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Approval for the City of Roswell to host the Atlanta-Roswell Giro d'Italia Gran Fondo Bicycling Ride and Festival in October 2014.
Presented by Steve Acenbrak, Director of Transportation
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Item Summary:
The Giro d'Italia Gran Fondo is a large, international organization planning a major bicycling ride and festival on the east coast of the United States as a new edition to their on-going program for 2014. They approached the Southern Bicycle League (SBL), an established regional bicycle advocacy organization, for recommendations on the best place in the Atlanta area to hold the event. SBL suggested Roswell for the Atlanta area.
The SBL has worked closely with Bike Roswell! Board members to gather data and work the event concepts. The concept is a high-end event that simulates a stage (one day race) at one of the Grand Tours in Europe, including a Saturday gala dinner for approximately 150 attendees. This "Gran Fondo" concept is more complicated than a typical century ride. There is at least one timed section, generally a hill climb, where the riders compete for prizes to have the fastest time.
The proposed Atlanta-Roswell format includes a two day event with a Saturday expo and a Sunday “Gran Fondo” (100 mile) bike ride, with several shorter ride options. All ride options will begin and end in Roswell. The organizers anticipate between 1,000 - 1,500 riders and have requested to hold the expo and bicycle event start/finish at Roswell City Hall complex. The tentative dates are Saturday, October 18 and Sunday, October 19, 2014. There is a scheduled event/activity at the Cultural Arts Center on both of the requested dates that would need to be taken into consideration when planning logistics.
At this point, there are still many details that have yet to be coordinated. City staff and Bike Roswell! are working out a route that will traverse through multiple jurisdictions and the associated logistics. The organizers are anxious to announce an A...
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