Amgen Tour of California pro race

[jobob]

This February, wheee !

http://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com/

Sunday, February 19th Prologue - San Francisco
Monday, February 20th Stage 1 - Sausalito to Santa Rosa
Tuesday, February 21st Stage 2 - Martinez to San Jose
Wednesday, February 22nd Stage 3 - Individual Time Trial San Jose
Thursday, February 23rd Stage 4 - Monterey to San Luis Obispo
Friday, February 24th Stage 5 - San Luis Obispo to Santa Barbara
Saturday, February 25th Stage 6 - Santa Barbara to Thousand Oaks
Sunday, February 26th Stage 7 - Overall Finish Circuit Redondo Beach


Brought to you by Amgen, makers of EPO

[snapdragen]

I saw this! I can't decide - hang out and watch the stage into San Jose, or sign up as a volunteer. Hmmmm, "Hello, I'm snap, I'm here to escort you to the medical tent, where I will have you pee into a cup."

[tomgrrrl]

If they had a tour for women....

[SadieKate]

Thanks, jobob. Putting this on the calendar. There is so darn much I want to do next year! I need to find the money tree.

[bluerider]

Thanks for posting this jobob. I may be visiting Cali and checking this out. Has anyone gone before? Looks like good line-up but do pro teams only send out certain riders. I guess what I'm asking is, will Ullrich be there?!?!?! Levi?!?! Floyd?!!?

[SadieKate]

'Tis a brand new tour. See the press releases for anything us peons know. Anyone have an inside track? I doubt that this far in advance that many will commit except for Hincapie. Wasn't he mentioned as working with them on something?

[Deanna]

Thanks for posting this jobob. I may be visiting Cali and checking this out. Has anyone gone before? Looks like good line-up but do pro teams only send out certain riders. I guess what I'm asking is, will Ullrich be there?!?!?! Levi?!?! Floyd?!!?

One of the stages finishes in my town (Santa Rosa) which just so happens to be where Levi lives. This means cycling is actually getting some coverage in the local paper. Here's today's article--it sounds like Levi will be there! GO LEVI!!

http://tinyurl.com/csvaw

[helga]

It seems like this time of year would have a lot of rain/bad weather. Could be interesting.

[aka_kim]

Decisions, decisions! Do I take the week off to be a tour groupie? Or just attend the local stages?

If this event is successful, it would really be cool if in future years the stages covered other areas of the state. Imagine a race with stages in the redwoods, and in the Sierras, and along the coast, and Death Valley, and so on... Or maybe even stages that include well-known climbs -- like Mt Diablo here in the Bay Area. Ok, maybe I'm dreaming, since I guess the organizers do need to keep the race where the people are.

[SadieKate]

Sigh, remember the Coors Classic? Ah yeah, you were probably still just a wee itty-bitty thing.

[bluerider]

One of the stages finishes in my town (Santa Rosa) which just so happens to be where Levi lives. This means cycling is actually getting some coverage in the local paper. Here's today's article--it sounds like Levi will be there! GO LEVI!!

http://tinyurl.com/csvaw

Sweet! I am thinking about spending some time out there to escape the snow so it would be so exciting to see the boys live.

[aka_kim]

Sigh, remember the Coors Classic?

Nope. Google results aren't all that helpful either -- SF to Colorado?

[laughlaugh18]

Here's the Los Angeles Times first story on the Tour of California - in the business section!

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...,4216161.story (sorry I couldn't get it to be a link.)

I have to admit that I smiled at the irony of Amgen being the name sponsor - only in California. Still, I don't quite follow the Public Citizen guy's logic in the article that by sponsoring the race, Amgen is encouraging doping. Yeesh!

The good news is that AEG, the folks putting on the TofC, are very successful folks at putting on sporting events. And they have tons of bucks. And they have great connections. And they've made a 5 year commitment. If anyone is going to make a Tour of California successful, it'll be these guys.

Cathy (who plans to volunteer; if I get any interesting info, I'll let you know)

[jobob]

Still, I don't quite follow the Public Citizen guy's logic in the article that by sponsoring the race, Amgen is encouraging doping. Yeesh!

Too funny !

Bristol-Myers Sqibb sponsors the Tour of Hope and other cycling related-events, Biogen also sponsors events, Genentech has a (recreational) cycling team and also kicks in the bucks for events, and they all happen to make drugs that enhance red blood cell production for cancer patients, and thus could conceivably be used for doping. So gee, you 'spose these companies promote doping as well?

Cathy (who plans to volunteer; if I get any interesting info, I'll let you know)

Yes, please let us know! I gather you're in So. Cal?

[jobob]

Well, so far it looks like George & the Discovery team, Levi & Gerolsteiner, and Fast Freddy with Davitamon-Lotto. Excellent.

No word about Team CSC. They've participated in the Tour de Gerogia in the past, but since CSC is a big sponsor of the TdG that's understandable. Still, Yoo hoo, Bobby & Dave & Christian, any plans for February???

-Jo, liking Kim's idea of being a tour groupie ...
road trip!!!