By Shannon Lukens.
Ride the Rockies has announced its route for this summer. It travels through Northwest Colorado and the Western Slope for six days.
The route for Ride the Rockies starts in Steamboat Springs, and heads to Craig, Meeker, Rangely, and then Fruita. The bicycle tour is 409.5+ miles, June 9-15. Over 2,000 riders, with support staff, are expected for the six days of riding.
Ride the Rockies is one of the longest running bicycle tours in the country. It started in 1986. Cyclists are expected from all fifty states and several countries.
- Day 1 (June 10) is 66 miles from Steamboat Springs to Craig.
- Day 2 (June 11) is 61 miles from Craig to Meeker.
- Day 3 (June 12) is 58 miles from Meeker to Rangely.
- Day 4 (June 13) has options of rides out of Rangely including a 90-mile Gravel Ride, an 84 mile ride to the Canyon Overlook in Dinosaur National Monument, or a 107-mile ride to Harper’s Corner Overlook in Dinosaur National Monument.
- Day 5 (June 14) is 79 miles from Rangely to Fruita.
- Day 6 (June 15) is 39 miles around Colorado National Monument.
On the Ride the Rockies website, there is a route video. The 2024 Ride the Rockies Route Video starts with Peter Indovino, the Ride the Rockies Marketing Coordinator, standing in front of Steamboat Springs High School.
“This is Peter Indovino, I’m the Marketing Coordinator for Ride the Rockies. We are here in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, to kick things off for our ride June 9-10. This is our 12th time coming through Steamboat but our first time doing a start or finish here. So we’re really excited to be in this town. We will have camping right here at the Steamboat Springs High School and our event expo down at Memorial Park. We’ll have a beer garden, food trucks, and entertainment. It will be a great fun two days to kick things off. It’s just a short walk into town for plenty of restaurants, shopping, and hotel options. The town is thrilled to be having us here, and we’re thrilled to kick things off so come join us on June 9-10 in Steamboat Springs.”
The Craig portion of the video features Kyler Scott with the Moffat County Fairgrounds.
“Hi, I’m Kyler Scott with the Moffat County Fairgrounds. We’re thrilled to have Ride the Rockies here June 10, Here in Craig, Colorado. We’ve got everything they should need as far as indoor facilities, camping, bathrooms, RV hookups, so, yep, be sure to be here June 10 for the Ride the Rockies here in Craig. Thanks for coming.”
Ryan Dennison with the City of Craig also welcomes the participants and tells more about the community.
“Hello everyone. I’m Ryan Dennison with the City of Craig, Colorado, and we are thrilled to have Ride the Rockies come to our community. It’s been a few times overnight. The event has taken place a few times where it has passed through. We are just thrilled that Ride the Rockies is here in beautiful downtown Craig. We have a great Northwest Colorado Museum that is historic and kind of world renowned. We just want to welcome everyone and the riders into our beautiful community.”
The announcement of the 2024 route was made online on Saturday, Jan. 13. No press release was sent.
