A VICTORY FOR EVERYONE

By John McKee

It's Feb. 14th, 2010 in Brea, California and what used to be called the St. Valentine's Day Massacre has morphed into the Roger Millikan Memorial St. Valentine's Day Criterium. Tradition goes back quite a few years and with the date, location, a great job by host teams Velo Avanti and Canyon Velo the turnout has been spectacular.
This year with the awesome weather the turnout was hugh. More than 500 pre regs and thats unheard of. Also 850 total enteries is also unheard of except at MBGP. Cat 5 men and cat 3/4 women are on fire this year and were everywhere. Ed Keck the race director added another cat 5 race before the 55/60+ race making a total of 2 cat 5 races. The registration for the 55/60+ group was a record at 61. 2008 had a great turnout here for 55/60+ and I know I said we had 60 racers but were probably a little short of that. Not all the registered riders showed up to the line this year. A few of the host team members chose to not race even though they were registered and a few pre regs just didn't make it. At 8 am there were probably 55 55/60+ racers that came to the line to race. I believe that UC Cyclery/JW Flooring sent 7 racers with 5 of them being 55+ and 2 60+. Nice turnout by one team. Keith Ketterer(KK) was there from the Amgen masters squad and had one teammate there to help him. KK had pre reged so UCC knew what they were up against and had their plan to deal with such a talented rider. The basic plan was to attack the field and therefore KK as often as possible and wear him out. The Shorts brothers from Velo Allegro were in on the program and were planning on being aggressive as well. Al was feeling better after a few weeks from a solo crash that injured his back. Almost all the players in 55+ were there and all the players in 60+ were there except Kenny Fuller. Kenny doesn't do many local races any more.
OK. Its 8 am and the sun is shining bright. Its in the low 50s and getting warmer. The officials give the pre game talk and we have a moment of silence for Roger Millikan who has been deceased for several years now and has this race named for him. Roger would be our age and would be racing with us if things were different. Please feel fortunate if you are healthy and able to race with us. By the way Roger used to date Monty Pettus's wife before Monty locked on. That goes way back. Monty is sure that Roger would be pleased that a race is named after him.
The first lap of the 40 minute race was a parade lap and paced by Ed Keck. Once Ed pulled off the race was on. It took a couple of laps for the pack to get the feel of the course. It is a fun course but can be dangerous. It is not far from the start/finish line to turn one and its downhill for quite a ways to turn 3. Turn 2 is a fast downhill corner and there is this utility pole staring you in the face on the far side of the course but one foot from the curb as we are coming out of our lean. I was thinking that looks dangerous and should be haybaled. Turn 3 is also fast and leads you into the uphill section and the first part is easy then kicks up a bit more but if you stayed in the flow of the pack and didn't have to touch your brakes it was pretty easy. It was a false flat to the finish line and a tough sprint.
After the first couple of laps the race was a blur. Attacks, surging and rest periods almost always right after the finish line were the norm. No real threat to the pack was able to stay away. KK of course was active as was the UCC team. Richard Stahlberg was also active at the front marking just about everything that moved. Richard is 60 this year and is displaying great form. Even Dale Luedtke the king of the finishers took a flyer half way through the race. The churning of the field was intense.
It didn't take long before the 5 lap to go card was flipped over. It seemed pretty obvious that no one was going to stay away and it was going to come down to a field sprint. This favored the UCC team with Dale and Kal Szalak. There to support the finishing duo were Mitch Weinstock, Robert Willcox, Richard Roberson, Mark Huffman and Mark Helvie. All good riders in there own right. KK had Witold Czulak of the Amgen masters team to support him. The surging really came into play in the last 5 laps. KK took matters into his own hands with 3 laps to go and did a lot of the pacing himself. The lap counter hit one and the pace almost came to a standstill and nervousness was aplenty in the pack. Ricky Shorts got upset at someone that made him break hard going into the first corner and I think this made everyone around think about taking a good line to the finish. I don't know who led it around on the last lap but the pace really picked up making it hard to move around.
As always the UCC team was able to get Dale and Kal in position. They would probably have been there anyway but I am sure the teammates helped deliver them to the designated point fresher than if they had been on their own. Dale came hard to the line with KK right on him. KK's strength is climbing and time trialing but he can finish as well. Dale got him by 1/2 a bike. The whole thing reminds me of the 10K Nordic Combined race the same day at the Winter Olympics. The American Johnny Spillane paced the entire end of the race and takes off on a flyer to try and close it out(I'm thinking of KK and Kenny Fuller) but the Frenchman Jason Chappuis that sat back in the race takes off with a blistering finish on his cross country skis to win the gold(I'm thinking of John Rubcic and Dale Luedtke ). Kal Szkalak was 3rd. In 4th place was Steve Cahill of Swami's. Great showing by Steve as he is new to us. Seemed fearless out there and maybe a little too fearless. Alex Collins of Canyon Velo was 5th and Kevin Ryan of Team CICLE was 6th. A lot of new faces to 55+ racing.
In 60+ action John Rubcic worked his way to the front. Great bike handler and can work his way around a field with the best of them. John not only worked his way near the front but was the first 60+ rider across the finish line. Monty Pettus over took Richard Stahlberg for 2nd with Richard taking 3rd. New 60+ rider and Socal point leader George Chester was 4th. John Magnanti after taking a couple years off from racing finished 5th in a very good showing. He still does Foodpark every Sat. John didn't seem all that thrilled with his racing experience so we might not see him much except at Foodpark. John is 66 this year. I was 6th and new 60+ rider John Edwards of UCC was 7th.
A number of riders did drop off the pace and a number dropped out for various reasons. 47 guys finished. 27 55s and 20 60s. The overall pace was about 24.5+ and was hard but not brutal.
Great to see such a turnout. I am sure that the number of riders will fall off but maybe I will be proved wrong. Hope so. There is a lot more to racing than coming across the finish line ahead of someone else. The officials and Ralph Elliot the announcer were maybe surprised at the turnout but all were pleased. I say a big thanks to all that came out and it was a victory for everyone. No crashes and a great race. Thanks to Robert Plumb of Jax Bicycle Centers in Irvine for the action photos. The 55+ finishers were:

