Moreno Steps it Up at Ontario for 55/60+ Racers

By John McKee

On a day when age proved to be insurmountable for EVERYONE even Tom Watson and Lance Armstrong. First Tom Watson at age 59 having a chance to win the British Open with a par on the last hole boogies it. He then fell apart in a 2 up playoff. He would have been the oldest person by far to win a major golf tournament. Then Lance also showed his age when he couldn't answer Schleck and then the Wiggins group on the climb to Verbier. Age is a bitch and then you get older. LOL. I have to say that the scenery in Hi Def on Versus was fantasic. Now compare that to the scenery and the smells of Ontario, California. Now thats a big LOL. Thats where the 55/60+ racers were today July 19, 2009 at Ontario # 4 Criterium. Ray Moreno the promoter of the Ontario race series stepped it up a bit for the 55/60+ racers with $200 in prize money, good start time at 8:05 am and pre reg until the Wed. before without a late fee. Thank you! I wonder how this all happened. I must take some credit but Dale Luedtke and Kal Szlalak had been pestering Ray for some time to get us some cash. 34 riders lined up at 8:05 am with 13 55s, 19 60s(good job 60s) and 2 gals that didn't show in the final official placings so it is unknown what cat they were racing. One of the gals dropped out early and it is unknown what happened to the stronger woman. 40 minutes of racing in pretty warm conditions. Early and there was a cloud cover which made it a bit humid and sticky. Kind of what it is like in the Eastern US this time of year but milder. The race started out rather mild with Mark (Mr. Tempo) Wisnosky of SDBC doing a lot of the tempo work in the race. It didn't take long before Phil (The Jumping Bean) Richards jumped the field. Phil has to ice down his knees and ankles after every ride but always races aggressively. Phil is retiring from being a postal carrier to being a full time cyclist in retirement. Seems like we have been down this path before with JR. Phil is either going to fall apart and or get better. Phil lasted a couple of laps and there was no major chase but the pressure was kept up. Not many slow periods today. You knew Kal was going to make a major move and he did about 6 or 7 laps into the race. He did on the top of the course where there are 2 corners to go to the finish line. When he jumped I shouted at Bruce Steele to get on him and I got on Bruce. Monty Pettus also of Paramount got on my wheel. We started to work it and had a small gap but it was closed down by someone and Kal threw in the towel. I think Kal was looking for a stronger mix of riders. We were all 60+.The next move several laps later proved to decisive. Kal jumped with Ricky Shorts. Craig Jones who is showing excellent form took off slowly. No one got on his wheel and he made it across the gap to make the break group 3. Howard Miller, Rino Barbagiovanni, George Chester, and Bruce Steele were trying to chase down the 55+ racers. I tried to make a jump to get across the gap or get us close and then let someone else finish off the break. I closed the gap in half but ran out of gas and Dale Luedtke used this as an opportunity to get across. Dale went by without his usual speed thinking I could catch on but the fuel tank was saying empty for myself. I needed to sit in and refuel. Dale made it and this looked like it but the pesky Howard Miller and Georger Chester redoubled their efforts to actually reel in the group. Ricky was spent and dropped back but Kal wouldn't give up and kept going. The 3 remaining riders started to slowly pull away again. Astonishingly the 3 got away again! The 55+ fire power wasn't there and without any 60s in the group there was little encouragement for them to bring the break group back. The 3 break riders worked together well this time and they got pretty far up the road with 3 laps to go. No bringing them back. All during the chases UCC member John Edwards was doing a good job jumping on the different chases and legally disrupting the chases. This is John's first race back in a while. John got knocked down on the road by a trailer with a boat on it and broke his arm badly. Nice to see John back. I saw John about a month ago on the Wed. Oceanside ride through Camp Pendleton. Hard fast ride and John was using it to hone his race skills. Glad to have you back, John. The break group had the finish stamped all over it. Craig Jones knew it. Kal and Dale knew. In fact everyone knew it. Sorry, Craig. Craig worked on the last lap with the knowledge he was riding with the 2 fastest finishers in 55/60+ racing. Yikes. Craig did some work near the end of the last lap and then Kal pulled through with Dale on his wheel. Was the finish in doubt. NO but that was for 55+. Dale won with Kal second and Craig third.

