By John McKee
It was early and I mean early when most of us arrived in Ontario for the first of the 5 part criterium series that has been popular over the years. It is February 22nd, 2009 and the race was scheduled to start at 7 am at the Dare to Race(Ontario # 1) Criterium for the 55/60+ racers. It was in the mid to upper 50s when we arrived and it didn't seem that cold. Of course it was dark when we all got there and used the street lights to set up our bikes. The early time and the final stage of the Tof C had an impact on attendance. There was only one rider from UCC which had at least 8 last week in Brea at the RMMC but it looked like the entire CVV squad was out. 35 or so riders lined up to contest the 2 races done at the same time but scored separately. 31 of the 35 finished.I look for upward of 45 next time at Ont.
The race started off fast with CVV pushing it right from the get go. CVV was looking to take it out on UCC's only representative at this event and that was UCC's blazing sprinter Dale Ludetke. There was a mini break on the second lap in 55+ and no one came up to close the gap so Dale went out and closed it by himself. Nothing out of the saddle but just smooth power. I think after that Dale decided he couldn't chase down every break attempt.
There weren't many 60+ attempts at breaks but Michael Edwards and Phil Richards tried but all were covered by myself. It wasn't long though before a serious 55+ move was made. CVV's 55+ favorite Richard Pollack and another 55+ CVV rider, Tony Smith went off. They were joined by Velo Avanti's TT specialist Craig Jones. This break looked dangerous because CVV would try and control the peleton and keep the pace down. The threesome got several hundred meters on the group before a few riders came forward. Those that lended a hand were mainly Wayne Rosenkrantz, Dale Ludetke, and Howard Miller. Howard looked much better than he did last week. Lol. Doug Knox also lent a hand a little later in the race and also gave a pep talk. At first there was little impact with the chase and it wasn't like an organized paceline but a series of hard pulls. The threesome up ahead started to tire as they had been away for over 20 minutes. The catch came with 2 laps to go and the final leap put some hurt on most racers but of course once caught the pace slowed down. No serious counter attacks although the time was ripe. The final lap saw everyone try and position themselves for the bunch sprint. The final corner saw Richard Pollack get a sling shot from a teammate and got a gap on Dale Ludetke. The 60+ contenders were all inter mixed with the 55s. Down the stretch Dale started to over take Richard and won the sprint for 1st place. Richard was second and Howard Miller came on for third.
In 60+ action saw a mini log jam of 55s interwined with the 60+. Paul Springer went to the left of the pack down the stretch with Don Kimper and Ben Maciel near by. I saw the pack ahead of me which included 60s Michael Fleming and Phil Richards and I went right. There is danger at Ontario going right because the course is coned in from right to left at the end and that was critical to the finish.
I got around several riders moving pretty good. Paul got on it with Don and Ben to his left. M. Fleming saw me come by and responded. The first 5 places were pretty close with Paul winning. Paul got a tip from Mike Fleming before the race. Michael told Paul to quit wasting so much of his energy during the race and save it for the last lap. Paul did just that and it seemed to pay off.
I was second and paid the price for coming up the right side. I had to move toward the center and saw Paul late in the game. I tried to over take him but a slow 55+ finisher seemed like he was going backward in front of me and I had to brake to keep from hitting him. I was barely able to finish ahead of Don Kimper(3rd), Mike Fleming(4th) and Ben Maciel(5th). Loren Stephens came in 6th in 60+ after being blocked out before the last corner. 7 of the first 15 overall finishers were 60+.
There was another problem with race results. Without Eric Smith the officials struggle. The video was really out of focus and you couldn't even make out the numbers. Mike Fleming, myself and a few others helped the officials by naming the riders as they showed on the monitor coming across the finish line and 31 riders were placed with maybe 3 or 4 question marks. Over 2 hours and 45 minutes later the official results were still not out. Good thing there weren't checks to be given out. Everyone left except for those that did 50+ at 9:40 am. I will add the results for 55+ and 60+ on my post when they come in. Thats all for now folks! Train hard and race safe!
