet of space to bikers.
Only if you are out of shape. Perhaps riding a bike would be a good thing no?
True... when out of shape relatives come to town, I can hear them breathing hard! I'm in good shape and have no issues. I love it when I travel to low elevation and get that oxygen high for a couple days lol!
Actually Denver's bike culture and exciting downtown are two of the things that has it atop my list of places to retire. When I visited, I thought the Market on Larimer had GREAT food and was a nice little hangout spot, something I could see myself routinely doing. And the Rockies' Stadium was very very nice too- I could see myself going to baseball games regularly. Hockey games too. Basketball games at the Pepsi Center too. And I went to a show at Denver's Performing Arts Complex. I could see myself doing that regularly as well. Not to mention the festivals downtown. I went to Oktoberfest. If I retired there I could see myself going to Oktoberfest every year. And even sometimes just hanging out in the Commons Park or Confluence Park on the riverfront and reading a book or browsing the web on my iPad or whatever. And when I'm not doing any of that, the library and art museum would offer me a few hours' distraction.
All in all, I found PLENTY to do in downtown Denver, and plenty that I WOULD do if I were to move there. Add that to the outdoors/bike oriented culture, and to me Denver is a great and exciting place to be with plenty of things to do.
What I don't like about Denver is that you have to go way out of your way to find a decently-priced motel/hotel.
And by "decently-priced," I'm talking about your standard Best Westerns, Days Inns, Comfort Inns, Super 8s... the places most normal people stay at while traveling.
It was 2004, I was 24, was in Denver for a concert, pretty much kind of roughing it (which I didn't mind). I came in on the bus, had never been there. I asked a deli clerk for a "good place to stay." He told me about a certain city bus that would take me to a certain district full of motels. I said, "fine" and got on that bus. The bus stopped in front of this huge skyscraper hotel district. Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt... those kinds of places.
Right. Like a chick in her early '20s with a backpack on her back really had the Hyatt in mind when she said "a good place to stay".... I was mad at that deli clerk. But even madder at myself for naturally assuming everyone is as smart as I am.
So anyway, after an entire day walking and taking the bus, I was tired and in tears. I finally found a Best Western way on the outskirts of town.
I've been pretty soured on Denver ever since. It's a very impractically set-up city. Not tourist friendly..... it's only practical for tourists who have access to a car. Even if I had come in town with my car and had to drive out to that motel, I would've been thinking to myself, "This is great for me, but what about folks without transportation?"
I did learn my lessons though.
If I could go back in time and do it all over, I would've found the Yellow Pages, looked up the address to Best Western (pretty much my default choice always, anyway... usually can't go wrong with a Best Western), and then consulted a city map and the bus route, gotten myself as close to that location by bus as possible, then either walked the rest of the way or taken a taxi from that point. Keep as much control as you can, don't assume locals know what in the hell they're talking about, or even have any common sense. (Yeah, I'm really going to stay at the Hyatt.)
One lady on the city bus even offered to let me stay at her house. haha! Friendly enough locals I guess. Needless to say I turned down her creepy offer though. She could've been a cult leader for all I knew... as friendly as she appeared to be...
Would you rather the deli clerk send you to some no-tell motel in the ghetto with a dead hooker under the mattress?
If I could afford it, yeah! I can stand a little decomposing smell for just one night. (j/k, in case you're dense)
A girl visibly in her early '20s, a backpack on her back - would you direct her to some upscale hotel?
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A quick check on bestwestern.com shows three locations in the area (Denver, Lakewood, Aurora) including one less than 5 miles from downtown.
You're blaming your lack of research, planing, or money on the city and its inhabitants? Really?
Yeah.
And I'll explain that -
Not everyone can plan these things. Yeah, I was young and like I said, I've had more experience traveling since then and I'd do things differently.
But.... sometimes people have to stop for the night unexpectedly. The city is not set up very well for people in that situation. Oh yeah, and there was no apparent convenience nearby either. Like a gas station, convenience store, or anything. Most everywhere I stay when I travel, there's *something* nearby. It's like a small chain of chain motels on this little hill on the outskirts all by themselves. I don't think they're even visible from a freeway that I can recall. (Kind of hard to gauge that, I wasn't driving.)
You should use Priceline next time and you can get rooms in those 'fancy' hotels for the same price or cheaper than the Best Westerns. You can bid on hotels for the same day up until something like 10PM. I did this in Albuquerque last year -- bid on a hotel by using my iPhone in a McDonald's parking lot and ended up getting an extremely nice hotel for $30 for the night. Regular price was something like $175 for that night.
As far as what I don't like about Denver: I know I mentioned this before, but I still don't care for the 16th Street Mall. There still isn't anything unique there that can't be found in other parts of the city.
Hey all, I am a 23 year old male from New Hampshire, moved to the Denver area about a year ago now and thought I'd offer some of my perspectives, directed particularly toward people moving from New England to Colorado, seeing as I have grown up on the east coast and am very familiar with it; and, seeing as how this is as a thread about what you DISLIKE, I'll concentrate on that.