Roger Millikan Memorial Criterium (Rank 1.0)
Masters 55+
Place	License	Name	Team	SoCal Points
1	47262	Dale Luedtke	UC Cyclery/JW Flooring	14
2	48434	Keith Ketterer	Amgen-UBS Elite Masters	11
3	54522	Kalman Szkalak	UC Cyclery/JW Flooring	10
4	204724	Steve Cahill	Swami's Cycling Club	9
5	46255	Alex Collins	Canyon Velo	8
6	177958	Kevin Ryan	Team CICLE	7
7	59572	Mark Huffman	Sun Coast Velo	6
8	49424	Howard Miller	OCW/Paramount Racing	5
9	202041	Mark Planellas	Southern California Velo	4
10	52251	Ricky Shorts	Velo Allegro	3
11	126351	Steve Bernede		2
12	30596	Wayne Rosenkrantz	Radsport Cycling Team	1
13	155459	Thomas Reilly	PAA / RE/MAX	0
14	34753	Rick Swanson	Radsport Cycling Team	0
15	222523	Rick Carrera	Cycles Veloce	0
16	151059	Joseph Mastro	Team Velocity	0
17	230085	Albert Shorts	Velo Allegro	0
18	218050	Gregory Painter	Team Velocity	0
19	245777	Steven Borer	ACQUA AL 2/SDBC	0
20	69952	Robert Willcox	UC Cyclery/JW Flooring	0
21	55591	Mitchell Weinstock	UC Cyclery/JW Flooring	0
22	276778	Witold Czulak		0
23	287584	Charlie Tatarian	Canyon Velo	0
24	56643	Robert Shupper	PAA / SIXTUMED p/b CARE FOR DIABETICS	0
25	95649	Ken Burns		0
26	15760	Mark Helvie	UC Cyclery/JW Flooring	0
27	50765	Richard Roberson	UC Cyclery/JW Flooring	0

The 60+ finishers were:

