Race Duo for 55/60+ Racers in Los Olivos/Goleta- Part 1

By John McKee

It's the weekend of Jan. 28th and 29th, 2012. Time for Poor College Kids Road Race and Mothballs Criterium. A great double of racing. The racers split between staying up in the area and driving up before the races. Tough drive early but the traffic would be light. I stayed at the Andersen's in Buelton as did Monty Pettus, his wife and son. Short drive from there to the PCKRR start area. New area for registration, parking, start and finish. The course itself was the same. An out and back course down a narrow country road with wineries everywhere including Fess Parkers. A special note about Monty. He came home of course with his wife, son and their 2 bikes and all the luggage in his Prius. Not just that but an additional 36 bottles of wine. Now that was a good packing job!
The field size was good at 38 with 25 of the racers 55+. Defending champs Gary Shuey in 55+ and Bob Wright in 60+ didn't make it. No matter. There were plenty of guys that wanted to fill their shoes. UC Cyclery was out in force. This was a targeted race for them. At least 8 riders were in the white and green kits.
The weather was cold but dry. It could have been colder. The temp was in the low 40s when the riders started at 7:55 am. We were starting after the cat 5s.
The first climb is not that hard with a gentler slope than coming back toward home. The first victim of the race was Alex Collins. His seatpost dropped on him and he went off the back. The slope on the other side of the hill was pretty steep and the pack hit speeds well in excess of 40 mph. Wisely everyone spread out and gave themselves some room to maneuver. Once down the steepest part the group consolidated. The road was quite narrow and was nearly impossible to move up.
The course was almost totally downhill to the turnaround so no one was in danger of being dropped. At the turnaround it was very tight and those up front sprinted away after around the corner while the riders in the middle and the back were still waiting to turnaround. It really stretched things out. The slope started back up and the wind was now in everyone's face. After about a mile the pressure was taken off. I know I was about to snap having ridden in the very back of the pack. Tempo riding was the order of the day on the rest of the way back to the steepest climb. UCC was using Steve Horine and Mike Mueller to do the work coming back. Either doing hard tempo or going off the front to be chased by the pack or if things were just right, stay off the front. UCC was holding Mark Huffman and Paul Rodiguez in the pack for a latter time. It was no surprise that everyone was together coming to the pendulum point of the race. The steepest part of the climb.
Mike Mueller jetted off the front. He used his superior climbing ability to separate from the field. An unknown/clubless rider by the name of Owen Thomas went with Mike and they went over the top ahead of everyone. Mike Birditt was in damage control and keeping the leaders to a reasonable distance away and staying near Mark Hoffenberg. Mike and Mark went over the top next and started a hardy chase of the leaders. Pretty soon the chase group was between 15 and 20 with 5 60+ racers-Jon Miller, Howard Miller, Glenn Baldwin, Steve Bernede and Jean Villiot. Mike Birditt's trusty lieutenant Kim Bleth went to the front and started a furious chase. Mueller and Thomas were working together in front but were caught before the turn for home.
The rest of the field was scattered along the road. I was near the back and motor ref John Rubcic came up to me and seeing I wasn't climbing that great, gave me some advice "breathe deep John breathe deep".  I kept my teammate Monty Pettus in sight and joined up with him on the way down. We caught the 2nd chase group including Don Kimper(Don was complaining loudly after the race about his new Sram cassette but Don you have to try your new stuff in training before you race). Monty had his sights on the next chase group that included Steve Borer but we ran out of time.
Back to the leaders. All together and they all turn for home. Left turn after the cones and the group will have the entire road to race on to the top and the finish line or so they thought. The owner of the property that we parked on had come out of one of his dirt roads between the CHP road blocks and was coming down the road toward the riders. Yikes! Everyone smartly moved to the right and out of harm's way. UCC with their numbers decided to lead it out. There was 1 kilometer to go after the left turn but it was uphill and the last 100 meters really kicked up. Mike Mueller and Paul Rodriquez took flight. Mike "The Stalker" Birditt was marking them closely. Waiting for the right time to jump.
In 60+ action, Jon Miller coming off another successful cyclocross season was in the mix along with Steve Bernede, Glen Baldwin(Glen was so quiet Monty and I never saw him. I guess we never got near the front, Lol), and Howard Miller. Howard did Turnbull Canyon 20 times the prior week and got his climbing legs fit. Howard and I are usually pretty close in climbing but he left me in the dust.
"The Stalker" saw his opportunity when he saw the finishing stand that had Eric Smith and the other officials on it. Mike was all in! It was uphill and kicked up sharply but Mike eats this type of finish up. The last 20 meters kicks up even more and Mike was in the lead but felt like he was tying up. Mark Hoffenberg was right there and charging with his young 55+ legs. Mark Huffman who was UCC's sit in mate was throwing it down as well. Mark had been seen on the Wed. Camp Pendleton training ride and and was known to be sharp.
Mike Birditt was able to hang on for 1st place. Nice job, Mike!. Mike raised his right arm which blocked his numbers view to the officials and Eric. Mike got a lecture from Eric after the race but he still won! Hoffy came in 2nd and Huffy was 3rd. Albert Shorts of Velo Allegro had chosen to sit in this race rather than work for his brother like in prior events. Al has been doing climbing training lately and it was paying off. Al Shorts sprinted across the line in 4th place. A good result for Al. Al was followed in by Thompson, Cahill, Luke, Hoblit, Raymond, Mueller, Rino B., and Ricky Shorts. Ricky had made a chicky move on the left turn up the hill but everyone saw it was Ricky and just thought "Well that's Ricky".
The finish of the 60+ race was in the mix of the 55+ racers. Howard wasn't totally sure where he finished but saw he was about 6 inches behind Jon "Wave Dog" Miller after Jon passed him just before the line. This is his nickname for himself. I assume Jon is a former surfer? Jon had charged up the right side just inches from the dirt passing riders as he went. Glen "Quiet Man" Baldwin was 3rd and the favorite as I saw it Steve "Loyal" Bernede was 4th. Jean Villiot was 5th place. Jean is coming back from a very bad crash that damaged his hip. Glad to see him back racing. Steve Borer was in the 2nd wave and placed 6th in 60+. Monty Pettus, myself and Don Kimper were in the 3rd wave and placed 7, 8 and 9.
The PCKRR was a fair and good road race. The course isn't the most exciting or the hardest but certainly hard enough. Like to have seen the hardest part early rather than late. The pack was very edgy and there were a few near misses as far as crashes. It was a good turnout for such an early start. The weather wasn't near as cold as it could have been. Great place actually to set up for the race. The finish was improved and quite good. The parking area could have held many more cars and RVs then were there. It certainly could have held a "mile of cars"(the first person that knows the movie reference here wins a prize). Thanks to all the guys that came out and I know most traveled a long ways to get here. It took me 3 hours to get to the Andersen's in Buelton from my house. Results below. That's all for now folks! Train hard and race safe!

