Colorado Springs, Colo. – October 1, 2019 – Organizers in Colorado Springs today announced The Pikes Peak APEX Presented by RockShox, a brand-new multi-day mountain bike challenge to be held on the slopes of Pikes Peak, America’s Mountain in September of 2020.
The Pikes Peak APEX is four days of riding in Olympic City USA including in-town parks and backcountry stages on the slopes of Pikes Peak. The format is a Gran Fondo-style start with plenty of aid station support for all cyclists on the mountain and a $50,000 prize purse to be split between the top men and women finishers. Day one will be a short prologue stage and the final three days will be between 35- and 50-mile days featuring exhilarating, exceptionally crafted routes through dirt roads, jeep trails and amazing alpine single-track that is essential Pikes Peak. All stages start close to downtown Colorado Springs and the terrain will be challenging, but not overly technical.
“I want to thank the City of Colorado Springs and RockShox for helping make this incredible event a reality,” says Executive Director of The Pikes Peak APEX, Micah Rice. “With the trail system here in the Pikes Peak region, Colorado Springs deserves to be an internationally recognized endurance sports destination.”
“We are extremely excited to have the opportunity to host such an exciting event right here in Colorado Springs on our world-class trails,” says RockShox Brand Manager, Mallory Burda. “We consider ourselves pretty lucky having the mountains right outside our office doors, so this will be a ton of fun to invite the greater cycling community together for a weekend of racing, cheering, as well as giving back to our local trail organizations.”
RockShox is one of the most recognizable brands in cycling and an industry innovator who introduced suspension and reshaped mountain biking for the entire world. As the presenting sponsor of The APEX, their headquarters in Colorado Springs will provide rider technical support and a giveback to local trail maintenance after the event.
Cycling industry veteran, Micah Rice, will serve as the Executive Director of The Pikes Peak APEX. Micah is Vice President of Event Strategy and Operations for Sports Strategies, a division of Tourism Strategies LLC that provides consulting, marketing and event production services to help clients identify, leverage and promote their best assets to recruit sports tourism. Prior to joining Sports Strategies, Micah spent eight years overseeing the national events department for USA Cycling, the national governing body for all disciplines of competitive cycling in the United States. Micah also worked with OC Sport as the head of operations for North America, where he was responsible for launching the European Haute Route events in the North American market.
The inaugural Pikes Peak APEX will be held September 24-27, 2020 and is a non-profit endeavor whose mission is to drive economic impact to the area in order to improve the trails and open space in the Pikes Peak region for the lasting enjoyment of its residents and visitors. Find more information and details at www.pikespeakapex.com.
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