Dan

A dazzling blue sky, a slight breeze, and with the temperature floating between 65° and 70°, it was a perfect morning in San José for a bike ride.

The “WEBCOR San José King-Of-The-Mountain Ride” is one demanding segment of the upcoming 2007 Amgen Tour of California. Sierra Road is a 3.7-mile, 1830-foot climb, with an average gradient of 10%. Today’s preview climb gave local cyclists a chance to compare their endurance and times against that of the professional racers.

Participants in this mornings race met at City Hall for a pre-ride breakfast, where I spoke with one of the cyclists, Dan of Low-Key Hillclimbs. He was able to answer some of my questions concerning the race.

With the announcement of the May 2008 “San José Classic,” I got the feeling that San José, which was once known as the Valley of Heart’s Delight and is now called the Heart of Silicon Valley, would one day be known as The Heart of California Cycling.

District 3 City Council member and avid triathlete, Sam T. Liccardo, and former City Council member David Pandori, were there dressed to compete. Liccardo –later made the hill climb in just under 27 minutes.

Exchanging my Metroblogging San José card with Duffy Jennings, Vice President of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, helped me gain admittance to the official, and exclusive finish line at the Sierra Hill Summit.

Unless I wished to stay at the summit for an unknown span of time, an in control SJPD Officer told me that as soon as I got my photo of the winner I would have to leave. She wanted me to be ahead of the cyclists before they began their decent down the backside of the climb. Ms. SJPD looked as though she meant business, so I snapped and ran for the car not waiting long enough to get the winners name!

More Photos

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