MASTERS 60+ Dare To Race (Rank 1.0)
Place License Name Team SoCal Points
1 33679 Paul Springer Citrus Valley Velo 14
2 180386 John McKee Paramount Racing 11
3 129293 Michael Fleming Coates /On Deck Foundation 10
4 195498 Donald Kimper ACQUA AL 2/San Diego Bicycle Club 9
5 275832 Benjamin Maciel Citrus Valley Velo 8
6 234791 Loren Stephens EDGE Racing 7
7 238828 Phillip Richards Citrus Valley Velo 6
8 45342 Domenick Forte PAA / RE/MAX 5
9 50498 Richard Rodriguez Nytro Racing 4
10 57726 Ernest Hoffer EDGE Racing 3
11 89468 Robert Humphrey PAA / RE/MAX 2
12 45763 Robert Paganini Pasadena Athletic Assoc (PAA) 1
13 3794 Vicente Gomez Team Simple Green
14 50406 Michael Edwards EDGE Racing
15 99906 Michael McKinney EDGE Racing
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
TOUGH TRAINER AND THEN SOME
By John McKee
You ever seen the program on the History Channel that has the worst occupations. If there was a program that had the toughest jobs for machines, I think it would be Dale Ludetke's warm up trainer. Have you ever seen Dale warmup before a race. His trainer had better be a good one because it gets a major test. By the time Dale gets to his final power spin his legs are a blur, the rear bike wheel is flying on the trainer roller, smoke is coming out of the sides of the flywheels, the bearing are yelling enough already. When Dale calls it quits the machine has got to be saying "Thank God that's over with". That's a good thing for the machine but that means he is going to take it out on the rest of us in 55/60+ racing. Dale still can win the 50+ cat. At Brea in the RMMC there was a 4 person break in the 50+ race and none of them were UCC. With one lap to go the foursome had at least 120 meters on the field. Those 4 guys collapsed worse than the 1951 Brooklyn Dodgers. UCC came on like the New York Giants(who won the last 39 of 47 games to tie the Dodgers). Damn! A repeat of the earlier 55+ race. Dale first and Kal Szkalak second. What a bummer that the 60+ guys have to race with such fast riders.
You ever seen the program on the History Channel that has the worst occupations. If there was a program that had the toughest jobs for machines, I think it would be Dale Ludetke's warm up trainer. Have you ever seen Dale warmup before a race. His trainer had better be a good one because it gets a major test. By the time Dale gets to his final power spin his legs are a blur, the rear bike wheel is flying on the trainer roller, smoke is coming out of the sides of the flywheels, the bearing are yelling enough already. When Dale calls it quits the machine has got to be saying "Thank God that's over with". That's a good thing for the machine but that means he is going to take it out on the rest of us in 55/60+ racing. Dale still can win the 50+ cat. At Brea in the RMMC there was a 4 person break in the 50+ race and none of them were UCC. With one lap to go the foursome had at least 120 meters on the field. Those 4 guys collapsed worse than the 1951 Brooklyn Dodgers. UCC came on like the New York Giants(who won the last 39 of 47 games to tie the Dodgers). Damn! A repeat of the earlier 55+ race. Dale first and Kal Szkalak second. What a bummer that the 60+ guys have to race with such fast riders.
Monday, February 16, 2009
CAN'T KEEP A GOOD MAN DOWN
By John McKee
Sunday Feb. 15th, 2009 saw the Roger Milikan Memorial Criterium with the 55/60+ racers starting at 8 am. I counted over 40 at the line but the final results showed 15 60+ racers and the same amount of 55+ racers. Not sure that that many would have dropped out but as the racers know there was a major problem with the video so maybe some didn't get in the results. Since the nuts and bolts of the race were done and done well by Richard Pollack(Richard's story is at the bottom) , I will just muse about the race and racers. The full results are below from the SCNCA.org website.
We saw what was going to happen the entire year with 2 teams loaded with talent battling it out. UCC and CVV. They were always sending riders off the front but to my surprise none of the efforts worked. I can't think that the UCC riders had their hearts in the breaks and were trying to control CVV by just being there but not putting in much effort. One move had 5 riders with Richard Pollack being one of them. They were only 130 meters or so away so I made a move at the bottom of the course to get across the gap. You could get a little sling shot off the pack and it was slightly downhill at the bottom of the course. This time and every other time the remaining members of the twin poseys saw a chase as a free pass to chase too since it was lead by another team like Paramount. The only thing I see is that the riders ahead were 55+ while I am racing 60 +. Unless UCC was trying to protect "Rocket Boy" I see the chase as chasing down their own riders. I wasn't in the 55+ race. I got across the gap only to see the rest of peleton barreling down as I joined what looked like a very disorganized mini group. Other good chases were started by the Shorts brothers, Joe Mastro and several others.
It all worked out in the end for UCC with the sprint power they have in 55 and 60 but the most important thing about the race is that no one went down. The category 5 race had riders going down like bowling pins on the last lap. Everyone has a lot of experience in our group so lets keep it safe. There is a fine line between aggressive racing and unsafe practices. I don't like the practice of "closing the door" that I read about in Richard's piece. Didn't see it so I can't say too much about it but lets ride to the line. Enough said.
The title of my piece is about one man and he has been with Paramount through thick and thin since 1984. Howard Miller loves to race in crits and road races and rides and trains a lot. The Thursday before the race Howard was headed home and it's about 6 pm and it was pretty dark and Howard still had his sun glasses on. Howard made a pretty sharp right turn and hit some loose gravel. Howard went down and the next thing he knew he was lying in a bed at a hospital. He had hit his head and face on the pavement and took a lot of skin off. Howard stays in the hospital until Sat. and is released to go home. He shows up the next day at RMMC with bad scrapes all over his face. I doubt that when Howard was released from the hospital that Howard's doctor recommended that Howard race his bicycle the next day let alone do anything but rest. Howard is one tough dude. You might have other descriptions for him being out there but this guy in committed to racing. Howard finished in the lead pack and was 8th in 55+. He seemed like the same easy going guy after the race describing his prior few days.
