Saturday’s El Tour brings nearly 10,000 cyclists to Tucson

El Tour de Tucson’s 102-mile ride starts at 7 on Saturday, November 23 at the Tucson Convention Center. The start and finish line is located at 190 W. Cushing St., near the DoubleTree Hotel at Cushing and Church Avenue.

The 62-mile ride starts at 9 a.m., followed by the 32-mile ride at 10:00 a.m. If long-distance rides aren’t your thing, check out the 1- or 3-mile family fun ride that begins at 8:15.

The longer routes on the tour include a good mix of urban and desert landscapes and pass through several communities, including Corona de Tucson, Green Valley, Sahuarita and Vail.

The routes officially close at 16.30, but until then various road closures and traffic delays are expected. Visit eltourdetucson.org for a complete list of expected road closures.

“It’s probably going to be the biggest El Tour we’ve ever hosted,” said TJ Juskiewicz, the executive director of El Tour de Tucson. “Last year we thought it would be our plateau with the 40th anniversary, but we’re actually up about 10% on ridership for this year and people who attended last year had a great time and told friends to come out and have a good time (this year).”

About 40% of the riders in this year’s event are from abroad, according to Juskiewicz. One of this year’s out-of-state riders is Chloe Dygerta three-time Olympian who recently won gold and bronze medals at the Paris Olympics.

With so many riders from around the world visiting Tucson for the annual event, the city experiences a positive economic impact.

“Any time you have thousands of people from out of town, especially during a non-peak period for visitors in this city….where hotels are sold out all over downtown is almost unheard of,” Juskiewicz said. “So that part of it is good. The other part is that we have 85 nonprofits, and for some of them, it’s the biggest fundraiser they’ll do all year. So it’s very important to the 85 nonprofits. They use El Tour de Tucson as a platform for fundraising, and so that part of it is one of the things that really sets El Tour apart from other cycling events.”

El Tour de Tucson helped nonprofits raise nearly $6 million last year. Since its inception in 1983, they have helped raise approximately $121 million.

But the annual bike race in Tucson isn’t just for nonprofits. It is an event that brings together family, friends and strangers as a community for several hours. The community aspect is something Juskiewicz looks forward to every year.

“The funny thing about it is that El Tour means so much or so many different things to different people,” Juskiewicz said. “Some people use it as a reunion. Some people use it as a feat. Some people use it as a memorial. Some people say, ‘I just want to make the most of my time from last year.’ Just hearing all these great stories about ‘I’m riding for my grandfather who did 30 El Tours and he died this year so all the grandkids are riding this year.’ Or: ‘I’m recovering from a bout with cancer and this will be my first century (run) in three years.’

“There are just so many good stories like that,” he added. “But then there’s just, ‘Hey, you know what? We’ve come every year during Thanksgiving, we ride with the family. It’s one of our Thanksgiving traditions.’ It’s a great opportunity to reconnect with family. And to see all those things develop with this little bike ride that happened 41 years ago is just a really cool thing to see happen.”

Last year, the event was named “Best Road Cycling Event” in USA Today’s 10Best Readers’ Choice poll.

After this year’s El Tour de Tucson, Juskiewicz predicts that Tucson will see an increase in cyclists in the next few years due to athletes training for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, many of whom will use El Tour de Tucson as a training resource .

“It’s already considered the biggest bike race in America because any time you line people up, shoot a gun, time people and put a winner on a podium, that’s a race,” he said. “And then we’re just so much bigger than the next race of any style like the El Tour. So we want to continue that. I think we’ll be known as one of the best events in the world.”