Last year was my first year watching the races on OLN and I enjoyed it greatly. I attended last year's one day race in Philly and liked it but, as suspected, 30 minutes of waiting for 5 seconds of excitement. Has anyone gone to races in California/Georgia/Europe? Is it worth the trip? Do you rent a car and jump from town to town during the day or just party until they pass by? Can you do public transit in Europe or Cally to jump around? Sorry for all the questions, but the teams going to California makes it awful tempting.

Been to Georgia and France. As you said, the moments can be fleeting. The viewing is better on a mountain stage. The riders are going slower and are potentially more spread out. Hanging at a stage start can be good too. No racing action, per se, but you have the chance to see the riders up close and maybe get a word with them, depending on how close you get.

Personally, I think it's best to kill two birds with one stone by mixing a bike ride on the race roads with the race viewing.

My limited experience in two stages of the '04 tour was that it is equal parts bicycle race attendance and large public gathering "fun and freakiness" spectacle.

Earlier in the day, there is talk amongst the crowd members of rider positions, strengths, and predictions, as well as the standard arm-chair quarterbacking and favored rider theoretical performance.

As the day goes on, the sharing turns more toward food and drink than anything else as the peloton nears, and the feel shifts more toward the nervous energy you may feel in the crowd right before the house lights go down and your favorite band takes the stage.

After the riders pass, it just turns into a multi-cultural happy drunkfest many are just milling around and talking to others. I was busy trying to make friends with someone who had transportation so we didn't have to hike back into town again while my friends were busy drinking Serbian moonshine called Schlievo (or something like that) until it was time to make a move.

It's a lot of fun, but for most, it's not purely about witnessing a bike race as it is going to a big festival on par with Oktoberfest, Fete du Geneve or other large parade-ish atmospheres. I found many people there who knew or cared little about the race itself. That's the tour, though. It seems to become more and more of a circus every year for many different reasons. I'm sure many of the other events Continental and US pro events are much different. If you've got the opportunity, go see some of the California (ToC I presume) events. You will not be disappointed.

Spend a $hit load of money and find your way into a team car. Now that would be an awesome way to watch a tour.

Lots of boredom. Lots of waiting. 1 hr. of excitement. Lots of drinking.

Last year was my first year watching the races on OLN and I enjoyed it greatly. I attended last year's one day race in Philly and liked it but, as suspected, 30 minutes of waiting for 5 seconds of excitement. Has anyone gone to races in California/Georgia/Europe? Is it worth the trip? Do you rent a car and jump from town to town during the day or just party until they pass by? Can you do public transit in Europe or Cally to jump around? Sorry for all the questions, but the teams going to California makes it awful tempting.

Dude... unless you live close by enjoy the coverage on Versus. I live in Santa Rosa and loved being in town when the boys cam through at 30 mph for the final few laps... it was a rush... but it came and went quickly... also went to SF a few times for the SFGP... that was more fun because we rode our bikes into San Fran from Sausalito and actually got to ride around the course to watch the race from different vantage points... what a gas... but in the end I have to say I get more joy out of watching the boys race through France and Spain with Phil and Paul... more bang for the buck... mho

that said... if you have the itch to get on a big old jet airliner... fly into sf, catch the prologue, then over to sausalito for the start of stage one, then up to santa rosa for the finish of stage one, then start of stage two in santa rosa, then i can help you to see a nice climb if you want, then over to sacto for the finish... not sure about the rest... good luck

Last year was my first year watching the races on OLN and I enjoyed it greatly. I attended last year's one day race in Philly and liked it but, as suspected, 30 minutes of waiting for 5 seconds of excitement. Has anyone gone to races in California/Georgia/Europe? Is it worth the trip? Do you rent a car and jump from town to town during the day or just party until they pass by? Can you do public transit in Europe or Cally to jump around? Sorry for all the questions, but the teams going to California makes it awful tempting.

Followed the 99 Tour De France. The actual road stages can be boring, mountains are definitley better. The best was the TT that started and finished in the same town (Metz) The carnival atmosphere and the riders warming up made for great spectating. Even ran into riders out riding around before their start.

