2008 Tour of California Stage 3 on Sierra

Partick, Dane, and I rode from Sunol along Calaveras road (2007 route to Sierra) around to Sierra and climbed the hard way. It's a long ass hill, w/ 2000 ft of climbing and kicks up to 15% almost immediately with only a few breaks below 10%. I remember a sign near the bottom that said 5km to KOM but that was above the base (need to check Garmin for actual length of climb). Patrick and Dane rode ahead to the top. I kept my head down and suffered. It poured earlier in the day, and we were all freaked out about having to ride in the rain. Luckily, the roads dried and the rain didn't come out. The conditions at the top were great. Slightly cool but the sun peaked out from the clouds and kept us mostly warm. I brought a change of clothes so I wouldn't get the chills standing around in my sweat ladended underlayers and top. I probably biked up with an extra 10 lbs of clothes, food, water, tools. Don't do this next year! We waited for about 1/2 hour before the riders came through. You could tell they were getting close 1st by the 4 helicopters and then by the lead convey. The first 30 or so riders came up in pairs and it was strung out. Finally, the grupetto came through with only a few stragglers after that. We rode down the same course as the race and turned back on to Calaveras road. Luckily mostly downhill. What an awesome day.