Tony N.

Anyone watching? Can't believe how hot it gets in southern Cali. 111 F Sunday at the end of stage 1 and 114 F on the Tram at the end of Stage 2 yesterday. What's a Tram Californians? Temp coming off the road yesterday was 122 F. No ambulance at the finish and when they did get there, riders were standing in line to ride to hospital for intraveinous (sp) fluids. One rider passed out 300 meters from finish and got hands scaulded on the pavement.

Kind of Blued

I love all of the celebrities in the "COME TO CALIFORNIA AND HELP US PAY TAXES IT'S SUPER COOL HERE" commercials, then cut back to the race and the most well-trained athletes on the planet are suffering heat stroke and melting in front of your eyes.

Super cool.

Ken Brown

I would love to watch the Tour of California but it has to compete with the Giro for my time. Caught the end of stage 1 and I check the results online, but I can't afford the time to watch them both. Now if they scheduled it at the same time as Qatar or Oman then it would have the benefit of being both cooler and a better viewing slot.

rdtompki

Those were record temperatures, just bad luck for the organizers and riders. It does seem like the organizers had enough time to provide better support at the finish, knowing the forecast in advance.

Tony N.

I agree that they could have been better prepared for finish of stage 2 with more ambulatory support or changed the finish. Thought I would get more response from souther Calafornian BF members. These roads look kinda familiar to some of the vids I've seen. Still wamt to know what's a Tram?

idoru2005

The "tram" is a system of cable cars that take tourists from where the finish line was, to the top of the mountain. See: https://www.pstramway.com/

BigJeff

A tram is en enclosed gondola, typically seen at ski resorts. Typically capable of carrying 10-40 people. They make awesome locations for action movie scenes, such as Bond films.

The Palm Springs Tram goes from Palm Springs to Mt. San Jacinto.

canam73

So one day Schleck sits up on the finishing climb and spends the next day in the break.

I have no doubt that he and his coaches know way more than I do about cycling but......what's the plan there?

I'm not big fan of his, but I would like to see him back on form as it makes the races more interesting.

Kind of Blued

It dropped about 20 degrees, so that makes a big difference. I think he's just racing himself into shape, so might as well go in a break to hammer the legs, no?

canam73

That's probably more right than wrong.

But given some of his past tactics and behavior, I still fear it's more work of a goof ball.

diphthong

fabulous, epic finish for stage 2 but yah...waay too hot for that kind of finish at that time of year. it would have been perfect had the toc
still been in february but now that it's in may, any desert routes have the potential to be an cruel sufferfest. pity. since they didn't do any
desert routes when the race was in february and there are some great desert rides in southern california. i don't see the race organizers
taking another chance like that again. probably the only time we'll see the toc touch the desert-ever.

patrickgm60

Yes, CA weather in May is often dicey; snow canceled Stage 1 in Tahoe 2 years ago, which may have factored into this year's South-to-North approach. Result: record high temps, strong winds.

hamster

Yeah, stage 1 weather was a stroke of bad luck (or a sign of global warming?) This is normally a very nice season for cycling in inland San Diego County. Average high in Escondido in mid-May is 78 F. It gets into high 80's / low 90's in July and August, but a heat wave this early was not typical. On the day of the tour, we set all-time record high for May 12th and probably got into the top 10 hottest days ever recorded in May. I don't think it got to 111 F though. 98 F at the finish, maybe 102-104 in some spots along the route.

(BTW - for East Coasters - our 98 F is not the same as your 98 F. Our 98 F is desiccating dry heat, where plants wilt and sweat evaporates before having a chance to run off your body, leaving you with white salt stains on the jersey. You can tolerate it, but you need to drink a lot.)

Palm Springs is a different story though. Organizers should have known better. (Or maybe they intended this all along?) Anyone familiar with SoCal knows to stay out of inland deserts between April and October. I was at a century ride in PS in early February, it was in the 60's by noon. Mid-May average high in PS is 95, with scorching sun and zero chance of clouds.

P.S. It's 2 PM and it's 78 F outside right now...

hamster

It's interesting that you'd say this. I don't know if this is specific to Canada, but, here in the U.S., watching them both is simply not an option for many people. Tour of California is broadcast on one of the standard sports channels (NBC Sports) in compressed version (2 hours with commercials), and Giro only seems to be available on an exotic channel that is not carried by most if not all cable TV providers.

Ken Brown

We get them both on a cable network called Sportsnet, and I believe all cable and satellite companies carry it. The Giro is live but California is in the middle of the night, except Sunday was live.

Giacomo 1 

Great stage win today by Farrar.

He had a great lead out, and he looked like he won with relative ease. He looked really strong. I have to say, it was good to see him beat Sagan, and beat him thoroughly. I was getting tired of hearing that Farrar couldn't beat him, but he did it rather easily today. Sagan proved to be human afterall - I mean he is a very good human, but human none-the-less!

Zinger

I lived in San Diego on two occasions for a total of 10 years (and worked in Escondido for awhile) and can't recall any 111 degree F temperatures. What I recall in comparison to humid hot Dallas is the best riding weather in the best riding city (cool hidden bike trails all over SD) in which I've had the pleasure to live.

Palm Springs though, as you said, has that reputation.

cthenn

There is no plan. A lot of these big names come here simply to train under racing conditions. Schleck and Chavanel get some breakaway time, get the legs stretched out and moving. Also, a LOT of it is for TV time. "Oh! Look it's Andy Schleck, I've heard of him! He rides a Trek! I want one" Same with Chavanel, buy a brand new Specialized, your favorite "name" European pro rides one too, and he's all over my TV in a breakaway! The day Chavanel was in the break was hilarious, because there was a guy like 16 seconds out of the lead of the race, break was DOOMED, but they still kept riding along to get the TV time.

cthenn

If you are talking about Comcast Sportsnet, it's not showing the Giro in NorCal. I get "CSN Bay Area" and it's not showing the Giro.

Ken Brown

No, in Canada it is Rogers Sportsnet. Different companies.

cyclezealot

Who saw the photos of the crash in yesterday's stage. Looked terrible.. Hope there were not any casualties .

canam73

Sure, but it still makes more sense for Chavanel. Breakaways are how he wins.

Kind of Blued

He didn't beat Sagan thoroughly, as if in a side-by-side drag race. Cannondale and Sagan were way out of position. It is, and always has been the case, that Farrar only wins races in the big leagues when something goes completely wrong for every other world class sprinter in the race.

canam73

Give him some credit. At least he didn't crash again.

Kind of Blued

You're right, and I should give him some credit for just edging out the guy from Kelly Optum Benefit Strategies for the win (see what I did there).