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Sweet on chocolate? There’s a shop in��Denver’s Five Points neighborhood you��might want to check out — a bikeshop.��Gregory Crichlow��(Arch’95) has��transformed a former drug den into a��boutique bike shop that also sells artisanal bean-to-bar chocolate.��

The story dates to 2009, when the��Great Recession brought the American��economy to its knees, dramatically slowing work for Crichlow, then employed as��an architect.��

“I had to make a decision to use a��different skill set,” he said.��

By 2011, the wheels were in motion to��turn a 400-square-foot Downing Street��space with no roof into a place where��locals could come for bike repairs and��frame fabrication, and also chocolate.��

He’d often noticed the building while��biking to his architecture job nearby. It��became Chocolate Spokes, the subject of��a recent short film of that name.��

Opening the business wasn’t the first��major gear shift for Crichlow, the rare��cycleshop owner who wears a dress shirt��and bow tie on the job.��

After finishing high school in Aurora,��where he played ice hockey, he’d lived��with his grandmother in New York��for a year. There an interest in architecture gathered momentum. Dually��inspired by the city’s aesthetics and by��Olympic speed skater Eric Heiden, a��multi-gold-medalist who reinvented��himself as a pro cyclist, Crichlow came��back to Colorado to study architecture��at CU and joined the cycling team.��

“My first ride was a real eye-opener,”��he said. “I was dropped by the group and��left somewhere near Lyons — I realized��there was a lot more to the sport than��just getting on a bike and going.”��

He eventually left competitive cycling��to focus on architecture and attend graduate school at the �Թ��� of Illinois.��But Crichlow has remained committed��to life on two wheels: He doesn’t own a��car and cycles everywhere, as do his two��children, ages 13 and 9.��

And, of course, he owns a bike shop��that doubles as a neighborhood gathering place.��

“My hope is that we’re creating a��space where everyone feels welcome and��respected as our immediate neighborhood context evolves,” he said.��

The bow tie is a nod to Crichlow’s��grandfather, who wore them also, and to��his own attitude toward work.��

“I listen to clients and make their��wants and needs come to a tangible��reality,” he said. “My appearance is a��refection of how seriously I take this.”��

Crichlow decided to sell chocolate��bars alongside handlebars partly because��of his own fondness for them, and because he believes fine chocolate reflects��the studio’s attention to craftsmanship.��

“People come in just to buy chocolate��— nothing to do with bikes,” he said.��

Now, that’s sweet.

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Photo courtesy Gregory Crichlow