Local crits. They are more exciting to watch, and you can see riders blowing by every couple of minutes instead of once for 20 seconds.

Last year was my first year watching the races on OLN and I enjoyed it greatly. I attended last year's one day race in Philly and liked it but, as suspected, 30 minutes of waiting for 5 seconds of excitement. Has anyone gone to races in California/Georgia/Europe? Is it worth the trip? Do you rent a car and jump from town to town during the day or just party until they pass by? Can you do public transit in Europe or Cally to jump around? Sorry for all the questions, but the teams going to California makes it awful tempting.


I have been to the Tour, Vuelta, Giro, USPro, Worlds, Tour of Cali, and bunch of others. I do not have a heavy desire to go to another bike race. I want to ride my bike, not watch others ride.

If you want a cool race go see Flanders or a Cyclocross race in Belgium. During the down time you can drink beer and eat wurst. If you are on it you can see Flanders 3-5 times. Paris-Roubaix you can go to the finish in the Velodrome and watch it on the big TV. I have also been in a ton of team cars....that sucks, you basically ride behind the race and see nothing. The only thing is you get race radio. The best part of the tour is riding the big climbs. Rent a car, sleep in Cheap hotels and climb climb climb. Get a hotel near one of the big climbs, ride up 5,000 feet in the morning, bring a back pack of dry gear, food, and shoes and wait for the peloton to fly by. Also hit a start or finish...although the finishes are nuts

I spent a few days last year at TOC. I did a combination of waiting at the side of roads in the middle of nowhere, waiting at the finish line and watching the starts. By far the best part was the starts before the race started. The atmosphere was very casual and the riders were easy to approach and talk to. Its a mega photo op time. At the finish everyone just wants to wrap things up and get to food and the massage but at the start they are just hanging out waiting for things to get going.

i saw one stage of the 2004 tour de france...it was awesome. we were staying in paris, so took the tgv to arras to see the team time trial. the weather was miserable, more like a cyclocross race. it was cold and rainy. we got into town pretty earlier, so we walked around and checked out the venues. loads of free things. we staked out a place near the finish and waited.and waited.and waited.some diehard old fans were there, so that was cool. seeing some guy who must have been 70 with an umbrella decked out with news clippings of tom boonen was a treat. before the riders got into town there is a huge parade by the tour sponsors. that is really cool, and full of free stuff. and sweet looking euro chicks.anyway, before the first team arrived two commentators were on teh PA system. it was really loud. then the team came in. we were situated in a sweeping corner, so you could see them coming a bit. everyone started banging on the boards and shouting. about ten minutes later another team would come through. ten minutes later another team. then, as the better teams started coming in the mood became more intense. there would gaps of only 5 minutes. maybe three minutes. riders would start coming in aone because their own team dropped them. some were coming through all bloody from a crash. the announcers would start shouting louder and louder. then the helicopters started comin in with the teams. it was the rapture! i have never been to anything so exciting in my life.after postal came through we ran around the final corner to the town square. they had a huge screen set up that had shown the entire stage. we saw the end of the presentation, trashed riders still coming in alone, and spectators everywhere.too bad they dont do a team time trial anymore. i think it was the way to see a race, if you arent at the line for a sprint or a mtn finish. we waited quite a while, but we saw more than an hour of "racing."i do have to agree that watching a crit is pretty fun, if you are at the right spot. at least you get to see more than a flash of riders. plus, many courses are setup up so you can walk around the interior, allowing you to watch one spot for a while, then another, then another. you get to hear the chatter, cursing, chains, shifting...everything in a crit.cyclocross is also darn fun. especially races around halloween.

Stage races are lots of waiting and a few minutes of excitement...that being said, there's nothing like being in the thick of it during a mountain stage during the Tour.

Thank you for all of the great responses. It doesn't look like work will allow the TofC, but I do think I will plan a trip with a race in mind (hmmm...my favorite European town, Brugge, happens to be the starting place for the Ronde van Vlaanderen, hmmm...).

IMO - Time Trials are good cause you can go back and forth between warmups and start times. I usually go to the TDG TT and the Woodpen Gap MTN stage and I always perfer the TT.

