Tour de Steamboat boosts pair of Steamboat Springs nonprofits
REPS, Partners for Youth each receive $20K
Nick Slater/Steamboat Pilot & Today
Tour de Steamboat presented $40,000 to two Steamboat Springs nonprofits on Oct. 7 at Olympian Hall.
Reaching Everyone Preventing Suicide and Partners for Youth were the two nonprofits chosen this year. Each received $20,000.
“This is exactly why the Tour de Steamboat exists,” said President of the Tour de Steamboat Board of Directors Chad Harkins. “Our new Board and team put an incredible amount of work into bringing the Tour back this year, and being able to turn that effort into $40,000 for two organizations doing important work in our community is something we’re extremely proud of.”
The tour returned this year after a one-year hiatus. It attracted 685 riders, who chose between five different courses: a 112-mile gravel route, 50-mile gravel route, 66-mile road course, 46-mile road course or 25-mile family fun ride.
The youngest rider — just 8 years old — rode the 25-mile route.
The tour took a year off in 2025, because founder Katie Lindquist decided to step away. This year, she completed the 112-mile gravel route as a participant.
Her husband Kent Eriksen founded the tour in the 1970s and it was resurrected by Lindquist in 2005.
Since 2005, the event has brought generations of cyclists together while giving nearly $2 million to Steamboat nonprofits.
“Every rider who registered, every volunteer who gave their time, every sponsor who supported us and every local business that donated to our silent auction played a part in these checks,” said Tour de Steamboat Co-Director Garett Mariano. “It’s because of new partners who believed in where we’re taking the Tour, along with those who have supported it for years, that we’re able to give back in such a significant way. These donations really belong to the entire Tour de Steamboat community.”
Eriksen led the opening procession of cycles on a tandem bike, with GU Energy Labs owner Brian Vaughan, across the Mount Werner Road bridge over the Yampa River.
Partners for Youth supports Yampa Valley kids and teens through mentorship, adult engagement and empowerment.
REPS aims to prevent suicide through crisis support, education, training, prevention and postvention support.
More than 60 local volunteers greeted and tended to the cyclists at the start- and finish-lines and aid stations.
The Tour de Steamboat is scheduled to return for its 22nd iteration on Aug. 21, 2027.
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