We all know now that JR won the 60+ and Monty Pettus was second. Monty joined Paramount in 1963. Now that's what I call team loyalty. Monty was hurting early in the race but hung in and he knows how to play the game on the final lap and has a great finish. Monty can often still beat all comers in the Intergiro sprint on Saturdays in Orange County just prior to the famous Foodpark ride. The outstanding effort that I saw in 60+ was put in by Loren Stephens. I had been on a bad wheel near the end of the last lap and had to try to make it to the finish on my own before the last corner and after I turned the corner Loren came by me going like a house on fire. He almost caught the main group and Monty. Good for 3rd place. Great individual effort there. I finished 4th with Don Kimper finishing a respectable 5th. Paul Springer was 6th and Mike Fleming was 7th.
I understand Richard's frustration with the lack of results but lets play this carefully. If there are too many complaints then officials might discourage separate results in one pack and that would kill 60+ racing. We have a good thing going and lets keep it going. Last year saw a record 60 riders at RMMC so we were down 15 to 20 but our group was respectable compared to the other fields. That's all for now folks! Train hard and race safe!
This story below was written by and published with the permission of Richard Pollack
Sunday Feb. 15th, 2009 saw the Roger Milikan Memorial Criterium with the 55/60+ racers starting at 8 am. I counted over 40 at the line but the final results showed 15 60+ racers and the same amount of 55+ racers. Not sure that that many would have dropped out but as the racers know there was a major problem with the video so maybe some didn't get in the results. Since the nuts and bolts of the race were done and done well by Richard Pollack(Richard's story is at the bottom) , I will just muse about the race and racers. The full results are below from the SCNCA.org website.
We saw what was going to happen the entire year with 2 teams loaded with talent battling it out. UCC and CVV. They were always sending riders off the front but to my surprise none of the efforts worked. I can't think that the UCC riders had their hearts in the breaks and were trying to control CVV by just being there but not putting in much effort. One move had 5 riders with Richard Pollack being one of them. They were only 130 meters or so away so I made a move at the bottom of the course to get across the gap. You could get a little sling shot off the pack and it was slightly downhill at the bottom of the course. This time and every other time the remaining members of the twin poseys saw a chase as a free pass to chase too since it was lead by another team like Paramount. The only thing I see is that the riders ahead were 55+ while I am racing 60 +. Unless UCC was trying to protect "Rocket Boy" I see the chase as chasing down their own riders. I wasn't in the 55+ race. I got across the gap only to see the rest of peleton barreling down as I joined what looked like a very disorganized mini group. Other good chases were started by the Shorts brothers, Joe Mastro and several others.
It all worked out in the end for UCC with the sprint power they have in 55 and 60 but the most important thing about the race is that no one went down. The category 5 race had riders going down like bowling pins on the last lap. Everyone has a lot of experience in our group so lets keep it safe. There is a fine line between aggressive racing and unsafe practices. I don't like the practice of "closing the door" that I read about in Richard's piece. Didn't see it so I can't say too much about it but lets ride to the line. Enough said.
The title of my piece is about one man and he has been with Paramount through thick and thin since 1984. Howard Miller loves to race in crits and road races and rides and trains a lot. The Thursday before the race Howard was headed home and it's about 6 pm and it was pretty dark and Howard still had his sun glasses on. Howard made a pretty sharp right turn and hit some loose gravel. Howard went down and the next thing he knew he was lying in a bed at a hospital. He had hit his head and face on the pavement and took a lot of skin off. Howard stays in the hospital until Sat. and is released to go home. He shows up the next day at RMMC with bad scrapes all over his face. I doubt that when Howard was released from the hospital that Howard's doctor recommended that Howard race his bicycle the next day let alone do anything but rest. Howard is one tough dude. You might have other descriptions for him being out there but this guy in committed to racing. Howard finished in the lead pack and was 8th in 55+. He seemed like the same easy going guy after the race describing his prior few days.
We all know now that JR won the 60+ and Monty Pettus was second. Monty joined Paramount in 1963. Now that's what I call team loyalty. Monty was hurting early in the race but hung in and he knows how to play the game on the final lap and has a great finish. Monty can often still beat all comers in the Intergiro sprint on Saturdays in Orange County just prior to the famous Foodpark ride. The outstanding effort that I saw in 60+ was put in by Loren Stephens. I had been on a bad wheel near the end of the last lap and had to try to make it to the finish on my own before the last corner and after I turned the corner Loren came by me going like a house on fire. He almost caught the main group and Monty. Good for 3rd place. Great individual effort there. I finished 4th with Don Kimper finishing a respectable 5th. Paul Springer was 6th and Mike Fleming was 7th.
