The Bakersfield city council must be awash in extra cash to offer because they somehow landed the TT. Living on the central coast, I am very disappointed that the race entirely misses some of the most scenic roads in the US. No way in hell am I driving out to Bakersfield, a city which would likely be voted the armpit of California. I was trying to think of a worse place to hold a stage but am hard pressed.
Agreed on all accounts.
Bakersfield has some pretty epic climbs outside the city borders, but I’m not too sure about a TT there…
South Central might be worse
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Obviously never been to Oakland:)
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Obviously never been to Oakland:)
At least in “South Los Angeles” or Oakland, you can drive about 10 minutes and be in a nice area. In Bakersfield, you are miles away from anything remotely nice. I hope everyone brings an extra lock for their bikes.
maybe they could loop around that massive cattle stockyard complex towards I-5 just for some extra regional ‘flavor’… You could do an entire 40K and not escape the stank.
And don’t forget that central valley beauty spot of Clovis! I was also hoping with a May date we might see more Sierra Nevada and coastal routes. I guess it really comes down to $. Here in Santa Rosa, the city has to come up with $250K to house and feed the teams leading up to day one start. The big Levi Gran Fondo was a fund raiser for that and local chambers of commerce are helping as well.
I am really looking forward to seeing all the teams come out here prior to the race for training. I recall last year seeing BMC go practically right by my house in Windsor…that was pretty cool.
The Bakersfield city council must be awash in extra cash to offer because they somehow landed the TT. Living on the central coast, I am very disappointed that the race entirely misses some of the most scenic roads in the US. No way in hell am I driving out to Bakersfield, a city which would likely be voted the armpit of California. I was trying to think of a worse place to hold a stage but am hard pressed.
Indeed! '09 was downtown LA and that sucked. Last year was back in Solvang. Awesome vibe, attracts a ton of cyclists from all over to ride the TT course before the race, people hanging out in the town, my wife buys about 6 x 18" struedels to hand out to friends…just awesome. Trading that for Bakersfield? My camp will likely skip this stage and ride in Sequoia Nat Forest instead.
The back half of the tour is pretty epic though. Palmdale to Big Bear was featured in '09 and Ontario to Baldy will be the same stage as last year, just with a different (not by much) starting location. The Baldy stage is awesome, especially the crowds from the village to the ski lifts.
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Several years ago team high road based their lead up to TOC about a mile from my home. They couldn’t have been better ambassadors for the sport out on the roads and at the local coffee shop post-ride. They did a charity ride at the end of the week and all the big guys - hincapie, Rogers, kirchen - showed and were chatting it up the whole ride. I am going out on a limb and guessing neither Garmin nor leopard-Shack will be doing a Fresno/Bakersfield camp this spring.
Every tweet from ATOC today has been about the heat, forecasted to be 91’. Meanwhile, in Solvang, it’s 74’. Total fail.
- Victorville
- Stockton
- Hayward (like Oakland without the charm)
- Hollister
- Baker
- Turlock
Bakersfield definitely is in the top 10, though.
i was just in bako 4 days ago. for the bike riding.
i was there, with a couple of buddies, for 2 days of riding. the first day was both sides of breckenridge road. well, sort of. we camped about halfway up breckenridge road’s east side, up from walker basin, then rode over the pass, down to bakersfield, then flipped it around and rode back.
mind, best if you hit the central valley early, before it gets hot. but, if you hit the weather right, i challenge you to tell me what road proximate to your home is better riding than breckenridge road, unless you’re anti-climbing (the empty-of-traffic one-lane road starts at 500’ elevation and goes to 6700’ elevation).
on day-2, we climbed sherman pass from the kern river gorge.
but, from bakersfield, through woody and glennville, you can climb portuguese pass, or you can ascend shirley meadows, or you can ride through california hot springs and climb parker pass. or you can make loops out of any of these.
i don’t think the riding right in bakersfield is good. but, breckenridge road, or bena road up through caliente and up to walker basin via either of a couple of directions (both of which are epic) is right out of bakersfield. the riding starting northeast of bakersfield is truly spectacular, but, requires a half-hour drive to glennville.
it is frankly hard for me to think of a city closer to truly outstanding road cycling than bakersfield.
Obviously never been to Oakland:)
Hey now, don’t be bashing Oaktown. I hella love Oakland. I’ve only been to Bakersfield twice (for cx racing) and I can’t imagine living there. It just seems awfully bleak.
Like mountain biking? Oakland has that.
My daughter’s school, no one getting shot here.
The line for the best fried chicken sandwich, yep its in Oakland too.
Yeah, what a horrible place…
Every tweet from ATOC today has been about the heat, forecasted to be 91’. Meanwhile, in Solvang, it’s 74’. Total fail.
You must really love to complain to dig up a 6 month old thread to add that.
…and I was replying to my own reply as the OP!
I was spoiled by the first few races finishing near SLO and am now left with nothing but my own bitterness and self-pity. That, and people from here commonly bemoan the infestation of Bakos that occurs every summer.
I vote for 60k TT GMR/east fork/39 next year.
Flat enough to still use a TT bike but hilly enough to even out climbers/pure TTers.
Hey you don’t know me but you don’t like me
You say you care less how I feel
But how many of you that sit and judge me
Have ever walked the streets of Bakersfield?
source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/d/dwightyoakamlyrics/streetsofbakersfieldlyrics.html
I vote for 60k TT GMR/east fork/39 next year.
Flat enough to still use a TT bike but hilly enough to even out climbers/pure TTers.
I’ve always thought a great HIM would be to swim at Bonelli, bike as Montrose long course to 39/EF/GMR, descend GMR, return to Bonelli, then half marathon trail run as a combination of the Oly course and some of the harder trails that a couple mtn bike races hit out there.
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Good old Bakersfield. Thirty years ago, when I was a sophomore in high school, my dad’s Wisconsin job transferred out there. We followed it. School semesters didn’t match up, so I spent most of January riding out south of town on my Schwinn Voyageur. The Okies in their trucks didn’t much care for that. A fat old dog on one of the farms out that way chased me most every day. One of those Okies ran over the dog doing 65 mph one day and never slowed down. The farmer came out and we petted the dog 'til it died. I missed that dog.
Bussed tables at the Stockdale Country Club. Kitchen work, in those days, was the first stop on the outside for homies just out of prison. Somebody wouldn’t show, and you’d hear a few days later he was back in the can. Buck Owens used to turn up in the Grill Room from time to time. Nice guy.
Families with money sent their kids to private schools. That wasn’t us, so I went to the best public high school. The textbook for my sophomore college track math course was the same one I’d had in 8th grade back home. Two kids I knew died - one wrapped his car around a power pole outside town; another hung himself from one. There are a lot of power poles in Bakersfield.
I ran track with a couple of the fastest hurdlers I’ve ever seen, before or since. I hope they made it to graduation.
Three months later, I was back in Wisconsin.
Good old Bakersfield.