Tour De Palm Springs About to Roll Through The Desert

Five, ten, twenty-five, fifty-five and one hundred miles of mountainscape routes means one thing – the 14th Annual Tour De Palm Springs.

“We’re going to have all of downtown closed for the greatest event in America,” Tour de Palm Springs founder Tim Esser said.

Eleven thousand cyclists will ride through the streets, and should take note.

“They have to obey the same laws as motorists. They should ride as close to the right side of the roadway as possible,” Paul Abshire of the Palm Springs Police Department said. “If they come to an intersection that an officer is not controlling, or allowing them free passes, they need to obey the traffic signals at each intersection.”

Fresh and Easy, one of the major sponsors of the event, will provide healthy snacks for bicyclists to refuel throughout the tour.

“We’re going to have all kinds of sandwiches from ham and turkey as well as peanut butter and jelly, to help them with the protein,” Pete Acock, the general manager of the Fresh and Easy in Palm Desert, said. “We’re providing over 6,000 bananas for the event.”

“There’s going to be nine locations. It’s where all the riders meet throughout the race at various points to refuel so, when they get tired, they have a place to get something in their bodies again,” he added.

If you’re not on wheels this weekend, “You can come down and shop downtown Palm Springs. We have all the vendors, nearly 100 vendors set up in the downtown area,” Esser said. “Also on Friday night, we have what they call the Tour de Jazz. We have bands spread throughout downtown Palm Springs playing jazz.”

Palm Canyon between Taquitz and Amado will close for those events. This is the largest ride of its kind in the western United States.