MEMORIAL WEEKEND/ 2 GREAT RACES FOR 55/60+/BONUS COVERAGE OF LR

By John McKee

It's Memorial Weekend and time to reflect in many ways but definitely time to honor those that served in military service in our long history though short by European standards. My father was one and I think about him often though he has been gone for a number of years. Many of you served and members of your family did as well. Just like mind which goes back to Revolutionary War service. Salute to all those men and women that served in many ways and not just on the front line.

Jack D. McKee in S. Pacific during WW II.

Mother's side. Alta Wright McKee.

I last wrote about Barrio Logan and am leaping forward to Memorial Weekend. I had to take a pass on writing about the popular Dana Point GP and Torrance Criterium. I was on Grandparent duty. Traveled to Denver to see my youngest daugther and 4 yr. old grandson and this spring have been following my 18 yr. old grandson play baseball at El Modena High for his final year. I took and processed thousands of photos to share and it was all time consuming.Photos later in the story.
At DPGP it was Teske-55+ and Luedtke-60+. At Torrance it was Preechtl-55+ and Gates-60+.
Barry Wolfe GP was on Sunday May 24th, 2015. The 55/60+ race was scheduled for 8:35 am with one purse of $250 going to the overall top placers. The 60+ category got Socal Cup points. The race time allotted was a surprising 50 minutes. The extra 10 mins really makes a difference in difficulty and makes more room for action and there was action to be had at Westlake Village.

Just before the start of the Barry Wolfe GP.

  The race started out on time and starting smoking right from the start. Thurlow Rodgers and most of his Amgen teammates were there and this meant the race was going to be hard and fast. It was from the gun. I felt good in the mix and was surprised at my form. After 3 or 4 laps a 2 man break started with Malcolm Hill of Amgen and Anthony Regueros of Bahati-WTR. They were soon joined by Dan Swietlik.

Malcolm Hill and Anthony Regueros starting their break.

Dan Swietlek joining Malcolm and Anthony.

The 3 of them were out there for about 8 laps but were closely watched. The threesome got about 150 meters on the peleton but others had plans of their own. David Prechtl with Danny Nicolette on his wheel flew forward in chase. They shot by Lothar Cramer who was in no man's land. Thurlow Rodgers also took off with Dale Luedtke in tow. The 7 guys got together and I thought the party was over but for some reason, they got caught.

And then there were?

Yes, with all that firepower they got caught. That means there was still some strong riders left that chased hard. 2/3 of the race was done and we were all together. This whole thing seemed to take the starch out of the star riders. I thought Thurlow would try something again but no. The laps came and went and there was no serious effort to form a break. The speed wasn't as high as the beginning of the race either. Strong but not really fast.

All together late in the race.

The lap cards came up and dropped off. One by one. Everyone was all together with one lap to go. Some of the 55s went out to keep the pace up but all died. The pace on the back side got going over 30 mph easily. It bunched a little going into the last turn. Anthony was pushing it. Malcolm tried to jump it and be the 1st one to the last corner but it was a long ways home and into the wind. Mike Birditt was coming back from back problems. He hadn't raced since LA Circuit. He was biding his time on the last lap on the wheel of Ricky Shorts. After the last corner he turned on the jets and it appeared that he still had it. "It" being blazing speed and hit 35.1 mph into the wind. He passed Ricky and about 6 other riders including Malcolm. Dale Luedtke made his own charge from a different direction and it turned into a Hi Tech 1/2 finish. Not just in 60+ but overall. Thurlow Rodgers was 3rd across the line and the 1st 55+ racer. Nelson Alaan was 2nd and Cyril Hunte 3rd in 55+. Ricky Shorts was 3rd and Tom Gates 4th in 60+. The last lap avg. speed was 29.6 mph. Overall the speed was in the upper 25s for an overall avg. Good race and the extra minutes were great. Great venue, race time, and course. Fun had by all!

60s kicked butt at the finish taking 1/2 overall.

Further back in the finish.

55+ podium.

60+ podium.

Mike Bird taking the bean for the team. Must have been rough.

