No Tour of California in Yosemite Park

[CentralCaliBike]

Try liking to mountain bike but living in a place where you can barely throw a rock without hitting a section of land on the edge of a populated area that has been designated as wilderness. You cannot mountain bike there but it is perfectly okay for horses to destroy the trails. It sort of sucks not being able to use what should be great recreational terrain.

That is where I am living right now. Great mountain biking that you can see but not touch.

 

[Anonymous]

Half Dome:

Pave it!!

Angels Landing in Zion:

Pave it!!

The Narrows in Zion:

Pave it!!

Fairyland Trail, Bryce Canyon:

Pave it!!

Actually, maybe just leave the NP's alone now that I remember hiking all of those but the first...okay, maybe you can pave Denali. Freaking bears made the whole place kind of scary anyway...(on a side note, the Narrows hike is one of the best hikes in the US in my opinion.) (on another side note, it is incredibly sad that when you type "Denali" into google, 75% of the images are of a freaking SUV)

 

[Anonymous]

Now that I think about it, pave Arches while you are at it. The first time I went, I parked outside of the park and rode my mountain bike into the park to see the sites. I got to Delicate Arch trial and there was no mountain biking on the trail, so I shouldered my bike, but once, just once, rode about 50 yards and then felt guilty, got off and hid my bike in the bushes. When I got back out, there was a ranger waiting. She was pi$$ed because someone told her I rode the whole trail. No amount of pleading on my part could convince her that I didn't. She gave me a ticket for it. PAVE IT!!!

 

[CentralCaliBike]

Now that I think about it, pave Arches while you are at it. The first time I went, I parked outside of the park and rode my mountain bike into the park to see the sites. I got to Delicate Arch trial and there was no mountain biking on the trail, so I shouldered my bike, but once, just once, rode about 50 yards and then felt guilty, got off and hid my bike in the bushes. When I got back out, there was a ranger waiting. She was pi$$ed because someone told her I rode the whole trail. No amount of pleading on my part could convince her that I didn't. She gave me a ticket for it. PAVE IT!!!

Doesn't paving it defeat the whole mountain biking experience?

 

[usedtobefast]

Now that I think about it, pave Arches while you are at it. The first time I went, I parked outside of the park and rode my mountain bike into the park to see the sites. I got to Delicate Arch trial and there was no mountain biking on the trail, so I shouldered my bike, but once, just once, rode about 50 yards and then felt guilty, got off and hid my bike in the bushes. When I got back out, there was a ranger waiting. She was pi$$ed because someone told her I rode the whole trail. No amount of pleading on my part could convince her that I didn't. She gave me a ticket for it. PAVE IT!!!

speaking of ****ty tickets. i had a california highway patrol officer follow me as i rolled through 6 stop signs. i did not blow through them fast, just rolled. i was
dog tired from a hard ride. he was such a delight. i had to go to traffic school to
get rid of the ticket, which i still have 6 stop signs

 

[Hugh Januss]

Doesn't paving it defeat the whole mountain biking experience?

Not any more than not letting you ride a mountainbike on it does.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Fires and floods are natural events. They live under the umbrella of "pristine".

Correct. Most people have a "Bambi complex" view of the forest, that natural events such as fire destroy the forest, when the exact opposite is true.

i have the perfect place for a summit finish. Why not Mt. Whitney portal??

The issue is that all of the HC and 1 climbs in the Sierras are on the east side, from Whitney to Onion Valley Road to Horeshoe Meadows to Sabrina Basin to Devil's Postpile to Sonora Pass, etc. But those climbs are a long way from major population areas. Riders would be going for many, many miles of open road and desert to get there.

I have a hunch the "Sierra" climbs this year will be in the foothills on the west side, though the TOC organizers will tout them as the "mighty Sierra climbs" finally being there, or something like that. There are a few tough climbs, such as Mineral King, but no facilities. The others lead over the Sierras, or into Parks. The real, true climbing in the Sierras is all on the west side.

Another spectacular, and likely HC climb in California would be Mt. Shasta's Everett Memorial Highway. But that to is too far away.

The big climb(s) may be Mt. Wilson, Mt. Baldy, Table Mountain, Crystal Lake, or any of the other climbs in the San Gabriels or areas within shouting distance of Los Angeles where they think fans can get to, and facilities are possible nearby.

 

[Deagol]

They're not surviving the man thing all that well......

