LET'S CELEBRATE 77 YEARS OF GOOD HEALTH TO ROBERT PAGANINI

By John McKee

I had to keep telling myself to stay positive. Stay positive when writing my new story about CBR # 2. There was a controversy about payout with guess who. They broke the mold when they made Mr. Chris Lotts. I still love him for some reason. Chris comes over to me before the 55/60+ race with a big smile and pats me on the back. Says something bland that didn't make a lot of sense but that is Chris. The energy level this guy maintains on race day is amazing. If you could harness it to a electric power grid, you could light up the city of Los Angeles for days.
The positive element of my story is going to be about my friend and fellow racer. Robert Paganini turned 77 on Saturday March 16th. Robert has obviously lived a long life and has many more great years to come. Robert was born in France and lived in Paris during the Nazi occupation. Robert started racing at a fairly early age and was racing at a fairly high level in the early 50s. Robert raced with and against Jacque Anquetil in 1952. I have some great pictures of Robert racing in France from the early 50s to 1966. Happy Birthday to Robert and many more to come and many more victories and podiums at the State and National level. Robert has over 20 SCNCA masters championships and 3 USA masters championships.

Robert Paganini in France in the early 50s. Robert use to ride to and from most of his races.

Exhausted after a race on cobblestones?

Robert never liked anything on his arms and legs

Robert racing in France in 1966. A little heavier here. Robert is 2nd in line.

Racing in France in 1966. Robert is 2nd on the far side.

Victory for Robert Paganini at an early age.

Recent picture of Robert racing in Socal. Robert looks so uncomfortable and ill fit to his bike but he makes it work.

February 17th, 2013 and time for CBR #2. We could have been in Imperial and or Brawley to race for vegetables but sadly those races weren't on the calendar in 2013. To compare my contact with the promoter there and Chris. LOL. And I mean a big LOL. Stay positive. Stay positive. 40 racers or "cupcakes/swinging dicks" as Chris likes to say signed up to do the 2nd CBR race in Carson. The Carson course is across Wilmington Ave. from the old Paramount course. Similar profile but maybe a little harder with the power climb slightly steeper and the course a little shorter. We are sandwiched again between the cat 5 races and start at 7:30 am. I understand the 2nd 5 race will be replaced by a 30+ 4/5 category. A common and popular race in CBR. Brad Decker loves this race and being 45 lbs. lighter this year, Brad might do well.
Rokform/Velosport was fully loaded for 55+ race. A stellar line up of "top notch" racers as Ted Knight would say in "Caddyshack". Swami's was without Dale Luedtke and Pinneclife was without Jay Wolkoff. . No Breakaway from Cancer racers. A lopsided field. Mike "wrong side" McConnell was going to be there for UC Cyclery and is proving to be a strong presence in the peleton. He just has to figure out which side the number goes on. Mike needs a little more "seasoning" as they say in baseball.

Rokform/Velosport doing a pre race meeting that might have gone like this "Let's make Mike Birditt's legs scream" or "Does anybody have a hammer so we can 'Tonya Harding' Chris". Photo courtesy of Alex Naddor.

Mike McConnell leading the pack early on. Mike is followed by a new cat 2 rider from Minnesota. The number goes on the right side, Mike! Photo courtesy of Alex Naddor.

I started to hurt early on as the event got going. I think this just meant I was racing again. Lol. I told myself that I didn't want to do another race even though I paid for it. I did anyway. Fighting those negative thoughts is all part of the racing process. The mental side. Rokform was killing it early. Making the race as hard as they could make it and they can make it pretty darn hard.

Mark Hoffenberg killing it at the front. "Wrong side" is chasing with Bruce Hartley bringing the field on. Photo courtesy of Alex Naddor.

It's Bob Pelkofer's turn to shoot off the front for Rokform. Photo courtesy of Alex Naddor.

The race seemed to go by pretty quickly. I was glad there were no cones on the far side of the finish area. This is where I clipped 2 cones and went flying. They set up the officials area further out into the street leaving the far side to ride on which is the way I think it should have been set up all along.
Minor primes were sprinkled in the mix. $20 is always a popular incentive to pick up the pace.We had a "new guy" out there in the name of Gerald Finken from Minnesota. Gerald is a cat 2 rider and did a lot of chasing on Rokform. Bruce Hartley was chasing up a storm as well along with Mike McConnell. Mike Birditt threw down the gauntlet nailing back those Rokform Jack in the Boxes several times. Pelky and Hoffy were doing most of the efforts with Henry Scheff and Jeff Moreton also contributing some leg power. Some pretty tough stuff for everyone to digest.

The "Man of a Thousand Lakes" pulling everyone back to Pelky. Photo courtesy of Alex Naddor.

No group formed that lasted any length of time until the 4 most aggressive riders got together in one foursome. Hoffy, Birdy, Hartley and "Mr. Lakes". I thought this was it. Birdy and Hoffy in one group with 2 other riders that I didn't know at the time. Bruce and Mike thought this was the brass ring. The ticket to finish away from the group but did Hoffy want to sprint straight up with Mike. Mark wasn't pulling as hard as he can from intell I got and was always looking around seeing what was up. Was Mark looking for a teammate to come across the gap. Maybe so. Back in the pack "Wrong side" took a big pull. Mike is pretty strong. Then Kal jumped hard on the outside at turn 3. He wasn't trying to chase down the group. He was trying to get too the group. Chase bells went off in the pack. Everyone was out of the saddle going up the hill chasing the man with the muscles. Kal's effort got everyone so close that a few guys got across the gap but it was doomed.

