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Trinidad is poised to become a leader in recreation and tourism destination evolution as it emerges from a post pandemic reality. An increase in Colorado’s population led by urban to rural flight, along with the explosive popularity of outdoor recreation and tourism related activities is driving a greater number of residents and visitors to “explore more” of the state. This is pushing increased activity into the less discovered places, like Trinidad. This is why now is an opportune time to initiate a larger conversation around alternative transportation solutions that combine bicycle tourism and passenger rail service. The future sustainability of our outdoor communities is at stake as outdoor recreation and tourism contribute to the regeneration of rural towns like Trinidad after decades of socio-economic decline. Bicycle travel and Amtrak passenger rail service are positioned to play a lead role in how and where people live, work, and play along the expanding I-25 corridor of Colorado. It will help manage the way people move about the region, while assisting with the preservation of a quality of life that attracts people to mountain rural towns in the first place. An increasingly pronounced side effect of our hyper social media aware society is an advancement of an “explore more” mentality that drives people towards the more remote parts of the West. Rural communities, such as Trinidad, are inherently impacted significantly as in and out of state visitors digitally discover new places to spend their time and money. People constantly posting status updates and photos of their outdoor adventures exponentially impacts a town in a short period of time. The influx of tourism traffic profoundly changes the way people experience a community, especially one transitioning towards becoming a “bike destination”. With the recent opening of Fisher Peak State Park, the southern Front

Range is rapidly evolving towards a recreation and tourism based economy. The chance to create an iconic and sustainable bike destination model of the future requires passenger rail service to be a major component. Both the Amtrak Southwest Chief line and the Front Range Passenger Rail Initiative plant the southern Front Range region with an ability to pivot in a direction of smart growth and development. Now is the time to address this possibility as socioeconomic trends as a result of the Covid pandemic accelerate. Advocating and integrating passenger rail bicycle travel policies now will help rural Colorado take advantage of the growing interest in cycling tourism. The economic spending that it generates and low carbon footprint helps balance the quality of life that comes under duress from the increased visitation. Trinidad has already started to tap into the fast growing gravel cycling trend. The town possesses the necessary ingredients for a gravel bike destination to emerge. They include easy access to miles of county roads from downtown, light to no vehicular traffic, and a beautiful landscape. Gravel bikes are also perfectly suited to attract cycling tourists using passenger rail service. This is why Amtrak should adopt a Southwest Chief bicycle travel policy similar to the one used by their other regional routes, like those on the East coast. Not only will it boost Southwest Chief ridership, but also impact the distribution of tourism dollars in a number of rural towns capable of becoming gravel bike destinations along the route. In Trinidad alone, the gravel bike segment represents $50+ million a year in tourism spending. Imagine how much the economic impact increases for other towns on the route between Chicago to Los Angeles? Places like Lawrence, Kansas, La Plata, Missouri can as easily become attractive to ride a bike like Flagstaff, Arizona. Today, as state leaders and Amtrak move forward with Front Range passenger rail service initiatives, updating the bicycle travel policy must be a priority. It’s essential for building the sustainable bike destination of the future in Trinidad to be a success. Establishing an Amtrak bicycle travel policy around Trinidad’s

by Juan Alberto DelaRoca