Thurlow in the middle of this.

Results from Barry Wolfe.

The Monday after the Barry Wolfe GP was another CBR race at the Dom Hills course raced counter clockwise. This is actually a little harder because the uphill section between turn 3 and 4 is a little
steeper. It is fun to turn things around like this so this was fun. There was a good turnout and Chris Lotts put the 55/60+ race at 8:35 am which was a near perfect time. 2 races after this was the 60 minute 50+ race. Great training race or at least that's what most of us make of it. The name of the event was The Memorial Day PUBLIC SAFETY Criterium. There were 42 starters. 25 55s and 17 60s. The race started and was more consistently fast then the surgey BWGP.

Hi Emily!

You can see Brad "Breakaway" Decker just in front of myself.

The "Man" working it at the CBR race. The prior day at Barry Wolfe he went OFF THE FRONT near the end of the race!

The pack churned and churned and I thought it was going to a pack sprint. No Amgen riders but Malcolm Hill so the man to watch was definitely Dave Prechtl. Dave is very strong and likes to move in breaks but his finish is getting better now that he is doing track training in the early morning. I mean very early.
We are all together and the lap cards come up. 5 to go and surely there would be a bunch sprint but NO! David Prechtl didn't want that. David and 5 other guys got it going. Rather quietly but none the less they were out there. They got a pretty good gap. Lothar "Chaser" Cramer went to the whip to try and bring them back before the 1 lap to go card came up. You have a new nickname now Lothar! You earned it!
After the 1 lap card came up some 55s tried to chase hard but it was too late. Hi Tech had Fred Hoblit  in the break and this freaked out Bob Wright who was suppose to lead out Birdy. I gave up Dale's wheel to Bob at turn one thinking...ok they will have a train going and I can get on the end of it but I must say that Bob pissed away Dale's wheel and Mike got buried. I kind of did too but found Ricky Shorts's wheel. After turn 3 the pack really picked it up but the 6 breakers had too much of a lead. The pack sprint got everyone pretty close at the end but the 6 guys who were all 55 finished away. Dave Prechtl won. Marc "The South Bay Flash"Spivey was 2nd and Malcolm Hill 3rd. Brad "Breakaway" Decker was 4th and Fred Hoblit 5th. Mike Birditt made an amazing finish considering his injury. He was way back after turn 3 and dropped off of Bob's wheel and took off on the inside near the curb. Not to close though. There was a truck whose back end was sticking out in the street. The bottom of it was about 3 feet off the ground. If someone got pushed into to it could have taken their head off.
Mike was coming up the inside and Jay Wolkoff was coming up the right side. Jay was the 1st 55 to finish from the pack and Mike was the 1st 60. This meant that Mike won the 60+ race. Dale was 2nd and Ricky Shorts was 3rd. I lost Ricky's wheel before the last turn but finished a bike length behind for 4th.

David Prechtl winning the CBR 55/60+ race.

Birdy came from way back to take the 60+ race.

It was a fun race and the weekend was a treat for all the 55 and 60+ racers that did it. Thanks to the Barry Wolfe people and Chris Lotts for having us in their race.
I have got some "bonus" coverage here. Since I finished so late, the Ladera Ranch race is under our belt now. Rick Carrera broke the stranglehold that Luedtke and Birditt had on the 60+ field. He did it in a break with 3 other 55+ racers. I understand the numbering system was mixed and you couldn't tell a 55 from a 60 which is a no/no in our races. In any event Rick won and Lothar "Chaser" Cramer won in 55+. I guess you didn't have to call him a chaser in this race. Just call him a winner!

Rick Carrera and Lothar Cramer winning the 60+ and 55+ categories.

Field sprint.

55+ podium- Palmer 2, Cramer 1, & Carlson 3.

60+ podium- Birditt 2, Carrera 1 & Gates 3.

Super bonus section w pictures of my grandsons.

Season stats for Brett Conine- .725 ERA(MaxPrep) .538(Game Changer), .692 WHIP, 91 Ks in 78 Innings, Opp. BA @ .177, 6 Walks. Own BA @ .343 & OPS @ .892. Best all around pitching stats in CIF Div. 1.

