Stage 3 for the Amgen Tour of California starts and ends in the city of San Jose on Tuesday, May 12, 2015. I have a press pass and need your help deciding where to park myself for photos. Can I make it to both the start and to the top Mt. Hamilton for photos?
The race begins tomorrow morning in San Jose’s East Side at 3050 Berryessa Road at 10:45 AM. Yellow shows the route the race will take, going north into Alameda County to skirt the cities of Pleasanton and Livermore before returning to Santa Clara County in Mines Road. The peloton will then go up the “back” side of Mount Hamilton.
They will travel 75 miles with three different Category 4 climbs before hitting the HC summit on Mt Hamilton less than two and a half hours.
The green line shows my planned route from the race start to the summit of Hamilton. I’ll take about two and a half hours to bike those 21 miles.
Did you catch that? The race, traveling 3.5 times my distance and with three times the elevation gain, will beat me to the top of Hamilton. Boo. I can’t make both the start and Mt Hamilton, so I may have to skip this and just go straight to the race finish on Metcalf Road. My other option is to just go straight to the top of Hamilton. There may also be a media shuttle from the race start that I should check on, but I’ll need to find a place to lock my bike on the East Side of San Jose.
My question for you: Absent a media shuttle, should I choose Option 1, or Option 2?
- Option 1: Go to race start on Berryessa Road, skip Hamilton, then go to race end on Metcalf Road and hang out.
- Option 2: Bike to the top of Hamilton to participate in the KOM festivities there.
What are your Stage 3 plans, race fans?
I imagine all of the parking on Mount Hamilton will be grabbed much earlier than you can get there if you have to be at the start. There will also be a lot of bicyclists riding up the mountain to watch the riders pass by, so racing up in your car may not be the safest idea.
I would love to go to the top of Mount Hamilton to check out festivities up there. but also keeping in mind with what Kylee said -up there might be a zoo. I know you’re biking so parking would really be an issue. In my past experience the petalon moves so fast I couldn’t even get a selfie without going out into the middle of the road – WHOA!!! – I digress, I couldn’t get a picture without it looking v. blurred – prolly just me though!! so in that respect I would love to try to get to a start finish. either way you’re winning – have a great time and I’ll look for your post here.