Excitement at Ontario! 5-17-2009

By Richard Pollock

Riding the short course at Ontario is generally not exciting. Four corners making up a .7 mile rectangle, with a relatively short sprint from the last corner. What’s the big deal? Well, last week at Brea, I got pretty frustrated with the UCC spanking we all got. Myself included. So after grumbling and stewing all week, I had decided that today would be the time for a counter attack against the “Non-Evil” Empire (as Dale called it), to try and get back on solid ego-ground. Now I have to say, that I have a blast at every race, win (not very often), or lose (pretty regular)! Racing is racing and nothing gets the heart rate up or the blood flowing like a spirited race effort.

My plan today was to “go” at some point. Later would be better than sooner as being out there for a long time causes you to run out of “Fun Tickets” and usually BEFORE the big show. So with 30 riders leaving the line for the start, I try to roll up to speed pretty quick to check out the crowd. Let’s get it going right now and see what happens. After half a lap, the pace is pretty decent and all the usual faces are near the front. The very first part of the race is a little fuzzy as it happened pretty quick, but I remember sort of rolling off again at about 9 minutes in and getting a small gap. When Kal came by me in a manor that indicated we were now on our own, I knew it was “Game-On”. If Kal is trying to get away, his team will for sure try to keep him away. The bad news was, we were only 9 minutes into 40 minutes of racing, meaning…this was gonna hurt!

So we build a decent gap and are working really well together. Hopefully his teammates of Dale Ludke, Mitch Weinstock (last week’s winner), and John Rubcic are working with my teammates Dick Gentili, Steve Borer, Paul Springer, and Steve Mera to neutralize the attacks that are sure to be happening. At one point the group closed on us to a distance where I thought it was over, but it’s at times like that you really need to keep up the effort, not cash in. We did and the gap grew again. However, the distance to bridge became do-able and within a few laps, someone was catching us. He was definitely having to work for it and in a bit, PAA’s Tom Reilly was with us. And he was going good too! He did his share and now the work was split into thirds.

A prime bell is rung and it’s for 3 series (that would be Ontario series) points. Kal tells me he has to “Defend” the points and he’s going to sprint. I’m leading the series by 1 point over Dale (Kal’s teammate), who is in the pack behind us. Kal has no points in the series, but his teammate needs for ME to NOT win them. If I sprint it out with Kal, we’ll both use a ton of effort and that could blow the break apart, smashing the fruits of our labor like so many watermelons on the road. I was in a tight spot boys! I said, “Take your freakin’ points!” I was concentrating on the final race finish. If our break gets caught, Dale will trash us in the sprint anyway. Bird in the hand and all that.

A short while later, I check our gap and there’s two more riders attempting to bridge. I didn’t look long or too hard as we were still motorin’ pretty decent. They were closing and one rider was a UCC rider and he was bigger than the guy he was following. So that means it wouldn’t be Rubcic and there were no 60+ riders in the break anyway. Mitch is not really a big guy either. Not small, but not so big like….Dale. Insert expletive here! I immediately tell Kal that there’s no f-ing way I’m draggin’ Dale to the sprint for the next 15 minutes. Not that I could do anything really but keep going as hard as I/we could. Crap. The good news was that the other rider was Steve Bernede and he has a long history of throwin’ it all out there and workin’ hard. So we now have 5 guys sharing the load. One not putting out too big an effort, lest he tire himself out for later efforts. With about maybe 10 minutes to go, Tom starts to fade slightly and I think we’re going to lose him. He later said he got a cramp in his side, but it soon went away and he was back on board.

We worked together well till about one and half laps to go. I think laps were in the 2:10 range and at this point we all began to posture ever so slightly and on the last lap we rode Tom like Zorro, meaning, nobody pulled through! Coming onto the back straight on the final lap, we could see the pack at the other end of the straightaway. The teams had shut down the efforts of all.

