One of eight events organized by Tri-Cal, Wildflower is the cultural hub of West Coast triathlon and one of the country’s most challenging long-course events.

Conditions on Thursday were windy and cool. The water temperature in Lake San Antonio (a reservoir) is a chilly 64 degrees—a couple of degrees colder than is usual for this time of year. After a brisk morning, the air temperature inched up to 65 degrees.

Many athletes training on the bike leg of the course during the early part of the day wore leg warmers, but by noon, arm warmers and a thin base layer under a jersey were enough for most riders to be comfortable.

Winds are expected to die down over the next couple of days, but competitors should plan for water temps no higher than 65.

Those who are camping should prepare to bundle up; nighttime temperatures in nearby Paso Robles, California have been dipping below 40 degrees lately.

Check back tomorrow for more from our Wildflower base camp.

For what may seem, from the outside, as an odd blend of sheer speed and tranquil small town atmosphere, this is exactly what the RBC Organizing Committee is shooting for. “A night ‘crit’ is a very exciting race,” says RBC Technical Director Sean Rooks. “We wanted to bring together the downtown atmosphere that Redlands is famous for, and blend that with the cool atmosphere of a night crit, it’s good for downtown, it’s good for the bike race, everyone wins, it should be amazing to watch.”

With only a few ‘Twilight’ ‘crits’ for the professional peloton to contest throughout the year, this is a unique venue for riders to showcase their talent. As most bike racing takes place during the early hours of the day, this type of event has the ability to bring out not just the cycling savvy enthusiasts, but all those folks that thrive on the Redlands night life, the college kids looking for entertainment, the coffee shop hang-outs, and even those families looking to enjoy a meal at one of the local downtown businesses. “Blending our race with the already established downtown atmosphere is a great way to showcase all that Redlands has to offer”, says Race Director Dan Rendler. “This twilight crit will bring together the best of both worlds, Redlands locals will see world class bike racers speeding through town, while the professional peloton and it’s contingent will get to experience first hand our quaint downtown atmosphere. We’re really looking forward to it.”

As the jazz band tunes up their saxophones and the local coffee shop brews up a special concoction, the pro bike racers racing in this years’ Redlands Bicycle Classic powered by Loma Linda University PossAbilities presented by San Manuel Band of Mission Indians will be adding extra handle bar tape to prepare for some Saturday night ‘white knuckle’ ‘crit’ racing in Downtown Redlands!

For more information, including race times, distances, and volunteer opportunities, visit www.redlandsclassic.com.

Fashioned after Italian Gran Fondo rides, Levi Leipheimer’s King Ridge Gran Fondo is a one-of-a-kind road cycling experience. The 103-mile route through California’s Sonoma County takes place on October 9, 2010.

The Gran Fondo is a ride, not a race, and all of the participants start together (at 8:00 am). For many, the King Ridge Gran Fondo is as close as they can get to riding the queen’s stage of a grand tour like the Tour de France. Making it feel even more like a grand tour stage is the fact that cyclists will be riding alongside Team RadioShack’s Levi Leipheimer himself (as well as other top professionals).

Demand is high for the limited entry spots, and this morning’s large volume of traffic sent the King Ridge Gran Fondo Web site into a tizzy. Levi’s crew has pulled down the original Web site and replaced it with a simple registration page for the time being.

Available entries and prices are as follows:

Gran 103 Miles: $130 (3,000 spaces)

Medio 65 Miles: $110 (2,000 spaces)

Piccolo 30 Miles: $70 (1,000 spaces)

To register for the King Ridge Gran Fondo, go to LevisGranFondo.com, and hurry.

Check out this video from last year’s event to get an idea of what’s in store for 2010. It was created by Jesse Rosten and Carl Burchfiel.

Levi Leipheimer’s King Ridge GranFondo from Bike Monkey LLC on Vimeo.

SANTA ROSA (November 12, 2009) – Initial planning for the second annual Levi Leipheimer’s King Ridge GranFondo has yielded an official event date of Saturday, October 9, 2010.

Registration for this event will open at 9am PST, December 15, 2009 via the event website at www.levisgranfondo.com. This date will continue to take advantage of Sonoma County’s mild fall temperatures, turning vineyards, and piercing blue skies. Event participants can expect the same stunning vistas, demanding topography, excellent rider support, and overall atmosphere of fun that was enjoyed in the 2009 King Ridge GranFondo.

The first annual Levi Leipheimer’s King Ridge GranFondo, presented by Road ID, was a highly successful event offering three route choices over 103 miles of Sonoma County’s most scenic and challenging terrain. Event patron and three-time Tour of California winner Levi Leipheimer, along with 3,500 other cyclists, including professional riders like Scott Nydam, Axel Merckx, and Bob Roll, took off from Leipheimer’s hometown of Santa Rosa, CA on October 3, 2009 for the inaugural running of this event. The GranFondo was a charity benefit for the City of Santa Rosa and Forget Me Not Farm.

“The success of the 2009 GranFondo exceeded expectations on all sides,” said Carlos Perez, Event Director and President of Bike Monkey. “From the beneficiaries to the participants to Levi himself, it was an unparalleled achievement, especially for a first year event. We’re looking forward to improving on that in 2010.”

With the money raised from this event, the City of Santa Rosa was brought that much closer to being able to host and fully support a stage of the 4th annual Tour of California, now the most prestigious professional cycling race in the United States. This race brings a wide array of benefits to Santa Rosa, including a deepening of cycling culture, vital economic stimulation, and global recognition. Thanks in part to the GranFondo, it was confirmed in late October that Santa Rosa would indeed host the second stage of the 2010 Tour of California.

