Scouting Ride for TdF Frazier Park

It's free. It's fun. It's tough. It's fully SAG'd. (Did I say it's free?). It's back.

The latest edition of the Tour de Francis will be at Frazier Park (a new route) on May 31. The clubs that battled for supremacy last December are back to reprise their friendly rivalry: SFVBC (San Fernando) , MMCC (the orange boys of Mira Mesa) , and of course AdoboVelo. Of course there are other clubs represented.

The scenery is simply spectacular:
Photo credit: I "stole" these beautiful photos from Bernd Strahle's cycling blog La Vuelta

Below is a photo "heartbreak" hill. (That's Bernd Strahle climbing the hill). It's on Mile 80.

This is a new route for AdoboVelos (but it's familiar to anyone who has ridden PlanetUltra's "Heartbreak One-Hundred").

On May 17th, we'll do a "scouting" ride of the exact route, self-supported (no SAG support car) with tour director Francis Ignacio and other riders (Allan Messara, William Aligue, Ricky Herrera, myself). We'll give you a report after the ride. By the way, PlanetUltra will hold its Heartbreak Hundred on May 24th! So it will be a "busy" route in the next 3 weeks.

Cycling routes can be categorized into 3 types: "out-and-then-back" or "roundtrip" (where the trip back to the starting line is a re-tracing of the trip out), "loop" (where you do not go over the same roads on the return trip back to the starting line; You cannot U-Turn to shorten the ride), and "A-to-B" (where the Finish line is a different city from the Starting line, just like a Stage in Tour de France).

This new route is a loop. That means if there's no SAG cars and you get tired, you cannot just make a U-turn to shorten the ride. You have to complete the ride.

It is 100 miles long, with 8,500 feet of total climbing. In comparison, here's how it stacks up with other TdF's and popular AdoboVelo routes. It's easier than Castaic TdF, a little tougher than the Big Bear TdF.

Castaic TdF , 100 miles, 9,500 feet total climbing
Big Bear TdF, 76 miles, 6,500 feet total climbing
Balcom Cyn TdF, 80 miles, 1,000 feet total climbing
Dana Pointe, 80 miles, flat + rollers
East Fork, 80 miles, flat + rollers
Mt Baldy, 60 miles, 5,500 feet total climbing
Mt Wilson/Upper Tujunga, 60 Miles, 6,000 feet total climbing
Breathless Agony, 112 miles, 12,000 feet total climbing

We'll give you a scouting report when we're done.

“Some people like to climb a mountain. Others like to sit down and look at it.”