Nobody came through to relieve Tom on the last lap except Steve once maybe. Down the back straight you need to get your poop in a pile for the sprint. Meaning the short straight between turns three and four is really too late to get yourself where you have to be. Tom and Steve are at the front and Dale is right behind and to the outside waiting to fire the cannon. Meanwhile Kal is fading back so that he can jump prior to the rest of us and come by at speed instead of allowing us to react to a “Jump” by jumping right next to us. Not a sophisticated move, but very functional.

So, for a guy like me wanting to win the sprint against the current two best sprinters, I’m in a tight spot boys! If I fade back to Kal, Dale goes and he’s gone. If I wait behind Dale and he doesn’t go first, Kal will come flyin’ by with a gap that will be tough to close through two corners and a short sprint. So approaching the third corner and in the .6 seconds that I’m mentally flipping a coin, Kal goes flyin’ up the inside with great speed! I jump to match and have to go way wide to go around Dale, Steve and Tom. Too far, too late, too wiped from the 30+ minute break effort. Dale has a huge jump at his disposal and dispatches with me well before the line and Kal as well who had a gap on me. Not the finish I had hoped for, but it was over nonetheless!

Meanwhile, back on the reservation, Ricky Shorts (Velo Allegro), Paul Springer (CVV), and Ironfly’s Richard Stalhberg were making efforts to get away from the group, the most persistent being Stahlberg. A quick unrelated note here, the Ironfly kits are the probably the coolest I’ve ever seen!! But all efforts were abandoned or neutralized. Yet another interesting note about the course. Over the 30+ minutes we were out there, I took my turn at the front at every location on the course. The stretch from the last corner to the Start/Finish line was the hardest. It seemed to have an invisible upward gradient and crowned at the line. Maybe everybody else knew this, but if not, after a while and getting stuck on the front there with today’s wind, that was quite a surprise to me.

After crossing the line we five rolled through and at turn one I did a U-turn to watch the rest of the group throw down a huge sprint. Out of the last corner, they were all over the road with Rubcic doing the business! First in the 60plus! Now I was about 150 meters away and looking into the sun, so I couldn’t make out riders or jerseys. But all of a sudden, a rider goes totally sideways taking out the rider to his right! They go down at max speed and I mean in a heap! From my vantage point it looks ugly and up close it probably looked worse. A rider comes rolling through and yells to me that it was one of my teammates. It was Paul Springer and John Mckee. On the ground, but getting up. Whew! Damaged bikes, wheels and flesh. The usual for a bike crash but thankfully rare in our races.

So what happened? Why? It happened because Paul was pulling on his handlebars as hard as he could and thrashing to beat everyone else. He jerked the bike right off the ground and the wheel went sideways. He took out John and scared the shit out of everybody else! No doubt about it, it was undesirable and unfortunate. They both walked away and will be back soon. My thought is John much sooner than Paul who will need some shoulder Xrays to confirm what everyone else has already assumed. There will be no lecture here, but just a simple “Keep the rubber side down and the shiny side up” as they say. Be safe so we can all race next weekend.


55+
1. Dale Ludke
2. Kal Szkalak
3. Richard Pollock
4. Steve Bernede
5. Tom Reilly
6. Ricky Shorts
7. Mitch Weinstock
8. Raphael Gomez
9. Wayne Rosenkrantz
10. Peter Dufour
11. Richard Stahlberg
12. Richard Gentili
13. Steve Mera
14. Steve Borer
15. Joe Mastro

60+
1. John Rubcic
2. Loren Stevens
3. Mike Flemming
4. Paul Springer
5. John Mckee
6. Bruce Steele
7. Jim Roebuck
8. Daniel Cain
9. Mario Seri
10. Domenick Forte
11. Robert Paganini
12. Richard Rodriquez
13. Barnett Feigenbaum
14. Ernie Hoffer

May 10-2009 Brea Crit

By Richard Pollock

As far as crit courses go, this one had about the least course personality of any and seems to be a twin to this coming weekend’s Ontario rectangle. But some very lively racing made up for the course. Race start time was 8:00 am and I mention the start time yet again because at 6:30 the course was not set-up and Ed Keck was stranded somewhere with the truck filled with everything to put on a race. I’ll also mention that sign in although they set up in a hurry which was understandable, was very slow and didn’t smooth out till we were back on our bikes and warming up. If there is anything on earth that stresses out a bike racer, it’s getting stuck in a sign up line that is frozen in time. But their hard work made for a great recovery!

