A major international bike tour appears to be developing in Northern California, which will include the American River Parkway in the 2007 version, and it looks like once the kinks are worked out we will have a new and real wonderful biking event in the area.
An excerpt.
Wheel deal for Sacramento
By Blair Anthony Robertson -- Bee Staff Writer Published 12:01 am PDT Thursday, July 20, 2006
Organizers of the eight-day Amgen Tour of California bicycle race are expected to announce today that the event will visit Sacramento in 2007.
The news, coming in the final week of the Tour de France, signals an opportunity for Sacramento to be a focal point in an event that exceeded most people's expectations in its first year this past February. In fact, many in Sacramento's thriving cycling community felt left out, as the Tour of California route largely hugged the coastline.
"It's a statewide event and it's got national and international exposure," said John McCasey, executive director of the Sacramento Sports Commission. "We figured that if they're going to do something big in the state of California, we need to be at the table."
The 2006 tour featured all of America's top road racing cyclists and several top European teams with Tour de France pedigrees. It drew more than 1 million spectators -- unlike Le Tour, few if any were clad only in Speedos and sneakers.
Like the much grander and historic event in France, the Tour of California is intended to be more than a grueling professional bike race -- it's a rolling cultural festival that brings money to local economies, gives companies sponsorship and promotional opportunities and allows tourism bureaus to show off to a well-heeled audience.
The 2006 race began in San Francisco with a short prologue, or individual race against the clock, that attracted about 200,000 people. Two days later, when the cyclists stormed into Santa Rosa for a finishing circuit through town, 50,000 fans turned out.
"It was amazing. We've never seen anything like it," said Mo Renfro, executive director of the Santa Rosa Convention and Visitors Bureau. "We're not one of the big gateway cities, so it was enormous exposure for us.
In 2007, Sacramento will host the finish of a stage that begins in Santa Rosa, some 100 miles away, race organizers said.
