Range Rider sighting expected June 24

       The 61st annual Pikes Peak Range Ride, signaling the upcoming Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo, will complete its first leg through the Westside Wednesday morning, June 24.
       In what's becoming a tradition within the tradition, about 160 riders will saddle up from the annual downtown Street Breakfast after 8 a.m. and ride west on Colorado Avenue, take a left at Limit Street, go across Highway 24, continue south on Eighth Street, turn right at Rio Grande Street and then gather at the Norris-Penrose Event Center. After that, the participants this year will truck their horses and gear to the Walsenburg area for the main ride (lasting five days in all), according to spokesperson Katherine Toman.
       It will be the fourth year in a row the Range Riders have taken that route from the Street Breakfast to Norris-Penrose. A police escort will create a rolling barricade for the horses, including a crossing of Highway 24 at Eighth Street.
       “It's pretty impressive to see them coming down the street together,” Toman said. “It promotes our Western heritage and keeps it alive.”
       The 69th annual Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo - a sanctioned event on the ProRodeo tour -will be July 8-11 at Norris-Penrose. On July 4, also at Norris-Penrose, will be the seventh annual Working Ranch Cowboy Association (WRCA) rodeo known as Ride for the Brand.
       Proceeds from both events will go to charities.

Westside Pioneer/press releases