Abbreviated warm-ups and we started just a couple seconds late. Great job in a pinch! The line up was 16)55’s and 22) 60’s. Pretty decent for a Mother’s Day conflict. I would have to say that if there is a Category where the rider’s mothers are in limited supply, it would have to be the 55/60 groups.

The race started out with CVV’s Steve Borer riding tempo for a few laps to get things moving. The race from that point on was a series of brief attacks and chases, some lasting a bit longer than others, but all being reeled in. Mid race there were two breaks that stayed away for 2-3 laps, but again they were reeled in. Many serious appearing attacks were made alternately by Steve Horine and Mitch Weinstock of UCC. On one occasion, with them both together, myself and Craig Jones, it looked like we would have a serious go at it, but then both UCC riders had a look of confusion and weren’t sure whether to keep it up or let the “UCC Captains” catch us. They backed it down and we were caught.

Ok, so we’re down to about 10 minutes to go and a break of 4 that didn’t really appear to have the proper mix of “Muscle” has been away and is stretching out their gap ever so gradually. Nobody is chasing or even looking like they will. There is a UCC rider in the break in the person of Steve Horine. No UCC’s will chase, that’s a given. And with the exception of one brief “Blast” by Kal, Dale, Kal and Rubcic have been invisible for 30 minutes sitting in the group.

I chase leaving turn 2, taking off and after about a lap, I’ve made contact with the break and several riders are strung out behind me. As soon as I made contact with the four, Mitch Weinstock attacks and takes off. Leaving the entire group scratching its collective butt. What? How did that happen? Whoosh and he’s gone! A chase now with 6-7 minutes to go is suicide for anyone hoping for a top five finish. Nobody is willing to chase now and with the exception of Mike Edwards and Ernie “The large fellow” Hoffer, who gave it a hell of a try, the race had just been decided.

There was one prime as I recall and the bell rang with either 2 or 3 laps to go. Mitch was all alone for that and the final lap giving him a well timed win for UCC!

Between turns 3 and 4, Dale spools it up with several riders scrambling to get on his wheel. The wheel was for Kal and the best of the rest of the scramblers was to be Rubcic. It was Kal and Dale through turn 4 first and then Rubcic going wide which required a brief stop in pedaling for me (foolishly trying to go around him on the outside) to avoid a cement sandwich. Howard Miller did a great move up the inside for fourth and once I was back up to speed, Loren Stevens nipped me at the line. Rubcic was the 60’s winner with Loren, Paul Springer and the ever resilient Bruce Steele (he was sick and missed last weekend’s festivities!), right behind. A good sized field and UCC took the top three positions again. Same as Barrio last week!

Today-Sunday was the Big "Double-Race" Opportunity Day!

By Richard Pollack

7:00-LAX for the LA Circuit Race. For "Team San Diego" this required a serious early wake up. That would be 2:20 in the am for me! I tried to get to sleep early to ease the pain, but after signing off at 8:00, we were woken up by the phone at 10:30. WTF?!* It was the motorcycle flattrack promoter up in Perris, calling to tell me that my friend Gabe got wadded up and was in the hospital in Riverside, but he’d be OK and someone else would come get his truck, bike and gear. Bye bye. So now I’m lying in bed “Bug-eyed”, staring at the ceiling. Damn! I’ve had thoughts of returning to motorcycle racing next year, but this could have been me laid out on the track, puffing dust, seeing stars! Maybe I’ll rethink that deal.

