Tour of California - viewing/traffic question

[mariposa]

Hi there,

I'm planning on either driving or biking out to Stage 1 or Stage 3 of the Tour.

Does anyone know how car or bike traffic is regulated? Is the route closed to either cars or bikes? How far in advance of the peleton is the route closed? How difficult do you think parking will be if I decide to drive? (I'm thinking either Pan Toll Ranger Station on Stage 1, or Sierra Road on Stage 2.)

The Tour of California website lists the 'best' viewing spots on each stage, but provides no information to answer my above questions. (Unless I missed it on the website.)

Any advice appreciated. Who tried this last year?

Thanks!

[jobob]

I don't know anything about Stage 1.

For the San Jose stage, last year my husband and I parked a few miles from Sierra Road and biked in. It was good to have a few miles to warm up before the road went straight up :p

We parked in a parking lot at the corner of Jacklin Rd. & North Park Victoria Dr. in Milpitas, which is a few miles north of Sierra Road. We then rode our bikes south on Jacklin, which becomes Evans, which becomes Piedmont. Sierra Road is off of Piedmont.

I forget what time we went, but we went pretty early. Sierra Road, and Piedmont Ave south of Calaveras Ave., is going to be closed off to traffic, but I'm not sure at what time - perhaps the ToC website might have more info about that. Parking will probably be severely restricted along & near the actual race route.

This year we're either going to park in that same lot as last year, or park near Higera Adobe Park which is a bit north on N. Park Victoria Dr., off Wessex Pl. The park has public restrooms.

hth, - Jo.

[snapdragen]

jo - are you guys planning on coming into San Jose for the finish?

[SadieKate]

One of the race directors posted this to our local club for the Santa Rosa to Sacramento stage (stage 2?) on Tuessday.


We will close the roads as follows: 15 minutes for traffic in front of the race and going the same direction and assume 30-45 minutes for traffic coming into the race.He himself with be at the KOMs 30 mins before and will have T-shirts.

[spazzdog]

Hi all!

No, I'm not dead... :eek:

Was wondering if any NoCal gals were going in for the prologue today?

spazz-o-haven't been on a bike in forever

[SadieKate]

Hey there! A lot of us were there but already in transit by the time of this email. Sorry!

[bikerchick68]

I'll be riding in the Mavic car again for stage 6... anyone gonna be at that one?

[roadfix]

I'll be riding in the Mavic car again for stage 6... anyone gonna be at that one?

A bunch of us are riding out to Balcolm Canyon from LA that morning....:)

[Brandy]

I'll be at stages 6 and 7. :)

[jobob]

jo - are you guys planning on coming into San Jose for the finish? Hi snap - I don't think so. We'll probably be at the same switchback as last year, about 2/3 of the way up, and then when they've passed just head on up to the summit & back down Felter.

[bikerchick68]

roadfix and Brandy... hope I get to see you guys at the finish... I'll be in jeans and a black long sleeve tshirt with graphic on the front... I'm gonna head down to the Disco bus after the finish to try to get pics and signatures if I can... hope you both have a ton of fun! :D

[Brandy]

We were at the KOM point on Balcom on Saturday, it was so cool to see the breakaway come up and realize how big the gap was! We tried to make it to Santa Clarita for the finish, but only managed to see them pass in the opposite direction while we were on the freeway. We did have passes for the Road Magazine after party which was very cool! The T-mobile guys hung around signing autographs and the Liquigas guys were in the food tent when we were eating. I think I have a new crush. ;)

We headed to Stage 7 on Sunday and were taking the kids to the bathroom right before the race started and we were able to see quite a few of the guys in that area. Yum. Did I say YUM yet? :o Sorry we missed you bikerchick...we were up in the stands at the 50m mark.

Now that I'm thinking of it bikerchick...did you come into the after party in one of the mavic cars? The guy I was with knew several people from Mavic so we were over there talking to them after the cars came in.

[bikerchick68]

Brandy... it was cool wasn't it??? I have to say I was very glad to be in a car on Balcom... :eek: it's not super long but man is it steep. The descent down Grimes was insane. they were hauling butt and the caravan has to keep up... who cares about those tight twisty turns... floor it! :eek: :D

yes I was at the after party too, but I was only there for maybe an hour or so... I had a bachelorette party that night and had to get back to San Diego for that... I posted a photoshow on the TofCA link on the main boards if you're interested... got some good pics of my friends with Mavic there... you'll probably recognize them if you hung out there... Mark runs the road program here and in Canada... sorry I missed you too... would've been fun to say hi!:)