4 break stars looking to take it home but did Rokform like the grouping?Photo courtesy of Alex Naddor.

You can only see Bruce Hartley's helmet checking out the progress. You can see "Wrong side" pulling the pack. Photo courtesy of Alex Naddor.

Henry Scheff and  Deogracias Asuncion add themselves to the group just before its curtails. Exit right! Photo courtesy of Alex Naddor.

 The race was most assuredly going to come down to a bunch sprint. It was less than 5 to go now. Who was Rokform going to set up for? Mark or Nick? Mark has a winning streak going but Danny is sprinting well lately. Rokform was also thinking of placing 2 on the podium. Taking 2 of the 3 pay spots in the mini purse of $125. Chris is saying a full field is 150 from the flyer which says 75/75. It's actually is a violation of Rule 1H5 USA CYCLING 2013 rulebook. The maximum field size that allows cat 5 racers is 75. Chris 50% rule should come into play with 38 swinging dicks though not all our racers always have dicks to swing. Last year we were getting $250 for the 55s and $100 for the 60s going 5 deep. There were 2 cat 5s in the race. You guys might want to upgrade because Chris could change the field to cats 1-4 and that rule wouldn't apply.
OK. Final lap and the big guy from Minnesota is leading the pack around. Mark, Nick and Birdy are lurking nearby. After turn 3 Mark Hoffenberg hits it. Nicolette and Birditt were following close. I don't know who was on Mike but they dropped the ball. Nelson Alaan had done his own separate solo launch. Nelson likes to launch coming out of turn 3 taking a hard fast turn and flying up the hill.

Sprint picture #1- Does anyone get lower than Mike Birditt....NO! Photo courtesy of Alex Naddor.

Sprint picture #2- pretty close right now. Photo courtesy of Alex Naddor.

 

Sprint picture #3- in 60+ action- I am following Kal with Marotta closing toward the line. Jones is blocked out by "Lakes". Photo courtesy of Alex Naddor.

Sprint picture #4- Nelson Alaan and Cyril Hunte are shown to the right of "Lakes". Photo courtesy of Alex Naddor.

Sprint picture #5- Hoffy 1, Birdy 2, Nick 3 in 55+.  Chris Lotts is near the officials area.

Coming to the last corner Mark Hoffenberg is 1st, Nicolette 2nd and Birditt 3rd. Now the stories vary a bit coming home. The "Swami's" version has Nick easing off a bit to create a small gap. Once around the corner Mike takes his own path to the finish line. Nick comes off Mark wheel but isn't in his favorite sprint gear which is 53 x 11. Pretty big gear but Danny is really strong. Birditt gets by Dan but not Mark. Mark is in really GOOD form. The podium placers were followed in by Alaan, Shorts, Finken and Hunte in 55+.
In 60+ action Craig Jones was the 1st rider to the last corner but hit a bit of a 55+ log jam and put on his brakes whether it was needed or not. Szkalak zoomed in for 1st, Marotta showing a good sprint crossed in 2nd and I crossed in 3rd. Jones was 4th followed in by Miller, Wisnosky, Dern, and Fleming.
Robert Paganini stayed with the pack and finished with the pack after coming off a skiing accident that injured his knee. I say Robert is doing great.
In other races Kal was 7th in 50+ and Jones was 19th. In 45+ Hoffy was 9th. There were just 3 65s that finished with myself 1, Fleming 2 and Pags 3. Robert of course was the oldest racer anywhere around.
The average speed was around 25 mph in 55/60+ and 26.3 in 50+. Good hard safe 55/60+ race.We are not going to win with Chris on the payout issue and if he wants us to race for points only then go ahead and try it and see what happens. The 60s race for NO purse and pay the same entry fee anyway. Fat chance some 60 other than Kal have a chance against the very strong 55s that are racing with the 60s. That's all for now folks! Train hard and race safe!

CBR 2  (Rank 1.0)
Masters 55+
Place	License	Name	Team	SoCal Points
1	45461	Mark Hoffenberg	Rokform/Rock N' Road	14
2	47255	Michael Birditt	SKLZ-Swami's Cycling Team	11
3	26090	Daniel Nicolette	Rokform/Rock N' Road	10
4	64439	Nelson Alaan	Lightning Velo	9
5	52251	Ricky Shorts	Bahati Foundation p/b Major Motion Cycli	8
6	49239	Gerald Finken	St Paul Bicycle Racing Club	7
7	52086	Cyril Hunte		6
8	50532	Deogracias Asuncion	South Bay Wheelmen	5
9	47652	Bob Pellkofer	Rokform/Rock N' Road	4
10	174212	Brian Carrico	PAA/REMAX	3
11	54084	Lothar Cramer		2
12	107559	Rodney Malloy	Bahati Foundation-CA	1
13	23303	Michael McConnell	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	0
14	25023	Jeffrey Moreton	Rokform/Rock N' Road	0
15	178640	Reginald Jones	Lightning Velo	0
16	72467	Marlon Cortez	South Bay Wheelmen	0
17	393555	Larry Castillo	Velo Allegro	0
18	177283	Eugene Poyorena	Swami's Cycling Club	0
19	46996	Peter Allen	Rokform/Rock N' Road	0
20	93812	Donald Denegal	Velo Allegro	0
21	106988	Guido Quezada	Velo Allegro	0
22	45552	Douglas Knox	TIME - Velo Pasadena Team	0
23	314194	Steve Hernandez	Lightning Velo	0

