Talking ǸԹ Revolutions
Sweet on chocolate? There’s a shop inDenver’s Five Points neighborhood youmight want to check out — a bikeshop.Gregory Crichlow(Arch’95) hastransformed a former drug den into aboutique bike shop that also sells artisanal bean-to-bar chocolate.
The story dates to 2009, when theGreat Recession brought the Americaneconomy to its knees, dramatically slowing work for Crichlow, then employed asan architect.
“I had to make a decision to use adifferent skill set,” he said.
By 2011, the wheels were in motion toturn a 400-square-foot Downing Streetspace with no roof into a place wherelocals could come for bike repairs andframe fabrication, and also chocolate.
He’d often noticed the building whilebiking to his architecture job nearby. Itbecame Chocolate Spokes, the subject ofa recent short film of that name.
Opening the business wasn’t the firstmajor gear shift for Crichlow, the rarecycleshop owner who wears a dress shirtand bow tie on the job.
After finishing high school in Aurora,where he played ice hockey, he’d livedwith his grandmother in New Yorkfor a year. There an interest in architecture gathered momentum. Duallyinspired by the city’s aesthetics and byOlympic speed skater Eric Heiden, amulti-gold-medalist who reinventedhimself as a pro cyclist, Crichlow cameback to Colorado to study architectureat CU and joined the cycling team.
“My first ride was a real eye-opener,”he said. “I was dropped by the group andleft somewhere near Lyons — I realizedthere was a lot more to the sport thanjust getting on a bike and going.”
He eventually left competitive cyclingto focus on architecture and attend graduate school at the University of Illinois.But Crichlow has remained committedto life on two wheels: He doesn’t own acar and cycles everywhere, as do his twochildren, ages 13 and 9.
And, of course, he owns a bike shopthat doubles as a neighborhood gathering place.
“My hope is that we’re creating aspace where everyone feels welcome andrespected as our immediate neighborhood context evolves,” he said.
The bow tie is a nod to Crichlow’sgrandfather, who wore them also, and tohis own attitude toward work.
“I listen to clients and make theirwants and needs come to a tangiblereality,” he said. “My appearance is arefection of how seriously I take this.”
Crichlow decided to sell chocolatebars alongside handlebars partly becauseof his own fondness for them, and because he believes fine chocolate reflectsthe studio’s attention to craftsmanship.
“People come in just to buy chocolate— nothing to do with bikes,” he said.
Now, that’s sweet.
Photo courtesy Gregory Crichlow