Registration opens today for the 22nd annual Denver Post Ride the Rockies bicycle tour, a week-long, 422-mile loop beginning and ending in Frisco, June 17-23.
The tour is noncompetitive, with a lottery system that provides 2,000 ambitious recreational cyclists the opportunity to pedal up a narrow road to the 12,095-foot summit of Independence Pass.
Three other passes – Nine Mile Gap (7,485 feet), Rabbit Ears (9,426 feet) and Fremont (11,318 feet)- also are on the route.
Registration forms are available on Page 8C and online at ridetherockies.com.
The $315 registration fee includes baggage transportation, camping facilities, medical and mechanical support, shuttle transport and entertainment. The deadline for registration is Feb. 23. Applicants will be notified by early March.
The 2007 route visits Steamboat Springs, Craig, Rifle, Glenwood Springs, Aspen and Leadville. This is the first time Ride the Rockies has included an Independence Pass climb since the tour’s 1986 debut. Cyclists apprehensive of that ascent may be surprised to find the windswept stretch between Twin Lakes and Leadville equally challenging.
Daily mileage ranges from the 98-mile climb from Frisco to Steamboat Springs, via Rabbit Ears Pass, to 36 miles from Rifle to Glenwood Springs.
While Ride the Rockies is a strictly noncompetitive event, tour director Paul Balaguer encourages cyclists to invest six to 12 weeks in training for steep climbs at altitude and long days in the saddle. Training information is online at ridetherockies.com.
