Tour of California - Stage 3

Stage 3 -

We started from San Francisco and went down Hwy 1. It was misty and overcast starting out. Then it morfed into just overcast. After about 20+ miles we turned and started a 10 mile hill climb to first King Of Mountain. We rode through a rain forest and the higher we got the wetter it was. The rain forest was nothing I have ever scene in California. The road was narrow and you almost could not see the sky for all the trees.

By the time we got to the top we were good and wet - then started the decent - one guy hit a yellow line and he was down. A CHP picked him up and took him to the top of the mountain. That is where our sag van was, then the van came and got his bike. We all continued on to the second KOM - this is where we were drying out until we started up the hill again into the mist and the rain.

Not too far from the top we found Patrick crashed on the side of the road -- he was coming down the hill after being dropped off by the sag van to meet us. He had gone down within minutes when we were all coming up. A CHP stopped, Marvin appeared with the sag van -- it was pretty amazing how fast everyone was there -- Patrick is currently at the hospital. He could not get up or walk without being carried. We hope he will be fine -- but his TOC is done for this year.

We all continued on to the top of the KOM. That is where Alice's Restaurant was -- for those of you who remember the song - "Alice's Restaurant" (where you can get anything you want - except for Alice!) It was cold and wet at the top and we spent some time up there getting all our stuff out of the van. Off we went down the mountain, freezing and... then no rain - dried out! But... then headed up to the last KOM. We once again got into the rain and the mist and then down the mountain to no rain and another round of getting dry.

The ride back to the coast was great roads and so much incredible scenery. It was about 5500 ft of climbing and 68 miles.

That's it for now..................

Tour of California - Stage 2

Stage 2 Begins -

Stage 2 - Started out of Davis. It was overcast with no big weather problems until the climb up to the first King Of Mountain. Then we encountered wind and it got nasty! The rain started at the top of the KOM, we did dry out once the rain stopped and continued on.

We all stopped at about mile 65 miles - the second KOM - Howell Mt. It was 2 miles of 12 to 18% grade. Once we got over that mountain we got picked up and that was end of day.

Good thing because it started to rain once we stopped and just got worse as we drove to San Francisco.

We did about 65 miles with 4300 ft of climbing

Tour of California - Stage 1

Here is my chronicle of The Tour of California:

Day 1
We drove up to Grass Valley on Saturday, May 15, 2010. Bill, Rich Strauss and his partner Patrick, Joann, Marvin and other Endurance Athletes from around the country - there are about 15 of us in the group.

Stage 1 - we started the tour in Grass Valley - the stage map looked like 1 big decent. That was pretty funny because after 60 miles my Ergo showed we had done 5100 ft of climbing!
The trip out of Grass Valley to Auburn was breathtaking. Beautiful scenery, great roads and lots of little climbs. We rode the sprint course through town in Auburn. I was REALLY surprised there were no incidents with the Pros as the turns were tight and there were many of them for a 172 man competition.

Notable on Day 1 - we went over the highest bridge in California, that was a bit unnerving!! The scenery was amazing. Over half the guys had a very hard day and the ones that did not make it were either bonked or picked up before the end of the 80 miles Day 1 was tough!

At the end of the ride we drove to Sacramento to watch the end of the race around the town. Wow, that was very exciting!