All the 60+ racers were in the bunch. The last 3 laps were a bit dicey because no one wanted to give themselves up to ride tempo. I encouraged Steve Borer from mid pack to pace. He was at the front. Steve did do some good work. With 2 laps to go I asked PAA member Cully White if he would help me on the last 2 laps. He said he would. Cully has come back to racing after a layoff. Cully finished 2nd at MBGP in 55+ a few years ago. Cully kept me in good position. The last lap came and it was bunchy and bouncy for the pack. With 2 corners to go on the last lap Howard Miller made a jump for it on the outside of the pack. Ricky Shorts got going seeing this as an opportunity(Ricky couldn't get his brother out to race). I also saw this and jumped but a few seconds late. We got going wide and Howard and Ricky had a great line through the last corner. I jumped on a train with Loren Stephens, Mike Fleming and Monty Pettus. I knew being on Monty's wheel at the end of a race is always a good place to be. Coming home Howard faded a bit but Ricky came on to win the bunch sprint. Monty waited to about 150 meters and jumped Fleming and Stephens. I also went but didn't get out of the saddle. Doh! Monty won the 60+ sprint over Fleming. I was coming on but didn't have it to take Mike and finished 3rd. Mike Duck was also coming on and passed Loren for 4th in 60+. Loren was 5th. Howard Miller finished 5th in 55+ with John Edwards taking 6th. Ernie Hoffer in his best race so far this season finished 6th in 60+. The overall speed per several riders was over 25 mph with the average wattage at 260 watts. Good hard race. The complete placings were:

Ontario GP (Rank 1.0)
Masters 60+
Place
License
Name
Team
SoCal Points
1
219074
Leo Pettus
Paramount Racing
14
2
129293
Michael Fleming
Coates /On Deck Foundation
11
3
180386
John McKee
Paramount Racing
10
4
58170
Sydney Duck
Unattached
9
5
234791
Loren Stephens
EDGE Racing
8
6
57726
Ernest Hoffer
EDGE Racing
7
7
236498
Bruce Steele
South Bay Wheelmen
6
8
61278
Mario Seri
Kahala LaGrange
5
9
171652
Stephen Whitsitt
South Bay Wheelmen
4
10
45763
Robert Paganini
Pasadena Athletic Assoc (PAA)
3
11
50498
Richard Rodriguez
Nytro Racing
2
12
101582
William Carvin
Unattached
1
13
47098
Peter Volpe
Pasadena Athletic Assoc (PAA)
0
14
45342
Domenick Forte
PAA / RE/MAX
0
15
188249
Cully White
PAA / RE/MAX
0
16
223119
C Kevin Post
South Bay Wheelmen
0
17
56242
Edward Keck
Velo Avanti Cycling Team
0

Ontario GP (Rank 1.0)
Masters 55+
Place
License
Name
Team
SoCal Points
1
47262
Dale Luedtke
UC Cyclery/JW Flooring
14
2
54522
Kalman Szkalak
UC Cyclery/JW Flooring
11
3
18156
Craig Jones
Velo Avanti Cycling Team
10
4
52251
Ricky Shorts
Velo Allegro
9
5
49424
Howard Miller
Paramount Racing
8
6
46547
John Edwards
UC Cyclery/JW Floors
7
7
49110
Rino Barbagiovanni
Santa Clarita Velo
6
8
297255
Mitchell Odell
Unattached
5
9
196820
George Chester
Amgen Cycling Club
4
10
243425
mark wisnosky
ACQUA AL 2/San Diego Bicycle Club
3
11
155459
Thomas Reilly
Pasadena Athletic Assoc (PAA)
2
12
228631
James Swigart
ACQUA AL 2/San Diego Bicycle Club
1
13
245777
Steven Borer
Citrus Valley Velo

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

Close and Not Close at Masters Natz 2009

By John McKee

The tandem 110 division started 12 teams to race 50 miles and it comes down to this finish. Fritz Tomasello is in the back and Dave Prechtl is in the drivers seat(On the left looking at the photo). Nice job guys winning your first "shirt"!
In the 60+ road race Kenny Fuller doesn't like to leave it to close finishes. Kenny prefers solo victories like you see below. He makes it look easy but of course as we all know it ain't! Kenny just keeps attacking until everyone else wilts. Kenny now has 38 Natz jerseys.

2009 60+ NATZ CRIT A PIECE OF CAKE?

