Attending The Race - Race Day Planning in Denver
PEDAL DANCER FAN GUIDE - Stage 7 - USA Pro Challenge 2013
A Sunday afternoon is the perfect time to take in a 3 hour circuit race through the city streets of Denver. Now if you live anywhere close to Denver, it will be hard not to notice that there is a big bike race going on that day, so you might as well plan for it, relax and enjoy.
I have noticed that a number of people are coming from out of town for this stage of the USA Pro Challenge so I will try my best to highlight some areas where it would be nice to pull up a chair and watch the race whiz by. That chair might belong to a cafe, be under a VIP tent, or perhaps that chair was carried on your back to a nice grassy knoll.
STAGE FACTS
Date: August 25, 2013, Final Day of Racing!
Start Time: 12:55pm
Finish Time: 3:50pm
Location of Start & Finish: Civic Center Park
Route Map: Stage 7 route map through Denver
Lap Length: 9.1 miles
Estimated time per lap: approx. 20 minutes
Number of laps: 8
Total distance: 72.8 miles
Elevation of Denver: 5280 ft, nicknamed "The Mile High City"
Denver City Race Event Website:
Stage Sponsor: Smashburger
Official 2013 Spectator Guide
USA Pro Cycling: Website Facebook Twitter YouTube
Stage 7 commemorative jersey of the Tour
STAGE ROUTE - MAPS, PROFILES AND DESCRIPTIONS
* please note you will likely see discrepancies in route maps (in city park), race lengths, and start finish times for this stage. This is the correct map.
Details: Stage 7: Denver Circuit Race – Sunday, Aug. 25
Miles: 9.4 miles (15.1km) each lap
Stage 7 Route Map
Stage 7 Route
Stage 7 Route Profile
Stage 7: Denver Circuit Race – Sunday, Aug. 25
Official Comments: We marvel at their raw speed. We watch their daring moves and nerves of steel as they fight for position with awe. We gasp at their handling skills. They are the sprinters. And for six days they have been fighting over mountains trying to stay with racers 20 or more pounds lighter. They have flirted with thin air and time cuts, but today belongs to them. The Denver Circuit takes the best parts of the 2011 and 2012 Denver stages and combines them into a new circuit. It still hits all the Denver highlights – LoDo, City Park, Civic Center Park. There isn’t a bad viewing spot. Watch for early breakaways…can they hold off the surging peloton? Watch the teams cue up and try to set up their sprinters…can they get to the front? Watch the last corner and see who has the nerve to take it the fastest and claim the final prize in the shadow of Colorado’s Capitol.
Pedal Dancer® comments: Party time in Denver! Time to celebrate a successful week of bike racing. Come by bike, enjoy the food and beer, be entertained as the riders race the final circuit laps through the state capital. Fast bike racing and pageantry pure and simple.
Road Closures & Parking
Full road closure details for Denver area: All Colorado Road Closures for the 2013 USA Pro Challenge Bike Race. Or this local Denver Road Closures details for the bike race - Stage 7.
VIP Tickets
Denver Start & Finish area - Founders Box $350
Learn more, or Buy VIP Tickets
What VIP includes: a prime viewing spot on the race route, food, beverage, private access, tables & chairs, live TV race coverage, shade or shelter.
VIP in Denver actually makes a lot of sense - your viewing will be prime with a great location right along both the start and finishing straight for the entire race. You will have friends, food, drinks, TV screens, restroom trailers, freebies, and a lot of enthusiastic fellow fans near you to enjoy the day. Good people watching too!
Volunteer:
Sign-up to help out at the race for Stage 7 in Denver.
Accommodations
Hotel Deals for the bike race in Denver - see the list of Hotels at Denver.org
Imbibe - Food and Drink in Denver
Enjoy one of the many breweries that make Denver famous: Best Beer Pubs and Breweries in Denver, By Pedal Dancer®.
AT THE RACE
Race Day Timing
6:00am - no parking anywhere along course
8:00am - U.S. Handcycling Competition
8:30-10:45am - Pro Challenge 9K run
12:00-5:00pm - Festival Opens in Civic Center Park
12:30-4:00pm - Entire race route closed
12:55pm - Race Start
3:50pm - Race Finish
4:15pm - Podium Presentations in Civic Center Park
PEDAL DANCER RECOMMENDATIONS
Tips on where to see the Race? USA Pro Challenge in Denver
Bike Valet will be available. Metered Street Parking is free in Downtown Denver on Sunday, but there will be no parking along the route. The Festival area is interesting to walk around if you have not been to any of the other stages, otherwise - head out onto the route and find a comfortable spot to watch from a neighborhood cafe or a shady spot on the grass.
