Dear Aspen Cycling Club:

It’s with great excitement that I’d like to announce the 2019 ACC racing season! 

First off, you might notice a big change at the top of this email. We are fortunate to count The North Face as our returning title sponsor, and, as part of their sponsorship, they have donated their time and expertise to providing us with a branding update. We are incredibly excited about our new logo, which evokes Aspen’s design legacy through its clean, geometric lines and Swiss typeface, as well as our new brand colors, based on refreshingly light high-alpine colors, saturated by spring runoff—think teals, blues, and cool grays mixing at high elevation. Stay tuned over the coming days to see our new ACC kit design, which also pays homage to our unique mountain locale. 

In addition to the new logo, you’ll also see some changes on the race calendar. In search of warm, dry roads and trails in the early season, we’ve moved our season-opener time trail to Lower River Road and we’re presenting a new mountain bike race at Prince Creek. We’ve moved Emma Roubaix from September to May in the spirit of the mixed-surface spring classics, and we’ve also combined the Rim Trail and Seven Star races into a single Rim Trail–Seven Star course. You’ll also see the return of skills clinics with Aspen Pro Cycling’s Dean Hill, and, of course, the classic ACC races we all know and love: Frying Pan Road Race, Smuggler–Hunter Creek, and the Maroon Bells Time Trial are all back this year. 

This season, if you register for a full ACC membership at this link by 7pm at our April 17 kick-off party, you’ll automatically be entered to win raffle prizes from the Viceroy Snowmass and Trek/The Hub of Aspen (see details in event invite, above; must be in attendance to receive prizes). Becoming an ACC member not only enables you to roll up to every Wednesday-evening race without the hassle of paying a cash entry fee, but also goes toward supporting the behind-the-scenes effort that goes into running our race series. From paying our excellent race staff to permitting iconic races at the Maroon Bells and Hunter Creek, you can know that your membership fees are going toward making our grassroots race series second-to-none. Full members will also receive a 25% discount code for use on 2019 ACC kit orders at our custom CUORE shop from April 11–21. (Stay tuned in the coming days for access to the custom shop!) 

We count on club members, racers, friends, and family members to volunteer their time as course marshals at each of our races. When your legs are begging for a rest week, please consider still coming out and marshaling—or, if you’re aiming to compete in every race this season, encourage your friends and family to marshal for you as a proxy. Because no race can be run without marshals, we require every ACC member to marshal at least once in order to receive end-of-season points. 

I am proud of the 32-year legacy of the ACC and excited to tackle my first season as President of the ACC’s Board of Directors. Outgoing President Tyler Newton and the 2018 board have left the club in an incredibly strong position, and I can’t wait to keep improving in the coming years.

See you this summer!

Andy Ralston
President, Aspen Cycling Club Board of Directors