I understand Richard's frustration with the lack of results but lets play this carefully. If there are too many complaints then officials might discourage separate results in one pack and that would kill 60+ racing. We have a good thing going and lets keep it going. Last year saw a record 60 riders at RMMC so we were down 15 to 20 but our group was respectable compared to the other fields. That's all for now folks! Train hard and race safe!
| Roger Millikan Memorial (Rank 1.0) | ||||
| Masters 60+ | ||||
| Place | License | Name | Team | SoCal Points |
| 1 | 48760 | John Rubcic | UC Cyclery/JW Flooring | 14 |
| 2 | 219074 | Leo Pettus | Paramount Racing | 11 |
| 3 | 234791 | Loren Stephens | EDGE Racing | 10 |
| 4 | 180386 | John McKee | Paramount Racing | 9 |
| 5 | 195498 | Donald Kimper | ACQUA AL 2/San Diego Bicycle Club | 8 |
| 6 | 33679 | Paul Springer | Citrus Valley Velo | 7 |
| 7 | 129293 | Michael Fleming | Coates /On Deck Foundation | 6 |
| 8 | 275832 | Benjamin Maciel | Citrus Valley Velo | 5 |
| 9 | 238828 | Phillip Richards | Citrus Valley Velo | 4 |
| 10 | 58954 | Victor Rodgers | Team Gran Fondo/Bianchi | 3 |
| 11 | 186261 | Edward Solomon | Canyon Velo | 2 |
| 12 | 89468 | Robert Humphrey | PAA / RE/MAX | 1 |
| 13 | 266647 | Allen Kizuka | Velo Allegro | 0 |
| 14 | 61278 | Mario Seri | Kahala LaGrange | 0 |
| 15 | 45342 | Domenick Forte | PAA / RE/MAX | 0 |
| Roger Millikan Memorial (Rank 1.0) | |||||
| Masters 55+ | |||||
| Place | License | Name | Team | SoCal Points | |
| 1 | 47262 | Dale Luedtke | UC Cyclery/JW Floors | 14 | |
| 2 | 54522 | Kalman Szkalak | UC Cyclery/JW Flooring | 11 | |
| 3 | 219983 | Richard Pollock | Citrus Valley Velo | 10 | |
| 4 | 230085 | Albert Shorts | Velo Allegro | 9 | |
| 5 | 52251 | Ricky Shorts | Velo Allegro | 8 | |
| 6 | 48278 | Donald Davidson | Citrus Valley Velo | 7 | |
| 7 | 30596 | Wayne Rosenkrantz | EDGE Racing | 6 | |
| 8 | 49424 | Howard Miller | Paramount Racing | 5 | |
| 9 | 243425 | mark wisnosky | ACQUA AL 2/San Diego Bicycle Club | 4 | |
| 10 | 3793 | Raphael Gomez | Cycles Veloce | 3 | |
| 11 | 46184 | Foresta Von Kurt | San Diego Bicycle Club | 2 | |
| 12 | 195618 | Stephen Horine | UC Cyclery/JW Flooring | 1 | |
| 13 | 245777 | Steven Borer | Citrus Valley Velo | 0 | |
| 14 | 126668 | Joey Valdivia | UC Cyclery/JW Flooring | 0 | |
| 15 | 58847 | Paul Rodriguez | UC Cyclery/JW Flooring | 0 | |
This story below was written by and published with the permission of Richard Pollack
Roger Millikan-Brea, Ca-2-15-2009
We were spared the rain today, but with an 8:00 start, it was still pretty cold. Lots of arm/leg warmers and full fingered gloves. It appeared to be a pretty good turn out. The best yet this year. I would guess about 35 riders. The 50+ race later probably had more, but the 45+ seemed to have less. I could be wrong, but that was the quick read.
Our team of Citrus Valley Velo got our smart looking new kits just prior to race time and we had 7 riders in full display. Several riders made their first showing of the year. Monty Pettis, Al and Ricky Shorts, Leo Longo, Paul Rodriquez and Howard Miller fresh off a training ride face plant. The story was: Gravel in a corner, woke up in the hospital. Missing tooth, broken nose and some serious face rash! Not a happy sight! Get well soon for the love of God!
Sign-up was a cluster as were the posting and bickering over results. Apparently in our 55/60 race, the camera pooped out mid-sprint. On to the race!
The course was dry and clean until we started, then there was water running down the gutter in the first downhill corner and after 2 laps, it got pretty heavy in the even faster turn 2. Nobody fell or slid out even at racing speeds because everybody was aware of the risk and generally speaking, used their heads. Then the sprinklers came on in the inside of the final turn. There were several break attempts, most notably by Kal, Paul R., Phil R. and Don D. All were chased down or neutralized. I think after the Imperial and Mothballs races, which were won via breaks, all breaks will most likely be watched very closely. I commented to John Mckee after the race today, that the “Group” seems very content to do no work and seem weak and unmotivated…..until there is a break. Then you see the dead come back to life. I bridged up to Kal on one attempt and thought we were gone, but we were soon joined by everyone. Same thing even earlier with Dale and Kal and towards the end for Paul R and an unknown companion. When push comes to shove as it did today, the escapees WILL be tracked down.
