# Tour de Palm Springs 2011



## rward325

This will be my 5th year riding. Anyone else showing up for this? We usually go down on Friday morning and make a long weekend out of it. It is a great time that is for sure.

http://www.tourdepalmsprings.com/


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## cwg_at_opc

what's the weather usually like? my tri-team is pushing this ride and i'm curious.


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## rward325

Weather generally starts out fairly cool in the mid to upper 40's. During the ride it can get as warm as 80 towards the middle of the day and the gradually cools down as the sun sets behind the mountains back in to the 50's.


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## Hollywood

rward325 said:



> Anyone else showing up for this?


I've done it 2x, both fixed.

the second time I dozed off somewhere near Thermal and woke up at the finish rrr:


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## lesper4

Ride is great. Very cold in the morning but warm enough for summer clothes by the first rest stop. Starting point and frist rest stop have too many people but after that it is OK. Little bumpy before the third rest stop and the end.
I will be there a few freinds and family.


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## balatoe

Last year was my inaugural year. I will be doing this ride again this year with my cycling club and a couple of my friends.


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## singlespeedbuss

This will be my second year and will ride a Singlespeed this time around.


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## sjcaguy

What's the terrain like? This is my first big ride of this kind. Been commuting quite a bit and just got a road bike recently. I'm heading out for this ride with friends and can't wait.


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## singlespeedbuss

Mostly flat with one long easy grade to a check point and out houses then some easy rollers and pretty flat the rest of the way. One thing about the Palm Springs area is they don`t get much money for street improvements so bring spare tubes and a way to repair flat tires. Some of the streets are new and quite a few are terrible. Super fun ride though, a great first century ride. have fun:thumbsup:


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## Rival

I'm planning to do this ride and itll be my first ride. Are most of you guys doing the century? How doable is it for a recreation rider that does about 50miles a week?I was planning on doing the half century


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## lesper4

i would suggest riding the century and taking the break away route, which will put you at 68 miles i think. Doable for a 50 mile a week person.


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## rward325

This was my first century. It is relatively flat over all. As long as those 50 miles a week include some hills you should be okay. The 62 mile ride is a lot of fun also. From the osounds of it I would stick to that if I were you.


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## Rival

I mostly ride the Santa Ana river trail here in riverside and some hills here around my house. If u say it's mostly flats then the 68 sounds pretty good to me.

Oh and lesper I see u have a RX8 also. Are u on the rx8club forums?


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## rward325

I look forward to seeing you guys out there. I will be riding with Team 24 Hour Fitness so look for us!


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## lesper4

Rival said:


> I mostly ride the Santa Ana river trail here in riverside and some hills here around my house. If u say it's mostly flats then the 68 sounds pretty good to me.
> 
> Oh and lesper I see u have a RX8 also. Are u on the rx8club forums?


Well i think the Santa Ana river trial requires a lot of momentum going under all the over passes so that will help you. There is only one hill on the 62 mile route and then a lot of down hill and some flat the feels up hill becase of the breeze.

Yes I am, I have the same user name.


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## mattotoole

I plan to be there! Driving out from Newport in the morning. I'll probably just do the 60 -- I haven't done a century for over a year because of back problems and surgery, and I still don't know if I want to be on the bike for 5-6 hours.

A fixie would be stylin' for this ride -- maybe next year!


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## Hollywood

Hollywood said:


> I've done it 2x, both fixed.
> 
> the second time I dozed off somewhere near Thermal and woke up at the finish rrr:


I have family staying out there this month, so I may do it again and make it a "visit" weekend. RWard - I'll get in touch if I go.


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## rward325

1 week to go! Looking forward to this as it is our annual Valentines day weekend getaway. Spa day on Friday, Ride on Saturday, nice brunch on Sunday. Have been doing this now for 5 years with my GF and love it. Rode this for the first time in 2000 and there were only a couple of thousand people. Total number this year is expected to peak 10k with all of the different rides!


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## lesper4

10k really, with this economy? I thought the gorup rides I have been doing this last year were shrinking. I am exciting for this ride as well, first prganized ride of the year for me.


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## rward325

We were over 7500 last year for this ride. They really do give a lot for the registration fee of this ride. The desert is dieing and the room rates were cheap this year(88 bucks a night) for a queen room. Palm Springs is pretty centrally located so they draw from a number of metro areas for this. All of this adds up to a pretty popular annual event for the desert community.


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## lesper4

I just wish a meal was included like most other rides.


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## rward325

The cost of the TdPS is $65.00 for that you get the usual goody bag and T Shirt. All of the rides that do not require substantial fund raising do not supply meals for this kind of entrance fee. Gran Fondo San Diego is $99.00 and if you finish early enough you get a meal and a Jersey. Solvang (Prelude and Century) charge an additional fee for the lunch. TdPS does offer a Spaghetti dinner the night before for $15 bucks if I am not mistaken. Personally for $15.00 I can get a better dinner in town but if you want it it is there.


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## lesper4

I am just saying the following rides are less then $60 and they provide a meal.
tour de foothills
cool breeze
crusin the conejo
tour de sewer


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## lesper4

Good ride but way too many pople, they need to put a limit on this even now. Ride was great beyond that. Saw lots of flats but non were me.


