(Updated 1/23/26) New for 2026 is the SLC-DEN 1000k, starting Thursday, June 11 in Salt Lake City.
| status | Registration open: On Feb 1 there will be a lottery to select riders, with others placed on a waiting list. Please make payment by Feb 15 to reserve your spot. |
| dates | June 11-13, 2026 (Thurs – Sat), 5:00AM start, time limit 75 hours (Sunday 7:30 AM) |
| route | DRAFT route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/53546504 |
| rider limit | 30 |
| entry fee | $275 — Includes drop bag service, on-course SAG, shared hotel room at the overnights in Vernal and Walden, and catered food at the overnight hotels. Lodging at the start and finish are not included. No jersey or medal is offered. Bike box hauling is available for an additional $50 fee |
| RUSA membership | Membership in Randonneurs USA is required. Please join/renew RUSA before registration. No membership to Salt Lake Randonneurs is required. |
| qualification | 200km, 300km, 400km, and 600km brevets or 1000km+ since Jan 1, 2025. Qualification deadline is May 24 |
| sanctioning | ACP sanctioned, will allow for 2027 PBP registration in the first group |
| registration | An application + payment reserves you a place on the rider list, pending your qualification. |
| waiver | An electronic waiver will be required from all riders |
| climbing | 38,300′ (62′ per mile). This is a difficult climbing route and may not be suitable for all riders |
| elevation range | Low 4210′ in SLC, high 11,307′ Berthoud Pass |
| daylight | SLC twilight 5:22AM, 9:32 PM Denver twilight 4:58AM, 9:01PM |
| average hi/lo | Expect warm, sunny days and chilly nights. Mountain Passes can be very cold at night Salt Lake: 82/56 Vernal: 80/48 Walden: 66/41 Denver: 82/52 |
| start location | Comfort Inn & Suites Woods Cross, 2437 Wildcat Way, Woods Cross, UT Please make your own reservation at the start, there are several hotels in the area |
| finish location | Quality Inn Louisville, 1196 Dillon Rd, Louisville, CO Please make your own reservation at the finish, there are several hotels in the area |
Registration
Sending an application gains you a lottery spot, and then if chosen please pay by Feb 15. Waitlisted riders will be notified when a spot opens up for them.
Payment – You may pay online using PayPal (using your credit card or PayPal account), or contact us to pay by check.
Qualification – You may apply before qualifying. If you have not qualified by the qualification deadline and haven’t made special arrangements with us, your spot will be freed. The qualification deadline of May 24 allows for riders to complete either the Salt Lake or the Colorado 600k in May. Riders from other regions will need to asses their local schedules to qualify in time.
Rider Cancellation – You may cancel by notifying us and receive a full refund if you are on the Waiting List, or a partial refund if you are on the Confirmed list. Policy for confirmed riders:
| Before May 1 | full refund minus $25 |
| May 1- June 1 | full refund minus $50 |
| June 1 and after | full refund minus $75 if your spot is filled (from waitlist); otherwise, no refund. |
Event Cancellation – If we have to cancel the event, riders will get a full refund minus a pro rata share of expenses we can’t recover – for example, lodging we can’t cancel, supplies we can’t return, etc. Some reasons we might be forced to cancel include wildfires or flooding, or road construction or road outages that create a safety issue, or make the route impassable and that we can’t reroute around, or other safety issues posed to riders or volunteers.
Qualifying
Qualifying Events – Riders must complete, between Jan 1, 2025 and May 24, 2026, a Super-Randonneur series (200km, 300km, 400km, 600km brevets), or a 1000km or longer randonnée. Brevets do not need to be ridden in order of increasing distance. ACP or RUSA-sanctioned brevets can be used.
Substitutions – A longer-distance brevet can be substituted for a given distance requirement – for example, an ACP 300km brevet or a RUSA 250km brevet for the 200km requirement. A RUSA Permanent can be substituted for the 200km, 300km, or 400km requirement, with approval of the organizer (based on individual circumstances, such as whether a local qualifying series is available). You may apply to the organizer for other substitution.
