AVON, Colo. (BRAIN) — A brevet event planned for this weekend is a low-key "investment" event that will lay the foundation for more ambitious events in the future, the organizer said.
The Brevet Beaver Creek runs Friday through Sunday. It's organized by Michael McCormack, who also produces the Breck Epic mountain bike stage race and owns Uncommon Communications, which has several bike industry clients. The event, billed as "a bespoke cycling experience," is free but requires registration. It features a variety of challenging untimed road routes on pavement and gravel.
SRAM is a major sponsor of the event and is offering free demos of SRAM-equipped road bikes to participants, as well as running clinics on gravel riding and other topics.
Brevets traditionally are long-distance events that require some route-finding abilities, where participants carry a control card that is punched at spots along the course to show they completed the entire route. At the Beaver Creek event, participants can ride with a Quarq Qollector GPS unit that will confirm they completed their routes and also track performance.
McCormack said this year's event is intended to help refine routes, build a mailing list of interested consumers, and create event awareness. In coming years, McCormack envisions an event more like the Breck Epic, with a cloverleaf of routes all starting and ending in one place.
"Our primary routes have been selected and mapped by local pros, ex-pros and masters (Jake Wells, Jeff Kerkove, Mike Brumbaugh and Peter Davis)," McCormack told BRAIN in an email Wednesday. "They're providing a framework for attendees to follow. Then after we compile GPS data during and after the event we'll refine routes further for our 2018 event. THAT event will be a bit like the Breck Epic in that it'll be a multi-stage affair. Unlike the Epic, it'll focus on road and gravel, will be relatively non-competitive (there's always a fast group, right?) and will offer multiple distances per day."
McCormack is expecting 250 riders each day this weekend. "Hopefully they all complete at least one route and leave with a T-shirt (and leave us with their email address!)," McCormack said.
More information: brevetbc.com.
