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Amgen Bike Race California

Yesterday the Tour of California bike race came to our town (Aptos, in Santa Cruz County) from San Francisco. Some of the best riders from around the world completed the 2nd stage of the 115 mile road course. A great race!!!

You might ask, why post a bike race on a BMW motorcycle forum? Well, a lot of the support vehicles (tires, television cameras etc.) are made up of an assortment of BMW motorcycles. It hit me how skilled the motorcycle drivers have to be to stay out of the way of the bikes on some of the narrow descents they made yesterday while riding two up with the camera man sitting backwards filming. Speaking of skill, looking through a view finder for 4 1/2 hours looking backward without loosing your cookies on a narrow road would have to rate pretty high on the skill level!!! Any how, being at street level and seeing first hand the speed that the bike and motorcycle riders travel at on the regular roadway without special barriers was amazing. Television coverage does not do it real justice!
 
Right on! Motorcycle race officials are a highly skilled subset of the hobby. Not only do they ride with supreme awareness of their own safety, but also with the safety of all those racers on their tails. Didn't I read an article in the MOA about that in the last year or two?
 
Almost all of the motorcycle forums have posts about the race, one way or another. A few years ago a number of the escorts, or what they are called were on advrider. Since the pass thru' the bay area, there was a post on southbayridersforum.
Also bmwsporttouring.
There are many who ride a motorcycle, and a bicycle. I'm one of those.
And there are some who just like to complain about the bicycles or the congestion in the streets from the race.
dc
 
Here today:)

Yep, they all converged on Clovis,CA today. Some of those pedal bikes are BMW expensive too! Randy:thumb
 
Right on! Motorcycle race officials are a highly skilled subset of the hobby. Not only do they ride with supreme awareness of their own safety, but also with the safety of all those racers on their tails. Didn't I read an article in the MOA about that in the last year or two?

I have only been a member for a year. I will have to look up that story about the race officials. The support people for the race, including the CHP (Calif. Highway Patrol) showed some great skill and speed ahead of the race at the finish line to make sure the road was clear. That being said, the 40-60 front bike riders that came around a sharp 90 degree trun in a pack, at a high rate of speed, with out one crash was amazing at the finish line. I have watched bike racing on the TV, but to witness the speed these guys are traveling at in person really facinated me as a bike rider and motorcyleist! Good stuff!!!
 
I work with Ironman a couple times a year. You ought to be in the middle of all that sometime. At the end of the day, when you're back on your bike alone, you get the most gratifying feeling that, Hey, we did it! And nobody got hurt again! But then you also have to realize that now the traffic rules again apply to you, and that sticker on the windshield means nothing.
 
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