The Tour of California Part 3

The Tour de France has been over for a week. Lance Armstrong didn't win, which didn't surprise me, but his podium finish did. There is one more grand tour left, this year, and I'm hoping that it will be broadcast on the Universal Sports Network channel that, with the new digital converter box, I can actually pick up. Anyway, now that I'm not thinking about cycling every day, it's now or never. If I don't post the third, and final, part to my imaginary Grand tour of California, I'm guessing I never will.
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To recap, with nothing better to do, I've been using Mapquest and former Tours of California to
create an imaginary grand tour for North America. My tour runs in the fall, which allows for snow free mountain stages, and deserts cool enough to prevent heat stroke. If I have an exact start or ending point, I'll give the address or intersection. If not, I've just fed the name of a town into the Mapquest data bank, and let the web site pick a central location. After each stage, I've put a mileage for that stage, followed by cumulative distances for the entire tour to that point. Should anyone be taken enough by my idea for a grand tour of California that they'd like more information, go to Mapquest and feed in the info, setting the filters to avoid highways, and to use the shortest distance. Parts one and two were posted on 7/15/09 and 7/20/09. Part three picks up after stage 16, and a scheduled rest day.
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17. This route connects the high desert city of Victorville with the low desert city of Palm Springs. It starts at the Victor Valley Mall, connects to the 247 at Lucerne Valley, following a fairly flat route to the 62 in Yucca Valley. Then it's down a very steep road with a sharp turn towards Palm Springs on the 111. A fairly easy day, neither long, nor technical with only the steep down slope from high desert to low offering a challenge. 98.5/1839.6
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18. From Banning to Carlsbad going through Idyllwild, Anza and Ramona. From Banning in the desert, it climbs high to the mountain town of Idyllwild, then descends on a long route to the Pacific Ocean at Carlsbad. This should be one of the most exciting stages of the race, with long hard climbs, fast descents, and a seaside finish. 149.9/1989.5
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19. This stage starts at the famous Hotel del Coronado, takes a bridge over San Diego harbor, works it's way through San Diego and it's suburbs. A not very hard climb over the coastal mountains leads back inland and after a fairly rural stretch, ends in the much smaller city of Riverside at Citrus Park. 112.6/2102.1
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20. The final stage that goes through mountains, this time the San Gabriels above Los Angeles. Starting at Magic Mountain Amusement Park in Valencia, the route goes through Santa Clarita, a city that has hosted stages in all four of the Tours of California, takes a back road into the Antelope Valley, heads east, before going over the mountains, passing through Wrightwood. The high point will be at Dawson Saddle, measuring in at over 7,000 feet above sea level. The Angeles Crest Highway will have plenty of ups and downs before starting a long, steep descent to the L.A. metro area, passing through the foothill communities of La Canada and Flintridge, to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. 130.7/2232.8
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21. I've never liked the way the Tour de France ends with a, pretty much, meaningless stage into Paris. My imaginary Tour of California ends with a time trial. If the leaders are all bunched together, separated by only a few minutes, a rider in the top ten could easily take the race on the last day. Starting from the Santa Monica Pier, the route goes over to Venice Blvd., and wends it's way across the city of Los Angeles to the Coliseum, sight of the opening and closing ceremonies from both of Los Angeles Olympics. It would be great to build a temporary roadway on the stadium floor. The riders could enter through the tunnel that connects the parking area with the playing field. Just think 100,000 fans in the seats, following the race on the big screen TVs. And then, one by one, the competitors ride into the stadium. And if that's not possible, there are awfully big parking lots that can accommodate lots of fans. 14.01/2246.9.
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I worked this out one afternoon when it was just too hot to go out and ride my bike. There are plenty of great routes through California, and just over the state line that could have easily been included in my imaginary race. I left out the Solvang time trial, a regular feature of past Tours of California, as well as other time trails in Palo Alto and up Telegraph Hill in San Fransisco. In the northern part of the state, there are great routes from Santa Rosa to Leggett along the Mendocino coast. Too, Leggett to Cape Town to Eureka. Crossing the border, Crescent City, California to Grants Pass, or Coos Bay, Oregon. Either Weed or Mt. Shasta in California to Susanville would pass through some great looking country, perfect for television, and the promotion of tourism. With the permission of the National Parks system, Bishop to a summit finish at 9945 feet Tioga Pass in Yosemite, or a route into Yosemite Valley itself. Bad Water in Death valley, the lowest point in North America to Whitney Portal is already used for a foot race, so running the same route on bikes shouldn't be a problem. And how about Needles to Blythe or straying into Arizona with routes from Parker to Yuma.
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I admit it, I had too much time on my hands when I came up with this idea, which doesn't alter the fact that there is room for a fourth grand tour, and that having a grand tour outside of Europe would build a lot of interest in cycling in the United States. And like it or not, money drives competition, and there is a lot of it here.