Anyway, I hit the road at 2:45 and picked up Paul Springer at 3:00. I figured 2 hours to LAX, putting us there at 5:00. That would leave lots of time for coffee, set-up, warm-up, sign-up and that other morning ritual that is sure to happen after an early wake-up and a 2 hour drive! We set-up, signed up and were just easily spinning on the trainers as everyone else started to show up. John has already provided a good report on the race which had a great turnout, but I’ll add a few items. First, there were a lot of attacks from a variety of riders which kept it interesting. And every attack was chased down keeping the efforts and speed high. I remember a couple years ago, our races were not this fast and this year, they seem to all have higher average speeds as well as better turnouts. Next we had a couple extra sprint specialists in Carlos Soto and Al Shorts. We haven’t seen Al or Carlos but at a couple races this year and they would definitely be a factor. Al would be covering LA Circuit and brother Ricky would do the duty at Redlands.

Finally, the sprint itself. With the last lap bell, there was quite a bit of jostling for position and it was sort of funny as Dale Ludke was slowly moving to the front with Kal on his wheel. I got onto Kal’s wheel and then Al Shorts and I started banging into each other in an attempt to not get squeezed out into a non-good position and stay with the forward progress of the Dale and Kal show. Approaching the final corner Al commented to be careful because these guys were going to chop the corner, which they did. I ended up on the left (inside) of the corner and Al went way outside to the curb. I noticed Carlos was attempting to sqeeze his way out into what was about to become the express train to New Orlins! Being in a position to prevent that…..I did. Just then Al takes off up the right side and it was “Game-On!” Dale took off and swung to the left with Kal on his wheel in what looked like a lead out. I went with them but didn’t have the juice to overtake anybody at that point. I was sure Kal had won, but it was Dale so they must have been next to each other. Another lesson I continue to learn is that six feet behind the winner feels like six hundred feet when the race is over and the winner is on the podium. I’m not a Pro and I’m not Obsessive Compulsive, but God, do I hate being that close and getting smoked in a sprint. I’m sure that Al and Carlos and everybody else that finished behind Dale felt, at different levels, the same exact thing!

So we do zero cool-down, load the car, hook up with Leo Longo and Benji “The Maddog” Maciel, and proceed to do the Banzai run to Redlands. Our race had just ended at 7:45 and at 8:03 we were in transit. With others ahead or in pursuit. The commute was 83 miles and took, with traffic, 56 minutes. It was without incident and all passes were made cleanly and safely and I even used my turn signals twice!! That’s two more times than normal for me. Benji stayed on my wheel the whole way, but Leo’s “Import” was down on power and he was dropped about 15 minutes into the commute. I say it was without incident, until we got to Redlands and I was searching for the exit from the number three lane. All of a sudden, there it was! I made the ramp after passing a couple “Backmarkers”, but Benji was hung out to dry in the numer two lane.

I watched in awe as he worked his magic, almost gathering up a poorly placed road sign, kicking up dust and impressing a few other drivers I’m sure! They all saluted him as he made the ramp behind us!

The Redlands Classic Crit was to start at 10:05 and it was now just after 9:00. Easy money! Time to burn! Actually we had to go sign in and pin our numbers on. Numbers as in two! Then off to ride around the neighborhoods and get the legs firing on all two again. Once again, there was a good turn out and I think it was 34-36 riders. Kenny Fuller was here, so it was pretty much a matter of when he’d tried “take off”, which was a given. Now, over at LAX, I think we averaged about 24.5 mph. This race, when completed would be over 25.5mph and this course is punishing! There was an attack or two every single lap on the hill side of the circuit, which was brutal if you were in the mix and worse if you were further back trying to respond. Don Davidson was on a mission to say the least and if he went off the front and got caught, 2 seconds later, he was off again. There was a chase going on continually. No crashes and with the exception of the occasional cry of the Cat 4, “Inside”, the race was relatively smooth. The speed up the hill each lap ranged from 25-27mph which was a serious factor. At about 10-12 minutes in, Fuller made his first attempt about halfway up the hill and he really LAUNCHED! It was a sight to behold while trying to accelerate to match it. On each of his attempts, he would be followed by Steve Bernede who was back with us in his first race this season. On one attempt Fuller got a bit of a gap and Warren Wicks was with him, keen to leave his mark. Rubcic joined them and for obvious reasons, it was destined to fail. Fuller shut the motor off and we were all back together again. A small factoid/criticism was that the lap board was invisible. Usually the lap board is placed just after the start finish line. This one was about 50 feet BEFORE the line, so as you approach the line and glance over while sprinting every lap, you see nothing! Then, all of a sudden, it’s two laps to go! Holy crap! You better not be near the back now because it picked up pretty fast. The last lap was crazy up the hill till we made the U-turn at the top and then there was some bunching as the back of the group wanted to move to the front. Then it strung out again as we hauled ass down the hill, through the chicane into the final double corner. I tried to pass Warren on the inside of the final corner, but the door quickly closed. Exiting the last corner, I still have a picture in my mind of why you need to be ON the front out of this corner on this course. Real estate. As in, it’s impossible to close even a short gap within the short sprint available here. Dale Ludke and John Rubcic got it right. The rest of us did not. Fuller was second 60, followed by an unknown rider (to us anyway, although I bet they know him well at his home races), from Canada, Peter Kerklaan. In the 55’s, Ricky Shorts was second and Don Davidson secured third even after riding his brains out trying to get away the whole race. All the results were up on the web by early evening Sunday which is a welcome change from some races that really take their sweet time posting results. What a great morning of racing! The drive was no big deal, although the early wake up was kinda tough.