CBR 2  (Rank 1.0)
Masters 60+
Place	License	Name	Team	SoCal Points
1	54522	Kalman Szkalak	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	14
2	72880	Mike Marotta	Swami's Cycling Club	11
3	180386	John McKee	Paramount Racing	10
4	18156	Craig Jones	Velo Avanti Cycling Team	9
5	49424	Howard Miller	OCW/Paramount Racing	8
6	243425	mark wisnosky	ACQUA AL 2/SDBC	7
7	9271	Pete Dern	Montrose Bike Shop- CW Builders	6
8	129293	Michael Fleming	South Bay Wheelmen	5
9	301372	Tom Herman	South Bay Wheelmen	4
10	257503	Philip Walters	Encino Velo Cycling Club	3
11	45763	Robert Paganini	PAA/REMAX	2

FROM HOSPITAL BED TO VICTORY IN 55+ AT ROGER MILLIKAN

By John McKee

Being in a hospital bed is about the last place any of us want to be but the week prior the ever popular Roger Millikan Memorial Criterium one of our racing brothers found himself in one. Our friend raced on Sunday and found himself in a hospital bed on Tuesday without any knowledge of what was wrong other than a lot of pain. Frightening of course but this story has a happy ending. A regular 1950s romantic comedy. They always had a happy ending though our friend certainly wasn't happy on Tuesday. More of this later. Lol. Maybe some of you will actually finish my story.

Roger Millikan

The Roger Millikan Memorial Criterium scheduled for Feb. 10, 2013 was in for some changes this year for a couple of reasons. Velo Avanti use to take the lead in producing the race with Ed Keck doing a LOT of the leg work. They and he decided to throw in the towel. They left the job up to Canyon Velo. Alex Collins was a major player in starting this club many years ago. Alex brought in UC Cyclery on the permit with tie ins to money for purses and primes. Of course they were forsaking the Paramount race they USE to get on the permit and provide money. Lol. Alex got his employer Morgan Gold to provide $1,500 toward the 55/60+ race. $1,000 for the 55s and $500 for the 60s. What I would like to see in the future is someone like Morgan Gold put money in a pot for a race series. Maybe 5 to 10 races within the SCNCA calendar that counted toward the points winners and leaders. Brad House use to do something like this. It was good for the racers and good for the promoters that got the special boost of being selected for this race series.
OK, back to RMMC. The course was changed about 8 or 9 years ago to the easterly course. Very popular. A little more dicey. More of a power climb on leg 3. Fun course as long as you stayed upright. The 55/60+ guys had a great safety record there. In 2011 there was the lapping of the rider at turn 3 on the last lap that was a major fiasco(no one went down) but other than that the 55/60s did well there. The problem in 2013 was a indoor gun range and gun shop on Berry St. Now Berry was on the race route but the street was NOT completely closed down to traffic in either direction BUT the shop owner as I understand it complained to the city of Brea and they encouraged the race promoter to move the race over to where the race was for years as the St. Valentines Day Massacre. The old course has a church near by that gets their panties in a twist if you park near their place so racers were encouraged to park on the old new course. If you know what I mean. Right. Lol.
Sign ups for 2013 weren't restricted to 75  though they should have been. The maximum field you can have with cat 5s allowed is 75. Not 100 and definitely not 150 like at CBR. I didn't get a final count this year. The 2 prior years and nearly so 3 years ago was a sellout. This was the highest payout ever or a tie actually with the Paramount race. As you all should know the Paramount race is 55 and 60+ friendly. I wonder why that is. I guess some of you were afraid your dog would get into some trouble while you were gone and stayed away from Roger Millikan. See pics below.

Bad boys 1 and 2

Bad boy # 3

Bad boy #4 - He doesn't look like he has any shame

Oh yes. Bike racing. I do that. Canyon Velo put the 55/60+ racers in a prime spot at 9:35 am. The elite women plus the juniors and cat 5s went before us as they should. Smallest fields 1st. Promoters hand book 101 though the women can complain VERY loud so the squeaky wheel usually gets better treatment.
The 55/60+ racers were called to the line from the holding area. I got cut off by a rambunctious racer in a unnamed kit. Ricky Shorts said "Wow. The race hasn't even started".
Just so no one forgets what the race title is about, Roger Millikan was a long time rider and racer and member of Velo Avanti though he was a member of Paramount many years ago. I think I mentioned this before that he use to date Monty Pettus's wife before they married. While Monty was racing in Pacific Grove Roger was racing Diane though Monty won out in the end

