TOC Stage 4 - Sierra Grade

Since the Tour Of California has moved to May, the change in seasons has meant the race can now visit more mountainous areas of California, so today's stage from San Jose to Modesto taking in the Sierra Grade climb is a little less significant than in years gone by.  The climb is pretty hefty, 12% for 5 or 6 km makes it a legitimate Cat 1 climb, and if it were at the end of the stage rather than at the very beginning, it may even make HC status, but long story short, it comes way too early in the stage for any GC threats to gain any time, so all it does is create an opportunity for a breakaway to go clear very early in the day. Thats not to say the climb isn't a spectacle, but the fans are what makes it so, and they don't seem to care that the climb comes within the first 15km of a 195km stage, the fun is in getting yourself up the climb, how the pros approach it is up to them.

I awoke to a gorgeous, sunny California Wednesday, which made a welcome change to the miserable grey skies that have accompanied my trip so far.  After grabbing a bite to eat and watching the Giro get turned upside down, I hit the road for the back side of Sierra Grade, which by all accounts is indeed the easy side of the climb, but since I was staying on the eastern side of the hills, I didn't have much choice.  The road out was quite stunning; leafy, winding roads progressively gave way to rolling hills of lush green against the mornings deep blue sky, but since I wasn't so sure of the climb I had in front of me, and I had  a hard set time to meet, I pressed on without stopping to take photos, since I could always stop on the way back.

As I said earlier, the climb up Sierra Grade from San Jose is around 6km long, and rises up 600m or more, with gradients often over 10%, the back side starts from a much higher elevation than San Jose, so it isn't short and steep, but it's a long grind.  The first few hundred meters of elevation gain happen over probably 35 or 40km, with a few steeper pitches here and there, but more often than not it seemed like I was always climbing up though 3 or 4%, making the false flats of 1 or 2% seem like a descent.  The last 200m of elevation gain happens in a similar fashion to the front side, at between 10 and 14%, before leveling off toward the top.



I made the KOM with a good 45 minutes or more to spare, so in hindsight, I should have stopped to take a few more happy snaps, especially considering that by the time the race had passed through and I headed home, the clouds had once again closed in (but it didn't stop me from getting a touch too much sun, I'm feeling it a little now, and have a fresh new set of tan lines on my thighs).  As for the racing, and the atmosphere on the climb, the highlights for me were:

1.)  The Police Officer who recognized the Lion of Flanders flag that a spectator had just down the hill, and gave him a "Go Tom Boonen" over his loudspeaker.  I swear the cops are more knowledgeable when it comes to pro cycling over here than 2/3rds of the spectators.

2.) Sharkey, the San Jose Sharks ice hockey team mascot who was making his presence felt on the upper reaches of the climb.  Locals were jokingly suggesting he might be better off changing sports since the Sharks lost their second playoff game at home yesterday.

3.) Steven Cozza's mustache is a whole other level of awesome.



The racing itself was a fairly stagnant affair.  As predicted, a break of 5 or 6 formed at the bottom of the climb, Garmin and HTC were content to let them go and didn't start the chase until 20 or 30km to go.  The big surprise of the day was Mark Cavendish getting beaten by Francesco Chicci, but it just never looked like HTC got it going on the front early enough. Realistically, Cav will get another shot at getting it right in tomorrows stage to Bakersfield and probably again on Sunday.

Now as for the rest of the days events, if you haven't already checked it out, be sure to read my previous post and once again, thanks Sheila, you really saved my bacon.