An interesting side note and a quote from the ever personable Mike Fleming, “ The hill coming into the final corner seems like it will be a big deal for the couple laps and then it just turns into a non-hill, non-factor.” As I told my teammates pre-race, the final sprint starts just prior to the corner leading into the hill. If you’re not there by then, you better be able to chase down and pass Dale Luedtke, who is the new Butch Stinton of the 55/60+ Category.
With about 4 laps to go, Paul Rodriquez and another rider had a fair but closable gap. The pace slowly picked up with Paul Springer taking a good long pull at the front that close a fair amount of distance. On the bell lap, Paul and break-mate were caught through the “S-turn” and the speed really picked up. I was not in a good position, but Don D., hoping to give me a lead out, actually wedged into and backout of the line, creating a nice pocket for me to fill. I was sitting pretty in 4th through the corner and up the hill, but through the last turn, Dale hit the gas and opened a gap. Rubcic accelerated with me on his wheel. At this point Kal sat halfway up and went from the middle of the road to the left gutter closing the door to the point where I had to stop pedaling. Dale was the big winner! He would go on to win the 50+ as well. Kal was second, Rubcic was first 60+ and I was 3rd, followed by Team Shorts, Al and Rickey, Don Davidson rounded out the top 6 for the 55’s and in a great return, Monty Pettis was 2nd 60+.
With the finish line camera out to lunch, the results took forever and there was still a lot of bewilderment! In the heat of battle in a sprint, you go as hard and as fast as you can go with your head down. We need a functioning camera or lots of people have NO idea where they have finished. Last Sunday at Red Trolley, the same thing happened. I did the 45+ and only 6 positions were ever declared final. You get kinda used to the camera functioning.
Bonus editorial:
First of all, I realize that 99% of the people that put on or work at these races are volunteers. I believe that everyone appreciates their sacrifices, labor, effort and at the least, having cool races to compete in. Everyone wants to race, not many people want to help out at races.
That said, the people that actually race are paying customers who besides paying an entry fee, have to get up at ungodly hours, drive long distances(and buy gas by the tanker load), stand in lines, get use to Porta Potties becoming their second home and be treated like children by some officials. My point is, we make sacrifices too. And this is our hobby, not a profession. We can quit anytime and never be missed.
So here’s a question to ponder. Now I’ve only been riding and racing again since 2004, so I could almost qualify as a fresh pair of eyes. Does the USCF or So-Cal USCF or Cycling USA or Ralph (who does it pretty darn well), have a basic race promoting/organizing program/format? Such as, if your club is planning on putting on a race, you go to a guidebook that says you need 6 people at sign-up, 3 people doing results, 4 working a concession stand, 12 setting up the course, etc, etc. What things should be on the sign-up table, how many pens, safety pins, cones, brooms, pylons or whatever. Basically a “Putting on a bike race outline”. There seems to be such a wide spectrum of race organization that ranges from superb like a well oiled machine to a debacle at the other end.
Add to that, “Categories offered” variations, time for posting results at the race AND sending them in to be posted on the Internet SCNCA site. It’s sort of like going to an NFL game at the local stadium and you don’t get to know the score till next week. That is, unless you’re huddled around with a group of other diehards who refuse to leave until they know the results/score.
It just seems that if a group of really sharp people that know the So-Cal race scene/business put their heads together, there could be some really great ideas hatched. Once again, I’m not complaining, but it sure seems that after all these years, there should be a better way of helping the average club put on their once a year race. The USCF takes in a load of bread from a growing membership each year and other than a youth development/National team program, they should have plenty of good day to day ideas that would improve the weekly race experience for everyone. Ok, I’ll shut up now.
Mule
Saturday, February 14, 2009
DAVIDSON MAKE IT STICK AND WALLOPS THE FIELD IN GOLETA
By John McKee
It was a beautiful weekend in Southern California and most eyes in the sports world were on the Super Bowl but the hard core 55/60+ bike racers were in Goleta, Cal. for an early morning criterium. A few of the guys started off in El Centro on Sat. but only the really hard core did both. Of course “The Mule” did and that would be expected but some of his Citrus Valley Velo teammates also did. That being Ben Macial, Paul Springer and Don Davidson. CVV has some added faces and looks very strong this year. The weather was cold to begin with but not unbearable.
When the promoter got to the race course on Sunday to set up for the Mothballs Criterium(Feb. 1st, 2009) it was 39 degrees and when I got there around 7 am it had warmed up a bit to 41 degrees but the air was calm and it was sunny and it didn’t seem to be any kind of a problem. Last year Kal had a problem with the cold on his hands keeping him from shifting at a critical moment in the final sprint.
By the time we lined up to race at 8:10 am it had warmed up a bit more and the air was still. 28 riders were there getting an 800 number series with a pale yellow background and the 55s getting a 500 series with a white background. All of you guys that help with a race, TAKE NOTE! This was great and a big help to racers. Especially at this event where a lot of unknown Nor Cal riders come down to mix it up with the Southerners. Nice to see new faces but criteriums seem to be a foreign type of racing to some of them. Most of the races in Nor Cal
are road races. The gun went off with 40 minutes of racing to go. Richard “The Mule” Pollack started it off hard to just get things going. CVV has always played the jump chase game and with some new players it just makes it that much more effective.