Roger Millikan Memorial Criterium (Rank 1.0)
Masters 60+
Place	License	Name	Team	SoCal Points
1	48760	John Rubcic	UC Cyclery/JW Flooring	14
2	219074	Leo Pettus	OCW/Paramount Racing	11
3	50911	Richard Stahlberg	Ironfly	10
4	196820	George Chester	LIVESTRONG Army KC / Midwest Cancer Care	9
5	71812	John Magnanti	Unattached	8
6	180386	John McKee	Paramount Racing	7
7	46547	John Edwards	UC Cyclery/JW Flooring	6
8	3793	Raphael Gomez	Cycles Veloce	5
9	238828	Phillip Richards	Citrus Valley Velo	4
10	177403	tim Marquez		3
11	45047	Glenn Baldwin	SLO Nexus Cycling Club	2
12	101582	William Carvin	Unattached	1
13	195498	Donald Kimper	ACQUA AL 2/SDBC	0
14	275030	Bernd Nieberg	Team Velocity	0
15	48278	Donald Davidson	Citrus Valley Velo	0
16	45763	Robert Paganini	Pasadena Athletic Assoc (PAA)	0
17	3794	Vicente Gomez	Cycles Veloce	0
18	99906	Michael McKinney	Radsport Cycling Team	0
19	50406	Michael Edwards	Herbalife LaGrange	0
20	281976	Michael OConnor	Alliance Cycling Team	0

Thats all for now folks! Train hard and race safe!

