Originally Posted by
Dellphinus
Retro- where would you recommend to watch, and when?
My top pick by far would be the finish line in St Charles. The finish is expected to be around 4:15 or 4:30 but come early to experience the vendor booths and carnival atmosphere. You can watch the race action on big screen TVs. We rode our tandem into St Charles last year and avoided any parking issues. It was great!
My second pick would be the KOM hot spots on Schlursberg hill which connects Hwy 94 with Hwy F, or maybe on Old Colony Rd which connects Hwy F with Hwy DD. Schlursberg Road attracted a sizeable crowd last year. I can't imagine where they all parked. Old Colony wasn't on last year's route but it's relatively narrow with no good parking places that I can see.
The route goes around St Peters on Hwy B and Hwy C. That area, as you are aware, is tabletop flat so I expect the peloton to catch anybody who broke away on the hills. If you happened to be in place to see the catch, that would be neat but otherwise I'm thinking it would be a long wait to watch a minute or two of action.
I'd resist the temptation to watch fron Schlursberg hill and then try to drive into St Charles to see the finish. Some friends of mine tried that last year but got held up by traffic and missed the finish.