Pikes Peak Region Trail Finder

DENVER – Matt Cooke of the Xergy race team was exhausted. He was supposed to be concentrating on a bike race, but he couldn’t help himself.

He had to admire the beauty that surrounded him.

“This is so gorgeous,” Cooke said to himself in August during of the 2011 USA Pro Cycling Challenge. “This is an incredible advertisement for the state of Colorado.”

The inaugural Challenge was a success, drawing more than 1 million spectators and bringing $83.5 million of revenue into the state, according to the global sports research firm IFM.

Read more about the USA Pro Cycling Challenge and see PHOTOS of last year's race!

The success inspired a scramble for cities and towns to be part of the 2012 race. On Tuesday night, the winners of this scramble gathered to celebrate at a party in downtown Denver.

One of those winners was Colorado Springs mayor Steve Bach. Colorado Springs will be one of the dozen Colorado destinations for the 2012 Challenge. The Prologue of the 2011 Challenge ran from Garden of the Gods to downtown Colorado Springs.

“Last year was just so energizing for so many people,” Bach said. “We really want to build on that. We really hope to be part of this for a long term.”

Forty Colorado cities and towns applied to serve as hosts for the 2012 challenge. That means the leaders of 28 cities and towns are now unhappy.

“Everybody wanted it,” Bach said, “and we’re just very happy to have it coming back to Colorado Springs.”

Colorado Springs will host the finish of the fifth stage of the 2012 Challenge. The stage will begin in Breckenridge, but the exact course has yet to be determined.

Cooke has mixed feelings about the 2012 race. The rigors of the Challenge are immense. In last year’s race, riders had to conquer a dirt road to the top of 12,126-foot Cottonwood Pass. After taking a quick, massive drop, cyclists had to climb 12,095-foot Independence Pass.

“It was hell for us,” Cooke said. “It was very, very hard.”

But he looks forward to again tackling the challenge. He still laughs when he remembers his climb to the top of Independence Pass. He was struggling with weariness and the weather was horrendous. Hail was dropping, and it miserably cold.

Thousands of fans awaited him at the top of the pass. He was amazed,  and so were television spectators all over the world.

“For people who haven’t been here to Colorado,” Cooke said, “this is an incredible advertisement.”