By John McKee

How you' ll. Nothing like spending a week in the southeast United States to pick up some verbal color. I spent a week in Kentucky, Tenn., and Alabama. First off to race Natz in the criterium and then to travel to Grant, Alabama and visit family in a place I hadn't been in 52 years. Lets start with the race.
The 60+ Nationals were concluding with the criterium on July 3rd, 2009 in Louisville, Kentucky at the famous Churchill Downs race track. Home of the Kentucky Derby. The course is a 1/2 mile oval on the infield of the track. Pretty fast course except going into the wind toward the start/finish line. The first 2 events(road race and time trial) were won handily by Kenny Fuller eariler in the week. Probably the biggest margins he has ever had so going into the criterium it was no secret who the favorite was. Ken Louder of Utah was the 2nd strongest contender having finished 2nd in the road race and 3rd in the TT. There were a few crit specialists in the mix with some road racers and time trialists not partaking. 27 riders signed up with 23 lining up at 2 pm on the 3rd. My race strategy was simple. Stay near Kenny Fuller. I had talked with Kenny prior to the race on a Saturday training ride and he invited/advised me to stay near him and go with him when he jumped the field which was as sure a thing as could be and would be no surprise to anyone out there that had the slightest awareness of what was going on.
The race was for distance rather than time which is what we do in Socal to make sure the promoter can get all the events completed. 22 miles to be done by the race winner whoever that would be. The race was off. I put myself right behind Kenny figuring that was the premium spot.
Ken Louder almost fell off his bike at the start and I thought that was a bad way to start and then I felt my right pedal resist the cleat on my right shoe. One side of the pedal had been hard to get into so I flipped my Speedplay pedal and inserted my cleat/shoe. Of course by then everyone but Ken Louder were in front of me and the pace was crazy fast. I had lost Kenny's wheel and had to work very hard to move up. I got up there and rode near Kenny but I couldn't get his wheel. Butch "The Glueman" Holt of North Carolina had attached himself to Kenny's wheel and he was locked on. Smart play as Butch finished 8th in the prior year. Butch had higher aspirations in mind in 2009.
Kenny sat in for about 8 laps but a 2 person effort at a break brought out the fight in Kenny Fuller. Kenny went off to catch the 2 and of course "The Glueman" was right there along with Ken Louder and myself. This was hard but Kenny didn't lead it so the effort was caught by the field. Everyone was stressed but together. The pace settled down again but of course the inevitable happened going against the wind. Smart play on Kenny's part. Jumping the field into the wind. Unless you were right on him you would have to close a gap into the wind which was pretty tough. Kenny was off with Holt, Louder and Dave "The Haybaler" Stephens. Dave had finished 9th in the prior year in the crit and was also looking to move up. Dave came into this year's event in good form with a 7th place finish in the road race and a podium 5th place finish in the time trial. A good finish here would put him 3rd in the overall standings for 60+ racers in 2009. Dave had more on his mind then just the race though. Dave is from North Carolina and has a farm. He had 200 50 pound bales of hale to load by hand when he got home. Dave must have a strong core and with his blond hair, definitely doesn't look anywhere near his age.
I wasn't napping but was slightly out of position and jumped hard to catch on but there was already a gap and I couldn't close it. Kenny was going hard. So much for my prior race plan. 4 guys gone. I was really discouraged but probably not as bad as the "The Haybaler". Dave had taken a pull in the break group and got over stressed and was dropped. Yikes! That hurt. "The Glueman" stayed right on Kenny's wheel(see pic to the left) and wouldn't pull through so he got "the lecture" in race protocol in a lead break group.
Lap after lap went by and the lead 3 were on their way to lapping the field. In the mean time a number of riders were doing kamikaze solo jumps. Impossible to cover them all because the pace was pretty high but none of the moves worked right now. Going toward the finish line which was into the wind the threesome had lapped the field. Kenny Fuller went around the right side of the pack and Ken Louder went up the left side. Kenny found an opening and jumped and I mean he jumped hard. I was amazed. I was in the middle of the pack at the time and no one in front of me even tried to get on his wheel. Ken Louder got caught up on left side and had to move around to find an opening. By the time he did Kenny Fuller was long gone and no one was catching him.
After this "The Haybaler" made what seemed like another fruitless solo jump but it was a strong move. Like I said earlier, Dave came in with good form. Dave got a little gap and used his time trialing ability to stay away. Louder did finally find an opening and I thought this was a good time to be on his wheel. Just as he started a move a rider in the middle quickly moved to the right blocking him causing Louder and myself to break. Somewhere in the process I got off Louder's wheel and there he goes. 2 other riders, William Stone and Thomas Lobdell both of Indiana were right on him. Lobdell finished 8th in the crit last year while Stone is new to the 60+ category. The threesome used Louder's strength to get up the road. They hooked up with Dave Stephens and you could see 6 spots gone with 5 of them on the podium because the race was getting short. Kenny Fuller just lapped the field for the 2nd time and went right on by. Dave "The Glueman" Holt got on Kenny again although he was a lap down to Kenny and one lap up on most everyone else.
There were a number of riders that couldn't keep up and were lapped many times. I think they should have been pulled because it was hard to figure who was where but all I knew was with 2 laps to go we were going to sprint for 7th place. I wasn't all that excited about that.
In the meantime Kenny Fuller rolled across the finish line having completed the 22 miles in 53:21 or about 24.7 mph. Some of it totally by himself. It was a piece of cake for Kenny but that didn't mean he got to eat cake after the race. You probably remember from the TV series "Seinfeld" one of the characters in the program was "The Soup Nazi". Well Kenny's significant other, Pam Mooney(soon to be Fuller) calls herself "The Food Nazi". She has been rough on Kenny totally changing his eating habits and slimming him down. Kenny has to sneak off to the bathroom to eat the good stuff like kids did when we were in high school trying to find a place to smoke. The day after the race it was Kenny's birthday so I understand he got a small piece of cake. Pam has been great for Kenny but this has only made things tougher for the rest of us.
After Kenny crossed the line, Ken Louder finished 2nd solo. Butch Holt since he was one lap up on everyone placed 3rd. There was a sprint for 4th between Stephens, Lobdell and Stone. "The Haybaler" won handily over the 2 hoosiers with Lobdell taking 5th and the last podium spot(There is a vid of the finish below).
The bunch sprint was for 7th and I can't say I was totally committed but 4 of us were pretty close at the finish with Horacio Ahumada of New York coming off a 4th place finish in the road race taking the sprint for 7th place. Jeff Morin of Conn. was 8th, Loren Simons of Michigan 9th and myself 10th. It was a good hard race and the strongest rider by a long shot won. This race was harder than the last 3 years and especially the last 2 years.
Louisville is a pretty nice place and my wife and I had a good time although after 2 6th places finishes the 2 prior years the 10th place did kind of sting. Drove down to Grant, Alabama afterward and saw an area I hadn't been in 52 years. What a change. There wasn't indoor plumbing in individual homes or farms in the mid 50s when I was here last but now everyone has pretty nice homes. Nice place now actually. Not a great place for a vegan like myself though. Animal products prevail. I made do and especially enjoyed visiting with my uncles Arnold and Donald Sanders, Aunt Earlene Sanders and cousins Charis Sanders and Delphine Veach. My fam from Alabama are actually all American blue bloods having decended from John Alden who came over on the Mayflower and helped established Pylmouth Rock, the first settlement in America from European folk. Thats all for now folks! Train hard and race safe!

