Amgen bicycle race takes contestants on statewide ride

The "Amgen Tour of California'' bicycle race will include time trials winding through the streets of downtown Los Angeles, and a grueling ride scaling climb up both the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountain ranges in the same day next May, it was reported today.

Officials at Los Angeles-based AEG said the "Tour de France-style'' bike race would end with a course winding through the mountains above Malibu, with a final sprint to Thousand Oaks.

The race course includes a grueling sixth-day leg from Pasadena over the Angeles Crest and Rim of the World highways to Big Bear Lake, a single-day ride that will total 12,000 feet of climbing, race organizers said in a statement.

A large section of that route is impassible now, due to one massive landslide and several other dangerous problems caused by the Station fire and winter storms on Angeles Crest Highway near Mount Wilson. Caltrans crews have said they hope to reopen that highway in March, but said additional winter rain and snow could delay that plan.

The race will also pass through a mudslide-stricken area of La Canada Flintridge.

AEG was rebuffed by Malibu six years ago, when it asked to bring the bike race through the coastal city by closing its only major access route, Pacific Coast Highway. This year's race would restrict traffic on two of the four canyon roads between Malibu and inland cities.

The eight-day race this year will start with a dash from Nevada City in the Sierra foothills south to Sacramento on May 16. Legs of the race include Davis-Santa Rosa, San Francisco-Santa Cruz, San Jose-Modesto, and Visalia-Bakersfield.

The sixth day would include the Pasadena-La Canada-Mount Wilson couse, which continues east on Angeles Crest Highway through Wrightwood, Route 138 to Crestline, and Route 18 to the Snow Summit Ski Area at Big Bear Lake.

The seventh day, May 22, will see time trial races on a course from AEG's L.A. Live complex south to Exposition Park, then east and north past the Millenium Biltmore Hotel, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angeles, and L.A. City Hall, before returning to the start/finish line next
to Staples Center.

For the final stage, May 23, racers will take three laps on a course from Thousand Oaks down Westlake Boulevard to Mulholland Highway above Malibu, east past Malibou Lake, north into Agoura Hills, and then back to the start/finish line at The Oaks shopping center.