I live in Westminster which is a NW suburb of Denver and I've also explored a fair portion of Colorado, from the plains to some of the mountain regions. I don't live near downtown Denver so I can't speak with much authority about that, although I do visit fairly often.
To start with the climate, I think it's important for most newcomers to understand that the Denver area more closely resembles a desert than a mountain environment, and they should prepare for it. That means bring sunglasses, sunblock, and tons of moisturizer. I know for myself, coming from a very wet, moist environment, bursting with vegetation, physically it was quite a shock. I love the near-constant sunshine in Colorado, especially compared to New Hampshire, where the climate is gradually turning tropical with relentless overcast and rain--but when I first came here I ran out of moisturizer for just three days, and was amazed to find that I had developed eczema. On top of that, the extremely dry, arid air has just wrecked my sinuses, making sleep difficult, and I now sleep with humidifiers on both sides of the bed, with only moderate results.
Bleh, right? However all-in-all the sunshine and the weather here is great, you just need to prepare for it, every day. If you're from New England, the so-called "unpredictability of the weather" here is really nothing by comparison (constant sun and if it switches to rain within a 24-hour period I guess that is considered unpredictable? What?), and the winters, at least in the Denver area, are really very mild, and any snow that does accumulate will NOT stick around for long with all this sun. However, obviously it is worse up in the mountains.
Now as for the city and the suburbs and some other aspects of C.O.... Where I live there is really absolutely nothing to do, unless you get very creative. Westminster is essentially a collection of strip-malls and apartment homes. Really... that's it. Denver of course is more exciting but after experiencing it for a while I think I have to sympathize with Christiaan90040's original observation.... Many of the bars and clubs have seemed to me to be just disgustingly trendy and/or mind-numbingly similar. Sure, you get some of that just about everywhere, but within Denver it had seemed as though I couldn't escape from it, wherever I went. Honestly, after visiting Boston, NYC, Chicago and others, Denver just came across to me as looking small, dirty, and old--but, that's just my opinion. :-)
One reason I was interested in C.O. was the recreational opportunities, being a very active and out-of-doors person myself. Unfortunately, I have to say I'm disappointed with this area as well (this is a thread about dislikes, after all :-) I do have many things I enjoy). Denver is not a mountain city, as much as the media would love to hype it as one, for advertising purposes. I guess the big thing for me was that EVERYONE flocks to the recreational areas until the point where they lose any illusion of seclusion or isolation. This, combined with traffic, which is aggravated by the very poor state of Denver's public transportation system, can make relatively simple things like going for a hike a less-than-relaxing experience.
Again, this is just coming from someone born and raised in New England. I can see how someone coming from a dense urban environment might think Denver is the high-life for recreational opportunities, but personally, I don't see it.
Also, if you're looking for a populous area in Colorado outside of Denver, Boulder, and Colorado Springs... Good luck. From Westminster straight north to Fort Collins it's just empty, desolate plains...
I hope someone out there can benefit from my observations if you're thinking of moving to Colorado or to the Denver area. Of course I would take it with a grain of salt, read over the experiences of many different people from many different stratum, my story is just one of many. Overall I enjoy Colorado, but I won't be staying in this particular area.
I love the near-constant sunshine in Colorado, especially compared to New Hampshire, where the climate is gradually turning tropical with relentless overcast and rain..
Denver of course is more exciting but after experiencing it for a while I think I have to sympathize with Christiaan90040's original observation.... Many of the bars and clubs have seemed to me to be just disgustingly trendy and/or mind-numbingly similar. Sure, you get some of that just about everywhere, but within Denver it had seemed as though I couldn't escape from it, wherever I went. Honestly, after visiting Boston, NYC, Chicago and others, Denver just came across to me as looking small, dirty, and old--but, that's just my opinion. :-)
About the bars...
Scruffy Murphy's (not trendy) does not resemble any of the immediately neighboring bars (by far), The Corner Office is completely different from any of those (possibly more trendy, but definitely different vibe from some of the more club like atmospheres around town), outside of downtown there's places like Jordan's which is part sports bar, part "my God there's books all over the shelves in there", Wynkoop is a pretty typical restaurant/brewpub, The Cheeky Monk serves aioli...AIOLI, for Pete's sake, to go along with it's fries and Belgian (and Belgian influenced) brews...I don't know...Not sure what anyone is looking for out of a bar. I go to drink good beer, chat with friends and occasionally make new ones. Obviously it's nice to have a cool atmosphere, but I'm not sure how much more these places need to distinguish themselves compared to places in NYC, Boston and Chicago...but then again I haven't spent any significant amount of time in any of those cities.
(It's been brought to my attention that the places I've mentioned may more accurately be considered "pubs" than "bars" if that is at all relevant to the discussion...in fairness, bars and clubs other than public houses generally seem the same to me anywhere I go with a few rare exceptions.)
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Bicyclists get legal use of roads, too.
(Yeah, I'm really going to stay at the Hyatt.)
I can stand a little decomposing smell for just one night. (j/k, in case you're dense)
Yeah, I was young and like I said, I've had more experience traveling since then and I'd do things differently. 