Can you do public transit in Europe or Cally to jump around?
I hadn't thought about it before now, but you could use the train to see several important stages in California. Bring your bike, though, to get the most out of it.

Maybe the Norcal people will chime in, but I'd think the prologue must ba an awesome race.

I don't think you can take the train from San Francisco to Sonoma, so that might be a day to see the sights. There is definitely train service to to Sacto, so finding a big climb in the East Bay or the finish in Sacto could be done.

San Jose is accessed from San Francisco by train quite easily. Pacific Coast Highway is not accessible by train, so the most beautiful stage is hard to get to.

San Luis Obispo can be reached from the Bay Area by only one train daily. Good planning is a must. After that the SoCal Amtrak trains are much more frequent to Santa Barbara and on to LA. There's no train service to Solvang, the site of the time trial. Anyone know the closest station?

Ventura, south of Santa Barbara, would make a good jump off point see the race on the Balcom Canyon climb. Santa Clarita can be reached by commuter rail, but it's more hassle than it's worth, IMO.

That leaves the final race in the South Bay, LA (Redondo Beach?, i forget). This can be nearly reached by light rail from the Amtrak station at Union Station, LA. It would be worth the hassle. The racing would be fun to watch and the beach cities are a lot of fun.

You'd probably see half the stages and want to go sightseeing the other days. It could be a lot of fun.

JSR

JSR, thanks for the train info. I've never rented a car on vacation, using trains and planes exclusively in America, Canada, and Europe. I have to admit, I'm surprised California has such service, considering the car-loving rep the state has. By any chance, would you know of a website for the train system?

In the San Francisco area, light rail is served by BART http://www.bart.gov/index.asp

Good commuter rail from San Francisco to San Jose is on Caltrain http://www.caltrain.com/

Amtak operates the Capitol Corridor from San Jose to Sacramento, with connecting bus service from San Francisco. http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak/HomePage

Light rail in and around San Jose is offered by Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. http://www.vta.org/services/light_rail_services.html

Amtrak also has once a day service up and down the West on the Coast Starlight. There are two trains a day going south from San Luis Obispo on the Pacific Surfliner, which increases to four trains daily going South from Santa Barbara.

You can also reach LA from Ventura on Metrolink, the SoCal commuter line. Amtrak tickets can be used on Metrolink. This is the service that goes to Santa Clarita. http://www.metrolinktrains.com/

In Los Angeles the MetroRail is a light rail system that can take you to Redondo Beach. http://www.mta.net/default.asp

I know this looks like a lot of public transit, but I wouldn't want to oversell any of these services. Particularly in SoCal, the service is pretty iffy - not many trains, not running very frequently. The service is there, though, and it's a great way to see the countryside. Plus all the trains support bikes!

There are three parts of the race that would be difficult to reach from train stations:

Sonoma county, due north of San Francisco is not on any rail line (AFAIK). This is where really good wine tasting can be had.
Monterey to San Luis Obispo, through Big Sur, is inaccessible by train and that's too bad. Monterey is a cool town, and Big Sur is incredibly scenic.
Solvang is not near the train line, but there is bus service available from Amtrak. Bus would be a hassle, IMO, but missing the time trial in Solvang would be a bummer, too. If I were coming from elsewhere I'd think it was cool to ride the roads so many pro teams train on. I've done the Solvang Century a number of times and can attest to the beautiful riding conditions.

Good luck,
JSR

Great info, thank you.

Anyone know of a bike tour company, or local club, that is doing anything for the Tour of California?

Last year was my first year watching the races on OLN and I enjoyed it greatly. I attended last year's one day race in Philly and liked it but, as suspected, 30 minutes of waiting for 5 seconds of excitement. Has anyone gone to races in California/Georgia/Europe? Is it worth the trip? Do you rent a car and jump from town to town during the day or just party until they pass by? Can you do public transit in Europe or Cally to jump around? Sorry for all the questions, but the teams going to California makes it awful tempting.

