DiabloScott

Diablo snubbed for that cycling paragon of Lodi.

KenshiBiker

I've ridden up Mt Diablo. I've ridden in Lodi. There is no comparison.

caloso

I get that they're trying for a generally southern direction, but it makes for a much more interesting and visually compelling race to go from Lodi to NC. Especially if they were to finish with a few circuits of the Nevada City Classic route.

Kaminokaze

Looks like San Jose (stage 3) will be a stage race. I am thinking it might be Mt. Hamilton Loop out to Livermore and Mines Rd over Hamilton or the reverse of that. Which is what TOC were doing before they used Diablo.

They could try something completely different and use the hills on the peninsula which has not been done before.

Guess we will have to wait until the new year to find out

Leinster

Meh. Le Tour doesn't include Alpe D'Huez every year. It's a big state and they have a lot of roads to cover.

I just can't see the point of going up to Big Bear for a TT. If you're going up the mountains, why not have a proper mountain stage? Santa Clarita's the highest other finish town at a whopping 1217ft. I completely agree with Caloso, the NC-Lodi stage looks like they've got it the wrong way around!

cthenn

I was ready to get pissed off but that's a good point. There's nothing that says the route HAS to use Diablo every year. Still, it was nice to have a pro race on our home mountain. If they leave it out of the race in 2016 and/or 2017, then I might be upset!

On the other hand, yeah...what's with going through some of the ugliest parts of the state (Lodi?!)? (Yes, I get the logistics of shutting down roads in larger, populated areas, etc.) There's got to be a way to include Tahoe (again) or the Eastern Sierra. If you want to highlight the beauty of California, how about including ACTUAL beautiful areas? This nonsense through the central valley cowtowns is a joke.

Leinster

Well again, it's the Tour Of California, not the Tour Of The Pretty Bits Of California. Besides which, a lot of people I know like that wine/bike tour up that way, so it possibly can't be as bad as Bakersfield.

BenRidin

[QUOTE=cthenn;17234133...what's with going through some of the ugliest parts of the state (Lodi?!)? ...This nonsense through the central valley cowtowns is a joke.[/QUOTE]

Good deal. Stay home. Don't need your ilk messing up the fine roads around here.

BR

diphthong

be nice to spread the la area love down to oc and sd county.

cthenn

At least your location sums it up "doing hard time in Stocktontucky". That's about right

cthenn

Oh please. All these races are about tourism. Sponsors and tourism is what pays for professional cycling. That's why Paul Sherwen is handed a book before the TdF and reads all that stuff about castles and ancient villages taken from helicopter shots high above. I just get tired of seeing barren bone dry grassy hillsides as our scenery of CA. Long flat roads in the middle of nowhere.

BenRidin

Yep. That does sums it up.

Actually, the riding in and around Lodi is pretty nice. For as much as I ***** about being here, the roads north of me offer light traffic and good roads.

Small town has big Tour of California dreams | Local News - KCRA Home

Leinster

I can just see his notes on Walnut Creek now; "This tract of suburban housing that they're passing through was built way back in 1974. You can see a marked difference in style between it and this next tract of suburban housing which was built in 1992. And look, there's a Macy's with a Crate and Barrel next to it." That'll get those tourist dollars pouring into the state all right.

cccorlew

Couldn't the San Jose stage still do the Diablo Junction?

Oh, and I believe this is required here:
Creedence Clearwater Revival: Lodi - YouTube

hack

Bummer to see Tahoe omitted from the men's race, but good to see it will get some coverage for the women's side of things. Hopefully a trial run to move a men's stage up there next year.

As was said above, I get that they need to move the course around year to year, but there are some major geographical gaps in coverage across the 10 year history of this race. Something like Bridgeport to Mariposa via Yosemite would be great. Or Lee Vining to a MTF at South Lake via June Lake loop with sprint points in Mammoth and Bishop.

I realize the tour needs $$ and town support to survive, but interest will drop off if it's the same ole same ole year after year.

Kaminokaze

I would never say never but. The average stage is about 90-110 miles. To get to Mt Diablo and back to San Jose for a sprint finish in that distance would take them the most direct route though traffic and disrupt towns I do not see that happening.
Plus how do you get off Diablo at the junction you have 2 ways to go. Cant just come down the way you come up this adds the miles to the route and more traffic problems. They could go out Marsh Creek but that stage would 200 miles.

I do see this happening is a climb up sierra rd then working there way back out to Livermore up Mines rd over Hamilton back to San Jose. Oh this can be run in reverse too. Weather they sprint finish in downtown or climb Sierra Rd for a mt top finish hard to say. But fits the profile and distance pretty will.

Leinster

If we want to talk about geographical areas that don't get any love, how about the fact that, per the race's website, the northernmost host city in the 10 year history of the ToC is Nevada City. That's a 5 hour drive and a couple hundred miles of forests, national parks, coastal roads and mountain ranges from the Oregon state line. No, it's not densely populated up there, but towns like Chico, Redding, Eureka, Mendocino and Weed surely all have as much right to host a stage as any LA/Bay Area suburb.

Maybe someone should start a Tour of Jefferson.

hack

Agreed with you on this. I don't know the area well enough to suggest a route though Was checking out Redding to Humbolt, but that's like 150 miles. I think it'd be cool to start something up in the Modoc Plateau and finish with a climb up the west side of Shasta or start around Lassen and finish near Shasta. Quite a few highlights up north that are sadly absent from the route.

Kaminokaze

All it takes is the towns and cities to put in a bid and put up the $$$ then the ToC would come there. Livermore spent bucks to get it a few times.

BenRidin

This is true. It takes a lot of $$ to be the host or finish city.

hack

I'd be curious to know what the costs are and how substantial the effort or luring the tour to town is. My city hosted the TT last year and it seemed like a sizeable effort. An indirect result was that two reasonably sized races in town got axed for the year because the city had essentially exceeded its cycling limit (a bit of generalizing there).

So, it sounds like the Chicos or Reddings would need to reach out to Amgen more than Amgen saying "let's go race there"?

Kaminokaze

Here is a little bit about what Livermore spent. I am sure there is more to it but its a place to start.

City officials: Livermore will skip Amgen Tour of California in 2014 - San Jose Mercury News

Leinster

The distance between towns is definitely a logistical problem, unless you want to use some pretty small start or finish towns. There's a bunch of different ways to get from Redding to Weed, or a summit finish at Shasta, but unless you have part of the race on I5, you're looking at a well over 100 mile stage, with climbing. Redding to Chico is 85, Red Bluff to Chico is 48 so would give the freedom to throw in a loop up a couple of the climbs to the East.

I lived up in Lakeview OR for a year so got to know a lot of the roads around Modoc County, and there's some great terrain up there. But even if they had the population, they wouldn't have the interest in cycling to bid on it.

And yes, the will of the cities to make it happen is key. Livermore, SLO, Santa Barbara etc have all gone looking for it in the past, and that's why they get to host. There might well be a desire for it in Redding or Chico, but it doesn't show up that well on google.

hack

With the growth Chico Stage Race saw this past year, there may be some ability to bring a stage to Chico. They could do the Paskenta loop for ~100 miles start and finish in Chico or kick things off and do a total flat race to Sac

Leinster

I did the Wildflower century there this year and it was a great ride, some of that route could definitely be built into a stage.