The start area is also very interesting to watch. If you know the riders well and have followed the competition all week, you might want to be near the stage at the start / finish line to see and hear the commentators as they interview the riders and later call the race. The VIP tents and private hospitality areas will covet most of the final finishing straight. The Festival (Expo) area is free, enjoy the food, beer, music, and more.
Last year Denver hosted the final time trial of the 2012 USA Pro Challenge. This year you will get to see a circuit race where the entire peloton will come around again and again on repeated laps of the same course. Try to pick out the yellow, green, red, blue, and orange jersey on each lap.
If you are in Civic Center Park, go watch the final awards ceremony. Last year a movable podium was brought onto Broadway (between the VIP tents) and the street was opened to regular fans to come in for a closer view of the ceremonies, awarding the overall winner of the tour and the final jersey winners.
I created the map below to highlight some of the key areas to watch the race including: Civic Center Park, City Park, the cafes along 17th St, Historic Larimer Square, the large area near the Performing Arts Complex, and the grassy strip along Speer Blvd. All of these areas should be fine viewing. Corners are good places to be located because the riders dive into the turns.
Also team cars and riders will be going up and down on the divided 17th Street and the lower part of Speer Blvd., keeping you quite entertained by watching them approach in both direction.
Photos of Denver
CITIZEN PARTICIPATION - EVENT RUN
2013 USA Pro Challenge 9K Sprint Challenge (Citizen event run in Denver)
Date: Sunday, August 25, 2013
Event: First annual 9K Sprint Challenge, or 5K Sprint (sponsored by Davita)
Start/Finish: Civic Center Park, Denver, Colorado
Race Information: http://www.9ksprint.com/
Run route: see 9K route map a shorter 5K route will be available on the same route (with a turn-around point).
More run event information
Start time : 8:30 a.m. (Stage 6 circuit lap race will begin on the same day after this event)
Cost: $35 pre-registration / $45 day of event
Prizes: Two hospitality passes to the Founder’s Box will be given away for the best times overall for both men and women, as well as best times for each age division. Two hospitality passes to the Founder’s Box will also be given away for the best “Cycling Fanatic” costume, so dress to impress!
Other PEDAL DANCER FAN GUIDES - USA Pro Challenge race day planning, travel guides, city special events, route maps and profiles, road closures, and stage start and finish times. (all links coming soon)
I have chased pro races for 13 years on the Continent and in Europe. I am now granted the thrill to be Media at some of the races but am always in touch with my roots as a fan. I share with you my inside tips on how to see and enjoy a professional cycling race. My love of travel, maps, photographs and human interest blend with the love of any bike and a good competition in sports. Welcome and enjoy the ride! (About Pedal Dancer®)
USA Pro Challenge in Aspen and Snowmass
USA Pro Challenge in Breckenridge (Part 1)
How & Where to Watch the USA Pro in Breckenridge (Part 2)
USA Pro Challenge in Steamboat Springs
USA Pro Challenge in Beaver Creek
USA Pro Challenge in Vail
USA Pro Challenge in Loveland
USA Pro Challenge in Fort Collins
USA Pro Challenge in Denver
For more information please visit the PEDAL DANCER GUIDE PAGE: USA PRO CHALLENGE
Riders in the 2013 USA Pro Challenge
Official website: http://www.usaprocyclingchallenge.com/
Monday, Aug. 19 - Stage 1: Aspen/Snowmass Circuit
Tuesday, Aug. 20 - Stage 2: Aspen/Snowmass - Breckenridge
Wednesday, Aug. 21 - Stage 3: Breckenridge - Steamboat Springs
Thursday, Aug. 22 - Stage 4: Steamboat Springs - Beaver Creek
Friday, Aug. 23 - Stage 5: Vail Time Trial
Saturday, Aug. 24 - Stage 6: Loveland - Fort Collins
Sunday, Aug. 25 - Stage 7: Denver Circuit
PEDAL DANCER FAN GUIDE - Stage 7 - USA Pro Challenge 2013
A Sunday afternoon is the perfect time to take in a 3 hour circuit race through the city streets of Denver. Now if you live anywhere close to Denver, it will be hard not to notice that there is a big bike race going on that day, so you might as well plan for it, relax and enjoy.