+ 1


I spent my childhood going to Yosemite about twice a summer and saw it become more and more popular. It was a very special place to me. I think that is part of what allowed me to realize that our presense (including my own) is not nessisarily what is best for a place like that... too many of us crowded in there all seeking the same things: beauty, solitude, etc. You can still see beauty, but you will also see destruction. And solitude? hah... good luck.

Thank god the TOC is not going to Yosemte !!!

 

[CentralCaliBike]

+ 1


I spent my childhood going to Yosemite about twice a summer and saw it become more and more popular. It was a very special place to me. I think that is part of what allowed me to realize that our presense (including my own) is not nessisarily what is best for a place like that... too many of us crowded in there all seeking the same things: beauty, solitude, etc. You can still see beauty, but you will also see destruction. And solitude? hah... good luck.

Thank god the TOC is not going to Yosemte !!!

So I have been thinking about this - I think we should probably not allow SUVs (I hate driving behind them anyway) into any of the parks - and buses, definitely no buses (horrible exhaust, slow, take way too much of the road) - we should probably not allow foreigners either (they should visit places in their own countries instead of clogging up ours - then if we limit access to people who live within 100 miles of the park it would cut down on a lot of traffic - but we could keep it open for non polluting forms of transportation (like, perhaps bikes). Park over crowding problem solved and we can race as long as the team car drivers live within 100 miles of the park.

 

[Polish]

The grades are waaaay too steep anyway -
3250 feet elevation gain in less than a mile.
Those specks on top of El Capitan are pine trees

 

[benpounder]

So I have been thinking about this - I think we should probably not allow SUVs ... definitely no buses... we should probably not allow foreigners either ... [and] we limit access to people who live within 100 miles of the park

Well mocked.

I doubt the targets of your sarcasm can see beyond their sanctimony however...

 

[CentralCaliBike]

The grades are waaaay too steep anyway -
3250 feet elevation gain in less than a mile.
Those specks on top of El Capitan are pine trees

While El Capitan is great those roads look really smooth to me...

 

[red_flanders]

Well mocked.

I doubt the targets of your sarcasm can see beyond their sanctimony however...

When you have nothing to say, mockery says it best.

 

[Animal]

Half Dome:

Pave it!!

That's depressing!

Yosemite is heart stirringly beautiful. But the last few times I visited left me a bit saddened because once you've descended from any glorious viewpoint to below the tree canopy, you see that there's a feckin' city there.

I hiked to the top of Half Dome in May when the crowds were not there yet (and the guide cables were down, so you had to have a modicum of low level rock scrambling ability). We bivouacked near the cliff top in incredible peace and isolation, it was amaznig.

There's no much in California that they don't need to take in Yosemite.

How about climbing to Kaiser Pass? Or at least to Huntington Lake via Big Creek? 18% grades anyone? Let's see 'em suffer!

 

[CentralCaliBike]

That's depressing!

Yosemite is heart stirringly beautiful. But the last few times I visited left me a bit saddened because once you've descended from any glorious viewpoint to below the tree canopy, you see that there's a feckin' city there.

I hiked to the top of Half Dome in May when the crowds were not there yet (and the guide cables were down, so you had to have a modicum of low level rock scrambling ability). We bivouacked near the cliff top in incredible peace and isolation, it was amaznig.

There's no much in California that they don't need to take in Yosemite.

How about climbing to Kaiser Pass? Or at least to Huntington Lake via Big Creek? 18% grades anyone? Let's see 'em suffer!

Big Creek is a challenge - 4 miles at 10% average.

 

[CentralCaliBike]

When you have nothing to say, mockery says it best.

The point is - where do you cut off park use? If you want to cut it at the ToC that is your opinion of good park use, however it will not stop the masses that people have been complaining about in this thread, they are already there. If you want to cut those masses, how do you propose to do it? Personally, I think the park could stand a couple of hours of bikes traveling through (with the team cars and cameras) - yes it is crowded but I do not believe the end result would make much difference. I am not suggesting cutting down the trees, building a city, or paving it over, just a couple of hours of riding.

 

[Boeing]

Yosemite? Heck they wont even come to Orange County

 

[Astana1]

A park like that is not the place for a bike race. The trash from the spectators alone would be a problem. I don't blame park officials for their stance on this.

I've never been to Yosemite, but if it is anything like Yellowstone then a bike race would really screw that place up for a few days. Yellowstone is like a damn city in the summertime with all of the traffic and the tourist taking 18 million photos of the same bored Buffalo.

