Point 1
The Extra Stuff
Point 1 is the extra stuff, the add-on, and the not quite there.
It's that feeling that drives you to go that extra tenth of a mile or kilometer to get that round number on your GPS.
It's also the place we share content tangentially or indirectly related to the 719 Ride, with a frequent nod to Alpe d'Huez.
It's also a convenient place to insert a link to our COVID-(7)19 guidelines for riding the 2020 719 Ride.
Now, allow us to introduce Ottavio Severo, a little-known Colorado Springs resident and bicycle racing pioneer.
A regular and popular participant of Six Day racing in London throughout the 1870s, Ottavio came across the Atlantic to show his skill in Chicago and Boston in 1879. He arrived in Colorado Springs in May 1898 and promptly set to work on a bicycle race to the top of Pikes Peak.
He died in 1923 with his dream unrealized.
Nearly 100 years later, we celebrate Ottavio and his vision on July 19 with five turns of the strength-sapping, resolve wrecking 719 Ride course.
Alpe d’Huez is a rewarding and animated feast of the defining and signature Tour de France moments and the stories behind them. It is a smart, imaginative, and engaging profile of “the cathedral of climbs.”
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Étape is an engrossing celebration of the Tour de France. It reanimates memorable stages and moments, mostly from the late 1980s through 2012, and it’s a master work of cycling history and storytelling.
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For a GC contender there’s no hiding in the high mountains of the Tour de France, and The Tour According to G hides nothing from its readers. It’s forthcoming, direct, jovial and rousing. It delivers a strong winning performance from the Grand Départ to the Champs-Élysées.
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Although The Tour is Won on the Alpe doesn’t fulfill its book-flap promise, it still puts in a strong performance, like a dedicated gregario or domestique riding in support of his team leader. It’s a performance worth a top 10 stage placement.
Read On!For a month-to-month list of Colorado cycling events and century rides, the Bicycle Colorado events calendar is a comprehensive resource. And for Colorado bike races, the USA Cycling and BikeReg event calendars are worth having in your saddle bag, if you race with a saddle bag.
Photo courtesy of Mikkel Bech on Unsplash.