Mayor Houck: “We get Ride the Rockies and Bike Tour Colorado year after year after year because it’s such a great part of the state to be in. At first, folks were asking is there a lottery? How do people sign up? It’s a whole different ballgame. I think they’ll finally have their arms around what it is. For the community it’s just great.”
John Messner: “It’s what we’ve been dreaming about since the 80s. Back in the day we could hardly get the city council – well you can’t close the street can you? Or you want cones? For what? For a bike race? That was the attitude back in the 80s. Right now it’s ‘bring it on’. After Lance. He’s the American star.”
“The dirt piece is going to be interesting. It’s high country riding. But they’re climbing on it. Initially the organizers said don’t even suggest dirt but when they saw it was uphill, they said okay. The county does such a good job consistently every year even without the race. People love to come into the Gunnison county either over Kebler Pass or Cottonwood Pass. For years and years they graded and put the mag chloride on. It’s not as if they’re taking a road that’s been in terrible shape and prepping it for a race.”
Mayor: “Now they’re starting to explore other parts of the state. So many folks are coming to Gunnison, Crested Butte. Wow I’ve lived in Denver or Fort Collins or Boulder and I’ve never come to this part of the state. It’s pretty interesting. People are starting to discover. It’s been neat to watch. In western Colorado some communities tend to be a little hesitant about new things and change. It was really nice that Gunnison and Crested Butte both were real eager to say absolutely. This is a great opportunity. Showcasing this part of the stages. It doesn’t get as much attention as the i70 corridor.”
There will be all the support stuff, the VIP tent, press area.
Gunnison is the county seat. It’s the hub of the entire valley. Western State College has been there for the past hundred years. They’re not a college town like Fort Collins or Boulder but the college is a critical part of the community. We’re between two ski areas. We have a kind of recreational type of appeal to us. The ranching community is still real viable. There are still big family owned working ranches.
A lot of the businesses are owned by graduates from Western State College who came here to go to school, got a good education and decided to stay.
Hartman Rock is miles and miles of singletrack. That’s the hub of mountain biking in the lower end of the Gunnison Valley. It’s always cleared before the rest of the trails are. Dave Weins lives here and is very involved.
It’s interesting with the race, the towns that they selected, the diversity of it. First there’s your resort-type towns, the ski areas. But Salida and Gunnison I think are a neat part of the mix because it really shows what the non-resort interior towns in western Colorado are like.
The race starts on Main Street in the direction of Crested Butte. They’re going to turn up the canyon at Almont. It’ll really start climbing when we get into this deep canyon. Coming out of Gunnison and moving north here at Almont it’ll change pretty quickly. The climb is further up in the canyon. Almont is kind of the transition of the topography between Gunnison and Crested Butte where it starts getting a little more mountainous terrain.
This Queen stage, especially for those of us who live here, or people who are familiar with Independence or Cottonwood Passes, this part of the state you really in their mind can put together what this leg looks like. It’s pretty big. It’s a pretty big day. And then as soon as they turn up to Cottonwood the whole game’s going to change.
Taylor Canyon ride is one that folks enjoy a lot. It’s good out and back from town. Gunnison has a lot of good spoke rides. Out towards Lake City and back, the mesa between, called Black Mesa that goes over towards Hotchkiss and Paonia.
Historically, a lot of mining activity up here. There’s the old mining town of Tin Cup, Cumberland Pass and Hellicats.
I would imagine these forest service campgrounds where they take reservations are starting to fill up. People want to see them climbing.
The artist community, they’re doing community bike art where people were able to pick up boxes full of bike parts, old wheels and things and fashion them into art pieces. They’re giving them out. There are ads on the radio “if you’re on the race route, if you’re a Main St business and you want some of this in your front yard along the race route, just call we will come and install an art piece.”
The Rotary is selling cow bells. That kind of stuff is really neat. It gets people down on Main St, gets people along the race route. People enjoy dressing up in costumes, seems like in Colorado ski towns. Costume themed parties, wearing wigs. Trying to get that encouragement out for people to not just come see the race but really get into the full swing of the excitement of it, what it has to offer. I just think it’s going to be super. To have people take it to that level.
80% of the land in the county is public land or BLM. We have little pods of population. I think that people are beginning to discover that it’s a great jumping off point not just for Gunnison and Crested Butte. We have a lot of people coming down who use it to explore Lake City, down towards Creede and Powderhorn. These areas that are fairly remote. Gunnison is a good hub to those. Hunting and fishing is economically huge in Gunnison.
Schedule, Tuesday, Aug 23
Approximately 1:00-3:30 pm
Rolling closures of Tomichi Ave (Hwy 50) and Main St as the peloton rolls through town, coming from Salida, summiting Monarch Pass and on to the finish at Mt Crested Butte. Crowds are expected to line Tomichi Ave east of Main St from Tomichi northbound and to gather at Legion Park and Jorgensen Park.
5:00 pm Main St closed from Tomichi Ave to Ohio St through noon Wednesday, Aug 24
Weds, Aug 24th
5:00 AM Street closures though noon.
8:00 AM Festival and VIP Tent Open
9:30 AM Rolling road closures on Hwy 135 northbound through to summit of Cottonwood Pass
9:45 AM Race start
Gunnison Bike Events:
June 23-26 31st annual Fat Tire Festival
July 31 Leadville 100 Qualifying Race
Aug 20-21 24 Hours in the Sage
Aug 23 USA Pro Cycling Challenge Finish in Crested Butte
Aug 24 USA Pro Cycling Challenge Start in Gunnison
Sept 10-11 35th Annual Pearl Pass Mt Bike Tour
See website for additional events www.gunnisoncrestedbutte.com