It didn’t take long before Don Davidson,”The Human Wind Up Racer”. Wind him up and off he goes and not at a gentlemanly pace either. Don is going to jump and jump and jump. And jump some more and you had better be prepared to chase and chase hard if you want to keep the race under control. Don has had some issues, physical and otherwise the last couple of season but he looks like he is in very good form.
Don soon got off solo and was joined by local favorite and dynamite sprinter Carlos Soto. Carlos wasn’t sporting the Time clothing kit that he had last year and was unrecognized by myself. Don wore Carlos out and Carlos thought he would be better in a bunch sprint so he fell off the pace that Don was setting and both of them got swallowed up soon. Of course the team strategy is once a teammate is caught someone else goes. Nothing like kicking everyone when they are down after a chase but that’s racing.
Ben Macial had a go at it next and Ben has aged up to 60+. Ben is a strong all around racer and I had to take notice and help with a chase so no 60+ rider would be off the front. I didn’t seem to have the legs that I have had at this race in the past. I have 2 2nds and one win here. I decided to stay near the front and away from some of the hustle and bustle of some of the less than stellar group racing guys but not chase too hard and get into extreme oxygen debt. It takes a little more effort and energy to stay near the front but I prefer it there most of the time. Ben soon got caught but guess who takes off. You get 3 guesses and the first 2 don’t count. If your third guess has the intials DD then you pulled the ring on the merry go round. Double D is off and the 55s seem unfazed or out of gas. One racer that I didn’t know took off in chase and no one else paid attention. His name is Pedro Ordaz. Don’t know him or any thing about him but he caught Don and they started to work together. This is where the colored numbers came in handy. “The Mule” told me that the fellow that was with Double D was 60+ but my recollection was that his number had a white background and I wasn’t going to do any crazy diehard chase unless I am sure a competitor is up the road. I really didn’t care if 55s were ahead. None of my teammates were there so I just sat in as did Richard Stahlberg eventhough Richard is racing 55. Richard looked good after having minor heart surgery to correct a condition that makes his heart race. It took 2 operations but Richard looked good out there and nice to have him back in action. Richard stayed near the front the entire race. Richard has been doing this for a long time and knows what he is doing.
There were a couple of guys that went down. One slammed into Mike Duck in a prime lap sprint and went sliding. Not so fun on asphalt. The rider got back up and the official tried to explain to him that he needed to wait for the pack to come back around and he could get back in. Free lap, right until 5 to go. The rider didn’t understand and took off and was caught by the pack and he got back in but was a “lap down” per the official. He later had to drop out because of a mechnical. Another very experienced rider hit a cone and went down but knew the rules and got back in at the proper time. Torn clothing seemed to be the only issue here.
With the lap counter starting to go down- 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, etc. it was clear that Don and his break partner were not going to get caught. With less than 2 laps to go Doug Knox starts a hard pull. Doug looked pretty fit but didn’t seem too have many riding miles in his legs. He dropped out before the finish line. The next to the last lap was pretty hard but the pace slowed a bit on the bell lap. I just stayed on “The Mule”. I figured to ride him home and stayed on his wheel. It got tactical and a few lesser riders were ahead of Richard and myself going into the last curve.
I panicked at this point not liking to wait so long and about the time I made a move up the inside tight on the curb Richard starting weaving his way through the other riders. Carlos Sotos had already taken off and has a sensational sprint but lets go back to the 2 break guys that were going to decide first place. They were together with a lap to go but at the finish it was all Don Davidson. The other rider Pedro Ordaz sat up going across the line in 2nd place. Great job, Don!
Carlos Soto wiped everyone out in the bunch sprint. It wasn’t event close. The riders came home in waves.
The next 2 riders to duke it out were Richard Pollack and Mike Vanlandingham. Mike bested “The Mule” which was a bit of a surprise but another new 55 to contend with. Dwight Carbajal came home solo with the 60+ winner close at hand, Glenn Town. Glenn aged up this year and is a very good road racer and time trailist. He doesn’t often do crits but I have seen him at this event before and I was able to out sprint him but I didn’t really have a shot at him. Obviously I should have stayed on “The Mule” and ridden him home as he is good at motoring through a group of slower finishers. The next wave of riders came in with not much distance between them but Richard Stahlberg was ahead of this group with myself(2nd 60+) just ahead of Raphael Gomez and Paul Springer(3rd 60+). Mike Duck(4th 60+) came in right behind us. Nice to see
Mike back racing. Mike has another home in Montana and spends a lot of time there. Mike unfortunately lost track of the laps and probably was pretty surprised that everyone else was going so fast. Mike thought The overall pace of the race was a piece of cake. Glad someone did. Lol.
Special mention to Mario Seri and Robert Paganini who were the oldest members of the group. Mario will be 67 this year and Pags will be 73. Great job guys.
Overall it was a good race and the organizers and help did a great job. Thanks to all of them. That’s all for Now folks! Train hard and race safe! FULL RESULTS BELOW.