Leo (Monty) Pettus 5th in line here at the 1975 Pacific Grove Buterfly Criterium

when he started concentrating on the important stuff. Roger passed away several years ago after a bout with cancer. This race is given Roger's name and raced in his honor.
At the line we were told we had 40 minutes to race and we were off with the 1st lap neutral. The not so usual suspects went flying around like Bob Mosier(Bob unfortunately crashed later and broke his collarbone after driving down from Mailbu with his 11 year old daughter. Wish you the best, Bob), Brad House, John Roest and Bob Pelkofer(designed flyer for Rokform). The pace was brisk once the race was on but not near as hard as at Red Trolley. Maybe its the course. RT is definitely harder.
There was a crash at Roger Millikan. It was behind me so I didn't see it. I heard from 4 to 10 riders were in it. Bob Mosier took the worst injuries though Rick Carerra found out later that he has a fracture in his shoulder besides all the road rash. There were some close calls for some riders that avoided going down. Mike Birditt had to squeeze between a downed rider and the curb and got by him but bulldozed another rider and hurt his shoulder. He couldn't believe that he hit someone that hard and didn't go down on the ground. Track skills. Brad House ran over someone's rear wheel and went airborne. Came down on the tip of his saddle that went funky. Brad fought that the rest of the race. Some of the downed riders got back into the race and some just threw in the towel. This happened right near the start finish line. No one knows what caused it. I heard it behind me and knew right away what happened. That sound is unmistakable.
There were a great number of primes. Some for $20 and some for a water bottle full of something. I never understood what Ralph was saying. Racers will sprint for anything though. Doesn't matter.

Mike Bird cooling his jets after killing another prime- $50 GC from UC Cyclery- Photo courtesy of Maki Yamazaki

Once the pretenders got caught  the main players were thinking of bringing out the their big guns. Like Ron Burgundy's in the movie "Anchorman". He thought his arms were big. HA! The pace of the race was pretty high though it didn't feel hard except for some hard chases. The pressure really got put on. I went deep several times to stay in good position. Once I felt I couldn't keep it up, the pace slowed. I guess everyone else or most everyone else was hurting. KK could eat a plate of spaghetti on his bike while we were racing. He did 28 mph for an hour record at the track.
The primes came and went and we were all together. Mark Hoffenberg was playing a waiting game and reacting to moves rather than starting them except for one break attempt early with Jay Wolkoff. They were going good but a hungry field brought them back. I guess I can reveal now Mark is the person that was in the hospital bed. Undetected kidney stones that were giving him major pain. He was feeling better Sunday morning and decided to race with us.

Mark isn't looking too happy after having to go to the hospital not knowing the pain he was having was from kidney stones. This was Tues. 2/5/13. He was released later in the day.

Mark is killing it here late in the race after coming out of the hospital bed 5 days before. Photo courtesy of TruCycling

There were a number of people chasing down the breaks and one of them was to my surprise Cyril "Parachute" Hunte. Cyril was on fire. I told him before the race that this course was good for him as compared to Red Trolley and that was true. Cyril was on fire!

Cyril Hunte leading a chase midway through the race- Photo courtesy of Maki Yamazaki

Bob Pelkofer made a solo move hoping someone would join him like at Red Trolley the last 2 years. The Red Trolley course must fit Bob well. He loves it there. Bob move didn't work but not for the lack of trying.

Pelky giving it a go late in the race. He was chased down by unknown assailants- photo courtesy of Maki Yamazaki

 Later in the race Keith Ketterer made his move on the outside near the start finish line. Mark Hoffenberg was ever attentive and jumped after him with Steve Hensler on his wheel. They soon connected with KK to make it a threesome. This was the right combination of teams needed to cause major blocking in the peleton or at least to not be chased. 1/3 the riders were on these teams. Breakaway from Cancer, Rokform, and UC Cyclery. One lap after the 3 were together UCC rider Mike McConnell slipped away right near Ralph's famous announcing shack. Mike got some looks but no one chased. Mike was able to link up with the 3 other breaking riders.

There they go- Ketterer, Hoffenberg and Hensler- Photo courtesy of Maki Yamazaki

Mike McConnell adds himself to the group-that is Mike 2nd in line- Photo courtesy of Maki Yamazaki

 

The front is loaded with blocking team members- Photo courtesy of Maki Yamazaki

The pack was in a quandry now. Who is left to chase. Swami's threw Gene Poyorena out there to chase and kept the pace up for a short time but made no headway to the 4 riders ahead. This point in the race is difficult. If you chase earlier you can recover and get yourself set up for the sprint finish. If you chase late, you may not have time to recover for the sprint. Riders like Cyril, Birdy and Ricky that might chase earlier were not going to chase now. Rokform had now a double duty. Block for Mark ahead and set up the sprint finish for Danny Nicolette. There has to be a fine line there since Mark and the 3 other riders weren't that far ahead.
The foursome that were breaking became two. A foursome is considered a near perfect combination  in golf groupings but I guess the foursome didn't work out ahead of the pack. Steve Hensler and Mike McConnell(I keep wanting to write Mitch but that is that stiff Republican from Kentucky) dropped off of Mark and KK. KK actually attacked them between turn one and turn two and Mark and KK were away. Steve and Mike then hovered in between the two leaders and the pack. Kind of in no man's land. Not far enough away to actually have a chance of finishing away but not so close that someone closes them out.