Next weekend is the San Diego Omnium with a 6:00 start for the TT at Fiesta Island on Friday. Fortunately for the SD riders, we can sleep in till 4:00am or so that day! I went outside at work (about a mile from Fiesta Island) this morning to do a daylight check at about 6:15. It was crystal clear, but I would refer to it as “Night” personally. Visibility will be a factor. See you there!

Mule

Redlands Criterium (Rank 1.0)
Masters 55+
Place	License	Name	Team	SoCal Points
1	47262	Dale Luedtke	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	14
2	52251	Ricky Shorts	Velo Allegro	11
3	48278	Donald Davidson	Citrus Valley Velo	10
4	202108	Warren Wicks	Swami's Cycling Club	9
5	58847	Paul Rodriguez	UC Cyclery/JW Flooring	8
6	219983	Richard Pollock	Citrus Valley Velo	7
7	34753	Rick Swanson	Acme Racing	6
8	126351	Steve Bernede	Cycles Veloce	5
9	26089	Fred Nicolet	ACQUA AL 2/San Diego Bicycle Club	4
10	247382	Richard Gentili	Citrus Valley Velo	3
11	55591	Mitchell Weinstock	UC Cyclery/JW Flooring	2
12	49424	Howard Miller	Paramount Racing	1
13	59572	Mark Huffman	UC Cyclery/JW Flooring	0
14	195211	Bob Rosemeyer	Swami's Cycling Club	0
15	189814	Leo Longo	Citrus Valley Velo	0
16	254625	Jennifer Miller	I.E. Bikes	0
17	195618	Stephen Horine	UC Cyclery/JW Flooring	0
18	245777	Steven Borer	Citrus Valley Velo	0
19	24050	Steve Mera	Citrus Valley Velo	0
20	3793	Raphael Gomez	Cycles Veloce	0

Redlands Criterium (Rank 1.0)
Masters 60+
Place	License	Name	Team	SoCal Points
1	48760	John Rubcic	UC Cyclery/JW Flooring	14
2	46765	Kenny Fuller	Cycles Veloce	11
3	CAN19460621	Peter Kerklaan	South Delta Riders	10
4	33679	Paul Springer	Citrus Valley Velo	9
5	238828	Phillip Richards	Citrus Valley Velo	8
6	275832	Benjamin Maciel	Citrus Valley Velo	7
7	180386	John McKee	Paramount Racing	6
8	101582	William Carvin	Unattached	5
9	195498	Donald Kimper	ACQUA AL 2/San Diego Bicycle Club	4
10	129293	Michael Fleming	Coates /On Deck Foundation	3
11	3794	Vicente Gomez	Team Simple Green	2
12	227389	Andrew Mirzaoff	Momentum Cycling Powered by Hawk Relay	1
13	45342	Domenick Forte	PAA / RE/MAX	0

Southern Nevada Stage Race, 2-28/3-1 2009

By Richard Pollack

In previous years this race has been run earlier in the year and at a different location. However this year, running the end of February and at the Callville Marina on Lake Mead, we had the good luck of beautiful courses and superb weather! Neither aspect could have been better.

