Next week I’m heading to Colorado to preview a couple stages of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge race happening August 22-28. Even though it’s a road race this will definitely be an event mountain bikers can get excited about. Here are four reasons to pack your bags:
- Amazing mountain backdrops. This is Colorado after all and with stages traveling between places like Crested Butte, Aspen, Vail, Steamboat Springs, Breckenridge, and Golden the scenery will not disappoint. Oh, and I’ve heard there are mountain bike trails in some of these places (more on that later).
- The field is stacked with 136 big name cyclists. I know some of us might not want to admit knowing these guys but c’mon – the top 3 finishers from this year’s Tour de France will be racing in Colorado this month (Cadel Evans, Andy Schleck, and Frank Schleck). Bonus: Cadel Evans actually started out as a mountain biker, winning two World Cup titles and finishing 7th in the 2000 Olympic MTB race.
- The race is expected to be one of the largest spectator sporting events to take place in the US. Ever. Organizers predict about a million people will watch the race during the week and spread over 518 miles, that’s almost 2,000 fans per mile. My suggestion: head to the Prologue time trial or the top of one of the high mountain passes to get the full crowd effect.
- Watching the race is a good excuse to ride a new mountain bike trail. Stage 1, for example, crosses over Monarch Pass which just happens to be the trailhead for the Monarch Crest trail maddslacker wrote about earlier this week. And if you’ve never been to a pro cycling race before, it’s basically just a big party at the side of the road – perfect for unwinding after an epic trail ride! Hopefully you’ve saved up a few “sick days” at work…
Because this race is such a big deal and we LOVE to talk about the mountain biking in Colorado, we’ll be posting a series of trail articles centered around each stage of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge. First stop: the Prologue in Colorado Springs!
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Aug 11, 2011