A Land of Copper and Promise

Landscapes bear the scars of the mining industry in many forms. From the indelible marks of mines themselves to the new roads and towns that spring up around them, these pits, quarries, and communities tell a mixed tale of ambition and consumption. But in the southwestern corner of the U.S., not far from the Mexico border, a faint impression of an altogether different activity stands apart from the memory of the region’s copper mining boom.

For a brief moment, the small city of Bisbee shed its industrial past to play host to one of America’s great – and near forgotten – road races, attracting big name cyclists and their teams from across the country to compete in its three-day, three-stage race: La Vuelta de Bisbee.

In the late 1800s, rich copper deposits were discovered in the area, most notably at the Copper Queen Mine in the nearby Mule Mountains. A rush ensued, attracting thousands of miners and their families on the promise of finding fortune. The new town population quickly soared to more than 9,000, and in 1902, Bisbee was incorporated as a city. More mines and more suburbs soon followed, including Warren, Lowell, and San Jose.

But boom is most often accompanied by bust, and for Bisbee, population decline and a slowing mineral demand in the 1950s set a course for demise. Yet the town’s story was far from over. The wider climate of economic volatility in the U.S. caused many to look beyond the big cities for cheaper living, and thanks to the inviting climate and movie-worthy scenery, Bisbee became a haven for another wave of migration: artists and hippies from the 1960s counter-culture movement.

Much like the disciples of counter-culture in the late 60s, the nascent sport of bike racing and its followers occupied a space far outside the mainstream. A pastime still in its infancy, it too attracted a like-minded set of outliers to settle in the region. The University of Arizona helped – serving as an incubator for a new scene of racing and training made up of cycling students from across the nation.

The first recorded race in the area came in 1968, when a handful of cyclists from Phoenix and Tucson tackled the climb of Mt. Lemmon – the highest point of the Santa Catalina Mountains. Unaccustomed to packs of cyclists on the roads, local law enforcement quickly stopped the event, asking riders to stick to single file up the climb. Racing promptly resumed not long after the officers left.

Events gradually grew in number and attendance, and a healthy scene developed that would attract the attention of riders from much further afield. In 1975, the mines around Bisbee shut their doors, and what remained of the hippie movement found a connection to the racers that descended on their small town. So much so that local families invited pros and their teams to stay at their homes, often for several years running.

Then, in April 1976, the former copper mining town struck cultural gold with the creation of La Vuelta de Bisbee. Starting out as a 100-mile, point-to-point road race from Tucson to Bisbee, the event blossomed into one of the nation’s biggest stage races. A 16-year-old Greg LeMond won its second edition, beating the very best that American cycling had to offer – including Olympic hopefuls Bob Cook and Kent Bostick. As word about La Vuelta spread, riders from throughout the country made the spring pilgrimage to the town, and the race began to expand. It would go on to run almost continuously until 2010 under the stewardship of various race directors.

Today, the beating heart of the region’s racing lives on in the Tucson Bicycle Classic, which maintains the connection between race and place through its popular rider hosting program. In parallel with its mining past, cycling’s gold-rush era here has waned – with the eyes of the professional peloton (for now) focused on stage races elsewhere.

But as the U.S. prepares to host the 2028 Summer Olympics, world-class bike racing and all that comes with it looks set to return – at least to the West Coast. Could the stage be set for the third great migration to the land of copper and promise?

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