The Marina and all of Lake Mead are within a huge National Park. The first thing I noticed was the distinct lack of California style litter and debris by the roadsides. This place was spotless and driving/riding the course remind one of a drive through the Grand Canyon or perhaps on the moon. The wind was pretty strong on Friday afternoon, the day before the race as we drove the RR course. Initial impression? Man, there's gonna be a lot of climbing!

The race format was fairly simple. Saturday morning would start with a 3.8 mile uphill TT. After lunch, a 44 mile RR. Sunday morning would conclude with a 45 minute Crit in a circuit laid out in the uphill Marina parking lot.

Paul Springer and I did the trip together and stayed at the host hotel, The "Railroad Pass" Casino. This was about 30 miles more or less form the race start location. There were also house boats available at the marina for about 3 times the price, but without the drive. The drive was no big deal.

Saturday AM. All the 55/60 riders would start at 10:00 with riders going off every :30 secs. The route was immediately uphill followed by a short downhill. Then a short uphill and a big downhill. After that it was a gradual climb with a couple harder sections, but nothing too difficult. Pacing seemed to be the area of major mis-calculation for most riders. Now after driving down the hill to the start, I thought it was going to be a bitch! At 3.8 miles, I figgered a time comparable to the San Dimas hillclimb TT was the order of the day. That would be 16:00-18:00.I had my computer set on time display and at 10 minutes, began to turn up the heat. Then I rolled over the crest and could see the finish. My time was 11:27. Holy crap, this course was way easier than I had counted on. All the 55/60 times ranged from 10:40-12:01. I guess pre-riding the course would have revealed this fact. As pointed out later by John Rubcic, Whenever you have a stage race this short starting with a Hillclimb TT, that pretty much establishes the finishing order as it can be very hard to make up time in the RR and almost impossible in the Crit. This time there would be some surprises at the finish, but for the most part it was true.

TT Results-55+

1. Warren Wicks- 10:43
2. Kal Szkalak- 10:51
3. Bill Tippetts- 10:59
4.John Wagnon- 11:02
5. Steve Horine- 11:08
6. Richard Pollock- 11:27
7. Peter Rupert- 11:49
8. Raphael Gomez- 14:02

TT Results 60+

1. Kenny Fuler 10:40
2. Benji Maciel 11:13
3. Jim Morehouse 11: 22
4. John Rubcic 11:27
5. Bruce Steele 11:48
6. Paul Springer 11:53
7. Steve Close 12:00
8. Paul Rachat 13:22
9. Vicente Gomez 13:33
10. Gary Powers 14:57


Side notes: The flyer advertized food before the TT, sandwiches for lunch and spaghetti after the RR. Well they had bagels, OJ and milk and there was a store with limited supplies next to the parking lot. There were no sandwiches after the TT and the spaghetti dinner was at 6:00 although after the RR we were dying for food and bailed out. The store was out of sodas and had almost none the next day. None of this would’ve been a problem, except you were 25 miles from any other food!

Roadrace! The course seemed a little odd in the description at first. Go up the TT hill. Hang a right and go out 9.1 more miles. Turn around at the top of the climb and then go about 20 miles, passing the turnoff to the TT course and marina. After the 20 mile “Rolling” section, do another turn around and head back to the turnoff for the TT course. Turn right, go 500 meters and then you’re finished. We rolled out 40 minutes late with a HUGE group! It contained the 45+, 55, 60, 3-4 women and the 35+ 4-5 men. The number I heard was 108 for a headcount. I think it was more like 75.

