New Belgium Brewing will be the official beer sponsor of the Pro Cycling Challenge! This from NB:
The USA Pro Cycling Challenge and New Belgium Brewing are teaming up! We're going to be the official beer sponsor, and that is super awesome. The news was announced this morning, we have signed on for this year's race, as well as the 2013 edition. With the new brewery announcement, the release of Shift beer, and now this great news, it is shaping up to be an amazing summer! We will be on the road with the race, keeping all the fan's thirsts quenched, as well as preaching the good word of American Craft Beer and bicycles!
The Pro Cycling Challenge is August 20-26, 2012. It is the biggest stage race in the US and covers some of the boldest terrain in the world. For full course details I will direct you to UPCC's official website, but I do want to mention the two stages that will be highlights for me: stages 3 and 4. Stage 3 is taking the riders from Gunnison to Aspen. The Queen Stage, the road to Aspen climbs up and over Cottonwood Pass, which tops out at 12,126 feet and features a 14 mile dirt road climb to the summit. And as if that wasn't brutal enough, the course designers follow up Cottonwood with Independence Pass, yet another trip up into 12,000 foot elevations on the same day. At 131 miles, and featuring two of the highest climbs in professional cycling, stage 3 promises to be a defining moment in the race. And then the next day, stage 4, Aspen to Beaver Creek, which heads up and over Independence pass again, two days in a row, both directions, very ouch... I am excited to park myself on Independence Pass for a couple days and watch the race come through (twice). This is a really big deal for Colorado race fans (and the all the out-of-staters that will be joining us hill-side). I will be getting up there early, painting my face and probably taking my shirt off to really enjoy the high elevations, steep roads and all the skinny guys in tight shorts riding uphill. I can also assume that some Shift Beer will be consumed on that hill, just saying...
But other than a shirtless blogger and a few Shift Beers what is New Belgium bringing to the race? Well, a beer garden for one. The roving beer garden will set up daily in the finishing town. The beer garden at large scale cycling events is a virtual who's who of beer drinking-bike riders. It should be a real hoot. And then we are bringing our philanthropic ways as well. We will be teaming up with NPO's through the course of the race (ha, a pun) to raise money and awareness for local bicycle advocacy and environmental causes. To paraphrase the immortal Captain Ballyhoo: normally when you drink beer on the side of a road you're a philanderer, but during the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, you will be a philanthropist!
And for those race fans outside of Colorado, unable to make the trip for the Pro Cycling Challenge, our local Beer Rangers in your communities will be hosting viewing parties and general Bike-Race-Shenanigans throughout the week in our ever-growing distribution areas.
This is not all the details, as some things still need to be hammered out, but I wanted to give you a heads up on this exciting sponsorship. And I wanted to start building some real excitement about "America's Race," because we are very excited to be part of it. So get ready race fans, this is going to be one great summer!
_JUICEBOX
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