KK and Hoffy killing it- Photo courtesy of Maki Yamazaki

Gene Poyorena pulls off in his attempted chase-Rokform setting up for a sprint finish- Photo courtesy of Maki Yamazaki

The 5 lap card came up and was announced by Ralph Elliot with his usual set up rig right there. His yellow and red board for results. You always know where to look for results. The speed wasn't fast but decent. Our average speed was going to be pretty high for this race. Kim Bleth and Jeff Moreton went out early for Rokform to set pace and try and keep Danny from being overwhelmed by a slow pace. Bill Ralph and especially Bob Pelkofer were going to handle their sprinter late in the race.
With 2 laps to go an independent guy with a black and white kit  that said Velo was at the front followed by Rokform. The distance to Mark and KK was constant and they were not going to be caught but the other 2 guys were going to sweep up by the sprint train. One lap to go and the 1st 4 riders in the pack were Rokform  followed by Cyril, Kal, myself and then Dale. Mike Birditt was moving up looking for a spot to move in. The pace was steady at turn one and turn two but going up the slight rise on the back stretch saw a dramatic increase in the speed. Rokform was kicking it up. Caught me a little by surprise and I gapped on Kal. Mike Birditt filled the space.
The lead 2 guys were much closer together than at Mothballs where KK got the jump on Hoffy and almost stayed away from him. Here Mark was watching him closely and was thinking he could out sprint him if they were in a two up sprint. KK pulled on the last lap knowing they had to stay strong or they would get swept up. Mark thought KK might attack going up the hill on the backstretch but he didn't. KK must have known then he was riding for 2nd. Mark and KK go back years and were teammates at one point in the past. Coming off the hospital bed to tame the best of the 55+ racers in the biggest purse of the season so far. Mark wasn't even feeling that good on Friday and didn't get on his bike until Saturday when he made the decision to race on Sunday as long as he was feeling OK in the morning. Mark was hoping to win this race and dedicate the win to his son Max, who passed away in October of 2012. Although Mark didn't discuss this with anyone-even to his teammates prior to the race, it was something that he simply committed to himself. Mark explained this in more detail to me in an email: "The memories of Max yelling for me on the sideline of this particular course are well ingrained in my mind. When I heard that they had moved this race back to the old course this year, it started getting emotional for me. I was pretty disappointed after landing in the hospital on Tuesday night. Obviously there was the unbelievable pain caused by the kidney stones but as the week progressed the realization that I wasn't going to race was emotional painful. Fortunately it all worked out. Maybe Max was just testing my fortitude."

Mark Hoffenberg with his son Max

In the pack the Rokform train was working pretty good on the last lap until turn 3 came and then Cyril Hunte jumped everyone on the right curb side. Now this made for a dicey situation. Going fast next to the right curb and having to make a right turn to sprint for home wasn't going to easy especially with another group taking a "smarter" line for the last corner. Cyril was jamming it early kind of like I use to see Dale Luedtke do. I saw Dale do it years ago at Dana Point in the 50+ crit champ. Lead at the last corner and rolled it to the line. Cyril had these thoughts in his mind. He was sprinting for glory! The only thing was it was for 3rd place which still isn't bad.

KK buried himself on the last lap so he and Mark could stay away. Photo courtesy of Ken Hill-Light &Shadows Photography

Cyril leading the field into the last corner. Can he hold on? Photo courtesy of Ken Hill- Light & Shadow Photography

Birdy is staying tight to Nick with Kal right on Birdy- Photo courtesy of Ken Hill- Light & Shadows Photography

 Cyril was followed by Nicolette(he saw Cyril jam and got right on him), Birditt, Szkalak, Luedtke/Shorts and myself though I see there was a bit of a gap there. Don't know what I was thinking. Coming up the middle were Jay Wolkoff, Paul Rodiguez, Lee Romans and Kirk Freeman was setting up in the front of the other pack looking to take a sharper line past the corner which he did with some admiral skill.
Mike Birditt and Danny Nicolette came off Cyril and Mike took the bunch sprint for 3rd place. Danny 4th, Cyril 5th, Kal followed in for 1st in 60+, Luedtke for 6th in 55, Shorts for 7th in 55, Wolkoff 8th, Rodiguez 2nd for 60, Lee Romans for 9th, Kirk Freeman 3rd in 60+, Alex Collins 10th, myself 4th in 60, C. Jones 5th in 60, Huffman 6th in 60, Tim and Ira of Simple Green 11 and 12 in 55, Miller 7th in 60, Wagenaar 8th in 60, Roest 9th in 60, Mallory 13th in 55, Lilleberg 10th in 60. I wanted to write the placings out further than I usually do because of a camera malfunction. The complete finish list was worked out by the racers and officials. Guys, you had to not only let the official know who you finished behind or next to but you had to wait and see what was posted and make sure you were on it. Sorry to guys like Howard Miller that finished  7th in 60+ and Lee Romans that finished 9th in 55+. Both Paramount members. If you want a placing you have to hound the officials until you see your name. I can't tell them where everyone finished. I don't know.
The average speed that I had was 26 mph which was fast but I started my Garmin at the finish of the 1st neutral lap. That was faster than the 50+ race.
Strong finishes in other races were:
50+
9- Mike McConnell
10-Lee Romans
17-Dan Swietlik
24-Rick Swanson
26-Brad House
28-John McKee
36-John Roest
45+
26-Doug Knox-nice going Doug
Kal and Mitch were also in this race
The crash was the downside of the race and the camera problem. Other than that it was a good fast race. There is a mismatch of squads right now. Rokform in 55 and UC Cyclery in 60. Mark and Kal are killing it right now. Lets post a bull's eye on them and knock them down a peg or two. Just kidding guys! Thanks again to Alex Collins and Morgan Gold for the big money list. The last 3 photos were courtesy of Ken Hill. His website for some excellent action photos is www.public.fotki.com/quatre24. This was a great event. Nice job everyone!  That's all for now folks! Train hard and race safe!