 

[red_flanders]

The point is - where do you cut off park use? If you want to cut it at the ToC that is your opinion of good park use, however it will not stop the masses that people have been complaining about in this thread, they are already there. If you want to cut those masses, how do you propose to do it? Personally, I think the park could stand a couple of hours of bikes traveling through (with the team cars and cameras) - yes it is crowded but I do not believe the end result would make much difference. I am not suggesting cutting down the trees, building a city, or paving it over, just a couple of hours of riding.

Good questions. As I said before, IMO it won't kill anything to have the race go into the park. But it sets a bad precedent for unnecessary use, as there are a million other spectacular finishing areas in the Sierra.

All seems a bit moot at this point. Clearly the org was not interested in including the great climbs of the Sierra in this year's edition.

 

[red_flanders]

A park like that is not the place for a bike race. The trash from the spectators alone would be a problem. I don't blame park officials for their stance on this.

I've never been to Yosemite, but if it is anything like Yellowstone then a bike race would really screw that place up for a few days. Yellowstone is like a damn city in the summertime with all of the traffic and the tourist taking 18 million photos of the same bored Buffalo.

This is the other good point. It's just not feasible in Spring or Summer with the crowds.

 

[LocalsOnly]

Actually Red, quite the opposite. Yosemite is designed to be a tourist destination, and so has all the appropriate infrastructure - campgrounds, parking, roads, trash receptacles and pick-up, sensitive areas are fenced and appropriately signed. If you've ever been there in the summer, you'd know what a circus it is- and how many people it daily serves, and how well the US Park service manages it. They really are very good at what they do. Moreover the park is gated - it can control how many people can get into the park. Pretty effective crowd control. May is still off-season. Kids are still in school, the weather is still cold at night and cool in the day, so the park, particularly mid-week, is not near capacity.

The race through Yosemite would be cool - like riding through a cathedral. A TT would be manageable, particularly if it were held mid-week. To all of you who pine for pristine nature, strap on the back pack and trek into the sierras. There's allot of space to get lost in.

 

[Deagol]

It seems like all this arguing is pretty much a moot point anyway.
From the original article:


".....Yosemite officials and officials with the Park Service and U.S. Department of Interior in Washington, D.C., rejected the proposal for three reasons:

-- Potential inconvenience to park visitors. Cobb said many Yosemite visitors travel great distances for a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and the tour could upset their tight schedules. If the 2010 tour happened May 17-23 as many expect, it would've landed in Yosemite the week before Memorial Day weekend.

-- Potential harm to the park. Cobb said fans parking and watching from the side of a road could damage the park.

-- Potential harm to the Park Service's mission. Cobb said the public may get the impression that, by giving the tour access to Yosemite, the Park Service would be endorsing competitive cycling or Amgen. She said the government did not want to be perceived as "selling the Park Service seal."

Apparently the officials at the Dept. of Interior didn't consult the posters on this forum who are favor of bringing the race to this park before making their decision.

 

[BroDeal]

-- Potential inconvenience to park visitors. Cobb said many Yosemite visitors travel great distances for a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and the tour could upset their tight schedules. If the 2010 tour happened May 17-23 as many expect, it would've landed in Yosemite the week before Memorial Day weekend.

This is the only legitimate reason of the three.

The downside is that if the ToC is meant to act as advertising for tourisism, California misses out on a great opportunity to showcase the state.

 

[flicker]

Give the place back to the Indians. It is already a circus in Yosemite Valley.

The climb up from the SanJouqien Valley is hazy and smogy. Dead and dying pine forests abound. The descent into the valley is dangerous and deadly.

The valley itself is wonderfully grand. Everyone should see it. I think it would belittle the park to race there. Good call forest service./national parks.

Tahoe, marklieville, susanville, chico feather river, eastern sierra, many outstanding climbs. Mt. Rose...Geiger grade. ASO just don't know....

 

[benpounder]

The point is - where do you cut off park use?

Several decades ago a few friends and I had an idea for a raid on the Tuolumne - a self supported kayak adventure - after all, river-running in other National Parks was quite acceptable. Alas too many chickened out; I only did downstream stretches of that

and the Merced coming out of Yosemite. (Yes that is the top of a paddle attached to a kayaker submerged.)

And I still cant take my mountain bike into National Wilderness areas, particularly one not 30 miles from my doorstep.