Memorial Day guide: Five things you didn't know about B-cycle

The B-cycle station at 11th Avenue and Broadway.

You've heard about B-cycle, the city's ground-breaking bicycle-sharing program, which kicked off on April 22 with 42 rental racks around central Denver. But there's a lot you probably don't know about it -- at least five things, anyhow.

The program has a website, its own iPhone app, artwork, and by the end of the summer, there should be an additional eight stations and, the city hopes, more than 4,000 members, each of whom will have paid $65 for a year-long B-cycle pass.

The city is even planning to challenge Denverites to try to hit all 42 stations in one day; a suggested route, covering thirty-plus miles, should be online this summer. Click here for more on that; it's the second item.

Here's five more factoids:

1) You can sit on B-cycles while they are still locked in their racks and use them as stationary bikes (pedaling backwards) for free. It's like the hipster version of a 24-Hour Fitness.

2) If you see a group of people riding the distinctively red bikes, be on your guard. B-cyclers appear not to know the rules of the road. For instance, it's illegal to ride on sidewalks, and bicycles are actually supposed to stop at stop signs and red lights, too.

3) These suckers aren't Cannondales. They're heavy and awkward, and if you load up the front basket with too much organic stuff from Whole Foods or the Farmer's Market, they have a tendency to pitch forward once you dismount.

4) Do not drink and B-cycle. Okay, that's probably asking too much. So, in case you do check one out as an alternative to driving home, try not to pass out somewhere without checking it back in. Those charges can run up fast. If you're not a B-cycle member, it will cost you $6.60 for two hours. After that, tack on another $4.40 every half an hour. The cost for a 24-hour B-cycle binge? A whopping $65, which is more than a cab.

5) The police have agreed not to ticket B-cyclers for riding on a sidewalk within a half a block of a station -- unless they are also naked.