Thousands of bicyclists are rolling along country roads and trails in the US this week in two major week-long bicycle tours.
Some 2,000 cyclists are tackling the second stage of the Denver Post Ride the Rockies on Monday, as about 3,000 bike tourists are zipping along the flatter Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure in northern Ohio.
This is the 20th anniversary for GOBA, and organizers wanted to commemorate the bike tour with an attempt to set a Guinness Book of World Record for largest bicycle parade, set last year in Taiwan with 1,901 bicycles.
The GOBA attempt in Wellington on Saturday fell short of the mark with 1,023 riders, according the the Lorain County visitors bureau, which posted this image, above, at flickr.com.
GOBA bills itself as the largest family-oriented bike tour in the world, as 20% of its participants are children. The loop out of Wellington features overnights at Galion, Mount Vernon, Coshocton and Orrville.
The distance for the week is 250 to 400 miles, depending on the daily options. The route description reports the terrain as gentle rolls to good hills.
The definition of good hills is definitely relative.
Cyclists at Ride the Rockies are seeing some good mountains this year in Colorado. Five of the stages include at least one mountain pass, if not two. The 77-mile ride from Cortez to Telluride on Tuesday features Lizard Head Pass at 10,222 feet elevation.
The website earlier happily announced that Cottonwood Pass, 12,126 feet elevation on Friday, would be open in time for Ride the Rockies.
This is the 23rd year for Ride the Rockies, which has to limit participation to 2,000 cyclists through a lottery system. It started Sunday in Durango, and overnights in Cortez, Telluride, Montrose, Crested Butte and Buena Vista with the finish in Breckenridge.
Ride the Rockies organizers estimate all the cyclists and support crews drop $250,000 in each town for food, lodging and entertainment; that's about $1.5 million for the duration of the bike tour.
More RTR news can be found at the Denver Post or and Post's Ride the Rockies blog. Among the personal blogs covering the event, there's Rocky Riders.
These week-long bike tours don't have to be huge.
Sixty-six cyclists are riding the Red River International Bike Tour (RRIBT) sponsored by the Grand Forks Herald. That five-day tour travels through North Dakota, Minnesota and Canada.
The Great Illinois Trails and Parks (GITAP) brought along about 160 cyclists to roll through 300 miles of northwestern Illinois.
You can browse a state-by-state list of all these rides at Across State Bicycle Tours.
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