UPDATE: August 30, 2011. According to Rick Bates, Director of the Event Resource Office, the City of Big Bear Lake should receive a response to their proposal to host the 2012 AMGEN Tour of California by the end of September. Big Bear, Ca, August 29, 2011, 12:00pm – The City of Big Bear Lake has submitted a proposal to AEG to be a host city for the 2012 AMGEN Tour of California. The Tour of California is a professional road cycling race that has been called the Tour de France of America. In 2010 Big Bear was host to the queen’s stage, known as the hardest stage in tour, and was seen both state and world wide. Thousands of people came to Big Bear for what was called the Big Bear Climb, and since the event cyclists have come to Big Bear from all over the world to train at altitude. This spring, Pure Black Racing, a professional cycling team from New Zealand spent two weeks in Big Bear training, and plan on returning next year. The proposal to AEG includes different route possibilities, offering organizers the choice of coming up one of our three routes, through highway 38, highway 18 the back grade, or highway 18 the front grade. The proposed finish line for the race would be at Snow Summit, as it was in 2010. The race is covered in its entirety on the Versus sports channel, and cable networks also cover the race intermittently throughout the length of the event. The selection process will be completed and announced either in December or January.