Brett ready to let loose w another pitch in 2015 for El Modena HS. His senior yr. went so fast!

Jonathan Woolley at our house late last yr.

Myself, Alicia and Jonathan on our last trip to Colo.

EDWARDS/LUEDTKE RACE TO PERFECTION @ 2015 55/60+ BARRIO LOGAN

By John McKee

The 1st Saturday of May is always Barrio Logan. Traditional date year in and year out. The Dana Point race has moved around because it had to match with the National race calendar but has now settled into the Sunday slot. 1st Sunday of May. Barrio Logan has almost always had a 55/60+ race. DPGP has in the past had a 55/60+ race but dropped the 60 part a number of years ago but it was brought back in 2015 because 60+ is a Socal Cup category and DPGP is a Socal Cup race though the promoter does not have to include all the categories if he doesn't wish to. They did and both races made this weekend the best crit duo in Southern  California and probably California/Nevada/Arizona combined.

Start line @2015 Barrio Logan

Barrio Logan has been promoted by SDBC from the beginning and our favorite announcer Ralph Elliott does a lot of the pre race grunt work and of course announces the race. The race location is in the city of San Diego in a mostly Hispanic populated area that is being redeveloped in sections and has a mixture of new and old buildings. 

New Barrio Logan highway sign

The race course is entirely in the older section and the road surface is notoriously poor but that is part of the charm of the whole thing. Kind of like racing on cobblestones though not that bad of course. The race being at the southern part of the SCNCA district has a hard time drawing large fields and that holds true for the 55/60+ field. Especially for the 55+ group.  There can be 40 to 45 55s in some races but this race drew less than 20. Barrio Logan is a Socal Cup category but in 2015 55+ is NOT a Socal Cup category. There was a generous purse of $250 for both the 55s and 60s. The technical nature of the course does deter some riders though it is really fun compared to your standard Industrial Park crit course for most experienced criterium riders.
Barrio Logan was scheduled for 7:50 am and drew a total of 30 riders. 18 55s and 12 60s. Chris Black likes this race and comes down from Northern California to do both Barrio and Dana Point. Chris is a very strong 55+ racer and likes to mix it up and charge off the front. Very aggressive rider. The riders were off and everyone got a feel for the course on the 1st few laps. The course has 6 right hand turns and 2 left handers. The course is fun and hard at the same time. As expected Chris Black attacked and off he went after a few laps and even in those laps Chris did a lot of the work at the front.

Chris Black on early breakaway

The strain of Chris pulling at the front and the chase of him off the front had consequences at the back of the peloton. Riders in both 55 and 60 were dropping back or going "off the back" as spoken in bike talk. There were a small number of SDBC and Cyclo Vets riders that were in the race because it is in home territory but you have to be strong and an experienced crit bike racer to hang in here. You have to race more than a few races a year to have the experience to do this event successfully.

With Chris being in the 55+ category the 60s weren't super motivated to chase. There were some strong 55s left to work the front and try and reel Chris back in. Chris went around and around and got a decent gap but not overwhelming. After about 4 or 5 laps he began to tire and he came back to about a 100 meter lead. He wouldn't quit though and the peloton kept him about that distance. Sadists! Finally he was put out of his misery. Most mortal racers would then sit in hope for a chance in a bunch sprint but no! Not Chris. The weather got a little nasty and it started to mist. My glasses had started to fog up on the inside and got rain drops on the outside. I don't know how everyone else was doing but I was having a hard time seeing! I pushed my glasses down my nose a bit to look over them and the added air flow cleared the inside of the lenses. We had gotten the cards and had 5 laps to go. Still couldn't see great but better than I had. 

With 3 or 4 laps to go, Chris Black went again and James Edwards and Malcolm Hill went with him. I am not sure how this played out in the pack with the rest of the 55s but this was the cream of the 55s so the 60s sat in and waited for a field sprint for their finish.