TINKER TO EVERS TO CHANCE

By John McKee

January 31st came in 2010 and no Superbowl unlike past years but like past years the Mothballs Criterium was held on the last Sunday of January. The 55 and 60+ racers have become a mainstay at this event held in Goleta, Cal. Part of the reason is the promoter Armando Requejo. Mando has been great to work with and I always like to see a good turnout at his event. The weather has been cooperative over the years and 2010 was no exception. This time of year it is cold in the morning and yes it was cold for the 7:35 am start of the 55/60+ criterium. The group was to race for 40 minutes for a total purse of $150 to go to the first 6 racers. The field would be split for separate results and Socal points. The purse situation is of course unfair because the 55+ racers are younger and therefore faster but at least there is a race for both groups and if you are racing for money this isn't the sport for you. LOL. I think everyone knows what that means. Even Bob Barney. Bob once asked me at a race "What does LOL mean?" I filled him in. The temperature was around 45 but it seemed colder when we were racing than last week in Carson and the temp there was lower.
This event the 60s outnumbered the 55s by 17 to 12. One of the 12 though was Keith Ketterer of the Amgen select masters racing team. You probably read my blog story about the road race on the Saturday before Mothballs and KK showed how strong a rider he is. Solo victory. Everyone but KK didn't want that to happen again but was there any way to prevent it??
After the standard pre game chat from the officials everyone was off and I mean off! This race was fast from wire to wire. KK was a marked man and there were a few other fairly aggressive riders and there were a LOT of mini breaks and chases and as you all know a chase is fast and most everyone got on the chaser or chasers and there was this ebb and flow to the pace of the race even though overall it was quite fast. I believe 3 or 4 60s got popped off the back but not Pags. Robert Paganini will be 74 years old this year but was able to hang on to the main bunch for the entire race and that is saying a lot. Robert knows that every year it gets tougher.Robert's racing career goes back to France in the 50s and racing against Jacques Antequil who won the Tour de France 5 times. The first thing Robert always says to me when he talks to me before a race is "Are you going to be gentle with me out there". I always tell him it isn't up to me. I also am always chasing everyone else just like him.
Each rider always has a vision and an idea on how to get the best result possible for that race. Of course KK wanted to get away and use his time trialing ability and Kal Szalak and Dale Luetdke wanted to see a bunch sprint if they weren't away themselves and with KK would be ok with them. KK was racing solo on Sunday and Kal and Dale are teammates on the very strong UC Cyclery/JW Flooring racing team. Kal didn't mind working with KK if and when they got caught Dale would counter giving KK the old 1/2 punch but Dale didn't seem to feel to spunky and sat back. Many of the racers didn't recognize Dale because he had a different color jersey on but for me Dale is easy to pick out. KK didn't really want to work with Kal and get away because Kal would be very hard to out sprint. Anyone else but Kal or Dale would be fine. The combo that I saw as dangerous for the 60+ crowd would be the combo of KK, Kal and DD. Don (Double D)Davidson just aged up to 60+ for 2010 and won the 55+ in 2009 in a breakaway. Don also was in a break with me when we were both 55s and this is my 5th year as a 60+ racer so that was a few years ago. This is my 10th year racing in 55+ and 60+. I believe there is only one of you that know my track record at Mothballs and unfortunately he can't race with us any more because of his eye sight. Wish you were out here, Fritz! Back to my theory. If all 3 of them worked together, my thinking was it would be curtains for the rest of us 60+ racers. Didn't really matter to us 60s that KK or whoever got away as long as they were 55 but if a 60 got away bad news. Well this combo did happen later in the race but Don fell off the pace. Somehow KK got away from Kal and everyone with about 5 or 6 laps to go and there was no bringing him back. Someone said something like "Looks like he is gone" and Kal countered with "What race are you in" meaning duh.
I believe the lap countdown started at 8. At least that was the first time I saw a number on the lap cards. The race was fast but mostly safe. There were a couple of sketchy riders. One was 67 and wearing a jersey indicating he was from the state of Washington. Pretty strong rider but scary with his bike skills and he was a "gapper" meaning when the pressure really got put on he would let a gap form in front of him. He had some close calls with a few riders and I choose to keep my distance from him. Another stronger 55+ rider thought he was a cowboy and was whipsawing and snaking all over the place. Very dangerous moves. He did win a $30 prime on a Bob Barney type prime jump. Yahoo!
OK. KK is away and is going to win the 55+ category but 2nd and 3rd was still out there for 55+ and all 3 podium spots were there for the 60s. The lap card came for the last lap and I was in great position near the front. A few 55s and Bruce Steele were ahead of me. Bruce is a 60+ racer. Once we hit the round part of the D shaped course the pace ramped up. I was happy about this because I was in good position and didn't want to get flooded with 60+ racers. Kal and Dale came by on my right with Kal in the lead. That was ok. More power to them. New Paramount racer Mike Duck came to the front to help pick up the pace leading into the last corner and this was a great move again helping to keep the pace high and making it hard for riders to move up(Pic at right is Paramount's 60+ double trouble). The new Paramount 60+ squad is looking very sharp right now. It wasn't hard enough for Ralphael Gomez though and he slipped in ahead of me on my right. Raffy also aged up to 60+ and looked thinner than he has in many years.
At the corner Mike pulled up and Dale and Kal took off. Raffy was right there on them and Carlos Soto was also moving toward the finish line near the right curb. Ricky Shorts with Monty Pettus came around the corner wider and started sprinting after they came out of there lean. I didn't want to start sprinting so soon but I had to make a move to just try and hang in there and see what would flesh out near the finish line. Just put max power into the bike and see what happens.
Peter Boberg was also in the mix having a good race. Oh by the way did I say that Keith Ketterer won the 55+ race. Of course it was a forgone conclusion and KK did come across solo making it a double win for the weekend. A real double play which brings us to the title-TINKER TO EVERS TO CHANCE. Everyone is going what?? This was the most famous double play combination in the history of baseball and was the title of a famous poem written in 1910. 100 years ago.
Here it is(the poem is in the public domain so publishing it in my blog is not violating any copyright) written by Franklin Pierce Adams:

These are the saddest of possible words:

"Tinker to Evers to Chance."

Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds,

Tinker and Evers and Chance.

Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble,

Making a Giant hit into a double –

Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble:

"Tinker to Evers to Chance."

Dale won the bunch sprint with Kal next. That filled out the 55+ podium. Monty Pettus was able to overtake Raffy to win the 60+ category for his second win of the season. I was able to pull in for 3rd place. I have 3 seconds and a win here in the past.
Ricky Shorts was 4th in 55+ followed by Carlos Soto and Peter Boberg. For the 60s there was like a sprint off between DD and Bruce Steele for 4th place. DD threw his bike and nipped Bruce and was also able to control his bike.
Overall this was a very good event and a great tandem weekend for those that wished to race and enjoy a fine weekend in mid California. I know I had a fun time even though I was plenty cold during Sunday's race. My hands started getting dumb and my feet were tingling but it only lasted 40 minutes vs the hours that pros have to race in conditions worse than this.
Just a note for everyone. KK doesn't plan on going for the overall Socal point title in 55+ from what I understand. He is starting his season off slow since it was Jan. Slow. That is a big LOL.
KK plans on moving down in age to get tougher competition most of the time because his goals are Natz for road and track and Worlds for both as well which are in August and quite a ways away. The finish for the 60+ racers was:

