USA Pro Cycling Challenge host city, Beaver Creek: facts and fables
Andy Schleck, Tejay van Garderen, and Levi Leipheimer at the 2011 UPCC Avon start
Behind Beaver Creek Resort’s luxury tagline, “not exactly roughing it,” lies a destination that hosts the toughest competitors, and it welcomes the finish of stage 4 of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge (UPCC) on August 23rd.
The Beaver Creek valley’s settlers raised cattle and other crops, and discovered the area was ideal for growing lettuce. In the 1920’s farmers delivered crates of lettuce to ice-packed boxcars in Avon that transported the produce as far as the east coast.
Beaver Creek ski area from I-70
Beaver Creek’s population of 250 is the smallest of all of the 2012 UPCC host cities. It blooms in the winter when the ski resort, which is home to the World Cup Birds of Prey course, opens its trails to snow sports. Just below the resort is the town of Avon (population 5,725) which hosted a UPCC start in 2011.
Perhaps Beaver Creek’s reputation for luxury and pampering guests is what draws serious athletic events. The on-trail multi-day Gore-Tex TransRockies Run ends in Beaver Creek on August 19th. The resort hosted Tough Mudder in June and an XTERRA off-road triathlon will play out there in mid-July.
Softer-side athletes can ride a chairlift and traverse the mountainside to Beaver Lake. The Beaver Creek Hiking Center in the Summer Adventure Center in Beaver Creek Village will offer suggestions that suit all kinds of hikers, including privately-guided hikes.
The roads from Avon up to Beaver Creek Village where the UPCC finishes this August can be steep. Chris Baldwin on the BISSELL Pro Cycling Team calls the Beaver Creek finish a “sleeping giant” in this short video.
See also:
USA Pro Cycling Challenge host city, Durango: facts and fables
USA Pro Cycling Challenge host city, Telluride: facts and fables
USA Pro Cycling Challenge host city, Montrose: facts and fables
USA Pro Cycling Challenge host city, Mount / Crested Butte: facts and fables
USA Pro Cycling Challenge host city, Gunnison: facts and fables
USA Pro Cycling Challenge host city, Aspen: facts and fables
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