The pace started out fairly brisk with a couple short lived attacks. We all made the turn at the top and began a very series of up and down rollers with the emphasis on up. A break formed, but was reeled in after a mile or so. On the final climb to the turn around with about a mile to go, Fuller stands up, throws his bike side to side and takes out Warren Wicks’ front wheel. The DVD alternate ending was that someone moved over on him and he took evasive action. The result was the same either way. Warren (The 55+ leader) was on the ground and Kal (in 2nd), ran over him although I think he unclipped coming to a stop and stayed off the ground. I was 2 feet behind them and nearly got gathered up myself. After a time, Kal was back with the group and just before the summit, Warren was with us too! Warren told me later that his chain got all wound up in the bottom bracket behind the chainring. Also, he pranged his rear wheel and had to release the brake to continue.

Within a few seconds we were at the turnaround and in the blink of an eye, Keith Ketterer(KK) and Steve Peterson jumped hard on the downhill and before they had a gap, Kal was attempting to join them. There were a couple other 45+ riders with them as well. I knew this was the decisive move, but was not in a position to respond quickly enough. They got a 50 meter gap in the blink of eye which quickly grew. I was trying to stay as near the front as I could on the climbs leading to the turnaround and I really wasn’t sure how many were left in our group from front to back. But for me, Kal was gone and gaining time with Warren back in our group. Bill Tippetts and John Wagnon from Reno were still there in the 55’s as well. In the 60’s, we had Fuller, Rubcic, Benji, Morehouse and 2 others I believe. There was one very lean woman(3-4), a few 35+ 4-5’s and a few 45’s. Steve Horine (55) and Paul Springer (60) had lost contact.

For about the next 8 miles or so we swapped off drafting and flying down the rollers we had just gone up with interspersed power accelerations over the rises. Pedaling downhill takes a toll for sure and if you left a gap you were gone. The group shrunk a little more. Fuller began trying to get away with several attacks and finally one stuck. He was gone the way only he can be “Gone”! Rubcic went to the point several times and tried to coax his 55 and 45 teammates(Tippetts and Robert Wilcox), to take up the chase. He wanted to get back in touch with Fuller and lose the other 60’s(2?), including Benji who was 16 seconds GC ahead of him. Finally, with about maybe 1.5-2 miles to go to the turn around, Steve Gonyer (State 45+ TT Champion) takes off and Warren goes with him. They just sort of rolled away, sorta fast. When it looked serious, I started the pursuit and when I was within about 15 feet, well clear of the group, we hit a good riser. They stood up and accelerated hard. I stood up. The brain said, “YO!”, but the legs said, “NO!” I was swallowed by the group. Warren and Steve were disappearing up the road. At this point we fly down a 50mph downhill followed by a sharp climb to the second and final turnaround. We were maybe 75 meters from the turnaround as the break was heading down the hill. They were not that far ahead. Maybe 35-40 seconds. But the group contained Kal, Fuller, Wicks, Gonyer, KK and Peterson!

We’re now on the 11 miles stretch to the finish. I had commented to our young lady breakmate on the way to the second turnaround that we had been going 28-32mph with a side/tailwind for a REALLY long time! Payment was now due! There began much jockeying to find shelter from the wind and many small, meaningless attacks as we did a steady climb to the finish. Total mileage was to be 44 miles.

I’m sure everyone had some sort of strategy, but I can only comment on my own. Here goes. Kal and Warren are ahead of me on the road and GC by now just over a minute and a half. The others ahead of me are Tippetts and Wagnon by about 30 seconds and they are riding near me in the group. Wagnon shadowing me fairly close every time I went fore or aft. Horine is dropped and is now 9 minutes back. We are on a climb to the finish and have about 3 miles to go. If I attack like a madman and try to get away from Tip and Wag, I may get some(?) seconds and they may chase me down before the summit as I explode into flames. I sit in. Then there is a sign that says, “2K”. I wait a bit longer and then Benji rolls by up the centerline and pulls into line in the group. I attack! for maybe 150m and then I see people waving as I approach the last turn and charge to the line. I sail through the corner and my mental bubble explodes with the sign…. “500m”! Shit! That’s a long way to stay out there and it dips downhill with a short rise to the finish. I hold on as long as I can. Brad House thrashes by before the line as do 2 other 45’s and John Wagnon by about a foot. Tippetts was behind me by I don’t know how much, but we were all given the same time. That would be 44 miles in 1:56:01. Kal beat Warren to the line ahead of us by 36 seconds and was given a 1 second advantage over Warren. I was later told by an official that if there wasn’t a 3 second gap, it was considered the same time!? Kal and Warren were now :06 apart heading into tomorrow’s Crit. Rubcic, Benji, Morehouse, etc were all given the ST and Fuller was ahead now by almost 2 minutes. Bruce Steele in his 09 return to racing was about 8-10 minutes back and Paul Springer (towing 2 women for 30 miles) was about another 3-4 minutes further back. It goes without saying in these conditions (Hills and wind) and on this desolate course (Hills and wind), if you were by yourself, it would be a long grind. In all with maybe 6 riders up the road and maybe 15-18 in our group, we shelled 45-50 riders?

