Nevada City mobilizes for Stage 1 of Amgen; fans to get close look at racers

Lance Armstrong will be among the racers who will be in Nevada City on Sunday, May 16, for Stage 1 of the 2010 Amgen Tour of California bike race. Here, he is shown winning the 2009 Nevada City Bicycle Classic.

“It’s huge. It’s exciting. I think it’s going to be one of the biggest events ever in Nevada City,” said Ralph Joiner, who is in charge of managing the 450 volunteers who will be working this Sunday in Nevada City, Grass Valley and Auburn.

The activities preceding Stage 1 of the 2010 Amgen Tour of California bicycle race will fill downtown Nevada City’s streets with vendors, national media the racers themselves, who will begin appearing here more than two hours before the eight-day race starts.

“It’s huge. It’s exciting. I think it’s going to be one of the biggest events ever in Nevada City,” said Ralph Joiner, who is in charge of managing the 450 volunteers who will be working that day in Nevada City, Grass Valley and Auburn.

Amgen’s Tour of California traditionally features the top bicyclists and professional teams in the world. This year’s race starts in Nevada City for the first time and includes seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, who captured the 2009 Nevada City Classic championship before an estimated 30,000 enthusiastic fans.

Duane Strawser, the local coordinator for the race, said an estimated 130 riders from 16 teams will line up near the intersection of Broad and Pine streets at 11:45 a.m. on Sunday, May 16, for the start of the race.

Approximately three-and-half to four hours later the racers will finish Stage 1 in Sacramento after a 104-mile ride that takes them through Nevada City and Grass Valley.

The day, however, starts at 7 a.m. when volunteers from as far away as Australia pick up their credentials and help race organizers prepare for what should be an onslaught of humanity that will fill the streets of downtown Nevada City and the route through town.

“I’m feeling good, but a little pressed. There are still lots of last-second detail that need to be worked out,” Strawser said before going to an Amgen meeting on April 30.

While there may be some loose ends after the months of preparation for the race, many more are nailed down, according to organizers.

Downtown Nevada City and the surrounding area will be sealed off to vehicle traffic to make room for 40 to 50 vendors here for a Lifestyle Festival, VIP facilities, parking for an estimated 200 media outlets and race officials, and for the course itself.

Strawser said the racers will begin arriving as early as 8:30 a.m. and some have indicated they will eat breakfast in Nevada City.

By 9:30 a.m., he said they should all be gathering on Coyote Street from the post office to Nevada City Engineering where they will be getting massages from trainers, warming up on stationary bicycles and doing other preparations for the race.

They are expected to be on Coyote Street until around 11:30 a.m. when they will go the VIP tent in front of the old Broadstreet Furnishings building on Broad Street to register for the race. 

Joiner said in the time before the race fans will have an opportunity to not only see the professional racers but even ask for autographs when the opportunity presents itself.

“They are here to please the fans,” he said. “They are going to be part of it.” 

The racers start on Broad Street and go toward the United Methodist Church before looping around the downtown, crossing the Pine Street Bridge and connecting with Zion Avenue and picking up speed on their way to Ridge Road and Grass Valley.

“It’s going to start like a parade through the city and then they will start flying on Zion Street,” said Joiner, adding that 250 volunteers will be stationed throughout Nevada City doing a multitude of essential tasks.

The old Broadstreet Furnishings building will be the media center for journalists from around the world. Television crew trucks will be part of what should be an immense media presence. Versus network has the exclusive rights to do the live broadcast of the spectacle.

In order to accommodate all the personnel it takes to launch the race, organizers have laid claim to virtually every parking spot and lot near and in downtown.

“It will be impossible to find a parking spot. We’re practically begging the volunteers to walk here,” said Joiner, who advises spectators to arrive early and park at the Rood Center or along streets not along the race route.

City street crews, meanwhile, have been busy maintaining the race route even as rain, snow and sleet pounded the area in the final days of April. 

Public Works Director Vern Taylor said his crews have recently been busy patching potholes on Sacramento and Zion streets and doing some overlay work on the top of Broad Street.

 Previously, the city spent around $15,000 doing an overlay project on South Pine Street.

The city’s plans, however, to resurface Broad Street before the race with $120,000 in federal stimulus funds has been dashed by the wet winter. City Engineer Bill Falconi said the city has received approximately 62 inches of rain this winter and that along with the recent cool weather makes it impossible to tackle that project.

“The problem is that the ground is really saturated,” he said.

Regardless of the elements on May 16, the race will start on schedule, Strawser said.

“It’s like a football game,” he said. “It goes on no matter what.”