Chris Black leading the charge late in the race

I don't know exactly how the 55+ group played out but you can see in the sprint photo that James Edwards won the 55+ race and Chris Black was 2nd and Malcolm Hill 3rd. In 60+ the race was still in doubt. On the last lap there was controversy. Kal Szkalak was on Dale Luedtke's wheel but Tom Gates wanted it too. Both guys ended up unhappy and finished lower than they wanted. Dale jumped off a 55's wheel coming to the last right turn. One left to go. A new guy to the 60 group was a track rider from Arizona. His name is Lionel Space and he stayed close to Dale. Dale smoked everyone though and won the 60+ category. Lionel finished 2nd. Kal came across the line in 3rd even though he was gesturing. Myself and Howard Miller came by Tom Gates who had basically quit and freewheeled to the line in 6th. In 55+ some new faces in Matt Hahn, Steve Cullinan and Scott Claes sprinted out for 4, 5 and 6 in their category. I won't go into some of the post race stuff but it wasn't pretty. Everyone calmed down after about 30 minutes. Barrio Logan is a great race and it is a shame that the fields are so small there. Having Dana Point the next day surely hurts. For most of the 55/60s racers that came out it was fun and a good race. Not as hard as it could have been. Thanks to SDBC and Ralph Elliott for including us in their great race! Part 2 of the race weekend report will follow the additional pics below. The pictures were taken by Alicia Mckee. There are additional pictures and a video by Lothar Cramer on the 55/60+ Bike Racing Facebook page. That's all for now folks! Train hard and race safe!

James Edwards wins the 55+ sprint

Dale Luedtke wins the 60+ sprint

The field coming home

More and more racers coming home

60+ podium- Space 2, Luedtke 1, Edwards sitting in for teammate

55+ podium- Black 2, Edwards 1, & Hill 3

GREAT TURNOUT IN 60+ @ 2015 LA CIRCUIT. HI TECH DOMINATES.

By John McKee

April 18, 2015 is the date for the ever popular Bahati Foundation LA Circuit race. Talk about popular. The 2015 version had huge fields and that went for the 60+ race. The 60s had their own race and at the expense of the 55s who didn't have a slot. I think Brad House figured if the 60s had their own category in the Socal Cup series and LA Circuit was one of the 20 races included in the series that the race should be on their terms. 60s racing against 60s. 34 racers came out and it could have been 40 if everyone had made it out. Let's digress for a moment. I like funny stories. It concerns Bruce "Where is that guy?" Steele. Bruce has a new nickname now and it is "Bong Bong".

Brad House with some down time at his LA Circuit race talking to Bruce Steele and a Bike Palace teammate.

 Bruce moved to a swanky neighborhood in Redondo Beach thinking all would be peaceful and bliss. All was going great after some house improvements and such but Bruce didn't understand the significance of the date 4/20 in Redondo Beach and made a big mistake on that date. He left his Toyota Tundra truck parked on the street! Didn't he know! The date 4/20 is celebrated nation wide for the free wheeling use of marijuana. A real Bong holiday. The hotels in Colorado are packed.
 Bruce didn't know that it was really celebrated in Redondo Beach. Not everyone can make it to Colorado. Here are some of the rules for Redondo residents on 4/20. Rule #1- Stay in your house. Rule #2- Keep your cars off the street. Rule #3- Don't ride your bike in the city for Heaven's Sake. Bruce just didn't know the rules and violated Rule #2. He left his car parked on the street!

Blondie's Prius with bong on top.

As this story goes...There once were 4 blondes and they just scored some marijuana for 4/20. They were joy riding through the neighbor streets of Redondo Beach. They figured everyone knew by then the 3 rules on 4/20 in RB but Bruce just moved into this quiet neighborhood and there was nothing in the sales contract about the 3 rules. Well...one thing lead to another(John Candy says this in "Stripes" but for a different reason. He had mud wrestled the night before and started a riot and was explaining to his CO what happened). Anyway back to the girls...a bong got passed around in a white Prius with the 4 blondes getting hammered. All of a sudden bam! I mean bam!! Bing bang bong bam!! The Prius ran into the back of Bruce's Tundra truck. I am sure the driver was thinking WTF. Didn't this resident know Rule #2.
Bruce came running out of his house and saw the 4 gals walking away but apparently not in a straight line. One of them must be a close neighbor. One of the stoners left their bong on the roof of the badly damaged Prius. The Prius lost badly in this one on one matchup with the Tundra. What is the moral of this story. Well I think it is always always remember Rule #2 and most importantly Rule #3.

