SWAMI'S & PARAMOUNT TAKE 1/2 IN 55+ & 60+ AT ARCO CRITERIUM

By John McKee

It's March 5th, 2011 and time for the Arco Criterium in Long Beach, California. The event is produced by Velo Allegro under the CBR license. Much warmer weather greeted the riders as compared to the previous weeks race in Ontario. It felt so much better. It was probably 20 degrees warmer at the start of the race then at Ontario. The pre race registration wasn't spectacular at 27 but in the end 49 racers came out to do the 55/60+ race at what everyone refers to as the "Hughes Course". The course is racer friendly with plenty of room to race on. There is probably 350 to 400 meters left to the finish line from the last corner. Good viewing on one side with grass berms for family and friends that come to watch.
The race in 55+ was looking like a three way fight  between Swami's, Santa Clarita Velo(SCV) and the host team of Velo Allegro. SCV would be missing their hot rider Mike Gourley. No UC Cyclery or Breakaway From Cancer racers. In 60+ the Paramount team was to be challenged by Ironfly, SCV and SBW. Swami's has been very strong this year in 55+ as has Paramount in 60+. It looked like a tough day of racing ahead but those 2 teams were the favorite.
All the racers were off at the designated time of 7:45 am. The skys were overcast but the temperature was so much more body friendly. It didn't take long before the racers started heating it up with jumps off the front. The first move included Mike Birditt and Kim Bleuth of Swami's, Fred Hoblit of SCV and a 4th unidentified rider. I came across the gap to join. Fred Hoblit was doing most of the work and Mike spent most of his time looking back at the pack. 3/4 of a lap and that effort was over.
Throughout the race there were break attempts by Swami's and Velo Allegro with some action from Santa Clarita Velo. A lot of prime killing was going on with Mike Birditt getting the 5 BAR points. Steve Bernede must like coffee because the only time I saw some real spark out of Steve was a when he took off 1/2 way around on the prime lap going for the Polly's coffee. I got on his wheel thinking he was jumping across a small gap to a break group that included Mike Birditt but NOOOO!!! He went by them like they were standing still at the 3rd corner. Steve must really like his coffee. No contest on that one. I decided to unhook myself from his train at the break group before my heart exploded.
Gary Shuey of Swami's was there to animate the race and help the Swami's "closers". Gary because of his win at Callville, Gary had taken over the lead in 55+ Socal points in the SCNCA. Yours truly after the win at Ontario lengthened my lead in Socal points in 60+. This race though is CBR and they have BAR points and Dale Luedtke was leading going into this race in 55+ with his teammate Mike Birditt a close second. Rich Stahlberg of Ironfly was in 1st place in 60+ with Bob Wright of SCV also a close second.
Throughout the race small groups tethered off the front with little hope of success. Didn't seem like the breakers ever really put their full effort into getting away or the chemistry wasn't right. Don't know but no one ever got very far away. The course lends itself to high speeds. The overall pace of the entire race was 25.38 mph. A good clip but 2 mph slower than the 50s and 40s. The 40s were only a few clicks faster than the 50s per data collected my Paramount speedster Monty Pettus.
A bunch sprint it looked like when the 5 lap card came up. I believe all 49 riders were still aboard. The only real escape attempt late in the race was done by Kim Bleuth of Swami's. Kim stayed out there from 4 laps to go until fairly late in the race but was kept on a close leash. Swami's team was trimmed of a valuable leadout tool when Gary Shuey flatted with less than 2 laps to go. It was going to be up to Rich Swanson to do the work. The bell lap came and everyone but say one knew there was one lap to go. 60+ racer Ernie Hoffer flew across the line first thinking that the race was over. NO! One more to go, Ernie.
The final lap pace was slower than Ontario and definitely slower than Cattle Call. Rich Swanson took the pack half way around and then it was up their "closers" Dale and Mike to do the rest. Dale and Mike were comfortable in the mix up front. Velo Allegro had their leadout man Rod Mallory providing cover for their "closer" in Ricky Shorts. Nour Tillo was marking Dale closely. Nour  had been vying with Velo Allegro's Don Denegal for Dale's wheel. The Paramount "closers" were on the outside where I was more comfortable. Longer to go but with the freedom to move up if necessary. Monty Pettus got on my wheel on the back stretch. After the 3rd soft turn I was behind Steve Bernede but since their wasn't any coffee given away at the finish I figured I needed to move up more. I got around Steve with Monty in tow just before the last turn.
The last turn saw Fred Hoblit make his move from a long ways out. Fred got buried a bit the previous week at Ontario so he figured he would try a different approach. Fred hit the last corner very hard hoping to catch the field by surprise. Once around the corner Mike and Dale jumped out of their saddles to get on Fred. Rod Mallory had deposited his teammate Ricky Shorts near the front and his job was done. Ricky wanted to latch onto Dale's wheel but so did Nour Tillo. I jumped once around the corner and tried to stay as tight as possible to the leaders. Monty didn't quite take the corner as fast and left a gap. He put it in overdrive and got back on my wheel.
Mike had gotten on Fred's wheel and as I had mentioned earlier it is a long ways home from the last corner. Mike waited to fairly close to the line and sprang to Fred's left. Mike is hot now and flew by to win the race! Dale also got by Fred for 2nd. Fred rolled in for 3rd. About 150 meters back from the line Nour and Ricky were clashing and I pulled my foot off the accelerator thinking they might crash in front of me but it wasn't as close as I thought. Now I had to get back out of the saddle and try and make it the last 100 meters to the line. Ricky came across the line next for 4th with Nour taking 5th. My legs started to tie up and Monty came around to my left for 6th overall and 1st in 60+. I was next across for 7th overall and 2nd in 60+.
 Rich Stahlberg was the last podium placer across the line in 60+.
The race was pretty fast and fairly well animated. The favorites did end up winning. There was some aggressive play for Dale's wheel but nothing like the 50+ race. I understand it was quite crazy the last few laps there. Thanks to Velo Allegro for hosting the race. CBR did another fine job with this event. Placing are below. That's all for now folks! Train hard and race safe!