Mothballs Criterium (Rank 1.0)
Masters 60+
Place License Name Team SoCal Points
1 205555 Glenn Town Simply Fit/Action Sports 14
2 180386 John McKee Paramount Racing 11
3 33679 Paul Springer Citrus Valley Velo 10
4 58170 Sydney Duck 9
5 61278 Mario Seri Kahala LaGrange 8
6 220804 Michael Barnes Rock Solid Cycling 7
7 45342 Domenick Forte PAA / RE/MAX 6
8 275832 Benjamin Maciel Citrus Valley Velo 5
9 3794 Vicente Gomez Team Simple Green 4
10 45763 Robert Paganini PAA 3
Mothballs Criterium (Rank 1.0)
Masters 55+
Place License Name Team SoCal Points
1 48278 Donald Davidson Citrus Valley Velo 14
2 213421 Pedro Ordaz Team Chicken Ranch 11
3 47380 Carlos Soto Unattached 10
4 Michael Vanlandingham 9
5 219983 Richard Pollock Citrus Valley Velo 8
6 45160 Dwight Carbajal Adobo Velo Fil-Am Cycling 7
7 50911 Richard Stahlberg Ironfly 6
8 3793 Raphael Gomez Cycles Veloce 5
9 49110 Rino Barbagiovanni Santa Clarita Velo 4
10 177283 Eugene Poyorena CA Pools Racing 3
11 155459 Thomas Reilly Pasadena Athletic Assoc (PAA) 2
12 275439 Peter Boberg Platinum Performance Cycling Team 1
13 196820 George Chester Amgen Cycling Club 0
14 95371 Rick Abrams Echelon Santa Barbara 0
15 155368 Richard Curtis Echelon Santa Barbara 0
16 257503 Philip Walters Encino Velo Cycling Club 0
It was a beautiful weekend in Southern California and most eyes in the sports world were on the Super Bowl but the hard core 55/60+ bike racers were in Goleta, Cal. for an early morning criterium. A few of the guys started off in El Centro on Sat. but only the really hard core did both. Of course “The Mule” did and that would be expected but some of his Citrus Valley Velo teammates also did. That being Ben Macial, Paul Springer and Don Davidson. CVV has some added faces and looks very strong this year. The weather was cold to begin with but not unbearable.
When the promoter got to the race course on Sunday to set up for the Mothballs Criterium(Feb. 1st, 2009) it was 39 degrees and when I got there around 7 am it had warmed up a bit to 41 degrees but the air was calm and it was sunny and it didn’t seem to be any kind of a problem. Last year Kal had a problem with the cold on his hands keeping him from shifting at a critical moment in the final sprint.
By the time we lined up to race at 8:10 am it had warmed up a bit more and the air was still. 28 riders were there getting an 800 number series with a pale yellow background and the 55s getting a 500 series with a white background. All of you guys that help with a race, TAKE NOTE! This was great and a big help to racers. Especially at this event where a lot of unknown Nor Cal riders come down to mix it up with the Southerners. Nice to see new faces but criteriums seem to be a foreign type of racing to some of them. Most of the races in Nor Cal
are road races. The gun went off with 40 minutes of racing to go. Richard “The Mule” Pollack started it off hard to just get things going. CVV has always played the jump chase game and with some new players it just makes it that much more effective.
It didn’t take long before Don Davidson,”The Human Wind Up Racer”. Wind him up and off he goes and not at a gentlemanly pace either. Don is going to jump and jump and jump. And jump some more and you had better be prepared to chase and chase hard if you want to keep the race under control. Don has had some issues, physical and otherwise the last couple of season but he looks like he is in very good form.
Don soon got off solo and was joined by local favorite and dynamite sprinter Carlos Soto. Carlos wasn’t sporting the Time clothing kit that he had last year and was unrecognized by myself. Don wore Carlos out and Carlos thought he would be better in a bunch sprint so he fell off the pace that Don was setting and both of them got swallowed up soon. Of course the team strategy is once a teammate is caught someone else goes. Nothing like kicking everyone when they are down after a chase but that’s racing.
Ben Macial had a go at it next and Ben has aged up to 60+. Ben is a strong all around racer and I had to take notice and help with a chase so no 60+ rider would be off the front. I didn’t seem to have the legs that I have had at this race in the past. I have 2 2nds and one win here. I decided to stay near the front and away from some of the hustle and bustle of some of the less than stellar group racing guys but not chase too hard and get into extreme oxygen debt. It takes a little more effort and energy to stay near the front but I prefer it there most of the time. Ben soon got caught but guess who takes off. You get 3 guesses and the first 2 don’t count. If your third guess has the intials DD then you pulled the ring on the merry go round. Double D is off and the 55s seem unfazed or out of gas. One racer that I didn’t know took off in chase and no one else paid attention. His name is Pedro Ordaz. Don’t know him or any thing about him but he caught Don and they started to work together. This is where the colored numbers came in handy. “The Mule” told me that the fellow that was with Double D was 60+ but my recollection was that his number had a white background and I wasn’t going to do any crazy diehard chase unless I am sure a competitor is up the road. I really didn’t care if 55s were ahead. None of my teammates were there so I just sat in as did Richard Stahlberg eventhough Richard is racing 55. Richard looked good after having minor heart surgery to correct a condition that makes his heart race. It took 2 operations but Richard looked good out there and nice to have him back in action. Richard stayed near the front the entire race. Richard has been doing this for a long time and knows what he is doing.