What we have done a few times at the Giro and Tour is rent a station wagon and throw our bikes in the back. We park about 30 miles away from our predetermined end point, which is typically at the top of a big climb. I take my time, stop and get lunch, and then get to my spot about an hour before the riders will get there. I bring my little hand held TV, and watch the race unfold from the bottom of the climb. After they pass, we bike to the finish, or head back to the car. IMO, this is a great way to do it, because you can get in some cycling, and miss the heavy traffic.

The one piece of advice is try to park on what will be the least obvious route to get out of there. If you park 30 miles down the major highway, then you will be dodging cars the entire time, which sucks.

http://www.napavalleybiketours.com/tours/tourofcalifornia.html

JSR, thanks again for the great info, both last year and this. Its looking a lot better for me making the trip this year. I'm formulating a game plan in my mind, would you mind if I run it by you? Maybe tell me flaws in my thinking?
- Sat, Feb 16th, fly into Oakland. Drive or public transit into SF
- Sun, 17th, public transit to Palo Alto. Return, rent bikes at Fisherman's Warf, ride up to see the redwoods
- Mon, 18th, early drive to Sausalito, stay until the riders leave. Drive up to Santa Rosa and see them arrive. Rent bikes and ride, if possible. Stay over night.
- Tue, 19th, watch the departure from Santa Rosa. Either head back home or hang around for the next Stage (Modesto-San Jose).

Does this sound feasible, considering traffic and such?
Thanks, again,
Phil

No sweat, Phil, it's been kind of fun to see how this might work! I don't know the SF Bay area intimately, so maybe somebody from there can provide more detail on your plan. It sounds roughly feasible to me.

A short shuttle from the Oakland airport takes you to the BART station, for a quick shot accroos the bay to San Francisco. No problem there.

Check CalTrain schedules for the trip to Palo Alto. This should work. I can't comment on bike rental in San Francisco, nor on "riding up to see the redwoods" from Fishermans's Wharf.

The Monday plan is a good one, taking a couple of fun parts of a stage race. The drive over the Golden Gate might take a while, so plan accordingly. Great idea to stay in Santa Rosa, try to taste some of the excellent local wine (the Alexander Valley is a good place for this).

If you have a decent bike it might be nice to think about riding after the Santa Rosa depart. Once again, I don't know the local roads, but it should be a great area for riding.

If you decide to head down to San Jose, you might want to check out the climb between Modeston and SJC. That way you'd have a TT, a start, a finish, and a climb on your spectator "palmares". FWIW - I go to SJC a lot. It's not the coolest town around. Not bad, just not hip.

Good luck and have fun. I'll be checking out the SoCal parts of the race.

JSR

I think it would be tits to ride in one of those choppers that do the filming.

Well, its starting to shape up. Looks like Philly to Oakland runs about $277. Hotel Whitcomb in SF is in the $85 per night range. Caltrain will get me to Palo Alto and San Jose. A ferry or bike will get me to Sausalito. Nothing looks too convenient, public transit wise, for the Santa Rosa-Sacremento stage, so I may have to miss that. Probably be booking tomorrow. Thanks, all :-)

My limited experience in two stages of the '04 tour was that it is equal parts bicycle race attendance and large public gathering "fun and freakiness" spectacle.

You will not be disappointed.

I couldn't agree more. Last year I was able to catch a single stage of the TDF in the Pyrenees after a business trip to Europe. I arrived at 5:00 AM in hopes of finding someplace to fit my rental car on the Col. When I got to the peak there was one person awake and about. He was blasting music, already drinking and seemingly dancing around a fire. Very primordial! While there was a lot of downtime, I have never been so excited about bike riding. I had a 30+ lb mountain bike in the back of the car for the next day and after a few hours pulled it out and road it up and down the mountain. After seeing all kinds of people from racers to fully loaded tourers to old women on townies riding the mountain I just had to ride.

Once the caravan arrives it becomes crazy and is really just a haze at this point, but it was the most energetic environment I've ever been part of. As a result my GF and I are heading out this summer to watch the stages in the alps.

try Philly to Lyon or Grenoble France and ride your bike to Alpe D'Huez. You can go to cali any old day