I have noticed that a number of people are coming from out of town for this stage of the USA Pro Challenge so I will try my best to highlight some areas where it would be nice to pull up a chair and watch the race whiz by. That chair might belong to a cafe, be under a VIP tent, or perhaps that chair was carried on your back to a nice grassy knoll.
 |
| Denver State Capital building. Photo © by Karen at Pedal Dancer® |
Date: August 25, 2013, Final Day of Racing!
Start Time: 12:55pm
Finish Time: 3:50pm
Location of Start & Finish: Civic Center Park
Route Map: Stage 7 route map through Denver
Lap Length: 9.1 miles
Estimated time per lap: approx. 20 minutes
Number of laps: 8
Total distance: 72.8 miles
Elevation of Denver: 5280 ft, nicknamed "The Mile High City"
Denver City Race Event Website:
Stage Sponsor: Smashburger
Official 2013 Spectator Guide
USA Pro Cycling: Website Facebook Twitter YouTube
Stage 7 commemorative jersey of the Tour
 |
| Stage 5 commemorative jersey of the tour |
* please note you will likely see discrepancies in route maps (in city park), race lengths, and start finish times for this stage. This is the correct map.
Details: Stage 7: Denver Circuit Race – Sunday, Aug. 25
Miles: 9.4 miles (15.1km) each lap
Stage 7 Route Map
Stage 7 Route
click any map to enlarge
 |
| Stage 7 route map USA Pro Challenge in Denver. This is the correct map. |
Stage 7: Denver Circuit Race – Sunday, Aug. 25
Official Comments: We marvel at their raw speed. We watch their daring moves and nerves of steel as they fight for position with awe. We gasp at their handling skills. They are the sprinters. And for six days they have been fighting over mountains trying to stay with racers 20 or more pounds lighter. They have flirted with thin air and time cuts, but today belongs to them. The Denver Circuit takes the best parts of the 2011 and 2012 Denver stages and combines them into a new circuit. It still hits all the Denver highlights – LoDo, City Park, Civic Center Park. There isn’t a bad viewing spot. Watch for early breakaways…can they hold off the surging peloton? Watch the teams cue up and try to set up their sprinters…can they get to the front? Watch the last corner and see who has the nerve to take it the fastest and claim the final prize in the shadow of Colorado’s Capitol.
Pedal Dancer® comments: Party time in Denver! Time to celebrate a successful week of bike racing. Come by bike, enjoy the food and beer, be entertained as the riders race the final circuit laps through the state capital. Fast bike racing and pageantry pure and simple.
Road Closures & Parking
Full road closure details for Denver area: All Colorado Road Closures for the 2013 USA Pro Challenge Bike Race. Or this local Denver Road Closures details for the bike race - Stage 7.
VIP Tickets
Denver Start & Finish area - Founders Box $350
Learn more, or Buy VIP Tickets
What VIP includes: a prime viewing spot on the race route, food, beverage, private access, tables & chairs, live TV race coverage, shade or shelter.
VIP in Denver actually makes a lot of sense - your viewing will be prime with a great location right along both the start and finishing straight for the entire race. You will have friends, food, drinks, TV screens, restroom trailers, freebies, and a lot of enthusiastic fellow fans near you to enjoy the day. Good people watching too!
Volunteer:
Sign-up to help out at the race for Stage 7 in Denver.
Accommodations
Hotel Deals for the bike race in Denver - see the list of Hotels at Denver.org
Imbibe - Food and Drink in Denver
Enjoy one of the many breweries that make Denver famous: Best Beer Pubs and Breweries in Denver, By Pedal Dancer®.
AT THE RACE
Race Day Timing
6:00am - no parking anywhere along course
8:00am - U.S. Handcycling Competition
8:30-10:45am - Pro Challenge 9K run
12:00-5:00pm - Festival Opens in Civic Center Park
12:30-4:00pm - Entire race route closed
12:55pm - Race Start
3:50pm - Race Finish
4:15pm - Podium Presentations in Civic Center Park
PEDAL DANCER RECOMMENDATIONS
Tips on where to see the Race? USA Pro Challenge in Denver
Bike Valet will be available. Metered Street Parking is free in Downtown Denver on Sunday, but there will be no parking along the route. The Festival area is interesting to walk around if you have not been to any of the other stages, otherwise - head out onto the route and find a comfortable spot to watch from a neighborhood cafe or a shady spot on the grass.