There were a couple of guys that went down. One slammed into Mike Duck in a prime lap sprint and went sliding. Not so fun on asphalt. The rider got back up and the official tried to explain to him that he needed to wait for the pack to come back around and he could get back in. Free lap, right until 5 to go. The rider didn’t understand and took off and was caught by the pack and he got back in but was a “lap down” per the official. He later had to drop out because of a mechnical. Another very experienced rider hit a cone and went down but knew the rules and got back in at the proper time. Torn clothing seemed to be the only issue here.
With the lap counter starting to go down- 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, etc. it was clear that Don and his break partner were not going to get caught. With less than 2 laps to go Doug Knox starts a hard pull. Doug looked pretty fit but didn’t seem too have many riding miles in his legs. He dropped out before the finish line. The next to the last lap was pretty hard but the pace slowed a bit on the bell lap. I just stayed on “The Mule”. I figured to ride him home and stayed on his wheel. It got tactical and a few lesser riders were ahead of Richard and myself going into the last curve.
I panicked at this point not liking to wait so long and about the time I made a move up the inside tight on the curb Richard starting weaving his way through the other riders. Carlos Sotos had already taken off and has a sensational sprint but lets go back to the 2 break guys that were going to decide first place. They were together with a lap to go but at the finish it was all Don Davidson. The other rider Pedro Ordaz sat up going across the line in 2nd place. Great job, Don!
Carlos Soto wiped everyone out in the bunch sprint. It wasn’t event close. The riders came home in waves.
The next 2 riders to duke it out were Richard Pollack and Mike Vanlandingham. Mike bested “The Mule” which was a bit of a surprise but another new 55 to contend with. Dwight Carbajal came home solo with the 60+ winner close at hand, Glenn Town. Glenn aged up this year and is a very good road racer and time trailist. He doesn’t often do crits but I have seen him at this event before and I was able to out sprint him but I didn’t really have a shot at him. Obviously I should have stayed on “The Mule” and ridden him home as he is good at motoring through a group of slower finishers. The next wave of riders came in with not much distance between them but Richard Stahlberg was ahead of this group with myself(2nd 60+) just ahead of Raphael Gomez and Paul Springer(3rd 60+). Mike Duck(4th 60+) came in right behind us. Nice to see
Mike back racing. Mike has another home in Montana and spends a lot of time there. Mike unfortunately lost track of the laps and probably was pretty surprised that everyone else was going so fast. Mike thought The overall pace of the race was a piece of cake. Glad someone did. Lol.
Special mention to Mario Seri and Robert Paganini who were the oldest members of the group. Mario will be 67 this year and Pags will be 73. Great job guys.
Overall it was a good race and the organizers and help did a great job. Thanks to all of them. That’s all for Now folks! Train hard and race safe! FULL RESULTS BELOW.
Mothballs Criterium (Rank 1.0)
Masters 60+
Place License Name Team SoCal Points
1 205555 Glenn Town Simply Fit/Action Sports 14
2 180386 John McKee Paramount Racing 11
3 33679 Paul Springer Citrus Valley Velo 10
4 58170 Sydney Duck 9
5 61278 Mario Seri Kahala LaGrange 8
6 220804 Michael Barnes Rock Solid Cycling 7
7 45342 Domenick Forte PAA / RE/MAX 6
8 275832 Benjamin Maciel Citrus Valley Velo 5
9 3794 Vicente Gomez Team Simple Green 4
10 45763 Robert Paganini PAA 3
Mothballs Criterium (Rank 1.0)
Masters 55+
Place License Name Team SoCal Points
1 48278 Donald Davidson Citrus Valley Velo 14
2 213421 Pedro Ordaz Team Chicken Ranch 11
3 47380 Carlos Soto Unattached 10
4 Michael Vanlandingham 9
5 219983 Richard Pollock Citrus Valley Velo 8
6 45160 Dwight Carbajal Adobo Velo Fil-Am Cycling 7
7 50911 Richard Stahlberg Ironfly 6
8 3793 Raphael Gomez Cycles Veloce 5
9 49110 Rino Barbagiovanni Santa Clarita Velo 4
10 177283 Eugene Poyorena CA Pools Racing 3
11 155459 Thomas Reilly Pasadena Athletic Assoc (PAA) 2
12 275439 Peter Boberg Platinum Performance Cycling Team 1
13 196820 George Chester Amgen Cycling Club 0
14 95371 Rick Abrams Echelon Santa Barbara 0
15 155368 Richard Curtis Echelon Santa Barbara 0
16 257503 Philip Walters Encino Velo Cycling Club 0
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