Men - Master - 60-64
Place	Points	Name	Time	License	Bib	Team
1	90	Kenny Fuller	53:21.0	46765	377	Simple Green/Cycles Veloce
2	85	Ken Louder	53:27.3	179491	390	FFKR/SBO P/B Tour of Utah
3	80	G Butch Holt	53:27.8	61823	380	Carolina Bicycle Company
4	75	David Stevens	53:29.2	248476	410	Veloproject.com
5	70	Thomas Lobdell	53:29.5	45607	389	Scarletfire/verizon Wireless
6	65	William Stone	53:29.8	47749	411	Labor Power
7	60	Horacio Ahumada	53:30.2	60985	360	Cafeteros Cycling
8	55	Jeff Morin	53:30.3	239670	398	Mystic Velo
9	50	Loren Simons	53:30.6	47936	407	West Mi Priority Health
10	45	John McKee	53:31.2	180386	396	Paramount Racing
11	40	David Fishel	53:38.5	58350	376	Mob Squad - U Build It
12	38	Robert Brust	53:39.0	60610	367	Unattached
13	36	Charles South	53:39.5	33532	408	3 RVs
14	34	George Liolios	53:41.0	45603	388	Rainbow Inks
15	32	Paul Mehlenbeck	53:41.7	47107	397	Badger Velo Club
16	30	Ed McAlister	54:10.1	273356	394	Greenville Spinners Racing Team
17	28	terry bork	54:11.4	279668	366	Unattached
18	26	Neil Sutcliffe	54:15.8	229527	412	Unattached
19	24	Alfredo Uribe	54:29.6	46024	416	Redline Racing/LTP
20	22	David Burnside	54:30.6	5597	368	GVCC-Pedallers
21	20	Prewitt Lane	54:34.2	20291	384	Clarksville Schwinn
DNS	0	Harold Baselice		249434	364	Unattached
DNS	0	Stephen Bennett		68855	365	Colobikelaw.com
DNS	0	Bill Cole		239860	370	Savannah Wheelmen
DNF	0	Walter Lay		20594	387	Team Louisville
DNF	0	Loren Stephens		234791	409	Edge Racing