Mothballs Criterium (Rank 1.0)
Masters 60+
Place	License	Name	Team	SoCal Points
1	219074	Leo Pettus	OCW/Paramount Racing	14
2	3793	Raphael Gomez	Cycles Veloce	11
3	180386	John McKee	Paramount Racing	10
4	48278	Donald Davidson	Citrus Valley Velo	9
5	236498	Bruce Steele	South Bay Wheelmen	8
6	220804	Michael Barnes	ArtsCyclery.com/Wild Horse Wines	7
7	238828	Phillip Richards	Citrus Valley Velo	6
8	57571	Dale Harless	Cycle U	5
9	61278	Mario Seri	Herbalife LaGrange	4
10	196820	George Chester	Amgen Cycling Club	3
11	45763	Robert Paganini	Pasadena Athletic Assoc (PAA)	2
12	58170	Sydney Duck		1
13	177403	Tim Marquez		0
14	3794	Vicente Gomez	Cycles Veloce	0
15	50406	Michael Edwards	Herbalife LaGrange	0
16	45342	Domenick Forte	Pasadena Athletic Assoc (PAA)	0
17	167542	Alan Rosenblum	Echelon Santa Barbara	0

The complete placings for 55+ was:

Mothballs Criterium (Rank 1.0)
Masters 55+
Place	License	Name	Team	SoCal Points
1	48434	Keith Ketterer		14
2	47262	Dale Luedtke		11
3	54522	KAL SZKALAK		10
4	52251	Ricky Shorts	Velo Allegro	9
5	47380	Carlos Sato		8
6		Peter Boberg		7
7	288193	Ron Carlson		6
8	155459	Thomas Reilly		5
9	287291	Randy Drusen		4
10	108843	Eric Nelson	SLO Nexus Cycling Club	3
11	49191	Kim Bleth	Platinum Performance Cycling Team	2
12	55635	Pedro Ordaz		1

That's all for now folks! Train hard and race safe!