Offical finish lists(not accurate but this is what it is-sorry guys)

Roger Millikan Crit  (Rank 1.0)
Masters 55+
Place	License	Name	Team	SoCal Points
1	45461	Mark Hoffenberg	Rokform/Rock N' Road	14
2	48434	Keith Ketterer	Breakaway from Cancer Masters	11
3	47255	Michael Birditt	SKLZ-Swami's Cycling Team	10
4	26090	Daniel Nicolette	Rokform/Rock N' Road	9
5	52086	Cyril Hunte		8
6	47262	Dale Luedtke	Swami's Cycling Club	7
7	52251	Ricky Shorts	Bahati Foundation p/b Major Motion Cycli	6
8	38811	Jay Wolkoff	Radsport Cycling Team	5
9	46255	Alex Collins	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	4
10	404	Guido Quezada		3
11	255052	Ira Schaffer	Team Simple Green/Bike Religion	2
12	258639	Timothy Meza	Team Simple Green/Bike Religion	1
13	16837	Brad House	Big Orange Cycling	0

Roger Millikan Crit  (Rank 1.0)
Masters 60+
Place	License	Name	Team	SoCal Points
1	54522	Kalman Szkalak	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	14
2	58847	Paul Rodriguez	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	11
3	95	Kirk Freeman		10
4	180386	John McKee	Paramount Racing	9
5	18156	Craig Jones	Velo Avanti Cycling Team	8
6	59572	Mark Huffman	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	7
7	64127	Richard Lilleberg	South Bay Wheelmen	6
8	245777	Steven Borer	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	5
9	195498	Donald Kimper	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	4
10	46648	Peter Banko	Cycle U / Apex Racing	3
11		Rick Roberson		2
12		Ed Soloman		1
13	126351	Steve Bernede	Team Werks	0
14		Lee Carpenter		0
15	50406	Michael Edwards	Michelob Ultra - La Grange +21	0

IT JUST GETS HARDER AT RED TROLLEY BUT THE WINNERS THE SAME

By John McKee

Every week you reflect on the race that you just did or the week of training that you have been getting and think about the race that is coming up and the course you are going to race on. There are certain courses that are very challenging and really show the cycling strengths of the top riders and Red Trolley is one of those short criterium courses that kicks your butt. Red Trolley was scheduled for Feb. 3rd, 2013. The day before the 55/60+ riders were really tested at the Boulevard road course. The weather was decent considering the 7 am start time. New Rokform rider Bill(Super Cut)Ralph won the 55+ category with a solo breakaway. Bill used that awesome core strength to hold off the field to win by himself! Bill was followed in by Larry Nolan of Northern California fame and Jeff Moreton of Rokform. In 60+ action Kal Szkalak continued to dominate this category with the win. Kal was followed in by Josef Lemire and Mark Huffman. Complete results are below.

Power to the people! OR is that power to the 55/60+ racers that are alive and can still stay in a pack with Mark Hoffenberg

Red Trolley is the same date as the Super Bowl(actually was an exciting game this year). The 55/60+ race was scheduled for a 10:45 am start. A real treat for us racers that usually start at 7:30 am. Red Trolley does a lot of collegiate categories and the "kids" rightfully go first. Signups for Red Trolley went slow for the 55/60+ racers but a decent field showed up. Larger that at Mothballs the prior Sunday. Of course Red Trolley is in Mira Mesa which is San Diego County. UC Cyclery territory. There were 33 starters and 32 finishers. I say kudos to EVERYONE that did this race and finished in the group. Hard doesn't describe this race well enough.

Malcolm Hill really putting the pressure on early. Notice Mark Huffman marking him closely.

Bob Pelkofer making things hard early in the race

OK, 33 guys started this race and I am already sweating a bit just writing about the experience and it is behind me! I knew the drill and what would happen early in the race. Mark Hoffenberg's team Rokform/Rock N' Road was going to make it hard from the gun and for the added pleasure of everyone, Malcolm Hill of Breakaway from Cancer Masters was there to spice things up.
The race got going just like I thought. I stayed near the front but not at the front. The first time up the hill didn't seem too hard but with the pace high and the surges coming from the sources I thought would make the race hard well...it just harder each lap. I was starting to hurt. Hurt really bad though I wasn't losing position. I was on auto pilot. I kept myself up there but I wanted to quit! I was having a bad mind body experience. Rokform and Malcolm Hill were taking turns making it hard. The pace would be frenetic and then ease off.
About 1/3 the way through the race or sooner,  Malcolm Hill attacked and Mark Huffman was right there. This course fits Mark well and he just aged up to 60+. Everyone that ages up to 60+ gets that motivation surge in there 1st year and then...burnout.

