The 2009 Amgen Tour of California time trial will be held on a 24 km (15 mile) course that starts and finishes in the Danish village of Solvang, CA. I had a chance to ride it 3 times today and here are my thoughts.

* The first mile will be the hardest. After .3 miles of flat, the road climbs madly for about 1/2 mile with grades around 9%. I hit a kilowatt every time on this section, the pros will likely hit 1.3 – 1.4 kw.

* The course is very technical with four 90 degree corners coming after fast downhills.

* Ballard Canyon is a twisty, short yet steep climb on a very crappy road that looks like it could have been paved my the incompetent folks at the Colorado Dept. of Transportation.

* There are very few flat and fast sections. I rode with a Cat. 1 who was riding a Specialized Transition TT bike and though he could drop me on the flats, his TT bike was no match for my road machine once the road tilted up.

* The course offers a lot of natural protection from the wind.

* My best time was a little over 35 minutes and that was riding with the guy I mentioned above. I think the winner can go sub 30.

I’ll be taking pics and will post them here. [UPDATE 2/25/09] Finally got my pics up here.