That was a hard race! And how. The road was smooth and beautiful and the group rode really hard. When it was over, Bill Tippetts said, “That was the hardest 2 hour ride I can remember!” I don’t know what went on in the break because I wasn’t there, but I heard that Fuller attacked and split it up a bit with 4 miles to go. For me, after I sat down and had something to drink, it was the kind of race you’re glad you were a part of and I was on the ragged edge several times. Great training for…..other races!

The spaghetti dinner was to be at 6:00, we had minimal lunch and were starving. We packed it up and hauled ass to eat. After dinner and adult beverages at the Claim Jumper, sleep would be the only thing on my mind! Well, maybe war, world hunger and the economy, but mainly sleep!

Sunday, Sunday!! The parking lot Crit. I was sort of dreading the thought of a chopped up, rutted, bumpy parking lot race, but boy, was I impressed! The course was very interesting, technical and fast. We’d race for 45 minutes with $50.00 and $100.00 cash Primes. This would be 45/55/60’s only!

The race was a blur of corners and hard charges up the short climb. The last turn was about 28-30mph around the whole thing with little or no pedaling and then a fairly short sprint. KK went off the front for most of the race with 3 Paul Tracey riders from Vegas doing the bulk of the chasing. I have to say I’m a little confused on the finish, because KK got either second or third. Meaning, there were other riders away with him (could be as we were also lapping riders) or we caught him and he didn’t win the sprint. I’m not a good reporter I guess, but I was sorta busy trying to stay in the top 6-8 in a single file race. With all the turns a short hill, the average was over 25mph and there were a number of pretty fast surges.

What needed to happen and what DID happen. In the 55’s, Warren was :06 secs ahead of Kal on GC, Tippetts, Wagnon and myself would not change positions unless the group split apart with a big time spread.

In The 60’s Fuller had only to finish with the group. Not his style, but that’s all that was necessary. Benji was :09 ahead of Morehouse with Rubcic :14 seconds back. There would be :10, :08, :03 time bonus’s on the final finish sprint.

So after a blistering pace for 45 minutes and several riders dropped, Kal won the sprint, Warren was second, I was third, Tippetts 4th and Wagnon 5th. In the 60’s, Rubcic won, Fuller was 2nd and Springer was 3rd. I guess, not thinking, Benji sat up and rolled in………but was given a :06 time gap. Combined with John’s :10 sprint bonus, Benji moved from 2nd to 3rd GC with John overtaking Benji and Morehouse, who was dropped and finished a minute or so back.

In the 55’s, Kal was very disappointed as I was supposed to get second and cut Warren out of the :08 time bonus wherein Kal would have won by :01 GC ! In fact he was already back at his van “Counting his chickens” as said! But in my book, I couldn’t move up in the Crit really GC wise, but Kal received 28 So-Cal cup points instead of 35. For those keeping track, that matters.

So, one last thing. For all the weenies that would rather not do a roadrace for fear of getting dropped, like Bakersfield last year, you missed a great 3-race weekend. Was it easy? Hell no. You had to work, which for most of us is why we ride and race. And on that note, I would like to recognize the Gomez brothers who although they are rarely on the podium, are at every race, givin em Hell! And they did all three races this weekend!! Just off the pace, but out there doin it! They finished, they got points and they had fun. That’s why we do this. For fun!