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Curse of the Tour of California

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Mike Jacoubowsky

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May 9, 2011, 8:09:43 PM5/9/11
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The Tour of California started in, what, February? And got the sort of
weather one would expect in Northern California during February. Rain and
cold. A few epic stages here & there. So they moved it to April, to get
nicer weather and the opportunity ride at higher altitudes.

http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/USCA1125

The relevant stage is Sunday, May 15th.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA

RicodJour

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May 10, 2011, 1:41:07 AM5/10/11
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On May 9, 8:09 pm, "Mike Jacoubowsky" <Mi...@ChainReaction.com> wrote:
>
> The Tour of California started in, what, February? And got the sort of
> weather one would expect in Northern California during February. Rain and
> cold. A few epic stages here & there. So they moved it to April, to get
> nicer weather and the opportunity ride at higher altitudes.
>
> http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/USCA1125
>
> The relevant stage is Sunday, May 15th.

Dreams and legends are made in such weather. There might be another
Gavia in store for us. Or they could just freeze their balls off and
have a lot of DNFs. Either or.

R

Brad Anders

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May 10, 2011, 3:41:51 PM5/10/11
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On May 9, 10:41 pm, RicodJour <ricodj...@worldemail.com> wrote:

> Dreams and legends are made in such weather.  There might be another
> Gavia in store for us.  

Another glorious mountain stage victory for the US awaits.

Mike Jacoubowsky

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May 11, 2011, 2:15:37 AM5/11/11
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The forecast gets updated every couple of hours, and every couple of
hours it gets worse.

High of 38 degree & snow. Low of 29 during the early morning. Rain the
day prior, thus ice likely. If the stage were just three days earlier,
the high would have been 66F. And sunny.

As much as I enjoy the race beginning in Northern California (where I
live), you gotta wonder if it makes sense. The weather in Southern
California is absolutely better, hands down, during winter & spring than
Northern California. Don't get me wrong; it's very nice here, and our
idea of terrible weather is almost laughably nice compared to what most
of the country gets. But for an epic bike race, it's just not
predictable enough to count on, particularly if you want to include the
Sierras.

This isn't Italy; cycling and cycling fans are nowhere near as die-hard
because we've always had it pretty easy. The "fun" of hiking up a long
road into the mountains while it's snowing just isn't that appealing to
most. We're wimps. We expect people to feel sorry for us when the
richest of the rich have their houses washed into the Pacific Ocean
while the rest of the country is dealing with tornados and floods.

This year's ToC has already had two stages altered substantially due to
landslides (one of which, admittedly, was in Southern California) and
now I just gotta wonder what sort of contingency plans they have in
place for the Lake Tahoe stage.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com


Anton Berlin

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May 11, 2011, 4:20:47 PM5/11/11
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So if you're unable to watch the Giro there's an option for you just
slightly better than the local Tuesday night citizens race.

Anton Berlin

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May 11, 2011, 4:40:46 PM5/11/11
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They are even using images of douches not even in the race to promote
it. Pathetic.

http://i52.tinypic.com/2rqbv9h.jpg

RicodJour

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May 11, 2011, 6:44:46 PM5/11/11
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That picture was selected by popular vote. I believe the dental twins
voted several thousand times each. It's all about the good dentition.

R

RicodJour

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May 16, 2011, 3:43:05 PM5/16/11
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Or....they could just bail on the day entirely. Sigh.

R

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