The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Beer, bands and bikers
It’s about to begin and it will begin with a bang this weekend.
The summer season kicks off this Friday with the Ride the Rockies bike tour coming to the valley. More than 3,500 people are expected to start arriving in Crested Butte on Friday. As the first stop on the tour, the valley should see a couple of days of impact before the riders hit the road Sunday about 8 a.m.
“There will be a lot of people in Crested Butte,” promised Crested Butte-Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce events director Scott Still. “The organizers, volunteers and the Ride-the Rockies VIPs should be here Friday, with most of the riders and their entourages getting in on Saturday.”
The Friday arrivals appear to be based in Mt. Crested Butte, where meetings and training will be held. Registration for the tour will start Saturday at the Crested Butte Community School. Ride the Rockies organizers will take care of that. The chamber will take care of the rest of the day.
“The Ride the Rockies-Crested Butte Soul Center of Cycling Street Fest will be Saturday. Elk Avenue will be closed in the center of town and a stage set up,” said Still.
“Activities will start around noon and run until about 9:30 that night. There will be bands, food booths, a beer garden, street activities for the kids, massages for the participants. It should be a great scene,” Still added.
Still said the bands will start playing about 1 p.m. Local band Rock Bottom will kick off the festival. The Strider Cup, a bike race for kids, will be held at 3 p.m. At about 4 p.m., another local band, Better Late Than Never, will entertain the crowd. The night will finish with Minnesota Bluegrass band, the Gypsy Lumberjacks.
“There should be a lot of cool things going on,” Still said. “There will be a beer garden, food booths, vendors and information booths. The stage will be at Third and Elk. It will be set up sort of like the Fourth of July.”
Riders can enjoy a small lunch at the school on Saturday and breakfast on Sunday before the bikers take off for Buena Vista over Cottonwood Pass.
Camping areas will be provided in the school soccer field and also in the gymnasium. Still said the area lodges and hotels are also seeing good business from the event.
“The idea is to get the people uptown enjoying Crested Butte and give them the chance to hit the restaurants and shops,” Still explained.
Official opening ceremonies will be Sunday morning. Elizabeth Bond will sing the National Anthem while mayor Leah Williams will get the crowd going with a quick kick-off speech. Cottonwood Pass opened last weekend so the riders will have a somewhat snowy but scenic ride to the tour’s second stop in Buena Vista. From there the riders will head to Edwards, Steamboat Springs, Granby and Georgetown. The tour will award a $5,000 grant to the Gunnison Partners Program as part of the event.
It is the 26th year for the event and this year it will cross six mountain passes, climb 22,000 feet of vertical gain and take in 409 miles. The race will also start off the Crested Butte summer season.