Prius tangling with a Tundra. Both Toyotas but the Tundra won this crash.

Let's get back to the race. The Bahati Foundation LA Circuit race is no secret as to how it works. Out, back, out, back, out, back and etc. Even with what sounds like a somewhat boring course I have always liked to race here. Lots of room to race though guys love to bunch up at the end seeking refuge from the wind. We had a great turnout as mentioned earlier and though the 60s were the first to go off, the start time was 8 am. I think we have started there before at 7 am. That extra hour makes a big difference. Even still it was too early for "bong bong" to even get there to watch us. Don't know when he actually got there but he did ride to the race. The added bonus for this race was the addition of John Howard. The racing legend was going to join us. Hi Tech was bringing in Mike Marotta for this race. Mike doesn't race with us much but I was going to assume he was really fit and it proved out at the end that I assumed right.
OK, we are off with a 4 mile circuit for us all to race(My Garmin says its a little short of the 4). This was a bit different in that they called out a prime right off. In fact each of the preliminary laps would have a prime and really drove the race and character of the racing. There always is someone that tries to get things going racing out away from the start/finish line and I don't know who it was but I do know Pedro Ordaz was very aggressive the entire race. Pedro had this red kit on that really stood out.
We all know that Mike Birditt is the fastest guy in the country in 60+ being the defending crit champ and was at the race in a natz champ skinsuit(custom made with his team name on the front) which I hadn't seen before. Awesome looking actually. We also know that Mike can sprint and recover. Reminds me of Bob Barney. A name from the past. Bob wasn't near as fast as Mike but had the ability to recover from break efforts or prime sprints. In the 15 LA Circuit race Mike Birditt was always up front after we made the turn at the top of the course. Mike always seem to have great position near the front and tucked in though I know he takes turns and chases so he isn't a complete wheel sucker like myself or Pags. I learned from the master that as you get older you have to conserve your energy and worst still is if you made a very hard effort you can get dropped because you can't recover like the younger guys.
In this race the Hi Tech strategy was loose but evolved as the race went on. 5 good racers to deal with here. Mike Birditt would be the main man for the primes but Dale and Mike Marotta would be called on as they felt they could sprint. Most of the primes were 2 place primes. Maybe I am getting ahead of myself here but Hi Tech took virtually all the primes but one that formally retired racer Al Shorts took from Birdy with a nice sprint on the 4th lap. Al looked like he use to. Al hadn't raced in 2 years but came out and looked like he hadn't missed a race. I am thinking I race all the time and he comes out and makes it look so easy! Geez!
There were a number of break attempts and John Howard did try to get away and I thought that John might double up with a Hi Tech member and turn off their chase machine but no. It just didn't happen. Hi Tech has a real chase machine going. If you think they can finish, try getting away. It is probably not going to happen this year with the bullets they have to load. Like I mentioned earlier Pedro Ordaz was very active but didn't have near the mustard needed to make anything happen. If John Howard can't get away then you can safely assume that no one can our age.
The one thing I don't think Hi Tech does that well is take control of the last lap. I know they only have 5 racers but I remember my El Dorado days when Paramount had lots of members and Lightning Velo and SBW did as well. The major teams took control the race on the last laps and strung it out and made it fast and therefore safe. No pretenders were moving up to the front to mess things up.
The last lap did come after the 1st 4 laps and the average speed wasn't that high or the race that hard per my own average heart rate. Like mentioned earlier Al Shorts spent his energy bullets sprinting on the 4th lap for a $50 prime. With Al being out of racing for a while you had to figure he was done for the day. Not the case for our stars and stripes skinsuit guy. He seems like he gets better every year while the rest of us...well you know the direction Father Time sends us. Mike's best buddie(Dale) is also on fire this year after having some flat years. I remember coming by him at this race at the end several years ago but I can't even get near his wheel at the end any more. Add to those guys Mike Marotta and you have 3 of the best racers in the country. I haven't even mentioned top riders from other teams that could be a factor at the end of this race- Tom Gates who aged up this year as did a number of good riders like Don Denegal, Ron Malloy, Kevin Ryan, and Robert Wilcox. It never gets easier. That's for sure!
As I alluded to the last lap got bunchy and then we would chase someone. Don Denegal was locked onto Dale's wheel and didn't want to give it up and that was fine with me but as we moved from side to side even Don couldn't keep a wheel. The speed was so all over the place and if you wanted to move up you had to go out in the wind and most guys didn't want to do that so we got even more impacted going to the last turn around. As we turned the last corner we would have 1 mile to go. I ended up in not so good position and behind a rider I knew wasn't a very good finisher and tried to implore him to move up so I could get some cover but no. I didn't think it would work. I couldn't see what Hi Tech was doing up front but I knew that the major sprinters could sprint from further out then I could so when I saw Tom Gates go on the right side from pretty far out I knew I was in trouble. Mike Marotta went from the far left side and I know that from a video that was provided by Jane Bleth. The vid is at the bottom.
All I can say about the finish was how far the 3 Hi Tech finishers were ahead of the rest of us. It was a brutally one sided contest. Mike Marotta was smoking down the left side with Mike Birditt smoking it down the right side. Mike won! Ha! Mike Birditt that is. Marotta is still fast at 64 but Mike is 3 years younger and still really really fast. Dale Luedtke got 3rd while pointing to his friends and teammates. Don't know how he can still go fast and not have both hands on the bars like at Redlands. I guess he is just going so fast before hand it just doesn't matter. A Hi Tech trifecta! After Dale,  Tom Gates pipped Monty Pettus at the line for 4th. Monty was 5th followed in by Don Denegal, Kevin Ryan, Howard Miller, Ron Malloy, myself, Robert Wilcox and Mike Fleming. All will get Socal Cup points as this is one of the 20 races that get Socal Cup points in 2015. A fun safe race. A little slow at 24.6 mph per hour. My average heart rate wasn't that high which means I am getting fitter or the race wasn't that hard. Maybe a bit of both. I hope! Thanks again to the promoter Brad House AND to the category sponsor, Gerry Agnew. Thank you so much Gerry! Results below. That's all for now folks! Train hard and race safe!

