Northern California - Which Sacto person is hosting TofCA ride?

Hey Sacto folks. The Tour starts in your fine city. What are you going to do about it?

I know if it started in Antioch (and I'm sure it will some day.:lol:) I'd plan a sort easy ride about early enough that we could all be at the start when the show started.

No pressure.

Don't look at me. I'd have to look up when it even is. :P

http://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com/

Valentines day, Sat. Feb 14.

Hmmm, I could maybe do that. Let me ponder...

Wow, it's actually on the weekend for once. Last few years, it's been mid-day, mid-week. I might actually be able to tag along for this.

Curtis! Thanks for the much-needed kick in the ass. I'lll commandeer this bad-boy.
The prologue starts at 1:30 which leaves a lot of time pre-prologue to get a ride on.
I would like suggestions/requests from out-of-towners as to what kind of ride y'all wanna do?

There's a really nice river cruise we could take. It would easily become a hammerfest and be a heck of a lot of fun. We could have a relaxing coffee afterwards and have plenty of time to gather our bearings before the start.

The ARBT would be a great run too. We could ride from Old Sac to Hazel and back no problem. 15-20mph ride on Sacramento's cycling gem.

We could head out to Davis and back on the causeway (cough) ALEX (cough). The West Capitol would be a hootenanny.

So what's it gonna be baby? Do you want him? Or do you want me? Cuz I want you! Baby baby baby...
(that's Prince btw "The Beautiful Ones")

You're going to have to do better than West Capitol and I-80 to get me off my ass. :P

I'll be riding to the prologue from Davis. Maybe I'll come earlier if there is a group meeting up.

I'm good with that. Whatever the plan is.

I'll ride. Was planning to ride downtown anyway for the prologue, and to Davis for stage 1 start :D

I'll be riding to the start (same as my commute, actually, since I work downtown), but I'll pulling the trail-a-bike.

I'll be in downtown also but not sure if I'll ride (since I live a walk away)... if I ride, I'll be on my commuter with SLR ready! Hopefully see some of you over there!

I'll likely join in, unless the wife changes my plans. If anybody wants to ride down to Sac from Folsom/Gold River/Rancho Cordova along the parkway then let me know. We can meet up somewhere and go from there.

I'll likely join in, unless the wife changes my plans. If anybody wants to ride down to Sac from Folsom/Gold River/Rancho Cordova along the parkway then let me know. We can meet up somewhere and go from there.

If it's not wet, I'd be pleased to join you on the ride down the ARBT to town. I can meet you at Hagan Park (roughly mile marker 15.5).

Anyone know if there is a bike corral there?

Anyone know if there is a bike corral there?

Last year there was.

I would think so, but I can't remember if I saw one last year..?

Anyone know if there is a bike corral there?


There should be bike valet parking in front of the West Steps.

Yes. The Bike Valet will be set up near 10th and L Streets.

Any more specific plans yet?

I was waiting for suggestions Joel... No one had any specific request... I say we do a Delta ride. :thumb:

Delta ride sounds fine to me. Where do we meet and what time?

Ok Joel. I've been playing with bikely.com the past hour and am about to throw my laptop. :crash: I made a route sheet with mileage and did something that made me logout of bikeforums and poof! It's gone. I'm too tired to do it for the 3rd time...

Basically, meet at the Railroad Museum in Old Sac, take front street to broadway, broadway to Riverside. Riverside Right again at the "T". Continue down Riverside which turns into pocket around mile 9 Pocket back over I-5 and a right on Freeport. Freeport to the bridge. Over bridge and a right on South River Road. South River Road all the way back up to Jefferson. Jefferson to Sacramento Ave and then back over the harrowing and death-defying I street bridge to our starting point. 31 miles.

This route is really fast so I don't see it taking much more than 1-1/2, ok 2 hours to complete. Prologue starts at 1:30, so say,,,, 10am start?

http://www.bikely.com/blogthismap/routeid/246550

That sounds good to me. I'm going to ride down from home, so 10 am in from of the train museum works out fine. Easy to get to from the ARBT.

How far is that route? Looks about 20 miles on a guess?

I'm hoping to do this on my new-to-me fixed/single, so 20ish is about right. I just have to guess whether I need to flip it to the single side.

Do you have parking hints?

You can only ride fixed if you come out in tight jeans (this is a requirement in downtown) :p.

Parking - I recommend parking outside of downtown and riding in if you can. It's going to be a mad house. There's public parking all over the place, but I'm sure most lots will be overflowing. I'm not sure if you could, but maybe park at Discovery Park and ride in on the bike trail to Old Town, then cut up. It's only a couple of miles (FWIW - I'll be riding from my house about 3 miles away from Discovery).

Discovery Park might be the best place to park.

I'll be riding down from home. That's about 15.5 miles out.

To answer your question Curtis, this ride is exactly 30 miles... We can change it if it's too long for the masses. Or! Or! Make a short route/long route. :thumb:

Hmm, I might do this fixed as well. I don't have much in the way of girl jeans, though. :P

In any case, I can ride there from my house. Any excuse to torture myself on the cobblestones!

Any excuse to torture myself on the cobblestones!
WTG loudmouth! :p I wanted to surprise the out-of-towners by starting this ride P-R style.

At least I didn't tell them about the cobblestone dragrace.

...Oh, hell.

Cobblestones?

What? What are you talking about?

;)

Guess I'll find out on the 14th

Cobblestones?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3132/2299959325_1fe3eda137.jpg?v=0 :innocent:

You may say "Oh, but there's a smooth part right over there!"

The Boulevard of Broken Bikes laughs at your pathetic observations.

My plastic bike doesn't feel those much at all :p

Maybe if we ride fast enough it'll feel smooth?

Maybe if we ride fast enough it'll feel smooth?

Pre-ride massage is more like it. Those cobbles are deep!

Another parking idea. Why not park on the other side of the tower bridge (where the Raley Field parking lot is)? It would take less than 5 minutes to pedal into old-town.

If anyone is interested in extending their ride distance, they can park at my place in Rancho and ride down with me on the ARBT (add about 15mi each way).

Additionally, since I'm riding down anyway, if anyone else is interested, please let me know. We could form an ever growing group as we approach the destination.

Honestly I don't think parking is going to be a big issue. As someone who regularly rides downtown on the weekends, IT'S DEAD!!! Add this event and it will be like any normal weekday with 50,000 cycling fans instead of state workers. :thumb:

If you ride those cobblestones at exactly 23.4 mph it plays the riff to James Brown's Superbad. But only if you have metal fillings. :p

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6uLXT3BiPY

Honestly I don't think parking is going to be a big issue.

I agree.

Did I miss it, or do we not have an official meet time?

I want to invite a good friend of mine who is not on the forums ;).

Did I miss it, or do we not have an official meet time?

I want to invite a good friend of mine who is not on the forums ;).

Unless I'm way off, 10am in front of the train museum.

Unless I'm way off, 10am in front of the train museum.
affirmative :thumb:

danke :D :D

She can't come, but at least I can put it in my calendar now.

Hey, what's the plan for lunch? Or should I just load up on bars?

Is this ride rain or shine?

Rain or shine there's always a paceline...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3132/2299959325_1fe3eda137.jpg?v=0 :innocent:

Nice. My buddy did a crit on these back in '88 as part of the Coors Classic. He said his hands were numb for a day after.