A different kind of biker bar—for a day

Last year’s Tour de France had Mont Ventoux. This year’s Amgen Tour of California has the Rock Store Climb.

Mont Ventoux is a diabolically difficult ascent in Provence, notorious among the world’s greatest bicyclists. The Rock Store climb is known among motorcyclists far and wide as 2.6 miles of Southern California two-lane nirvana.

Ventoux’s name has ancient origins but to the modern ear suggests the wind—vent, in French—that so often whips the summit. The Rock Store Climb’s name suggests, well, the Rock Store—a legendary Mulholland Highway watering hole that’s been a Hollywood hangout ever since Steve McQueen roared up one weekend day.

This Sunday, the Rock Store Climb will be on display for an audience more interested in Treks than Harleys. That’s when the tour—billed as the United States’ largest cycling event—takes a spin through the Santa Monica Mountains in the event’s final stage.

Make that four spins through the mountains.

Stage 8, described as the race’s “exclamation point,” is a 20.6-mile loop that will start at The Oaks shopping center in Thousand Oaks and will be repeated four times, for more than 80 miles in all, before it ends in front of the Westlake Hyatt. A more detailed interactive map is here.

Along the way, it will race along the switchbacks of Mulholland Highway and pass local landmarks such as Malibu Family Wines and the Rock Store. The winery will be hosting two events this weekend—a “Taste of the Tour” on Saturday afternoon and “Race Day at The Ranch” on Sunday. (Details on both events, along with information on other festivities in the area, are here.) At the Rock Store, at the base of the Rock Store Climb, owners Ed and Vern Savko will be serving a big private lunch on Sunday but plan to be open to the general public as well.

The Savkos’ establishment is off the beaten track. But it’s far from under the radar. This is a biker bar with a Facebook page. It also got some ink in a recent Wall Street Journal feature about scenic drives that car companies use to show off their new vehicles to the motoring press and has been the subject of coverage by motorcycle magazines around the world.

“This place is more known in Europe than it is around here,” says Savko, 84. “We get so many people, honey, you can’t even count ‘em.”

The Mulholland Highway stretch known as Rock Store Climb—or “King of the Mountain,” as Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. Philip Brooks calls it—is likely to be one of the most popular viewing spots during the race, with tens of thousands of spectators expected to line the winding route, which has an average grade of 7%. There’ll also be tented corporate events at the overlooks along the climb.

“We expect there’ll be wall-to-wall people there Sunday,” says Brooks, incident commander for the event, noting that the fire department will have a heli-pad nearby, just in case anyone gets hurt and needs helicopter transport.

Overall, spectator estimates for Stage 8 range from 150,000 to 250,000—with the biggest crowds expected at the race’s beginning and ending points, along with Rock Store Climb. “We’re set to handle whoever comes,” Brooks says.

Large crowds are also expected in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, when the tour’s Stage 7 whirls into town. Metro’s blog The Source lists some viewing “hot spots” near public transportation and has the rundown on the 57 bus lines that will have detours starting at 5 a.m. on Saturday.

The tour, owned by L.A.-based AEG and sponsored by the biotech firm Amgen, which is headquartered in Thousand Oaks, started in 2006. But this is the first time it’s come through downtown Los Angeles—or this stretch of the Santa Monica Mountains. A coalition of three cities—Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village and Agoura Hills—came together as “Conejo Valley” to co-sponsor the final stretch of the 800-plus mile race.

The cities are encouraging spectators to watch from the official viewing spots—although viewers will be allowed all along the course, as long as they can find a safe and legal place to park. Information on parking and shuttles is here; a rundown on road closures is here. And a promotional video offers a preview of the course.

Out at the Rock Store Climb on Mulholland, the usual weekend crowd of motorcyclists will give way to some of the world’s fastest cyclists, who started the race on May 16 in Nevada City. Lance Armstrong was among them until he crashed Thursday outside Visalia.

Ed Savko says the cycling superstar had come by his store about six months ago. “He was just riding through,” Savko says.

A long line of other luminaries got there before he did.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is a longtime customer (or was before he became governor, Savko says.) Other well-known patrons range from Harrison Ford to Pink.

“I don’t even know who the hell the new ones are,” Savko says. “All my waitresses know them, though.”

Jay Leno is a house favorite. “You know when he’s there; people will leave their breakfast on the tables,” Vern Savko says. “They all flock to him.”

Even those who haven’t been to the Rock House in person might recognize it from its film and TV appearances, including “Happy Days,” when, as Savko lore has it, a young Ron Howard got behind the wheel with disastrous results.

“The first time he ever drove a car,” Ed Savko says, “he drove right into one of our gas pumps.”

The Savkos bought the place in 1961. “At the start, I was scared to take my own family because of all the tough guys,” Ed Savko says.

Not today.

“Mother’s Day, we were loaded with mothers, families and kids,” Vern Savko says. The customers, she says, “all call us Mom and Pop.”

And on Sunday, at least some of the passing racers will be calling out for mercy as they pass the Savkos’ place and head for Rock Store Climb—not once but four times.

“It’s going to be a tough ride for those cyclists,” Sgt. Brooks says.

Posted 5-19-10