Tour de Cure-Long Beach, CA: 04-29-2012 06:00 AM - 04:00 PM

[MarkAJ]

We were told that two thousand riders made this event. It was big this year but it did not look like that much to me. There is ample parking close by so that is never a problem for anyone. They also validate the parking. The ADA group did another good job this year. They have really improved in the ten years I have been riding for them.

The SO and I arrived with HerbM just about 6 a.m. and checked in easily. Our team of 28 riders got their own canopy area on the grounds along with many others. The food vendor was Wahoo with plenty of it and it was all good. They had a band that from what little I heard was okay. I picked up a bunch of free bike food they were giving out. You cannot have enough of that. The Park adjacent to the Queen Mary called the Harry Bridges Memorial Park was we were all staged (start and finish) and it had a lot of high energy.

There was heavy cloud cover most of the ride with a start temperature of 56. I wore no arm warmers or vest and was fine all day. There was a cool breeze that picked up to a strong head wind on most of the ride. The only place we started to overheat and it was more like heavy humidity was when we were climbing Palos Verdes Drive East and that was because we had no breeze.

I got in the mix with several groups of riders over the 98 miles. Mostly I was drafting to stay out of the head wind, but I did pull and made a good effort. The pace was high all day. This was because I did not want to be left out in the wind by myself so I worked hard to stay with these groups.

All the real climbing was over by 50 miles although it was work with the pace and the head wind. In the early miles as in less than 20 miles we hit a climb that was short but popped 20% grade. Everyone around me was ready and able for that climb. Shortly after that everyone was coming down a street into a right hand turn which I saw was another short but big grade climb. I dropped into the front small ring but many others got caught in the wrong gears and could not turn the cranks. So this got messy with some having to stop in place.

Albeit a short time period I got to see many returning team mates, friends and one or two riders out on the road I knew. I did not get to talk much with all of them but I enjoyed seeing them again this year.

BTW collectively our team raised over $23,000.00 for The America Diabetes Association.

98 miles; 3,474 feet

[Biker395]

I was out there on PV today too. Beautiful day. I think I'll do the TdC next year ... it looked like everyone was having fun.

[MarkAJ]

TDC Century Clips 2012

[JTGraphics]

Was a great day had a good time and good to see you all!
Nice video post more when you get a chance.

[herbm]

http://www.meyerowitz.net/tour2012/index.html

[JTGraphics]

Nice photos Herb thanks for sharing!
Herb any chance of getting hi resolution files photos you posted.

[M2M]

good job there guys - I wish I could get myself back into the "ride for a cause" mode - the MS ride a few years back realy turned me off to these kind of events
( too much pressure to raise the money) - - - I tend to do rides for myself these days -
selfish ? - not sure but, I'm a near death survivor soooooooooo,,,, - I have to give myself a bit of slack

[pmc]

Thanks for the video Mark and thanks to Herb for the pictures. I was out there with my brother doing a modified version of the metric century. It was a good day!!.