Breakaway Ride Official Website

Selena G.
San Francisco, CA

  (07-16-2010)

"This year\'s breakaway ride was held on two different dates with two different stages both of which were the official stages for the Amgen\'s 2010 Tour of California - one stage was in Northern California and the other in Southern California. This review is for the Northern California Stage, Stage 2 of the Tour of California, going from Davis to Santa Rosa (114 miles); the ride was held on April 25, 2010.

This was a great ride and an awesome opportunity to ride the actual stage that the pros ride in the Tour of California- how exciting is that! AND this was a timed ride with 2 KOM/QOM timed climbs - fun! It was a very well organized ride, they had a pre-ride briefing for all riders and for just $25 extra you could get a cycling jersey specially designed for the event. The ride started in Davis and coincided with Davis\'s Bike Hall of Fame grand opening which made for a very exciting weekend. The race was led out by George Hincapie who was riding it with us. The ride left Davis and headed towards Winters and out towards Lake Berryesa. There were plenty of aid stations for the riders along the way and they were packed with tons of goodies! There were also a lot of SAG cars and SRAM cars riding along with us with spare parts in case we needed a fix - it really felt like we were doing the actual tour with such great ride support. After Lake Berryesa we made our way towards Napa. What made this ride that much more exciting was the timed KOM/QOM climbs, the only downside is that the first KOM climb came around mile 90! The first climb was oakville grade in Napa and was a very challenging climb - most people ended up walking their bikes up halfway through the climb if not right from the beginning. After a quick descent we reached KOM Climb 2 which was a more gradual climb but it was longer. It was really fun to do a timed climb and see all the support cars waiting for us and cheering us on once we reached the top. The descent from the second climb was long and very steep. Once we got down it was pretty much smooth sailing from there to Santa Rosa. And once we got to Santa Rosa, burritos awaited us at the finish! I would definitely do this again, it was a great experience and to top it off we were raising funds and awareness for cancer!"

Reviewed by a: First Time Participant for 2010