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Young racer wins bike as part of Tour of the Gila promotion
Cyclists prepare for the start of Stage 4 of the Tour of the Gila in southwestern New Mexico.
A young Tour of the Gila competitor won an artisan bicycle frame in a raffle following his own race in Silver City on Saturday.
This year, Tour of the Gila partnered with Silver City-based bicycle fabricator Mone Bikes to give amateur competitive cyclists another reason to enter Tour of the Gila. Every person who competed in one of the five USA Cycling-sanctioned races at the 38th Tour of the Gila was automatically entered to win a Hachita, a multipurpose design named after a community in the bootheel of New Mexico.
“Silver City is my favorite place on earth, and the Tour of the Gila is a wonderful and unique part of our town,” said Cjell Mone, the owner/operator designer fabricator and self-described janitor of Mone Bikes, which donated the frame. “As a cycling-focused business, we are honored to be able to support the event this year.”
So during the Downtown Criterium presented by the Town of Silver City, every participant’s name was put into a helmet.
Race director Jack Brennan, along with a representative of Mone Bikes, drew one slip of paper out in front of the crowd. The paper contained the name of an El Groupo Youth Cycling rider, a teen who aspires to do bicycle tours like the Great Divide. The winner couldn’t be more fitting, as Mone Bikes is a more dirt-forward brand that’s popular among touring and single speed cyclists. Plus, road cyclists who pedal the scenic mountain racecourses synonymous with Tour of the Gila can find a use for the Hachita, a frameset designed to suit many styles of riding.
As the athletes competing in Tour of the Gila head into the final stage of the iconic bike race, a concern rose for safety in light of a forecasted Red Flag Warning due to high winds. For this reason, race officials, organizers, and participating UCI men’s teams agreed to make a change to Sunday’s UCI men’s race.
Instead of taking the offshoot to the Gila Cliff Dwellings Visitor Center, the pro men will now ride the same course as the pro women and most other fields. They will start from Gough Park at 10 a.m. The pro women will start at 10:15 a.m.
