# 2009 Tour of California routes are up!



## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

See the stages here.


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## Francis Cebedo (Aug 1, 2001)

Wow, we get the Santa Cruz Mountains and Sierra road!

I need to take the week off.

fc


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## grrrah (Jul 22, 2005)

francois said:


> Wow, we get the Santa Cruz Mountains and Sierra road!
> 
> I need to take the week off.
> 
> fc


plus we are gonna have to have some sort of wine country thingy for stage 1!


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

I think I'll take the whole day off for the Santa Cruz Mountains stage.

Sierra Road will mean an early start and late arrival at work, which is better for me than taking a big chunk of time in the middle of the day like last year. There's a good chance that it could be pretty cold, and possibly completely miserable depending on the February weather of course. One would think that the peleton will be more grouped together since it is near the beginning of the stage. Hopefully there will be some kind of breakaway attempt. To get from Calaveras Road onto 84, I think they'll have to do a few hundred yards on the shoulder of 680!! This is bicycle legal but I've never had the nerve to do it (and 84 isn't much fun with cars).

No Mt Hamilton this year.


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

ukbloke said:


> Sierra Road will mean an early start and late arrival at work, which is better for me than taking a big chunk of time in the middle of the day like last year.


Oh, I didn't look at the start time - they don't roll until noon! 

Stage 8 and the Palomar mountain route is disappointing. I thought it was billed as a mountain top finish:



> The cyclists will have to fight through the very end of the race, due to the addition of Palomar Mountain (5,123 ft.). At 11.7 miles, a seven percent average grade, 4,200 feet of climbing and 21 switchbacks, Palomar Mountain will provide a challenging conclusion to the 2009 Amgen Tour of California.


Except that there's actually another 50 miles of racing before the finish which is plenty of time for an organized peleton to quash any break-away of interest to the yellow jersey. A true mountain-top finish on the last day of the tour would have given some amazing racing and favoured the hill climbers. I suppose that this way they get to finish in front of a crowd in Escondido, wherever that is.


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## Chef Tony (Mar 2, 2004)

Would it be do-able to watch the peloton pass by near the top of Tunitas Creek road, and still make it to the finish in Santa Cruz?


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

You will have to wait for the whole peloton to pass followed by the support vehicles and for Skyline to reopen. You have to ride 46 miles with some climbing and rollers on Skyline then the descent down 9 into Santa Cruz, while the peloton (with a head-start) does 63 miles with a really fast descent on 84, down Highway 1 presumably at speed, and then up Bonnie Doon, Smith Grade and down Emprire Grade into Santa Cruz. I think it would be pretty hard.


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## Chef Tony (Mar 2, 2004)

ukbloke said:


> You will have to wait for the whole peloton to pass followed by the support vehicles and for Skyline to reopen. You have to ride 46 miles with some climbing and rollers on Skyline then the descent down 9 into Santa Cruz, .....


I wasn't planning to ride my bike there! 

For the first ToC I saw the peloton go past on Happy Valley road, then blasted down 680 to Niles to see them go by a second time. 2 year ago I saw the start in Santa Rosa and the finish in Sacramento. I'm not familiar with the Skyline road area and wondered if it was doable. Maybe watch from near the bottom, then drive down Rte 1?


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## sometimerider (Sep 21, 2007)

ukbloke said:


> You will have to wait for the whole peloton to pass followed by the support vehicles and for Skyline to reopen. You have to ride 46 miles with some climbing and rollers on Skyline then the descent down 9 into Santa Cruz, while the peloton (with a head-start) does 63 miles with a really fast descent on 84, down Highway 1 presumably at speed, and then up Bonnie Doon, Smith Grade and down Emprire Grade into Santa Cruz. I think it would be pretty hard.


Yes, cycling Skyline & 9 back to Santa Cruz would be quite a race. Your suggestion (in the "stage 3" (now stage 2) thread to catch the race at 3 points by cycling 1 seems much more doable.

But note that Smith Grade is not part of the race (despite what I guessed a month ago) route. Instead they have to climb Pine Flat/Ice Cream Grade up to a higher point on Empire Grade - longer and slightly harder than doing Smith.

Miles and climbing for different routes from Bonny Doon & Smith Grade to Empire Grade and Smith:


smith 5.1 1000
pine flat 9.2 1500
pine flat, ice cream 7.7 1200 *
* This one appears to be the plan for stage 2.


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

Chef Tony said:


> I wasn't planning to ride my bike there!
> 
> For the first ToC I saw the peloton go past on Happy Valley road, then blasted down 680 to Niles to see them go by a second time. 2 year ago I saw the start in Santa Rosa and the finish in Sacramento. I'm not familiar with the Skyline road area and wondered if it was doable. Maybe watch from near the bottom, then drive down Rte 1?


Oh I see! The only complication is the timing of when they re-open Skyline for cars. Assuming that is reasonably quick, you should have no trouble driving down Skyline and then either 17 or 9 to Santa Cruz. It might also be possible on Rte 1 though again it depends on the extent of the road closure for cars.


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## Peninsula Ryan (Aug 2, 2002)

*Ultralord:*



francois said:


> Wow, we get the Santa Cruz Mountains and Sierra road!
> 
> I need to take the week off.
> 
> fc


Hey dude, you're in charge...


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## CoLiKe20 (Jan 30, 2006)

no palo alto?
and the ToC hits the bay area on Monday? I don't want to miss work


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## BlackSteel (Jul 10, 2007)

*Sierra*

I did Sierra and Felter and turned up to Calaveras yesterday. That turn from Felter on to Calaveras is quite dangerous at racing speeds I think. It has gravel for one thing. It seems to be a little off chamber for another. It is really tight for one rider let alone 20. Oh well that's racing. 
If I take this day off I may ride out to Calaveras a ways. It will be interesting to see who is in the break and if they hold the lead to the top of Calaveras. That road is as good as it gets for road racing. 
A break probably will get caught between the bottom of Calaveras and Patterson Pass. If a few riders can make it to Patterson Pass with a four or five minute lead they may be able to hold it to Modesto with a good effort up Patterson. I think Modesto will see a big sprint with a full peloton though.


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## mohair_chair (Oct 3, 2002)

ukbloke said:


> To get from Calaveras Road onto 84, I think they'll have to do a few hundred yards on the shoulder of 680!! This is bicycle legal but I've never had the nerve to do it (and 84 isn't much fun with cars).


There's no way they ride on 680. They'll go under 680 and get on Hwy 84 going the wrong way. It will be closed, so it won't matter.


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