Racing, artwork, triathlon, or family ride–events shift into high gear for August, and stay amped through September in Colorado.    Criterium sells the commemorative jerseys for the Pro Cycling Challenge, rents road bikes for long-distance events, participates as a rest stop for many events, sponsors several, and best of all–we will get your bike ready for the starting line.  As always, Peak Region Cyclist keeps the most complete list of cycling events.  Here is a sample list:

Ride for Heroes:   a non-competitive ride to raise funds for veterans, police, and firefighter charities; September 10th; sponsored by Chick-Fil-A;  PatriotsFestival.com

Assault on the Peak, August 28th  ridepikespeak.com

MOVIE!     ‘Bicycle Dreams’ at StarGazers 7 p.m. August 27th  imathlete.com/events/bicycledreams

Roll Bike Art Opening, Friday August 26th, 5-8 p.m., 515 Manitou Ave.

US Pro Cycling Challenge Prologue, August 22;  USAPROCYCLINGCHALLENGE.COM 5 miles on Colorado Avenue

Kids on Bikes Festival, Sunday, August 21st;  kidsonbikes.net

The Kids on Bikes Festival is the premier family bike event in Colorado Springs, and this year we’ve been selected as one of the events to help jumpstart the USA Pro Cycling Challenge.  It all happens at America the Beautiful Park on August 21^st from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. There will tons of fun activities going on throughout the day for all ages including: live music, bike decorating, a kid’s bike safety rodeo, bike art projects, bmx demos, carnival games, crazy bike races, bounce houses, face painting, and more!  The Kids Bike Parade will start at 1:00 pm with various distance bike rides starting at 1:30 pm along the trail system.  Cost for the ride is $15 an individual or $50 for the entire family.

Bring your family. Bring your bikes. You’ll have a great time and help Kids on Bikes bring joy one bike at a time.  Visit www.kidsonbikes.net/2011/03/25/kids-on-bikes-festival/ for additional information and to register for the ride!

Fundraiser ride – Monarch Crest Crank – August 20 and 21st to prevent domestic violence

Copper Triangle Road Ride, August 5&6  – late registration available!  CopperTriangle.com

It’s a great time to get a new mountain bike with features beyond your wildest dreams, providing that you prefer a traditional 26″ wheel full suspension.    Some reasons might be:  steep descents, tricky stair-steps, control in skree, or a short inseam length.   If any of these conditions apply to your ride, we have carbon Epics and a carbon Enduro in large sizes, and a carbon Epic in medium.  The Epics are Expert level bikes from ‘09 and ‘10; the Enduro is S-Works,  Brains abound, and drive trains and forks are top quality.  It is unusual to save $1500 on a mountain bike, but here they are…

Don’t wait for fall to pursue these close-outs!  The 2012 model year begins in August, so instead of New Year’s, our deals arrive in time for Colorado Day the first week of August.

Once again, folks who don’t speak very good French have swept the Tour de France.   Cadel Evans, an Aussie riding a Swiss bike stamped his authority on the individual time trial to win the 21-day event.  Go to bmc-racing.com for event footage, or come in to Criterium to ride a BMC Racing Machine.

Evans gave a clinic on fast mountain descents during the Tour, using skills developed as a two-time Mountain Bike World Champion.  Incidentally, BMC also makes a fantastic series of full suspension mountain bikes, which you can also test ride at Criterium.