You don't have to go to France to appreciate cycling at it finest! Walk your dogs or, better yet, ride your
bike from Land Park or Midtown to be awed at the sight of bicyclists coming at you at breakneck speed! You are even invited to cycle the route yourself on February 14th at 11:30AM. The prologue of professionals will take the same 2.4 mile route later in the day.
Sacramento has the unbelievable honor to be the starting point for Amgen Tour, the largest cycling event in the United States. The Amgen Tour is 800 miles long, starting in Sacramento on February 14th and ending in Escondido on February 22nd.
Lance Armstrong is racing with the Astana Cycling Team (a Kazakhstan based team). The leader is Johan Bruyneel, who was Armstrong's team director for all of the Tour de France victories from 1999-2005.
Now, there are certainly streets to be avoided. Beginning at 8PM Friday, 10th Street between N Street and K Street and L Street between 9th and 13th Streets will be closed. Starting at 8AM on Saturday, there will be no parking or traffic will be allowed on 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th Streets between L and N Streets. Also, there will be "rolling closures" for pre-race events starting at 9AM. 10:30AM and 11:30AM Saturday. For a map of the closures, go to www.cityofsacramento.org/amgen/downtown.html.
If you wish to view the race, it encompasses Capitol Mall between 4th Street and 9th Street, 9th Street between Capitol and N Street, N Street between 9th and 19th Street, 19th Street between N Street and L Street and L Street between 11th Street and 19th Street.
So, hopefully, I will see you there! Don't blink though...they are going VERY fast!
Photo from Flickr by brooxy28 (Lance) joguldi (heart bike)
www.PaulaSwayne.com
CA DRE# 01188158
