RATE THE Tour de Palm Springs

[caligurl]

Tour de Palm Springs (http://www.tourdepalmsprings.com/)
Palm Springs
February

rate using this format, please!
1 = Dismal, will never ride again and wouldn't recommend it!
2 = Not so great, but others seemed to enjoy the ride
3 = So-so, with minor improvements I'd do it again
4 = Darn good ride, I'd do it again and recommend it
5 = Outstanding on every level that matters to me! I'd suggest you do it next year for sure!

Please include the following:

Name of Ride:
Location:
When:
Type: (century, double, double-metric, metric)
Number of Riders: (Approximate)
Organizer: (name of bike club/organization)
Rating: (please use the 1-5 scale)
Comments on SAG support and Rest Stops: (what food was provided, SAG support presence etc.)
Comments on the route: (constructive thoughts, ideas, favorite aspects, etc.)



Name of Ride: Tour de Palm Springs

Location: Palm Springs, CA

When: February

Type: Century & Charity Ride

Route: Paid Organized, $50

Organizer: Varies

Rating: 2

Number of Riders: 2K+?

Comments on SAG support and Rest Stops: SAG stops and volunteers were fine as I recall.

Comments on the route: Don't really care for it. I didn't find it all that pretty to ride there and I thought the roads sucked. But I've been told improvements have been made. There is very little climbing except for some rollers. Nothing to write home about. However, I may ride it this year as many BFers are planning to do it. That will improve the ride for me, I'm sure. :)

Oh, and one last thing, is is also a charity ride benefiting many different non-profit organizations in the area. So, that would motivate me to do it again as well.

copied

[caligurl]

Type: century
Number of Riders: 5,000+
Organizer: tour de palm springs committee/esser air conditioning/road runner cable (charity ride)
Rating: 3
Comments on SAG support and Rest Stops: huge assortment of foods. fruit, trail mix, cookies, i'll update after the ride this year... cuz i can't remember everything! lunch was sandwiches. each rest stop had a local band... lunch was especially noisy because of this! the rest stop in the park last year (2006) had their orange slices on ice! nice touch since it warmed up so much during the day!
Comments on the route: the first half on dillon is nice... although 2006 was the year of the stickers/flat tires! the 2nd half unfortunately brings you back through all the towns... so you have a LOT of stop signs, lights and left hand turns! the first part of the ride the CHP's stop the traffic and direct you through several of the lights/stop signs.

[Jaguar27]

Yeah, I saw countless numbers of riders running the wrong tires and getting flats, I even gave two Tubes away to luckless riders who had flatted more than once and had run out of them....
The worst part for me was through thermal *note to self* "Take heed of place names when choosing a ride route, this also includes Death, Hell...windy etc etc included in their name" And also beware of riding anywhere near Windmills....it means it's gonna be WINDY!!
But I really had a good time...

Some poor bloke riding in front of me was cut off by a Girl, he went down hard, the last thing I remembered was his water bottles coming bouncing toward me...and the Girl saying "OOPS...sorry"!!

I like the night before when you can walk around and meet some Vendors etc, the Cannondale Vendor, whom we already knew, gave my wife a six13 to ride the Century on.....it was the right size, a 47, but they forgot to put her saddle on so she was miserable by the end of the ride....

[powerglide]

Tour de Palm Springs (http://www.tourdepalmsprings.com/)
Palm Springs
February 07

Rating 3.5
(first organized ride for me so please take it with a grain of salt)

Did the Century 101.9 miles.
The weather was great, no winds.
Well organized and found it easy to attend.
Food at SAGs ainly gatorade/bananas/some very bad and some ok sandwiches/strange bars that taste like crap/trail mix/M&Ms
10000 rides approximately
Route gets tricky and thank goodness I was riding with folks who had done it before or I might have been lost or end up spending alot of time navigating.
Not very hilly, but lots of long shallow climbs.

I really enjoyed it.
PS I rode with friends.