Nice picture of Gerry Agnew with a natz champ jersey on at track nationals. His daughter Sarah is on his right. Thanks again for the sponsorship.

Hi Tech podium- Gene filling in for Mike Marotta 2, Mike Birditt 1 and Dale "who needs hands on the bars" Luedtke. Photo courtesy of Craig Eggers.

                                 

60+ finish list.

DOUBLE DUTY HERE- ONTARIO 3 AND REDLANDS WRAPPED UP IN ONE STORY

By John McKee

The Ontario Criterium series is 6 strong through the year and as most of you know the 60s were brought back with a nice purse and the 55s have a race there as well with an even nicer purse. The 3rd in the series was raced on Easter Sunday, April 5th, 2015.

Lineup for the 55 strong 55+ race at Ontario #3

60+ only race at Ontario #3

Easter Sunday turned out to be a day that 60+ racers kicked butt...well at least 3 of them anyway in the 55+ race. In the 60+ race Mike Birditt won. Dale Luedtke was 2nd and Tom Gates was 3rd. In the 55+ race Mike Birditt(60+) won. Evan Teske was 2nd and Dale(60+) was 3rd. Cyril Hunte was 4th and Tom Gates(60+) 5th. Doesn't "Birdy" get tired of winning! Well no! Not if you can do it. "Birdy" had a faster top end speed in the 60+ race. Faster guys of course would be my response. Great turnouts. 23 in 60+ and 55 in 55+(at least 15 were racing there 2nd race from the 60+ event). Good purses. Good weather. Great fun! Did I mention that the 60s took it to the 55s in their own race. Oh yeah. I did mention it. Ha!

