Originally Posted by SteveE
Well, looking at the map it looks like maybe they'll race from Stockton to San Jose via Mt. Hamilton. Sounds like a good excuse to climb Mt. Ham in February and spectate around the observatory.
Sorry, no Mt. Hamilton - I was hoping for that, too, with an approach up Del Puerto Canyon from the town of Patterson. The 3rd stage will instead go over Patterson Pass Road from Tracy to Livermore, then head to Sunol and hook into last year's route along Calaveras Road, up and over Cat-1 Sierra Rd., and on into San Jose.
As for spectating, the top of Patterson Pass Road will be absolutely killer. The Tracy side of that road is bare-naked devoid of trees, and there is the Mother of All false Summits (trust me, it has broken the heart of more than one cyclist - me very much included) about a half mile or so before the real summit. The combination means that you can see about a half-mile of serious climbing action from pretty much anywhere along that half-mile or so stretch of road.
But shhhhhh - we don't want absolutely everyone to know about this, do we? And bring your bike and ride up - the road is narrow (especially on the eastern, Tracy side) and parking will be non-existent. That is no exageration.