Genaro

https://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com...-for-2013.html

No longer comes through my backyard

hamster

Out of your backyard and into mine! In 2009 the route passed 1/2 mile from my house. No route details yet, but chances are good that they will pass through this area again.

PhotoJoe 

Santa Clarita gets a finish! I think I may have to go to this!

eja_ bottecchia

It was in my backyard for the past three years. It was always kind of fun to ride on the same roads that they rode on.

When it come to Santa Barbara it will almost be in my front yard!

Angio Graham

I wish they would come back to redondo beach

diphthong

excited to see the route from murrieta to palm springs. wondering which tortuous descent they will take from the idyllwild area: hwy 243 into banning or hwy 74 into palm desert. the 243 will have some gnarly crosswinds that will turn into the mother of all tailwinds once onto the valley floor. hoping they do the beautiful ascent from hemet to the 243/74 junction vs going through anza (ugh).

megalowmatt

Very cool it starts in Escondido this year.

diphthong

speculation on where it heads? del dios or harmony grove? grab some coast? head up to lake henshaw then back through ramona or vice versa?

chefxian

That blows! Our team got a cabin the last 2 years and had a blast on the Baldy stage. Better get the meth pipe fired up for Palmdale.

TJKnight

I wonder why it avoids the San Gabriels.

The mountaintop finish at Diablo will be great.

eja_ bottecchia

Do the organizers of the ToC realize that they have probably managed to piss off M. Beanz, the honorary Mayor of GMR, by passing up on his beloved Mt. Baldy?

This is an outrage I tell you.

I think that the ToC people better get a hold of M. Beanz, instanter, issue an apology and put Mt. Baldy back in the Tour.

Anything less is asking for a boycott of the ToC by members of the C&A crowd.

megalowmatt

I had one route envisioned that brought them to the coast but it looks like day 2 starts in Murrieta so I imagime they may head east earlier than I thought.

CommuteCommando

Can't wait till the route is published. I could probably find a good spot along Stage 1.

A climb up Palomar would be a good bet.

calamarichris

Baldy was too freakin hard for them. Seriously, I finally got to see Jens in person last year and very he looked very much like he wanted to spit a loogie in my face.


This is within a few hundred yards of the same place Floyd Landis passed me on l'Etape; (although I don't understand how he finished nearly 10 minutes faster than I did???)
I don't really care what route the pros ride, I'll be there; BUT I desperately want to know where l'Etape is going next year!

And to Genaro: you should visit my backyard! Palomar is easier than the ski lifts, but it's much, MUCH more fun to descend. Seriously, SUPERfun.

hamster

There are some basic rules. So far they have never put a mountain stage on day 1, they usually don't spend much time on city streets (coordinating closures must be a pain), and they tend to shoot for 115-120 miles for intermediate stages.

If that's the case, they probably won't make it all the way to the coast (too dense), they won't ride south of Rancho Bernardo (no way back without getting mired in suburbia), and they won't climb Palomar. The route could look like this

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/1957784

Or they could make a couple of smaller loops closer to the city.

volosong

Poor form! Have you lived here, or do you do now? Stage 6 started last year at the park down the street from where I live. Didn't see the start because we rode the stage that morning up to the KOM.

Palmdale to Santa Clarita is only 40 miles, (non-freeway). They will probably go up the back side of the San Gabriels. My guess is they will take one of two routes, (1) up Angeles Crest Highway, down Big Tujunga Canyon or Angeles Crest, then urban streets to Santa Clarita, or (2), head west through the Antelope Valley a bit and up one of the canyon roads to Lake Elizabeth Road, then one of the canyon passes to Santa Clarita. Only thing is that unless they drop down into the San Fernando Valley, most of the ride avoids any urban areas, other than the start and finish cities. With a rolling road closure, it is simple enough to make their way through the San Fernando Valley.

nesdog

So title sponsor Amgen doesn't even get a stage in Thousand Oaks where the headquarters are located. Boooo. City of TO said last year they didn't want it for a few years 'cause it was so expensive to put on and a pain in the butt to coordinate. Feh!

diphthong

purrfect hamster. this was what i was envisioning. there is no way they are climbing palomar on day one...

Mansram01

Boo on the non Mt Baldy and GMR TOC stages! Now I want to go see the Giro in Italy.

jsigone

sweet they will be passing by my pad LOL


I hope they go up Palomar again

calamarichris

Haha--this thread is like golf: Every shot makes someone happy.

CommuteCommando

Kind of what I was thinking, except the climb to Ramona via San Pasqual/ Bandy Canyon/ Highland Valley Rd. That route has a fairly steep section near the start, then gets into some rolling, mostly uphill stuff with some tight curves to make it interesting.

Lesper4

Funny to all the responses, everythgin is inevitable. It is nice to see them out in Palm Springs but i hope the winds play some havoc to makes things intresting. The San Gabriels would be awesome but we have other climbs, are they going to use Gilbrator in Santa Barbara? I guess I will not see any coverage this year as the closest stage for me is on a Monday. One year hopefully they will go out East to 395 and get a mountain top finish (Wwhite Mountain!)?

hamster

That would work too, but then they'd have to go Harmony Grove instead of Del Dios to keep it under 120 miles.

Not White Mountain. Too desolate, and nothing on top except for a 20-car parking lot and some protected ancient pine trees. Environmentalists would have a cow at the thought of having throngs of spectators up White Mountain. Horseshoe Meadow would work a little bit better. But it's probably no go for the same reason.

calamarichris

Not necessarily. Missing Palomar would be a tragedy for us, but they might just end up having a stupid prologue in Esco without taking advantage of the great surrounding roads like Mesa Grande, .
I can't see them having Palomar on the first day--it would stretch out the standings too early on, take away too much of the suspense and tight competition that these race organizers seem to think necessary to hold the attention of American viewers.