San Luis Obispo Road Race - July 4, 2009

By James Morehouse

A pretty surreal two days. Seven and a half hours to get to SLO Friday. Checked into a Motel 6 at three times what it cost me in Bakersfield last June. Noisy people most of the night, then up early into chilly, low clouds typical of California coastal areas in the early summer. Sixty one degrees. Not anything close to the 106 I suffered in Arizona only on Tuesday down in Apache Junction. I had to get through the military check point. Having USAA insurance (thanks to my ex-wife's ex-husband's stint in the Air Force during the Vietnam era) made it easy to slip by. The race started late and I saw that Glen Baldwin, a former Paramount rider was in the line next to me. He’s living in Central California now. The race was appallingly slow the first two laps. The climb was not much of one, stairstepping up with 8% kickers in the “worst” spots, but probably more like an average of 5% for about a mile or so. The descent was a kick in the pants. After the Bakersfield descent, this was not an issue, but the holes in the road, the depressed asphalt, cattle guards, and a couple of tight turns with sand and dirt in the corners made it exciting. Mid way through the race the sun burned through and a rider got free and everyone sat there not wanting to hurt enough to go chase him. He was a 55+, so I (foolishly) let him go. Instead, I concentrated on leading up the hill and shaking guys off the back. On the last lap I cut the number of people left down to five, but there were three out there now, all in the 55+ group. Only Bruce Steele and myself were left in the 60+. As I was unsure of sprinting against him, I took a flyer too far from the finish and ended up getting caught, and Bruce got by me anyway. So Bruce (California Criterium Champion for 2009) beat me for first. I got second, and 8th overall. Bruce was 5th overall. Then I drove 420 miles back home. Here I am, and I am still reeling from the driving, the experience, and I'm home, and WTF just happened?

Camp San Luis Road Race (Rank 2.0)
Masters 60+
Place
License
Name
Team
SoCal Points
1
236498
Bruce Steele
South Bay Wheelmen
28
2
283640
James Morehouse
Paramount Racing
22
3
8283
Michael Crystal
CA Pools Racing
20
4
204901
Steve Close
Team Chicken Ranch
18
5
45047
Glenn Baldwin
SLO Nexus-Gym One
16
6
271696
Bruce Coffey
SJBC/SugarCRM
14
7
286467
JAN VALENCIA
Velo Club Monterey Racing
12
8
280958
John Adams
G S Adams Avenue Bicycles
10
9
45342
Domenick Forte
PAA / RE/MAX
8
10
115793
Jim Roebuck
Southern California Velo
6
10

Camp San Luis Road Race (Rank 2.0)
Masters 55+
Place
License
Name
Team
SoCal Points
1
47819
Karl Weber
CA Pools Racing
28
2
61353
Reed Moore
UC Cyclery/JW Flooring
22
3
187845
Henry Pfister
Simply Fit/Action Sports
20
4
72880
Mike Marotta
Simply Fit/Action Sports
18
5
108843
Eric Nelson
SLO Nexus-Gym One
16
6
45928
David Shackle
Central Coast Velo
14
7
196820
George Chester
Amgen Cycling Club
12
8
48240
Lawrence Brooks
Unattached
10
9
269972
Fred Haim
Kahala LaGrange
8
10
46135
Frederick Proudman
Taleo Racing
6