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## Rival

Had so much fun yesterday, I agree too many people it was sketch sometimes but real easy spin for the 55mile. I'll have to sign up for the century next year


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## mattotoole

I thought the crowds were handled well. No issues for me anyway. Great job by the organizers! After running Mountains of Misery in VA it was interesting to see how they handle 10x as many people.

I noticed a lot of flats too, despite fairly clean roads. Maybe too many people are using super-thin race tires.

After a few years on the east coast I hardly noticed the rough pavement, except when people freaked out on it and almost caused crashes. Probably half the ride is on the smoothest roads anywhere.

Perfect low-80s temps (any warmer would have been too hot for some), dry but not too dry, no wind, perfectly clear day. I wasn't going to do the whole hundred but I just kept going.

Great event, well worth it.


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## Rival

I also saw alot of people on the side repairing flats, and me blowing out the my rear tire last week, I stopped and lowered my tire pressure at the first SAG


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## balatoe

It was a great ride. I was riding with a group from my local cycling club. We were doing pace line from the 2nd SAG to the 4th SAG station at 20+ mph. The weather was just perfect for cycling. However, around mile 80, someone in a black BMW 3 series threw a bottle of water at one of the riders about 10 feet in front of me, nearly missed him. Had the water bottle hit one of the riders, he/she could have taken down a bunch of riders behind him. I know with so many riders, it can be an inconvenience to car drivers. But come on, this event only happens once a year.


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## singlespeedbuss

2nd year in a row for the century . only I went SS this year. Felt better than last year with gears.:thumbsup:
I did see 2 fixies though. Those guys are studs.


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## Hollywood

*great time!*



rward325 said:


> It is a great time that is for sure.


Last minute decision to go turned out to be a good call. What a great day for a long ride. :thumbsup: 

I was also pretty amazed by the flats and wrecks seen in getting to the first SAG, and that was also a fustercluck. But it got much better from then on. Did the 100 with gears this time after twice previously fixed. SO much more enjoyable when you can coast  

I talked to lots of the fixie riders. Cool kids. As for the guys really taking their paceline and their overall time way seriously, er, I hope you won the race. 



//sorry rward


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## rward325

Sorry I didn't get to see you on Saturday HW! Given my circumstances I was not impressed with several of things this year.

1. The ride out of town with that many people was horrendous. I have ridden this ride fot the last 7 years and this was the worst it has ever been. 

2. The quality of the wrenches on the road was horrific save one guy at rest stop # 2 for anything more than a flat tire. Come on JAX you couldn't spare the real mechanics for this ride?

3. The most crashes I have seen on this ride in my time doing it. Way to many meat wagons for my liking and I do believe most of the crashes were or were caused by inexperienced riders

4. That was Santiago Cyclery with the pace line. They are know for this kind of behavior everywhere. Local shop by my house that I do not frequent.

If any of you read mt thread in the Lounge you know that GOD sent me many warnings not to do this ride beginning on Friday. Having chosen to ignore them, this was probably the worst ride I have done in recent memory! When there are signs for you not to ride heed them! It was an expensive and painful day for me that I will not soon forget. But the TdPS is still a great ride!


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## lycanthropik

*Catastrophe at photoCrazy point*

Check out accident at photocrazy first pic point at 7:26. I went by about 30 secs before this so didn't even see it. found it while looking for my pic. Took me a bit studying pics to see what happened. There are about 10 pics almost like it's caught in slow motion. The guys carbon fork sheared both sides about 6 inches up from wheel mount, He went right over front. Weirdest of all it happened right at the photopoint almost like it was staged.

BTW ride was great! The falls restaurant great for valentine's dinner after ride (private balcony). 5th year at this century ride. Secret tip...I avoided the crowd and started about 5 mins early with about a hundred others. Saved the first 10 mile crunch.


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## Hollywood

lycanthropik said:


> Check out accident at photocrazy first pic point at 7:26.


don't see it. First camera at 7:26 

http://colo.photocrazy.com/perl/vie...7&minute=26&timeselect=Go&ev=966&d=f&nts=0303


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## singlespeedbuss

7:24:52, The carnage!


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## lesper4

did he try to do no hands or did the fork just break on him?


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## rward325

Wow, that was horrendous. I went by at 8:03 and they were still picking up the pieces of this. Hope the guy is ok but my guess from angle of fall is at least a broken collar bone. I can't see what happened prior but the fork is definitely sheared off on both legs.


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## Hollywood

rward325 said:


> Wow, that was horrendous. I went by at 8:03 and they were still picking up the pieces of this.


wow. 

Really? 40 minutes later?

so crazy that it happened right in front of the cameras.


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## lycanthropik

Sorry about that, went by memory should have checked. I started backwards from 7:26 but looks like others pegged it at 7:24:52. Weird accident even weirder to be right at camera point. He seemed ok from pics after. End of his day anyway.


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## lycanthropik

Big thanks to whoever came by me ~7 miles after 2nd SAG and yelled back "big group coming up fast". We both put on speed and just barely caught the tail end of about 30 riders as they wooshed by. They pulled me thru the whole rollercoaster area at about 22-28 mph. was awesome. I was finally spit out the back well before 3rd SAG.


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## lesper4

Not sure if it was the same group bit i got about 20+ riders about half a mile from the top and then we hummed all the way down to the 4rd rest stop. There was a lot of blue and a few women in it also.


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