Gear up to register for '09 Ride the Rockies

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Registration opens today for the 2009 Denver Post Ride the Rockies tour, a six-day, 380-mile noncompetitive bicycle jaunt across the state.

This year's tour, which runs June 14-19 and begins and ends in Glenwood Springs, is a week earlier than usual. The tour traditionally starts on Father's Day, the third Sunday in June.

The 2009 route loops over McClure Pass to Hotchkiss, along the north rim of the Black Canyon to Gunnison, over Monarch Pass to Salida, up the Arkansas River valley to Leadville, over Independence Pass to Aspen, and back to Glenwood Springs.

The $335 registration fee includes baggage transportation, medical and mechanical support, aid stations, "sag" transport for injured or exhausted cyclists, and a bicycle jersey, water bottle and map book. The fee must be included with submitted registrations; uncashed checks will be returned to cyclists not chosen in the lottery.

This is the first time Ride the Rockies, which began in 1986, has crossed McClure Pass and the third time the tour has included 12,095-foot Independence Pass.

"Ride the Rockies has become synonymous with summer in Colorado," said Nathan Christian, Colorado regional president for Wells Fargo, which helps sponsor the event.

Ride the Rockies is a leisure tour, not a race, and participants are encouraged to ride at a comfortable pace. Tour director Chandler Smith strongly recommends training for the event. Training advice will be posted online at ridetherockies.com.

Proceeds from the tour benefit Post-News Charities, a McCormick Foundation Fund, and 100 percent of all dollars raised are returned to the community. Additionally, the Post- News Community awards a $5,000 grant to a nonprofit organization in each host town.