John "Wave Dog" Miller- Winner 60+

 

Mike "The Stalker" Birditt- Winner 55+

Poor College Kids Road Race  (Rank 2.0)
Masters 60+
Place	License	Name	Team	SoCal Points
1	167489	Jon Miller	Platinum Performance Cycling Team	28
2	49424	Howard Miller	OCW/Paramount Racing	22
3	45047	Glenn Baldwin	SLO Nexus-Gym One	20
4	126351	Steve Bernede		18
5	59805	Jean Villiot	CA Pools /CFS Mortgage	16
6	245777	Steven Borer	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	14
7	219074	Leo Pettus	Paramount Racing	12
8	180386	John McKee	Paramount Racing	10
9	195498	Donald Kimper	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	8
10	170779	Edgardo Potes	Bike Palace	6
11	269972	Fred Haim	Velo Club LaGrange	4

 

Poor College Kids Road Race  (Rank 2.0)
Masters 55+
Place	License	Name	Team	SoCal Points
1	47255	Michael Birditt	Spy-Swami's Cycling Team	28
2	45461	Mark Hoffenberg	Sho-air/Rock 'n Road	22
3	59572	Mark Huffman	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	20
4	230085	Albert Shorts	Velo Allegro	18
5	193819	Chuck Thompson	Polli Veloce	16
6	204724	Steve Cahill	Celo Pacific	14
7	21803	John Luke	Santa Clarita Velo	12
8	16360	Fred Hoblit	Santa Clarita Velo	10
9	148853	Dale Raymond	Southern California Velo	8
10	46688	Michael Mueller	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	6
11	49110	Rino Barbagiovanni	Santa Clarita Velo	4
12	52251	Ricky Shorts	Velo Allegro	2
13	341568	Owen Thomas		0
14	49191	Kim Bleth	Swami's Cycling Club	0
15	58847	Paul Rodriguez	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	0
16	1254	Mark Ainslie		0
17	195618	Stephen Horine	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	0
18	141141	Steve Nelson	Echelon Santa Barbara	0
19	195285	Kenneth Neumeyer		0
20	352540	Scotty Bohlman	Jessup Auto Plaza p/b P.S. Cyclery	0
21	50765	Richard Roberson	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	0
22	364971	John Johnson		0
23	106989	Pato Munoz	Velo Allegro	0
24	189931	Kasey Haws		0
25	46255	Alex Collins	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	0