Prologue going as planned; anticipate driving detours

       It's still on.
       No significant changes were announced this week in plans for the Prologue time trial bike race that will feature Westside streets Monday, Aug. 22.
       Featuring 17 international teams with 136 riders - each leaving the starting line a minute or two minutes apart - the event is scheduled to kick off at 1:15 p.m. and last about three hours in all.
       People are free to watch from almost anywhere along the 5.2-mile course that goes from the Garden of the Gods south on Ridge Road, left on Pikes Peak Avenue, right on 30th Street, left on Colorado Avenue and straight on to the finish line downtown at Cascade Avenue.
       Including the three top finishers in this year's Tour de France, the Prologue is the first leg of the first-time, seven-day USA Pro Cycling Challenge bike race that will conclude Aug. 28 in Denver.
       Some late news:
  • For spectators along the race course, it has been affirmed by organizers that there will be no visual aids, such as riders' names or comparative time splits. Only at the downtown finish line, which will have announcers and a giant TV, will such information be shared. However, the racers will be wearing numbers, and those should be knowable before the race. Randy Shafer, technical director for the Prologue, mentioned two websites that might have this info within three days beforehand: Velonews.com and Cyclingnews.com. Such information may also be provided on the Versus network (Channel 56 on Comcast), which is slated to begin airing the event at 1:30 p.m. Aug. 22.
  • Street barricading will close off Colorado Avenue between 31st and Tejon streets at 11:30 a.m. Also to be closed at that time will be Ridge Road and Pikes Peak Avenue between 30th and 35th streets. These closures are expected to stay in place until about 4:30 p.m.
           During this period, no one will be allowed to cross the race course, except for official emergencies or escorted schoolchildren (at 17th Street). Also, no Westside north-south streets east of Ridge Road (other than I-25) will carry through traffic during the race.
  • The Route 3 bus along Colorado Avenue will be rerouted. Leaving the terminal, it will go west along Highway 24, then right on 21st Street, left on Cucharras Street (picking up at each intersection between 21st and 26th), left on 26th, right on Highway 24, right on 31st Street and left on Colorado Avenue. The route will be reversed going east. For more information, call 385-7433.
           Streetsweepers will clean the race course during the “wee hours” of Sunday, Aug. 21, Shafer said (thus getting done before the Good times Car Show in Old Colorado City from 9 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.).
           During the race, access to the neighborhood north of Pikes Peak Avenue between Ridge and 31st will be through the alley between Kiowa Street and Pikes Peak Avenue.
           For cars parked on Colorado Avenue, the no-parking rule along the course route will take effect at 11 a.m. “Towing starts at 11:02 AM and will be done in sectors,” Shafer said. “That is a nice way of saying, 'Don't think that parking until 11:30 at Limit Street works because they will be busy at 31st!' It will be done with several teams. We want people to be aware to avoid any other disturbances.”
           Shafer added that “emergency services will of course be present and available regardless if residents can cross the street or not.”

    Westside Pioneer article