The Mesa County Sheriff's Office Bike Patrol Team was started in the Fall of 1995 as part of a push for increased community policing. The team was first formulated in conjunction with the Grand Junction Police Department, as both agencies were in the process of creating a Bike Team. To be able to serve on the Bike Team, Deputies were required to complete a week-long special, law enforcement bicycle certification course, which was taught by the Grand Junction Police Department Sergeant Rich Bacher (who is now the head of the MCSO Citizen on Patrol Volunteers) and Officer Dave Oswalt, who were certified instructors. Later on, Mesa County Sheriff's Office Deputy Larry Nelson became a certified instructor through the International Police Mountain Bike Association and trained later members of the bike team. 

When the Bike Patrol Team was founded, a community bike group called Tour of the Valley donated funds raised during their annual cycling event to purchase multiple Diamondback Mountain Bikes for the team. The annual event included three options: a 30 mile round trip ride to Palisade, a 50 mile round trip ride that went over the National Monument, or a 100 mile round trip ride that went over the National Monument and around Fruita. With the donation of the bikes, the Bike Patrol Team agreed to participate in the Tour of the Valley annual event and assist with traffic control at major intersections. Mesa County Sheriff's Office Lieutenant Laurie Galvan served on the Bike Patrol Team, including as Sergeant, and remembers the rides well. "One year, now Captain Todd Sorenson and I had our Citizens on Patrol volunteers drop us off at Cold Shoulders overlook on the [National] Monument and be bicycled the rest of the way over the Monument and back to the hotel [where the race started]," she said. "As we were on the downhill portion of the west Monument, close to the visitor's center, a small black bear cub ran right across the road in front of us and down the embankment on the other side!" Lieutenant Galvan and Captain Sorenson thankfully did not encounter the mother bear.

Being part of the Bike Patrol Team was a year-round assignment, though when the weather was too cold or too poor, the bikes were "parked" as Lieutenant Galvan explains. "Halloween was typically our last night out of the year when we would ride around the neighborhoods for the safety of the community, and we participated in handing out candy at MCSO sponsored trunk-or-treats," she recalls. Those on the Bike Patrol Team would ride in their assigned patrol districts anytime calls for service would allow. "This typically ended up being in the middle of the night between 0200 and 0500 am, or early in the shift on days. It was a stealthy way to patrol for drug deals, theft from autos and other criminal activity as well as connect more personally with the community," Lt. Galvan said. Other times, the bikes would be mounted via a bike rack to their patrol cars, especially when calls were further than two miles away. 

Lieutenant Galvan says being part of the Bike Patrol Team was a unique and fun way to connect with the community. "We put on bicycle rodeos for school-aged kids," she says. "The Tour of the Valley group helped us and the GJPD purchase a trailer to keep bike rodeo supplies and repair tools in and to hall donated bicycles to give away to children via drawings." The Team also had baseball-style trading cards made to hand out to kids they met while on patrol, at bicycle rodeos, and during other community events. "The cards had a few facts about us and the team on the back side, such as our years of service, rank, and a motivational motto or something," she says.

Around 1997, then Deputy Galvan was promoted to Sergeant Galvan and the Bike Patrol Team grew. This growth meant that any deputy could grab a bike and go ride through the community when they wanted. Over the years, the Bike Patrol Team tried out different styles of bikes, with Lieutenant Galvan recalling one style folded up and fit in the back seat of the patrol car. In 2005, the Mesa County Sheriff's Office Bike Patrol Team was dissolved, but the memories happily live on for those who served on the team.