Recreational bicyclists looking forward to getting their Rocky Mountain high this summer should be warned that registration for all four big Colorado bike tours are now open.
The oldest of the bunch, the Denver Post Ride the Rockies celebrating its 25th anniversary, announced its route this morning and began taking registrations. Registration ends Feb. 25.
Starting with Ride the Rockies from June 13 – 19, the other fully supported, mass participation bike tours are Bicycle Tour of Colorado from June 20 – 26, Colorado Rocky Mountain Bike Tour from Aug. 1 – 7, and the Colorado Peace Ride from Aug. 8 – 11.
You can find more week-long, mass participation bike tours in other states at Across State Bicycle Rides.
Ride the Rockies has become so popular that it awards places by lottery, just like RAGBRAI. Unlike the Iowa bike tour that registers about 10,000 riders, Ride the Rockies caps ridership at 2,000. About 4,000 sign up for those spots.
Tour route
This year's tour starts in Grand Junction and ends in Salida, 532 hard miles later. Along the way, it summits passes at Red Mountain, Coal Bank, Wolf Creek and Poncha. The bike tour also visits the Colorado National Monument and Grand Mesa.
Ride the Rockies begins with a 30-mile loop of the Colorado National Monument. Then it takes off from Grand Junction with overnight stops in Delta, Ouray, Durango, Pagosa Springs, and Alamosa before ending in Salida.
The big draws for all these Colorado bike tours are the scenery as well as the challenge of the getting over those mountain passes.
Passes
The picture above is a scene I shot on Highway 550 heading towards Ouray on my cross-country bike tour back in 1984.
We crossed passes at Red Mountain and Monarch Pass that year, and one thing I noticed is that although the climbs are long, they're much better graded that climbs over the Appalachians back east.
Perhaps the biggest challenge was finding the oxygen to power myself over those mountains.
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