The Tour is Over :(

Epic is the word of the day. That's how I would describe the ToC this year. With it's fourth year running, it was by far the biggest most star packed field yet. Was it Lance? He definitely played a big role in peoples' turnout and excitement levels. I have to admit that had it not been for him I'm not sure I would have made the adventure myself. Either way though, make no mistake that this race has found a place in the pro cycling calendar. Give it a few more years, and we'll be talking Alpe d'Huez crowds.

But now that it's day two post ToC, I wanted to take a look back on the week and see what I could do different for next year, and also give a breakdown of how I did it in case any of you adventurous folk want to go next year!

But first, here is some video footage from the final two days as promised.

The first is from Stage 7 of my attempt at trying to keep pace with a group of riders. Needless to say, even going up mountains they haul!


2009 Tour of California: Stage 7 Climb P1 from Daniel Glaser on Vimeo.

Next is the pelaton coming up the climb on the same stage. Just to give you an idea of the madness.


2009 Tour of California: Stage 7 P2 from Daniel Glaser on Vimeo.

This next one is from the final stage on the beyond category climb of Palomar Mountain. Incredible the amount of support vehicles. And people say cycling is green!


2009 Tour of California: Stage 8 P1 from Daniel Glaser on Vimeo.

And finally, this poor rider was the last one all alone a good 15 minutes from the rest of the pack. Just shows more of what it takes to be a pro cyclist.


2009 Tour of California: Stage 8 P2 from Daniel Glaser on Vimeo.

Planning

As far as pre-trip prep, I did the absolute bare minimum. I didn't know where I wanted to be at each stage, so I wanted to leave it wide open. This was key as I quickly learned that the best spots to be at each stage are not consistent. I started out trying to make both the start and finish, which was incredible as that is where the crowds and festivals are. But the last few stages I would camp at the KOM points so I could get up close and personal as these are the slowest points speed wise for the riders.

Lodging

I decided to split my nights between hotels and camping. The more I could camp, the better off I'd be since getting a room for a mere 8 hours to rest your head can be pretty expensive and would have blown the budget out of the water had I done it every night.

So I ended up with three nights in hotels, and four camping out. I'm not sure if I could have done this if it wasn't for the Element, as I constructed a bed in the back that was just as comfy as home! I suppose if you have a hatchback or something similar you could do the same.

I found that my nights of camping were much more fun since you are surrounded on the top of mountains by people just as crazy. Luckily this isn't France, otherwise I would have had to have been out there a solid week before the riders came through!

As for hotels, I ended up staying in San Luis Obispo, Modesto, and Escondido. You'd be surprised at how easy it is to find a nice clean hotel with the iPhone. I would usually just check on Orbitz as I was rolling into town for availability and customer ratings, and then go from there. Total hotel costs ended up being $177.08.

Food

I did a huge shopping spree on my way out of Oregon before the race, knowing I was going to be camping out. I definitely bought too much, as I still have stuff leftover. I'm sure I could have spent half as much and been fine...next time. So I ate cheap most of the time, and then splurged on a good dinner or lunch every now and then. Another thing I could have saved on is water had I bought it in bulk beforehand. Total food cost = $178.10.

Transportation

As much as I would have loved to have biked the whole thing, the stages were just too far apart. It was a struggle some days, especially through L.A., just to get to the next stage in a car. They seriously need to look into getting some kind of shuttle service between the finish and start cities.

So cycling is generally looked upon as the "green" thing to do, but such was definitely not the case for this race. I ended up logging 1,489.5 miles for the eight days. With gas hovering around $2.15 - $2.40 per gallon, my grand total for transportation was $104.62. That's only $0.07 per mile...not sure you can get much cheaper than that!

Total Trip Cost

When it was all over, my tab was $459.80. That comes out to $57.48 per day. Definitely well worth the eight days of racing heaven that I had!

What's Next?

Here for a few days in Oregon, where I can rest up before the huge trip to Thailand! I cannot believe it's only a few days away. This is incredible. Another dream of mine about to be fulfilled. Time to start packing!