Arriving in SLC
From Amtrak, the start hotel is 8 mile bike ride: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/53801328
The start hotel is 2 miles from the Woods Cross Frontrunner station, or 13 miles from the airport by car.
Leaving DEN
The AB1 bus has a direct route to the airport from near the finish hotel, with hourly departures.
The FF1 bus has a direct route to Union Station downtown for Amtrak departures.
Amtrak
The scheduled DEN->SLC Amtrak California Zephyr route departs daily from Denver at 8:46 AM and arrives in Salt Lake City at 11:15 PM, but is almost always late. There is a $20 surcharge for bicycles, and a bicycle reservation is required. There are 6 slots for bicycles, so make reservations early. Amtrak arrives too late to connect to the Frontrunner train in Salt Lake City, so taxi service would need to be arranged.
Historical Amtrak schedule data: https://tinyurl.com/2eaxbsyt
Amtrak tracker: https://asm.transitdocs.com
Ride Description
Thanks to Steve W, who rides this route on his bike commute, for this ride preview:
Welcome all as we begin our journey across the Rocky Mountains from Salt Lake City, UT to Denver, CO.
We’ll be traveling through many quaint villages on this ride such as: Neola and Vernal, UT; Steamboat Springs, Winter Park, and Walden, CO… but even the journey of 1000 kilometers begins with getting out of your motel parking lot. Here’s a brief tour of the first 20 or so miles you’ll encounter.
We’ll depart from Woods Cross, a little suburb just to the north of SLC, founded by Daniel Wood (3rd great grandfather of our current RBA) early after the Mormon settlers first arrived in 1847. It’s still very close to the airport and train station, has slightly cheaper motels, allows us to appreciate SLC for a moment, instead of just leaving it (seeing the forest of the trees, and all), and it’s also convenient for the organizers 🙂
We’ll get a nice perspective of SLC nestled up against the ‘front’ of the Wasatch Range as we approach from the northwest riding on the Legacy and Jordan River Parkways that course along the Jordan River as it flows north into the ‘Dead Sea’ (aka the Great Salt Lake).
We’ll cross the Jordan River and finally enter SLC proper via the Rose Park neighborhood. See if you notice a street named after your favorite rose varietal, and keep a sharp eye out for the famous Rose Park urban Turkey flock.
We can imagine the sun fully shining down on the capitol building in Denver as it’s just starting to rise over the capitol building in SLC.
We’ll roll right by the famous Mormon Tabernacle (home of the choir) and Temple before we warm up with a gentle climb up Memory Grove and City Creek Canyon. Have your fingers crossed that it’s not raining like it was in 1983, turning State Street into a river!
The route by Temple Square has us on busy North Temple for three blocks before we cross State Street to head into City Creek Canyon. North Temple has painted bike sharrows, so please take the lane. After a quick left turn you’ll be in City Creek Park and ready to begin the climb. At the entrance to Memory Grove, there is a gate that requires walking around on the sidewalk. Heading up canyon, please be respectful of pedestrians and dogwalkers on the path. There is a pullout with a great photo spot over the Utah State Capitol at mile 13.9, and enjoy more views of the Salt Lake Valley over the Salt Lake Cemetery (don’t worry… you’re not dead yet) as we wind along the benches on 11th Avenue towards campus.
We will navigate our way through the University of Utah Hospital and Medical School, until finally we pass through the historic Fort Douglas, established in 1862 to protect mail and telegraph routes, and arguably keep an eye on the Mormon settlers. We’ll leave the Salt Lake Valley and begin our journey east in earnest, up Emigration Canyon, at the ‘place’ where Brigham Young entered the valley so many years ago. Navigation also becomes much simpler, as we pass thru only one town with traffic lights over the next 205 miles.
more ride details to come