60+ result at Ontario #3

55+ result at Ontario #3

Don't these guys get tired of putting their hand out and picking up a paycheck! Probably not! Oh I get it. It must be the green and orange water bottle we all get at Natz. Think I will try that in my next race. It works for Mike!

The Redlands Bicycle Classic Criterium is part of a week of racing that includes pro men and women. The amateurs can partake in racing on Sunday at the challenging Redlands Criterium course. A little dicey but is fun if you survive it. The turnout on Sunday April 12, 2015 was light in 55/60+ and was in most categories. I think the course does spook potential riders. There were crashes before and after our race on the last corner. It is a fast corner so problems have occurred in the past. There were just 16 60s but that wasn't too bad but there were just 16 55s. Compare that to say 40 at Ontario the week before. The total at Ontario was 55 but at least 15 were 60s. You would have to conclude that the 55s stayed away from this one. There was one 55 that stood out when we lined up and that was Thurlow Rodgers. Thurlow was a teammate of Greg Lemond on one of his pro teams in the 70s so his pedigree goes way way back. Thurlow has several different ways to kill it when he races. He can go to the front and pour it on and make it really hard for everyone. He could let a break form off the front and then effortlessly go across the gap to join up. Thurlow likes to jump hard and see if anyone wants to go with him or maybe just see what he can do himself. Rarely does he sit in and wait for the sprint. Not sure if that has ever happened.

All the 55/60+ lined up on time for the 7:55 am start. It was to be a 40 minute race with the lap cards coming up with 5 to go.

Redlands Bicycle Classic Criterium renamed the RBC Phil Richards Memorial Criterium.

Anxious guys awaiting the start.

One other thing about this year's race was at least for the 55/60+ race the name would be the RBC Phil Richards Memorial Criterium. 7 racers were wearing the black and green PR kit. This was a special kit designed to honor the memory of Phil. It's a snappy looking affair and I was honored to be one of the seven wearing the kit. We do miss you Phil!

Seven racers post race "Up against the wall" with the classy looking PR kit.

OK, we are ready and lined up and they are off! The course starts uphill with a sharp turn at the top of the course. We all get going at a moderate pace but things pick up quickly. One thing about the Redlands course, as hard as it can be it does seem like there is more downhill than uphill. You can get in a good flow through the course if you don't have to use your brakes. The 1st 2 laps were pretty hard but I felt good. I could tell my fitness was getting better. I felt good out there. I sometimes dread coming here for some reason but always feel good after I finish the race. It is a very fun course providing no mishap. This year I was in an auto accident on the 405 freeway just the Tuesday before. My wife and I were rear ended in a 5 car pile up. The driver behind us said she was changing a radio station and looked up and everyone was stopped. Yes they were! On Wednesday I was feeling kind of depressed after the whole mess. Though my wife and I weren't hurt so to speak there were mental scars and I didn't feel like racing at Redlands. By Thursday though I did the training protocol which was some hard intervals and after I finished those I was feeling much better mentally and decided to tackle Redlands after all. 

After we passed the finish line for just the 2nd time Thurlow pulled out one of his patented tricks. Don't know if trick is the right decription but James Edwards saw an opportunity here. James locked onto Thurlow's wheel and off they went. Some of the 60s were snoozing like Mike Birditt and didn't even know they were going, going, gone. I saw them but there was little I could do. I can't chase down Mr. Rodgers. It only took a couple of laps and we couldn't even see them any more. It was a bit confusing because there were riders off the back that were getting passed but the speed they were going you knew they hadn't been "off the front".

The prime laps came up and there were a few good sprints here and I have to assume "Birdy" was involved but I was tucked in all comfortable like and didn't want to rock my boat and didn't pay it much attention.