KK HAS SMASH DEBUT AT PCKRR

By John McKee

This past weekend saw the first 2 races on the SCNCA calendar for 2010. The Poor College Kid's Road Race which was on Sat. January 30, 2010 and the Mothballs Criterium on Sunday Jan. 31st. No Superbowl weekend this time so no distractions for racers to come on in and start the season off. Many of us started the season the week before at the CBR criterium opener but the SoCal Points race started on Saturday. The Poor College Kid's Road Race(PCKRR) has always been a race put on by college kids much like Boulevard and has only had categories for the younger crowd, but at last in 2010 with some intervention by Bruce Steele things changed. Bruce knew the young man that was promoting the race and asked if he would stick to the SoCal Cup categories which meant instead of 30, 40 & 50 you would have 35, 45, & 55/60. Makes more sense and gives more reason for racers to come out and rack up some SoCal points at double the normal number because it is a road race. Thankfully, the promoter put the 55/60+ racers last on the race schedule giving everyone time to drive up rather than staying in Solvang the night before although, I did just that. Solvang is a nice place to visit. Especially if you like sugar. You can start off your morning with a belgian waffle at The Belgian Cafe. They specialize in waffles there(no pancakes). If you want your pancakes, you have to go across town to Paula's Pancakes which was jumping Saturday morning. If that didn't suit you, you could try some of the danish pastries like from Mortensen's or some really good cinnamon rolls from the Solvang Bakery. After lunch you could have some tasty fudge from the Old Danish Food Farm. You could have the standard chocolate, chocolate raspberry, rocky road, chocolate peanut butter and my fav plain peanut butter fudge. Makes me think of Christmas when my family makes this and other sweet treats from recipes my mother handed down. After the McKee name is gone at least from my tree, hopefully the recipes will carry on in the name of Conine or Woolley (I had 3 daughters).
OK. We're racing right and I am really buzzed from sugar. The start time for the road race was 1:10 pm. The weather was very nice actually for this time of year. A little cool and breezy but mostly sunny skies and beautiful scenery abound especially along the course. This is wine country with many wineries around the area and along the race route. The movie "Sideways" was set in this area. Very funny movie set around 2 gents that went on a pre-marriage outing to the wine country with a stay in Buellton. One of the guys is a wine connoisseur and the other a panty chaser even though he was getting married. The "Panty chaser" got himself in some real binds before they left for home.
The course was an out and back course along Zaca Station Road. The stated distance was 34 miles(actually was a little shorter) with about 2,000 feet of climbing. The 55/60+ group was scheduled for one lap while other groups were doing 2. The road was narrow and open to traffic so that was a little hairy. There were 2 climbs. One out and one back. The hardest, longest and steepest was coming back. The course was more down going out but the wind was mostly at the racers back coming home except for the last few miles. There were the standard delays with 14 60+ racers(one of the 60+ racers was a woman-women can add 20 years to their age so any woman over 40 could enter 60+) and 15 55+ racers taking off sometime before 1:30 pm. The 55+ field included Rory O'Reilly who won the kilo at the 83 Pan Am games back in the day.
There are always new riders in each age category as the calendar turns over. 2010 was no exception. The one racer that really caught my attention was Keith Ketterer. Keith just aged up to 55+ for 2010. His racing bio is lengthy with 5 national titles and the one hour record for masters 50+ set on Oct. 1st, 2009. Keith's racing age was 54 at the time. No doubt that Keith was going to be the factor in any 55+ race he would enter in 2010. This also would affect any 60+ race that would be run concurrently. Almost all 55+ and 60+ categories are raced together and scored separately. Like most of you didn't know that. Keith Ketterer is known as KK.
The race started with all riders grouped in a small pack for a short while. A few rabbits sprung out but the first climb was 4 or 5 miles out and that would divide the riders into climbers....check or climbers....oops no check. Most of the riders were able to hang on. I was in a small band that were agonizingly just off the back. I even got back on at the top but was out of gas and dropped back a bit and started riding with a few others. The course was almost all downhill to the turnaround with most of the slope very subtle especially near the turnaround. Rounding the cones at the half way point saw KK make a break for it. KK would have preferred the wind in his face going back because his cycling strength would have made more of a difference but it didn't really matter. Once he was away you could turn out the lights. This party was over. KK is a world record holder. Who is going to catch him? Maybe a well timed 3 to 5 man rotation but that didn't happen. KK TT'd to the finish for the win in 55+.
My group kept the leading group in sight but could never catch back on. Fred Haim, Rick Swanson, a fairly strong woman whose name I didn't get worked together pretty well. We caught one guy but he had no idea how to ride in a pace line and went off on his own after the turnaround. We just referred to him as the "knuckle head". The gal didn't go all the way to the turnaround and took off her jersey, turned it around, put it back on and started riding with us going back. She said she didn't feel that well but always looked pretty strong until the last climb. She didn't want a placing.
Other than KK the last climb split everyone up into small groups. The lead chase group had 6 riders which included Kal Szkalak. Back when KK started bike racing(37 years ago) Kal was a world class body builder and was on the cover of every body building mag around plus won Mr. America(76) and Mr. Universe(77). Kal got into bike racing later and is no slouch himself. Kal is better at criterium racing although he does well at everything. Kal won the bunch sprint for 2nd place in 55+. Jon Miller coming off his cyclo cross overall win in 55+ came in 3rd for the last podium spot in 55+.
I must say I don't know how the 60+ race played out at the end. I know that George Chester won. George just aged up this year and rode very strong. Climbing specialist Jean Villiot was 2nd but 3rd place was a total mystery. The first unofficials had Dom Forte in 3rd but Dom doesn't quite have his climbing form yet and everyone knew his placing wasn't right. After that everyone just figured that Mike Wagenbach another climbing specialist was 3rd. Monday the results showed an unknown rider by the name of Mark Tovar as the 3rd place finisher. Mark's license number is very high so he has to be very new. If this result is true, that was a great start.
Glenn Baldwin had a very nice ride and placed 4th. Glenn had the help of Al Shorts driving his group and Glenn was able to overtake Bruce Steele at the finish. Bruce is building his form slowly which is smart. Long season. The 55+ finishers were:

Poor College Kids Road Race (Rank 2.0)
Masters 55+
Place	License	Name	Team	SoCal Points
1	48434	Keith Ketterer	Amgen-UBS Elite Masters	28
2	54522	Kalman Szkalak	UC Cyclery/JW Flooring	22
3	167489	Jon Miller	Platinum Performance Cycling Team	20
4	49080	Eddie Morris		18
5		Steve Bernede		16
6	52251	Ricky Shorts	Velo Allegro	14
7	230085	Albert Shorts	Velo Allegro	12
8	108843	Eric Nelson	SLO Nexus Cycling Club	10
9	21803	John Luke		8
10	45744	Rory O'Reilly		6
11	205255	Keith Laird	METALMTN Cycling	4
12	34753	Rick Swanson	Radsport Cycling Team	2
13	269972	Fred Haim	Herbalife LaGrange	0
14	195285	Kenneth Neumeyer	Unattached	0
15	288193	Ronald Carlson	METALMTN Cycling	0

The 60+ finishers per the SCNCA website was:

Poor College Kids Road Race (Rank 2.0)
Masters 60+
Place	License	Name	Team	SoCal Points
1	196820	George Chester	Amgen Cycling Club	28
2	59805	Jean Villiot	CA Pools/DeWalt	22
3	288633	Mark Tokar	Privateer	20
4	219942	mike wagenbach		18
5	45047	Glenn Baldwin	SLO Nexus Cycling Club	16
6	236498	Bruce Steele	South Bay Wheelmen	14
7	180386	John McKee	Paramount Racing	12
8	238828	Phillip Richards	Citrus Valley Velo	10
9	219074	Leo Pettus	OCW/Paramount Racing	8
10	58170	Sydney Duck		6
11	45763	Robert Paganini	Pasadena Athletic Assoc (PAA)	4
12	45342	Domenick Forte	Pasadena Athletic Assoc (PAA)	2
13	126731	O Jerry Tetreault	Montrose Bike Shop	0

That's all for now folks! Train hard and race safe!

THIS ONE'S FOR YOU RICK!

