The Fort Collins Cycling Festival wrapped up a weekend of bikes, beer and international competition Sunday afternoon in Old Town Fort Collins.
About 1,100 cyclists from the region, nation and across the world gathered in Fort Collins for the three-day racing series, which ended with the Rist Canyon Road Race on Sunday.
This year was the first for the Fort Collins Cycling Festival, which will return "bigger and better than ever next year," according to race director Charlie Weinbeck.
"We want to see this grow over the next few years so Northern Colorado becomes one of the biking mecca's of the United States," Weinbeck said.Next year, event organizers hope to qualify for a national race calendar, bringing in more international and national competitors. Many cyclists traveled to this year's event from outside Colorado, Weinbeck said, with teams from Russia, Germany, Colombia, Mexico and Canada making appearances.
The racing series is already ranking high for summer races across the nation, with participation at 1,100. By 2013, Weinbeck said he hopes the series will be one of the top five in the country.
With a festival that included a bike expo, food vendors and Avery beer, the event is the perfect show of Fort Collins' biking culture, Weinbeck said.
"We want people to come out next year in droves and line Mountain Avenue so all the racers feel like this is a community that's supportive of cycling and create a party out of it," Weinbeck said. "This is a great party atmosphere."
Local residents gathered to see cycling greats like Jeanne Longo, a 13-time world champion and 59-time French national champion, and local cyclists compete.
Erin Hall, 47, of Fort Collins cheered on her husband, Dwight, throughout the festival. Erin Hall said the Fort Collins Cycling Festival is the first in what she hopes will be many big cycling competitions.
"I just think we were missing some big races in Colorado for a number of years," Hall said. "It's just great to have that back. To see multi-day racing right in town is really good, really fun."
The festival was a great way to show the cycling community some of the traditional rides of the Fort Collins bike culture, Hall added.
"[They] got a lot of people out doing these awesome rides that we have in our back yard," Hall said. "It's just good for the sport, too, trying to keep it alive and well."
Roger Wolfe, 66, of Fort Collins, stopped by the festival with a few close friends and "casual cyclists" during a morning ride through the city. The group stopped by to catch Longo and watched her cross the finish line, sweeping the series.
"We thought we'd look at the fancy bikes and the hardcore bikers and compare our leg muscles," Wolfe joked. "It's like a mini Tour de France," added cycling companion Deborah Bayliss, 60, of Fort Collins.