"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Experience with road closures during Tour of California

For anyone who has been at one of the stages so far, how do they deal with road closures for peds and bikes? Once the road is closed is it closed to everyone or just cars until the actual race gets closer? Same goes for after all the riders and cars pass, but before the road opens up again... anybody able to get on the route and follow em in to the finish?

Edit: where are other Santa Barbaraians going to go to watch the riders fly by for stages 5 & 6?

I'd try to get on the backside of 154 for the climb, otherwise they go by tooooo fast.

Typically it's what's known as a rolling roadblock. There are cop-cars a couple miles ahead of the peloton that clears the road ahead and pulls people off. Then after the peloton and the support caravan passes by, there are cop-cars following them that brings up the rear of the roadblock.

Depending upon the organizers policies, they may or may not let you hop in. The downhill from the top of 154 damn fun! You can get up to 50mph by yourself, 60mph+ by drafting off cars. :)

For the most part, the road closures are put in place around 20 minutes before the first riders go through. Then they wait for all the support vehicles to pass and then open up a few minutes later. So if there aren't stragglers, you can get through with a vehicle maybe about 10 minutes after the last cyclists pass.

There are some roads that are closed for more extended periods. Sierra Road, for example, was shut down from the morning. But these will be announced.

When the road is closed, no auto traffic is allowed, but people are free to walk the sidewalks/shoulders.

Typically it's what's known as a rolling roadblock. There are cop-cars a couple miles ahead of the peloton that clears the road ahead and pulls people off. Then after the peloton and the support caravan passes by, there are cop-cars following them that brings up the rear of the roadblock.

Depending upon the organizers policies, they may or may not let you hop in. The downhill from the top of 154 damn fun! You can get up to 50mph by yourself, 60mph+ by drafting off cars. :)

Hey Danno, you gonna join me? BTW, called the CHP and they said that they will not allow any bikes onto the road once it is closed (unless you are in the race!). Whether they close it exactly at noon or closer to when the riders get there is in question. They did also say that they will be following as closely as possible and will unblock the roads as they pass though, so I should be able to follow them down. I will go up early enough to get up to the crest and maybe down the other side a little before they close off the road.

Sadly I will be carrying my very heavy and expensive camera with me in a backpack so no daredevil descents down the 154.

Darn, I've got a noon lunch appointment. It would be so incredible to take pictures of the peloton coming down 154! The backdrop scenery of S.B. would make for some epic photos. Hopefully someone will there on the back of a motorcycle taking those shots. I guess you can stake out a spot on a hillside somewhere and snap pictures as they go past. But you'd be limited to one location only. :(