RUNAWAY SILVER STREAK

By John McKee

The race story from Ontario is well done by Richard Pollock but I just want to languish a bit on one moment in the race or post race for both Paul Springer and myself. I was thinking of a title for my story and came up with three. The first one was used and is "Runaway Silver Streak". In the movie "Silver Streak" with Gene Wilder, Richard Pryor and Ned Beatty the train becomes pilotless and crashes into the train station in Chicago. This is definitely fitting.
The second title was "Wing Attack Plan R". "Dr. Strangelove Or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb" is one of my favorite movies and in the movie the American bombers in the sky got the go code. Attack the Ruskies with the nukes! In Slim Pickens plane they opened the orders that they were suppose to if they got the go code and the plan was "Wing Attack Plan R". The Americans gave the Ruskies the location of all the planes so they could be shot down and avoid all out nuclear war. All the planes were downed but Slim's plane. He flew in low over the plains and under the radar and eventhough the plane took some hits they were able to get the plane to the target zone and drop the bomb. Slim Pickens rode the bomb down wearing his cowboy hat. Now that made for quite a crash and was pre planned so this scenario didn't fit our race. Paul absolutely didn't plan this attack. This title wouldn't work but was fun thinking about it.
The third was "Blassie Crashes Pencil Neck Geek". If you remember the 60s and every Wednesday night wrestling was on Channel 5 or KTLA from the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles. Freddie Blassie was a favorite bad guy and the best time of the whole show were the locker room interviews. When Freddie was interviewed he was always threatening "Pencil Neck Geeks". Now I pretty much have a pencil neck but Paul isn't a bad guy and he never threatens anyone. Actually Paul is one of nicest guys on our circuit so this title doesn't work either but was fun reminiscing.
Now you see I am left with # 1 and that does fill the bill. In the sprint for the line John Rubcic was able to hold off Loren Stephens with Michael Fleming coming in 3rd and I was looking to roll in for 4th. It was one of those defensive sprints that you don't have everything into it but wanted to go just fast enough to hold your position. I miscalculated and Paul was giving it everything he had. Thrashing his bike around and then throwing it at the finish. Paul got me by inches and that was that. I relaxed and stopped pedaling and started freewheeling and wham. "You ain't eatin' ham if you ain't eatin' Wham!" Cary Grant finally came up with a slogan for a product he was advertising in "Mr. Blandings Builds his Dream House". The ham had some pop to it so he named it Wham.
Well Paul definitely has some pop to him. He was like a human torpedo barreling toward the first rider on his right. Unfortunately for me but good for everyone else was it was me, myself, and I! Wham! and Bam! I have scraps on the left side and right side of my body. My ribs are sore but my butt took the worst of the crash. Its the only place left on me with a little meat. It gave me a little cushion and bounce. Thank you, butt!
Paul took the worst of the spill and has a cat 3 shoulder separation. Paul has been riding really well this year. He will be back soon. I am sure of that.
Thanks to the EMT team at Ontario and my teammate Wilson Crider. Wilson helped me off the course and checked my bike out. He also took the photos you are looking at. The EMT team carefully patched myself and Paul up. Nice job!
Good job by Bruce Steele who was right behind me and was able to not run over me. Thanks, Bruce.

Excitement at Ontario! 5-17-2009

By Richard Pollock

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

May 10-2009 Brea Crit

By Richard Pollock

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TEAM WORK

By John McKee

I have seen a lot of teams over the years and like most had some positive and negative aspects. There is a team prominent in the senior masters categories that I would like to point out some of its very positive attributes. That being UCC/JW Flooring. The other day at Barrio Logan team member Dale Luetdke came by me before the race and said "Its time to go fast" and fast it is. Of course it helps when a club/team has members as talented as this group but it ALWAYS takes chemistry and the right attitude for a club to be successful in more ways then just winning. UCC/JW Flooring lets there riding do the talking. No trash talking on the course or anywhere else for that matter as far as I know. Respect for each other as team members and respect for competitiors to race hard and tough against but still after the race is over can be friends and shoot the breeze about the race and everything else.
This has been one of my goals in writing race reports. Bring a feeling of camaraderie among fellow 55/60+ racers besides making the racing more fun by seeing us covered like our race was important enough to be in Cycling News. Our races are important to us and hopefully the stories and now the blog do encourage better attendance and make the experience more fun. Fun is one of the main reasons we do it.
Lets get back to the team being analyzed. At the Barrio Logan race with 3 laps to go UCC/JW Flooring team member Steve Horine went to the front and set the pace. Fast and that was what was needed not only for his club but for the peleton as well. I will give you an example of this not occurring and what can happen. I raced at El Dorado most Tuesdays during the race season from 2001 to 2007. Paramount would do this as well when we had good numbers but didn't have good numbers in the masters cat in 2007. One of the clubs that ride in a yellow jersey and this didn't include any 55 or 60+ riders had big numbers in 2007. Eventhough they might have 12 riders in the pack of 60 to 70 riders no one would give themselves up to set the pace for the group on the last couple of laps. On July 31, 2007 and I remember this date quite well with a little over 1 lap to go the pace slowed dramatically after being very fast and I was about 10th wheel in a lineup. A touching of wheels from 2 members on this same team and all hell broke loose. More was broken then hell. I ended up with 4 fractures in my pelvis and 3 broken ribs. I didn't realize how many bumps in the road there are until I took a ride in an ambulance to the hospital. That hurt. The point of the story is a fast pace at the end of a race is much safer and I say thanks to Steve Horine and UCC/JW Flooring.
The race was decided in 55+ at Barrio Logan with Dale and Kal away but all the 60+ racers were still in the peleton with one lap to go. Paul Springer took a flyer and as most of you know is a strong rider and was holding off the fast charging pack. Steve Horine was long gone but job well done! John Rubcic called on his UCC/Flooring teammates to pull Jerry in . I mean Paul. This was reported by Richard Pollock. I don't know what would have happened if the call hadn't come out but the result was another 60+ win for John Rubcic and UCC/JW Flooring. Bring John near the line and let him close the deal. Definitely hard to beat.
After the race and a lot of us were chatting near the podium and picking up the prime prizes(like the Butt Furr) and prize money. After the race all the UCC/JW Flooring members were opening their envelops with the money in it and they were distributing to all the team members that were in the race. I know other clubs do this but this was icing on the cake for a great event done by the green and yellow. Not only did they win but helped keep the race safe for everyone else. I have also seen some flashes of good team work at Citrus Valley Velo with Leo Longo doing some good domestique work.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention SBW and the clinic they gave at Torrance on how to finish a race and make it safe, fast and win besides. These were the veteran 55 and 60+ racers and not the young guys that were allured too earlier in the story. Good job, SBW.