By John McKee

It's 42 degrees when I arrive at the Dominguez Hills course around 6:30 am for the first CBR criterium on January 24th, 2010. This is the same course that Paramount uses for its race and again this year it will be the Masters SCNCA Championship. It was plenty cold this morning but it didn't seem to damper the spirit of the newbie cat 5 racers. They were everywhere. CBR had sold out by the Monday before the race 75 race slots, but more were clamoring to race. Chris and Vera decided to make 2 races of 50 each(racing concurrently but separate) but all this delayed the start of the racing day and would affect the 55/60+ race. It looked brutal out there during the cat 5 races . There was just one mini crash that I know of thankfully. All the fields during the event day were huge except for ours and the women 1/2 which had the lowest turnout at 18.
There were but 13 pre registered 55/60+ racers plus 2 more that have year long passes with CBR. For $500 or so they can do any CBR event throughout the year including El Dorado. I was hoping we would get at least 30 racers and we made that with same day registration. One rider was still warming up when we went off because it was announced that there was a 20 minute delay but it really wasn't that much. Another rider showed up at 10:30 am thinking the race was 11 something but the start time had changed and I did mention that to everyone in one of my messages. Yet another rider choose to do the 50+ race rather than the 55/60+ race that he could have. We don't do our age cat, we won't have our age cat! Theoretically, we could have had around 35 racing. There were a few new faces and I actually saw a couple of Canyon Velo jerseys in our race. I always see lots of Canyon Velo jerseys on Saturday training rides but come Sunday and they are no where to be found. A lot of their members really stretch the lycra nowadays.
The start time of 7:45 am came up and many of us were hanging out waiting for the 2 cat 5 races to end and I see Don Davidson come into the registration line. I went up to Don and said "Aren't you cutting it kind of close". Don just said it took him longer to get there than he thought and he would do the 50+ race instead but I told him about the delay and that he would make it and he did. Don had planned to stay at the event all day and do the last race which was the Men's 1/2 race. 90 minutes of burning speed. Don did the last event and hung in there for all 90 minutes even though he was running on fumes the last 30 minutes. Don had to be thinking is this thing ever going to end. He made it though. Nice going Don!
OK. The 5s are in(There race was shortened) and the 55/60+ racers are called to the line about 8 am. I didn't get an exact count but it had to be over 30 because there were posted 9 60+ finishers and 20 55+ finishers and there were several riders off the back and I am not sure they finished. We were scheduled for 45 minutes of racing but because of the initial delay the organizers were going to shorten our race as well to try and get back on schedule. Finally we got the official start and we were off. The standard malaise took over and everyone was looking at each other and the pace was pretty easy. There were a few attempts at breaking with Don Davidson, Tom Riley, and Ricky Shorts involved in most of the efforts and Steve Borer doing most of the dirty work. Up tempo chasing and pulling the pack along. The most any group got away was 150 to 200 meters and I believe it was these 3 guys about 20 minutes into the race. They kept looking backward rather than focusing on working it. With this group still away going into turn 4, Kal Szkalak took off on the inside of the course. I saw him wind up and go so I went after him and started to chase and of course Richard Stahlberg and everyone else got right on it. Kal reached the group first still with a little gap on the main field but choose to give up the ghost. This was the hardest part of the race and my heartrate shot up but was the only time I was stressed except for the finish line.
There were a few primes but the announcer wasn't clear as far as I was concerned as to what the prime was. One time he even said he didn't know what it was for. The announcer was definitely no Ralph Elliot. Ricky Shorts is the new prime killer and tears it up for whatever it is. Ricky has taken Bob Barney's place as the number one prime killer.
I looked at my watch at the bottom of the course after the break was caught and we had been racing for 23 minutes. When we went by the start/finish line the lap counter said 4. I didn't hear anything so I thought maybe this was wrong. 24 minutes into a 45 minute race and you have 4 laps to go?? It was right though because the next lap the counter showed 3 and the announcer said 3 laps to go so there you have it. We were going to race for 30 to 35 minutes. We were all together and everyone was jockeying for position and Tom Riley took a flyer and it was all or nothing for Tom. He has done this before and pulled it off. UC Cyclery/JW Flooring had one or two riders besides Kal and Dale Luedtke. One of them was Reed Moore who is more of a climbing specialist. Reed went to the front near the end to try and string out the field and chase and did the best he could but it wasn't fast enough and it wasn't stressful enough to keep the weaker riders in the back. After turn 3 the pace picked up and I don't know who was driving but the pack was closing in on Tom. I know Richard Stahlberg choose Al Shorts wheel and Monty Pettus was on Ricky Shorts. I have a feeling Dale was on Kal but don't know that for sure. Once we turned the last corner the course is very slightly uphill and this day into a little breeze making it a tough last 400 meters.
Al Shorts kind of took his foot off the gas as he wasn't feeling in top form leaving Richard Stahlberg to see Kal, Dale, Ricky and Monty steam by him and also Tom Riley. Richard took off on his own but wasn't able to overtake Monty. Monty Pettus was the 4th overall rider behind Ricky, Kal and Dale. Monty was the first 60+ racer for the first victory of the season in 60+. Dale Luedtke led the field home with some special motivation and won the race overall and the 55+ category. Dale's special motivation was his long time friend, Rick Gil. Dale and Rick go way back to the days when they raced motorcycles, did motocross, and got into bicycle racing. Rick hadn't raced in years but was still riding his bike. Rick and Dale are the same age. Last November 2009 Rick Gil had a major stroke and went into a coma. He is still alive but still in a coma and his chance for recovery is very slight. Dale dedidated his win to his long time friend, Rick Gil. THIS ONE'S FOR YOU RICK!

The placings as posted on the CBR scoreboard were:

60+ BAR Placings

1 Monty Pettus
2 Richard Stahlberg
3 John McKee
4 William Carvin
5 Don Davidson
6 Michael Edwards
7 Doug Fest
8 Michael O'Connor
9 Barney Feigenbaum

55+ BAR Placings

1 Dale Luedtke
2 Kal Szkalak
3 Ricky Shorts
4 Al Shorts
5 Unknown- # 899
6 Howard Miller
7 Alex Collins
8 Wayne Rosenkrante
9 Greg Painter
10 Rino Barbagavanni

11 Mark Rich
12 Richard Barron
13 Jack Briggs
14 Steve Borer

I will insert a few photos after Kenny BZ publishes his photos and I get a chance to steal a few. That's all for now folks! Train hard and race safe!