The break starts early with Malcolm Hill surging at turn 2 and Mark Huffman attentively following

The twosome got a gap. Malcolm is riding so strong right now. Bob Pelkofer attacked the field and made it across the gap to the break showing how strong he is. Then Kal did it a bit later. Someone told me after the 1st race of the year that they didn't think Kal was looking that strong. Boy did they get that wrong. After the 55/60+ race Kal of course did a 2nd race in the 45+ event and led a teammate out on the last lap. Kal is definitely strong this year. I said something to him after the race and he said "I am just doing my job". Wow and what a job he is doing!

Malcolm looks back as Pelky joins the lead group

Kal joins the break group

Once the break coalesced the pace slowed in the peleton at about 15 minutes into the race. I didn't have the early pace in me for 23 laps. Mike Birditt did what he could to chase. Even Dale Luedtke went out there and chased. I know Swami's was looking for some help but the 2 biggest teams were in the break. There is a over load on these 2 teams this year in the number of jerseys and horsepower that will create a problem in 55/60+ racing this year.

A prime lap came up and Mark Hoffenberg went half heartedly for it. That is still pretty fast. Larry "Microsoft" Shannon who aged up to 55+ this year was on his wheel. That would be what I would think but actually you can see from the picture that Mark was on Larry's wheel or least he was right after going across the finish line.  If you didn't know, Larry runs Socalreg.com. Larry is wearing the very bright green Monster Media kit.

John Rubcic takes prime that sets up Mark Hoffenberg

John Rubcic came out of no where to pass Larry and Mark to take the prime. 2 60s were near by but the rest of the pack was back a bit. Mike Birditt was not being attentive enough or tired from chasing. This is where Mark made his move. If you look at the picture you can see it coming. He launches off of Larry. The "Rocket Boy" is gassed from going for the prime and the 2 60 near by don't have a chance. Larry Shannon was able to grab onto Mark's wheel but he was the only one. They got a gap. Mark was going to try and get across a 25 second gap! Mark did all the pulling from what I hear. Mark didn't like towing Larry so Mark attacked Larry and went solo. 

Mark Hoffenberg between the pack and the break group with Larry Shannon on his wheel

Mark going solo now trying to bridge the gap to the leaders

Up front in the break, Bob Pelkofer got word and I don't know how unless someone on the course gave him the tip that Mark was trying to get across the gap to join him and the other 3 riders. This created a major problem for Malcolm Hill. Kal and Mark were 60s and there was nothing in it for them to keep Mark away. They just wanted to stay clear of the pack. Pelky stopped pulling and sat on. It was now all up to Malcolm who I assume was frustrated with the situation. Mark made it across the gap within the last 5 laps and before there were 2 laps to go. With the way Mark is sprinting now and having a teammate in the mix made the situation almost idea for Mark.

In the pack the riders were churning with the laps counting down from 5 to go. No one tried any late heroics. Mark Hoffenberg set himself up for the final sprint with the help of his teammate. Mark won easily with Kal Szkalak being the 2nd rider across the line and winning the 60+ category. Malcolm Hill was 2nd in the 55+ category and Bob Pelkofer was 3rd. Mark Huffman rolled across for 2nd in 60+ and a very strong showing. 

The pack sprinted in over 30 seconds down from the break group. The peleton was together with one lap to go but broke up on the last lap. I felt I was in decent position but actually wasn't. My teammate Lee Romans was on my wheel and came off it on the backstretch on the outside to move up which was a bit too late but in the nick of time as well. Paul Rodiguez gave up the ghost in the lead riders which actually didn't matter that much but Fred Nicolet who was on Mike Birditt's wheel threw in the towel and created a split. Lee Romans was able to go around Fred and split Rod and his teammate Mark Helvie in pursuit of the lead guys that were setting up to go for the bunch sprint. Lee took a good turn at number 4 and finally made contact with the leaders who were marking each other before sprinting. About the time Lee made contact Mike Birditt unleashed his sprint. No one was going to beat Mike here and they didn't. Mike easily won the bunch sprint for 3rd place in 55+. Cyril "The Parachute" Hunte threw away his parachute this year going up the hill. Last year Cyril looked like he was riding in tar going up the hill on the last lap but not this year. Cyril came across the line right after Mike for a very good finish and 4th place. Cyril was followed in by Tony "The Unknown Rider" Darr(Tony didn't check the results when he should have and wasn't identified by the finish camera and was listed unknown for the longest time). Lee Romans followed in tfor 5th place in 55+. Lee waited a fraction too long to move up and I should have gotten on his wheel. Damn! John Rubcic was in the lead bunch sprint group and came across the line for 3rd place in 60+. I took the space between turn 3 and 4 in the wind and took turn 4 fast and solo. Going up the hill I passed a few riders but tied up about 75 meters from the line and Rick Lilliberg and John Wagenaar who had gotten on my wheel when Lee left it came around me to finish 4th and 5th place. 4th place was the best Rick has done in quite a while. Nice to see Rick back riding well. Rick use to be one of the strongest 55+ racers when he moved down the coast from Washington and won Socal Cup when he turned 60. John "Wags" Wagenaar rode very strong last year as a new 60+ rider and I can see he is going to continue this year. 

