Riding a mountain bike 50 miles isnt much for 69-year-old Bruce Maness. The owner and operator of South Forty Golf Course has done it countless times.
Bruce Maness and his sons Mark, 30, and Chris, 40, will bike around 50 miles a day for three days in the 21st annual Childrens Hospital Courage Classic that runs from Saturday through Monday, July 23-25, at elevations exceeding 11,000 feet above sea level.
Its only 50 miles a day, Bruce said, nonchalantly. At this point in my life it might be a long time, but 50 miles is just a good start before.
The 157-mile bike ride is a fundraiser for the Childrens Hospital in Denver, and roughly 2,000 participants are expected to ride the course that begins and ends in the continents highest elevated incorporated city, Leadville (10,430 feet).
Bruce, Mark and Chris rode in the 2005 Courage Classic along with Steve Maness, Bruces other son. Del Friscos Double Eagle Steak House in Greenwood Village, where Chris Maness is a manager, sponsors the Courage Classic. The Maness will represent the Del Friscos team, as they did in 2005, along with Jeff and Rebecca Nickel, who are two acquaintances of Chris Maness.
The route starts in Leadville and runs 58 miles to Copper Mountain on the first day. The second day is a 54-mile bike ride through Frisco and Breckenridge, and back to Copper Mountain. The final day is 45 miles back to Leadville over Fremont Pass (elevation 11,318 feet) with a total elevation gain of 3,985 feet.
Bruce Maness was born and raised on the family farm south of Cortez, where the South Forty Golf Course is built. He started riding a 10-speed Schwinn in 1962 and has been mountain and long distance bike riding ever since. He and his wife, Nancy Maness, biked as a family with their sons when they were children. The opportunity for Bruce to ride with his two sons, while raising money for a great cause, definitely brings back some fond memories.
Wed take the kids up to the visitors center on Mesa Verde (National Park) and theyd coast down the hill towards the museum, Bruce Maness rekindled. Theyd take the bicycles and do the loops, where you see the different structures (ruins). Its all uphill from the museum clear to the visitors center.
To help raise money for the Courage Classic, the South Forty Golf Course will give away a six-month golf pass (July through December). For each $1 a patron donates to the Childrens Hospital in Denver, a raffle ticket will be deposited into a drawing. The drawing will be announced on Thursday and the winner will be notified that day.
For more information about the Courage Classic, log on to www.couragetours.com.
Reach Bobby Abplanalp at bobbya@cortezjournal.com.