James Edwards and Thurlow "The Tow Truck" Rodgers

It actually didn't take long for Thurlow "The Tow Truck" Rodgers and his mate James Edwards to show up in the pack again. The 1st thing I thought of was...are they going to go again. Well of course Thurlow was. He had to distance himself from James Edwards and well just because he is Thurlow Rodgers. He is like a ADHD kid that can't sit still. Thurlow can't just sit in like the rest of the mortal folk that race.

You can see me behind "Pink Guy". He is quite a draft. Dale sporting his beard is in front in this picture. Cyril is just off Monty's hip and FINALLY showed some good form at the last Ontario.

Leo Longo going to the front to keep the pace up. Leo is trying to get ready for a team time trial with Bruce "Where is he?" Steele. "Birdy" and "Orangie" being attentive. Correction. Don Davidson is going to be Leo's TT partner. Not Bruce "Bong Bong" Steele. Have to see new story to find out about Bruce's new nickname.

"Birdy" looks like he is going to move up. "The Black Bandit" is checking him out. I always try and stay away from riders without a team kit. "Blue Boy" is recording the action. I never seem to get in front of Lothar to get in his vids. Never seen the "Bandit" before but looks like he has some gardner gloves on.

"Turbo" went again and Paul Rodiguez was on him and this started alarm bells for Hi Tech. "Birdy" was dozing the last time "Turbo" took off but not this time with important cargo like "Rod". "Birdy" caught on but John "Orangie" Roest chased hard and Mike and Paul threw in the towel. Not sure if Thurlow kept going or came back and jumped again but I do know he was out alone. James Edwards put a chase on and Ray "Pink Guy" Dicius also chased but I saw Ray back with the pack along with James. James was locked into to finishing 2nd now. He was a lap up on all the rest of the 55s so he didn't have to sprint though he did.
While all this was going on the 5 laps to go card came up and showed on the electronic banner as well. No one looked like they wanted to pace though Don Davidson was always good for a crack at that and of course he did. As the laps counted down it got bunchy of course. I seem to always get pushed back one racer at a time. With one lap to go I jumped up the left side and passed about a dozen riders and felt I was in decent position but actually it wasn't as good as it initially appeared. Leo Longo went to the front to lead the pack for a while. The chicane came and went without incident and we got going smoking fast on the downhill section before we made the mad double U turn for home. The top dogs were up front at the end and of course that is no surprise. These 4 guys guys are definitely 4 of the best if not the best crit riders in the USA. There was an "incident" after we turned for home. Now I didn't see it but heard all about it from Mike "Kal" Birditt after the finish line. Let's just say that Tom Gates and it says this on the finish list made "abrupt move in sprint". Tom did finish 1st across the line but you can see Dale pointing all the way across the finish line. Good thing no one else passed Dale while he didn't have 2 hands on his bars. Tom was relegated to 4 and not sure how that was decided because that still gave him a paycheck and kept me one off a payday but that's ok. Lol. Dale finished 2nd in 60+ and was given the victory. Paul Rodiguez was next and given 2nd. "Birdy" cooled his jets before the finish and finished 4th but got 3rd. What I want to know is "Who's on 1st". I finished after Mike for 5th and it stayed 5th. Monty Pettus was right next to me for 6th.
In 55+ we know that Thurlow Rodgers won the race and James Edwards was 2nd. Cyril Hunte pulled off a very nice sprint to take 3rd. Cyril followed up his good finish at Ontario #3. Cyril was followed in by John Avila in his PR kit. Best finish by a PR kit rider. 5th was taken by Yehuda "Green Bay" Packer and followed in by "Pink Guy" and "Blue Boy".
The race was a lot of fun and great to see so many guys honoring Phil and wearing the PR kit. Too bad the turnout was so low for a high quality race especially with the 55+ racers. Even David "I didn't miss a race in 2014" Fetah didn't make it. Full results below. That's all for now folks! Train hard and race safe!

Tom "In N Out" Gates is the winner or is he? I have several other nicknames for Tom. Donut is a good one and tail gunner also comes to mind and now maybe "Straight as an Arrow".

Paul is 3rd?

"Birdy" is 4th and I am 5th. Right? Half right. I am 5th.

 

55+ result at Redlands.

60+ result at Redlands.