Forget Me Not Farm, a favorite charity of both Leipheimer and his wife, Odessa Gunn, will also receive a donation from the GranFondo. As a subsidiary of the Sonoma County Humane Society, Forget Me Not Farm not only shelters abused animals on their 17 acre working farm facility, but also involves abused children in the raising and caring for these animals. For many of these children, Forget Me Not Farm is one of the few stable and secure elements in their lives.

The 2010 GranFondo will continue to capitalize on the incredible momentum from the inaugural running of this event, bringing benefit not only to the participating riders, but to also to the surrounding community.

About Levi Leipheimer’s King Ridge GranFondo

Levi Leipheimer’s King Ridge GranFondo is a fully supported bicycle ride with 35, 65, and 103-mile route options through some of the finest cycling country in the USA. The range of riders is recreational to pro, and the pace varies from leisurely to very fast. The ride is owned by VeloStreet and produced by Bike Monkey with Levi Leipheimer as the patron. The ride is organized with the collaboration and support of the City of Santa Rosa as well as communities and fire departments around Sonoma County.

About Bike Monkey

Bike Monkey is a bicycle culture portal that promotes the adventure and passion of cycling through a variety of outlets. Active since 2005, Bike Monkey organizes several races across multiple formats, publishes a high-end quarterly cycling publication to a nation-wide subscriber base, and hosts several personalities via a series of blogs and web articles. To learn more about Bike Monkey, visit www.bikemonkey.net

About VeloStreet

VeloStreet is a 501(c)3 non-profit based in Santa Rosa, CA. VeloStreet’s mission is to promote community-based cycling initiatives that encourage advocacy, athletics, and recreation.

The 2010 Amgen Tour of California will venture high up into the Sierra Nevada Mountains, dispense with the traditional prologue, include a time trial in Los Angeles and feature the first mountaintop finish in the race’s four-year history at Big Bear.

The biggest change for the eight-day event remains the move from February to May (16-23), pitting it against the Giro d’Italia. Still, race organizers expect a field of comparable strength to 2009, when world champions and former winners of the Tour de France and Paris-Roubaix lined up alongside America’s best riders.

In 2010, confirmed riders include seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, who had been wrestling with the decision of whether to ride in California or at the Giro next May. He will be joined by RadioShack teammate and three-time winner Levi Leipheimer, national road champion George Hincapie (BMC) and national time trial champion Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Slipstream).

Those riders, along with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, announced the basic details of the route Thursday morning via Twitter.

Next year, the race will begin in Nevada City and head generally south, visiting Sacramento, Davis, Santa Rosa, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, San Jose, Modesto, Visalia, Bakersfield, Pasadena, Big Bear, Los Angeles and Thousand Oaks.

Notably absent are a prologue, the Solvang time trial and a stage in the San Diego area.

Here are the route details:

Stage 1: Nevada City to Sacramento.
The 78-mile stage will put riders back into Sacramento where the race caravan will have been staying in the days before the race. Expect a sprint finish.

Stage 2: Davis to Santa Rosa.
Somewhat of a repeat stage from 2009, but perhaps a little longer and a little harder. It may or may not have finishing circuits. Organizers are looking to put a hill in Santa Rosa to give someone else a chance to win it. Plus, it’s harder for Santa Rosa to do circuits on a Monday and shut down all of downtown. Trinity Grade may figure into the route.

Stage 3: San Francisco to Santa Cruz.
Another repeat from 2009, this stage will again feature the Bonny Doon climb, where this year Levi Leipheimer attacked his way into the race lead. The stage will start at Pier 30/32, then will follow the Bay to Breakers running course from two days earlier, across the spine of the city and into Golden Gate Park. There will not be a Golden Gate Bridge crossing this time, however.

Stage 4: San Jose to Modesto.
A sprint finish is pretty certain, as there is no way to get to Modesto without traversing 25 miles of dead flat central valley.

Stage 5: Visalia to Bakersfield.
The first and only real Sierra Nevada stage, this day will take riders up into the Sequoia National Forest. It could be somewhat similar to the Merced-Clovis stage from this year. The proposed finish near Bakersfield College consists of a two-mile circuit with a 200-foot climb in middle.

Stage 6: Pasadena to Big Bear.
The queen stage will include 13,000-14,000 feet of climbing up to one of the ski resorts in Big Bear. Race organizers are waiting on clearance from the state because parts of the route include areas affected by the Station Fire. If the Forest Service gives clearance, the race would do 2.5 hours through the burn zone. From the start in Pasadena, riders will climb up to Crystal Lake, summiting there at 8,000 feet, then descending into Wrightwood and climbing back up to Big Bear Lake.

Stage 7: Los Angeles time trial.
Originally, the plan was to start the time trial downtown and go to the beach. The LA Triathlon used a similar route and the city concluded the traffic impact was too great. So, the time trial will take place entirely downtown. It will start at finish at L.A. Live, the entertainment complex that houses the Staples Center.

Stage 8: Thousand Oaks circuit race.
The race will conclude with a circuit race in the Santa Monica Mountains. There will be at least one canyon climb over the top of mountains and a drop down to the Pacific Coast Highway. SoCal roadies can look for the Rock Store climb to be featured.

“For the 2010 Amgen Tour of California we had the unique opportunity to move our race to a part of the year when we are almost guaranteed great weather in California,” AEG Sports president Andrew Messick said in a press release. “This timing will help us to better showcase the beautiful features the state of California has to offer, while allowing us to travel to parts of the state that just weren’t feasible in previous years.”

Returning as the title sponsor for the fifth consecutive year, Amgen will again use the race to promote its Breakaway from Cancer program that supports people affected by cancer. The company’s headquarters are in Thousand Oaks.

Neal Rogers contributed to this report.