Yesterday morning, I left my sunny, cloudless, 75°F Noe Valley neighborhood to join Jeff and Bryan 2 miles to the north in Pacific Heights to watch a portion of the T-Mobile International. Fortunately, I had called ahead, and been told to bundle up. When I arrived, Pacific Heights (as is typical in summer months) was enshrouded with fog, it was a chilling 50°F, and a harsh wind whipped through the stately mansions, making it feel even colder. Where else can you go only 2 miles and experience a natural temperature drop of 25°+? To get a feel for what it was like earlier in the morning, see this shot from the womens’ race, which started at 7:30am.
The view from our spot was incredible, which I owe entirely to Jeff and Bryan for getting there before the crack of dawn to stake out the location. We stood alongside the barricades at the top of Fillmore Street, and watched the men make the steep climb between Vallejo and Broadway. I never knew a person could come up such a steep incline on a bicycle that fast. And after four previous blocks of uphill climbing. And the men did it eight times. The block we were on may not be the steepest hill in San Francisco, but it’s certainly close.
If anyone happened to see the event yesterday on TV, or saw some highlights after it was over, they may have even seen Jeff. He was interviewed twice by local SF stations covering the race. That ham.
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that happens in vancouver sometimes too, where it’s a totally different temp in different areas (especially anywhere elevated or further from the water).
i’ll have to remember that about SF too, and bring varing temp clothes, since i’ll be there in a couple weeks (staying in the apparently warmer-than-the-rest noe valley).
thanks for the race report doug. much appreciated for the east coast roadies who read your stuff but can’t always make it westward for all of these great races.
i was looking at the course map and noticing that the course was about five miles from left to right on your radio dial. so if you lost 25°F in two miles does that mean the racers had to deal with 75°F on one side of the course and 50°F on the other? that would give a brother/sister hypothermia - which could explain why only 54 of 137 cyclists actually finished the race. 13 times up an 18% grade aside.
Glad you enjoyed the race. I understand that our very own Nicole Cooke won the women’s race. Wales is very proud of her!
Owen: I would bet the temp throughout the course was pretty consistent. Most of it wound through streets fairly close to the bay, which is where all the fog lingers in summer months. I came from 2 miles to the south, mid-city, where it’s naturally warmer and sunnier most of the time.
oh, you must not have been to Utah. Wait five minutes and the weather will change. It’s kinda like clicking on the web browser re-load button. Sometimes it’s the same, other times it’s totally different.
If you travel a few minutes up any one of the wonderful canyons that make up the Rocky Mountains, your temperature could change -25 degrees. It’s great. I love an environment like that.
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