The start area is also very interesting to watch. If you know the riders well and have followed the competition all week, you might want to be near the stage at the start / finish line to see and hear the commentators as they interview the riders and later call the race. The VIP tents and private hospitality areas will covet most of the final finishing straight. The Festival (Expo) area is free, enjoy the food, beer, music, and more.
Last year Denver hosted the final time trial of the 2012 USA Pro Challenge. This year you will get to see a circuit race where the entire peloton will come around again and again on repeated laps of the same course. Try to pick out the yellow, green, red, blue, and orange jersey on each lap.
If you are in Civic Center Park, go watch the final awards ceremony. Last year a movable podium was brought onto Broadway (between the VIP tents) and the street was opened to regular fans to come in for a closer view of the ceremonies, awarding the overall winner of the tour and the final jersey winners.
click any map to enlarge
 |
| Denver Festival and VIP set-up Stage 7 |
Also team cars and riders will be going up and down on the divided 17th Street and the lower part of Speer Blvd., keeping you quite entertained by watching them approach in both direction.
 |
| Where to see the USA Pro Challenge Race Stage 7 in Denver on Sunday (blue highlighted areas). Map by Pedal Dancer® |
 |
| Fans in Civic Center Park at the USA Pro Challenge. Photo © by Karen at Pedal Dancer® |
 |
| Fans strolling the Festival. Photo © by Karen at Pedal Dancer® |
 |
| Vine Street Pub - one of the many restaurants along the route of Stage 7 through Denver. ©Photo by Karen at Pedal Dancer® |
 |
| The view to the finish line and the VIP tents lining the route. Photo © by Karen at Pedal Dancer® |
2013 USA Pro Challenge 9K Sprint Challenge (Citizen event run in Denver)
Date: Sunday, August 25, 2013
Event: First annual 9K Sprint Challenge, or 5K Sprint (sponsored by Davita)
Start/Finish: Civic Center Park, Denver, Colorado
Race Information: http://www.9ksprint.com/
Run route: see 9K route map a shorter 5K route will be available on the same route (with a turn-around point).
More run event information
Start time : 8:30 a.m. (Stage 6 circuit lap race will begin on the same day after this event)
Cost: $35 pre-registration / $45 day of event
Prizes: Two hospitality passes to the Founder’s Box will be given away for the best times overall for both men and women, as well as best times for each age division. Two hospitality passes to the Founder’s Box will also be given away for the best “Cycling Fanatic” costume, so dress to impress!
 |
| USA Pro Challenge 9K Sprint Challenge run route 2013 |
Other PEDAL DANCER FAN GUIDES - USA Pro Challenge race day planning, travel guides, city special events, route maps and profiles, road closures, and stage start and finish times. (all links coming soon)
I have chased pro races for 13 years on the Continent and in Europe. I am now granted the thrill to be Media at some of the races but am always in touch with my roots as a fan. I share with you my inside tips on how to see and enjoy a professional cycling race. My love of travel, maps, photographs and human interest blend with the love of any bike and a good competition in sports. Welcome and enjoy the ride! (About Pedal Dancer®)
USA Pro Challenge in Aspen and Snowmass
USA Pro Challenge in Breckenridge (Part 1)
How & Where to Watch the USA Pro in Breckenridge (Part 2)
USA Pro Challenge in Steamboat Springs
USA Pro Challenge in Beaver Creek
USA Pro Challenge in Vail
USA Pro Challenge in Loveland
USA Pro Challenge in Fort Collins
USA Pro Challenge in Denver
For more information please visit the PEDAL DANCER GUIDE PAGE: USA PRO CHALLENGE
Riders in the 2013 USA Pro Challenge
Official website: http://www.usaprocyclingchallenge.com/
Monday, Aug. 19 - Stage 1: Aspen/Snowmass Circuit
Tuesday, Aug. 20 - Stage 2: Aspen/Snowmass - Breckenridge
Wednesday, Aug. 21 - Stage 3: Breckenridge - Steamboat Springs
Thursday, Aug. 22 - Stage 4: Steamboat Springs - Beaver Creek
Friday, Aug. 23 - Stage 5: Vail Time Trial
Saturday, Aug. 24 - Stage 6: Loveland - Fort Collins
Sunday, Aug. 25 - Stage 7: Denver Circuit
