Northern California - Tour of California - Plans (Continued)

Down town San Jose. I have the day off. I hear it can get quite cold and windy up on the hill with the lack of trees.

Down town San Jose. I have the day off. I hear it can get quite cold and windy up on the hill with the lack of trees.

yea, that's why I went to Sports Basement, to get fleece, and full shoe covers for my poor feet.

So when and where do we meet?

Day Time perhaps

Marco, what time were you planning on ditching work to ride over?

downtown

I still don't know what's going on for time..

I still don't know what's going on for time..

Estimates are they will reach the top of Sierra by around 130-200 pm. But that's only an estimate. Everyone is going to be out there. I'm bringing my cowbell!

http://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com/docroot/media/2008/stage3-log.pdf

I was thinking of getting to the base of Sierra by noon at least.

I didn't run in to anyone yesterday, but I did get a decent pic.

http://www.turbocheese.net/hosted1/amgen1.jpg

And a vid of lap 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jh_pPE5VpZ8

Very nice pic.

It looks like the riders are going at "ludicrous speed" there.

I can almost make out Levi in the middle. ;)

Forecast calls for partly cloudy after 12pm. I put the qr fenders on the carbon bike in case the roads are still very wet. What's the official route, or are we meeting on Sierra?

Accuweather is predicting 9 am rain, then cloudy, mostly cloudy, and partly sunny by around 1 pm. If the pelaton reaches Sierra by 1:30 pm, then it should be pretty nice by the time they get there.

As far as Mt. Hamilton is concerned??? Currently 32.5, windchill 26.1.
http://mtham.ucolick.org/techdocs/MH_weather/pub/

And here is what it's like now on Mt. Hamilton:
http://mthamilton.ucolick.org/hamcam/Cam1.ts.JPG

Forecast calls for partly cloudy after 12pm. I put the qr fenders on the carbon bike in case the roads are still very wet. What's the official route, or are we meeting on Sierra?

Since we're close by, we can ride over together. It seems like most clubs are planning on starting the climb at the base at 12 pm.

Since we're close by, we can ride over together. It seems like most clubs are planning on starting the climb at the base at 12 pm.

I'm sooooo! jealous. Have fun!:)

I was in my vanpool at 7am this morning idling along northbound 99 due to an accident. On the southbound side the Tour teams were heading to Modesto for today's stage. It was just as much of a rush as seeing the riders yesterday...
BMC
Jelly Belly
Bissel
Astana
Quik-Step
CSC
etc.
That's the only traffic jam I've ever enjoyed.

I'll be watching as much as I can online today. Wooooo!

How about if we meet at the corner of Piedmont and Sierra at 12 noon (along with everyone else).

Here's a quick bikely I plotted from my apartment.
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Ride-to-TofC-Stage-3

I didn't run in to anyone yesterday, but I did get a decent pic.


I looked for you Matt. I take it you didn't ride your bike there..?

My friend Lynn says it's hot in Modesto ... and the sun just came out here ... just in time.

Does anyone know what time Sierra Road will close to bikes on Wednesday or where to find that information?

Thanks!
CM

Quoting one of the course workers:
"Not closed to bikes until race arrives"

ETA for Sierra KOM arrival is 1:25 - 2:02

I looked for you Matt. I take it you didn't ride your bike there..?

nah, I failed at that. My wife and I both ate something we apparently shouldn't have on Monday night and both felt terrible yesterday. I knew I couldn't hold the speed on my bike that I needed in order to get home following the tour. I had to bail immediately after the finish to get home, shower/change and get to Sac state for my 6pm class :\.

Where did you end up for the finish? We were at the 75m point. I had a group of guys behind me on bikes, some tall guy in a suit and a small family from out of town right with us :)

I'd love to meet up with some people this summer - any group road/mountain rides that go on? :)

I didn't run in to anyone yesterday, but I did get a decent pic.

Wow, I had no idea how fast they really were! :D

Wow, I had no idea how fast they really were! :D

:D One of them hit 88 miles per hour and found himself in 1985!

Wow, I had no idea how fast they really were! :D

They are so fast, they draft themselves.

watching it live now, will start walking over in a few mins. it's good to live 3 blocks from the finish line.

Great ride today, 39 miles. Met up with Ron and we rode over to Sierra. I should have removed the jacket and gloves as I was burning up during the later sections of the climb. We rode back down a bit to get a great vantage point of the riders climbing the last steep section. I need milk and cookies.

:D One of them hit 88 miles per hour and found himself in 1985!

LOL ... at least it wasn't 1955.

Need to cool down, then upload some cool pics from today's stage.

'twiddling thumbs WAITING for spinengineer to cool off' ... ;)

hmmm ... Channel 2 just had a nice feature on today's stage. They spent a good 5 minutes on today's stage. But I wouldn't hold your breath to expect any mention of this on ESPN.

Me me me!
And sat amazed as I watched my laptop. What a wild world we live in where such things are possible.

+100. I saw the descent from Mt Hamilton to the finish today - surprisingly good feed through comcast. Too bad I was only able to do this since I was working from home today - man it'd be good to nail my door shut and do this for the rest of the race. Also bummed out looking at the weather forecast now I'm all motivated to go ride some hills.

that is good you went and saw it with your own eyes. I was figuring on tommorow, to ride salinas to big sur in and see if I can catch the first kom along that route. according to google maps 53.2 mi and I have not rode that much for a time so will see how it goes.

The weather cooperated nicely yesterday for the climb up Mt Hamilton. I didn't get even one drop of rain on me. I drove to my starting place a block from Mt Hamilton Rd with both my rain bike (TREK with fenders) and my Orbea but opted for the Orbea cause the roads were dry. I carried a wind jacket and extra winter base layer for the wait on top. Small but anxious crowd on top:

Me
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh48/jwill911/Me_TOC_Stage3_atthetop.jpg
Some of the crowd
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh48/jwill911/crowd-2.jpg
I was taking video when the lead group came by but got a few pictures
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh48/jwill911/CHP_bikes.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh48/jwill911/MavicCar.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh48/jwill911/Peloton.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh48/jwill911/Peloton-2.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh48/jwill911/Peloton-3.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh48/jwill911/Peloton-4.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh48/jwill911/Peloton-5.jpg

jw

Great shots. Glad you didn't get rained on.

yeah that \looked like fun anyone there in slo how was the weather at the finish. Or for that matter anyone at the first cat 4 hill when the pack passed