My incredibly gracious hosts were April Prout-Ralph and Greg Ralph. April is the PR director for the Chaffee County Visitor’s Bureau and Greg is the Marketing Director at Monarch Mountain.
I stayed at a brand new Hampton Inn that was clean, state of the art and convenient.
We met at Fritz Restaurant for drinks and dinner. April’s son Davis joined us. He was actually named after Davis Phinney, so you can guess what avid cyclists are in this family! April and Greg have ridden Ride the Rockies the past 5 years.
The day of the race start in Salida will have the team vehicles lining up on Sackett Street, right in front of The Fritz. It will be kind of “pit row” as April says. The start will be around the corner on F Street by Benson’s. There will be two parade laps in town. The race will go up F Street to 6th, over a block to E Street and then back through pit row. After the second lap, the race heads out of town via 3rd Street onto Poncha Blvd. It follows Airport Road up to Weldon Creek, which is a steeper climb than it looks.
Greg commented that Salida means exit. Salida is where the mountains start. “We’re so excited to have it here. I don’t know if people understand the importance of what a great event it’s going to be. It’s going to be unparalleled to anything that’s ever happened in town.”
April said “It’s a major coup for a small town and for the county. We’re an outdoor recreation town. It fits into our town. There are a lot of people who are really excited. It’s a lot of work for everybody between city staff, organizing it, getting rooms put together. Hopefully it will reap the rewards. We’ve seen some already. We’re more and more recognized now. We’ll reap the rewards for years to come, being the first mountain stage. That’s a nice little tag we can always have. It makes it real fun. We’re looking forward to it.”
Downtown Salida is very artsy with lots of interesting store fronts. There are art galleries, bike shops, restaurants, coffee shops and more. “We’re encouraging the merchants to decorate their windows. Our hospitality tent will have art from local artists, kind of bike related. The Art Matters Gallery has bicycle chain sculptures. Our winner of the race poster was a local girl, Taf McMurray. Her family is an old ranching family from the area. They host high school mountain bike races on her family’s property. It was real fitting that she won.” The residential part of town has some homes from around 1906 with lots of big trees.
There will be a hospitality tent and a VIP tent. There will be a band in the park. The media center is in The Fritz. That’s where people will get their credentials.
There will be a citizens ride before the race based on Michelle Obama’s America Moves campaign. Anything that moves can be part of it-bikes, wheelchairs, walking, whatever.
April insists that Absolute Bike’s owner Scot Banks is the best mechanic in the state. He’s got an impressive bike collection including an old TdF Gitane, and old Crest team bike, Dave Scott’s Ironman bike and more. Right next door is a great coffee shop Bongo Billy’s. Even Mayor Chuck Rose is a cycling fan.