It was a very hard race and everyone seemed to be able to hang in there. Like I mentioned earlier I was really hurting early in the race but it got easier after 15 minutes. We did 23 laps on this challenging course. The average speed for the leaders was 25 mph and 24.8 mph for the bunch. To put this into perspective the 45s raced at 26 mph and the 35s averaged over 28 from what I hear. That is an amazing speed for this course. 

I mentioned that I would spotlight the oldest racer in the event and that was myself but only by a year over Don Kimper and Rick Lilliberg.

Another victory for Mark Hoffenberg and Kal Szkalak. Those guys are tough to beat. I have a link here to a dropbox link. You will have to download dropbox to view the pictures and vids of the last laps. The 6th to the last one is a very cool Go Pro in the race cam thing that Lee Romans did for the last 7 laps in the pack. It is really good. All the photos are courtesy of Maki Yamazaki. Complete results are below. That's all for now folks! Train hard and race safe!

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/z9a25s4hxoup1u5/SHGBoNIpQE

Boulevard Road Race  (Rank 2.0)
Masters 55+
Place	License	Name	Team	SoCal Points
1	125834	William Ralph	Rokform/Rock N' Road	28
2	26205	Lawrence Nolan	Team Specialized Racing Masters	22
3	25023	Jeffrey Moreton	Rokform/Rock N' Road	20
4	45461	Mark Hoffenberg	Rokform/Rock N' Road	18
5	32300	Lawrence Shannon	Monster Media Racing Team	16
6	15874	Steve Hensler	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	14
7	89462	Randy Liechty	ACQUA AL 2/SDBC	12
8	106989	Pato Munoz	Velo Allegro	10
9	69952	Robert Willcox	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	8
10	208622	Steven Farner	Swami's Cycling Club	6
11	250331	Peter Dufour	ACQUA AL 2/SDBC	4
12	16837	Brad House	Big Orange Cycling	2
13	8667	Tony Darr	CA Pools / Primal	0
14	1254	Mark Ainslie		0
15	148853	Dale Raymond	Southern California Velo	0
16	338398	bernie bogard	San Diego Bicycle Club	0
17	188585	David Van Wawick	Celo Pacific	0

Boulevard Road Race  (Rank 2.0)
Masters 60+
Place	License	Name	Team	SoCal Points
1	54522	Kalman Szkalak	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	28
2	46799	Josef Lemire	Hammer Nutrition	22
3	59572	Mark Huffman	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	20
4	126351	Steve Bernede		18
5	245777	Steven Borer	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	16
6	26089	Fred Nicolet	ACQUA AL 2/SDBC	14
7	59805	jean villiot	CA Pools/Primal	12
8	64127	Richard Lilleberg	South Bay Wheelmen	10
9	72139	Armen Khachadourian	San Diego Cyclo Vets	8
10	335674	Bud Stratton	San Diego Cyclo Vets	6
11	243425	mark wisnosky	ACQUA AL 2/SDBC	4

Red Trolley  (Rank 1.0)
Masters 55+
Place	License	Name	Team	SoCal Points
1	45461	Mark Hoffenberg	Rokform/Rock N' Road	14
2	156650	Malcolm Hill	Breakaway from Cancer Masters	11
3	47652	Bob Pellkofer	Rokform/Rock N' Road	10
4	47255	Michael Birditt	SKLZ-Swami's Cycling Team	9
5	52086	Cyril Hunte		8
6	8667	Tony Darr	CA Pools / Primal	7
7	110259	Lee Romans	Paramount Racing	6
8	89462	Randy Liechty	ACQUA AL 2/SDBC	5
9	54084	Lothar Cramer		4
10	1254	Mark Ainslie		3
11	222523	Rick Carrera	Team Simple Green/Bike Religion	2
12	23303	Michael McConnell	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	1
13	46255	Alex Collins	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	0
14	255052	Ira Schaffer	Team Simple Green/Bike Religion	0
15	46996	Peter Allen	Rokform/Rock N' Road	0
16	58847	Paul Rodriguez	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	0
17	46688	Michael McConnel	UC Cyclery	0
18	15760	Mark Helvie	UC Cyclery	0
19	47262	Dale Luedtke	Swami's Cycling Club	0

Red Trolley  (Rank 1.0)
Masters 60+
Place	License	Name	Team	SoCal Points
1	54522	Kalman Szkalak	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	14
2	59572	Mark Huffman	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	11
3	48760	John Rubcic	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	10
4	64127	Richard Lilleberg	South Bay Wheelmen	9
5	61193	John Wagenaar	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	8
6	180386	John McKee	Paramount Racing	7
7	245777	Steven Borer	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	6
8	203308	Daniel Yeager	Swami's Cycling Club	5
9	195498	Donald Kimper	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	4
10	51026	Theodore Lee	ACQUA AL 2/SDBC	3
11	140826	Robert Mosier	Bahati Foundation-CA	2
12	26089	Fred Nicolet	ACQUA AL 2/SDBC	1
13	50765	Richard Roberson	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	0