Tour of California will stop in Santa Cruz - Santa Cruz Sentinel

A local organizing committee for the Tour of California announced Wednesday that Santa Cruz has been chosen as a stop along the annual multi-day professional cycling race's 2009 route from Northern to Southern ...

[Richie Rich]

Don't let them ride on Mission Street.

[treehugger]

yippee and yahoo! The down side will be the traffic disruptions needed for the race to safely enter town. If they organize it anything like the Tour de France we can expect whatever roads they use to be closed for half a day or more....

I like the sport, I'd like to watch part of a leg of the tour, but I also know how frustrated I get when there's an event near the beach that messes with the traffic flow because of road closures.

[Becky]

I wonder where all these people are going to stay? It's not like we have any nice hotels except for about 3 down near the wharf.
I hope that they sure do like homeless people.
Maybe the drug dealers will do a brisk business during that leg of the race.
The hookers along Ocean Street will surely see an increase in profits.
Will the city consider only 2 people getting stabbed that night a success?

[SCTrollBuster]

I hope they speak spanish :-)

[Bill]

The eyes of the nation will surely be upon us.
Are we ready for that?
Do we even know how to be ready for that?

[Wescruz]

B.F.D. that says it all!

[gustafgrapple]

What a bunch of whiny jerks. I knew that if I looked here at the comments I would find a bunch of unhappy people. I am happy to see the race finally come to Santa Cruz. We live in a great town, so why don't the rest of you take your 'empty beer bottles' and move to San Jose.

[Sabella]

gustafgrapple wrote:

What a bunch of whiny jerks. I knew that if I looked here at the comments I would find a bunch of unhappy people. I am happy to see the race finally come to Santa Cruz. We live in a great town, so why don't the rest of you take your 'empty beer bottles' and move to San Jose.

Oh puh-leezzzzzzzzz....S.C. is what it is
A "Sad" place that refuses to grow up !

[JJJ]

up bonny doon, down alba road, through ben lomond, up and down quail hollow, zayante to graham hill to ocean st to the finish!

that would rock!

[JJJ]

realistically, up bonny doon to pine flat then down empire grade to high st to the 'gateway' on river st, thats a more likely route, there's room to stage the finish there, and it would minimize traffic disruptions.

folks, I've watched the past 2 years of this race, with the exception of the immediate zone around the start or finish, most road disruptions are quite short, the whole pack comes through in about a one hour window.... motorcyclists and support cars (and CHP) clear the route in front of them, and more bikes and support vehicles tail the route, the closure isn't much more than a couple mile long rolling roadblock, and these guys ride /fast/

[john doe]

I don't have a problem with them riding down Highway 1 from Frisco and into our town. Let them turn off at Swift Street and follow West Cliff drive down to the beach.

Shutting down one route for a few hours beats the hell out of zig-zagging all over the county and causing a traffic mess throughout the entire region. Much of the area involved is miles from that city limits sign near Western Drive. Let the county sheriff deal with their own crowd control issues in Davenport and Bonny Doon...

[Pro Beach Access]

WELCOME AMGEN TOUR! This is great news.

[Realist]

Hooray! The city crying poor and going broke is to pay $100,000+ so even more law breaking cyclists can invade the town. I can't wait!

[whatever]

this is fantastic news. i can't wait.