55+

1-Birditt
2-Luedtke
3-Hoblit
4-Shorts, R.
5-Tillo
6-Denegal
7-Huber
8-Ainslie
9-Carlson
10-Bernede

60+
1-Pettus
2-McKee
3-Stahlberg
4-Fleming
5-Keegan
6-Walters
7-Seri
8-Kimper
9-Wright

COLD WEATHER DOESN'T DETER 55/60+ RACERS AT ONTARIO CRIT #1

By John McKee

It is February 27, 2011 and the Dare to Race Grand Prix series is being held in the quaint village of Ontario, Ca. Ontario is at the base of the San Gabriel mountains. There will be 6 races in the series this year. A cold wave has hit Southern California. The snow level is down to 3500 ft. The 40 minute 55/60+ criterium is being held on the famous 7 corner grand prix course. 50 55/60+ racers showed up despite the 36 degree temp in the morning. There were some racers in Nevada at the Callville Stage Race so 50 racers was a good turnout. Only the wimpiest racers stayed away. 

Photo courtesy of Ken Hill- Beautiful view of the S.G. Mountains

I got to the event site at 6:30 am having to get my number at registration and get myself and my bike ready for the 7:35 am start of the race. Parked behind me was a first time woman racer. She was adorably cute and naive. She was in her 20s. I was telling her a little bit about the racing scene and pointing out my teammate Monty Pettus. I told her that Monty started racing in 1963. Her reply was "Wow, and he is still alive!" Not only is he still alive but the favorite in the 60+ category. Monty had there with him for his Paramount team, myself and new team member Joe Wells. I have been riding well and I knew that Joe was in pretty good shape from some training rides we had done in Az. This was Joe's first race this year so he wasn't sure how he would feel. Other notable 60+ racers that would be expected to be in mix at the end would be Harold Schneider now of Simple Green and hot rider David Lang of the host club Dare. Bob Wright of Santa Clarita Velo would also be expected to perform well considering some very good finishes this year.

In the 55+ category Dale Luedtke would appear to be the favorite. Dale has been solid this year but his teammate, Mike Birditt plus 3 other Swami's riders were in Nevada. Dale had a limited support staff with Steve Diamond and all around strongman Rick Swanson. The 55+ Socal Cup leader, UCC's Kal Szkalak was out with bronchitis. No other UCC rider was in the pack. Velo Allegro had Ricky Shorts and several team members including Rod Mallory. Unknown to most racers was that Santa Clarita Velo was bringing there A team. Last weekend Mike Gourley of SCV showed himself to be a major player in the 55+ racing scene. Sunday's race would be interesting. There was a different dynamic Sunday.

The racers lined at 7:35 am to get the race off with a beautiful view of the San Gabriel mountains in the background.The race was on schedule with the outcome certainly in doubt. The one thing that wasn't in doubt once we started racing was the aggressive riding by SCV. Mike Gourley of SCV took off after unattached 55+ rider Nour Tillo early on. I saw this as an opportunity and took off and got right on. Steve Diamond of Swami's also got on. Tillo relinquished Mike's wheel to me not wanting to do anything but sit. Mike started pulling hard and it took the stuffing out of me and I couldn't pull through. I tried to say something to Mike but my jaw was so cold I don't think I was understandable.

Mike got a little tired and discouraged from the lack of support and we were caught. Craig Jones did a lot of the work bringing the break back.

Photo courtesy of Ken Hill- Gourley & Freeman of SCV

The next break also included a SCV rider and this time it was Fred Hoblit. The 2 other 55+ riders were Ricky Shorts and Rick Swanson. They got over 100 meters on the pack and Dale Luedtke decided to ride across the gap. It took him awhile but he got there. I thought this could be a strong move and stay away but some strong riders came to the front to pull the peleton. John Roest was one of these strong riders and pulled hard. Once Dale was aboard I doubt that Fred and Ricky liked the odds. Back they came.

Did SCV stop here. No. Definitely not. Mike Gourley got on it again with his teammate Kirk Freeman. Swami's Rick Swanson was having none of this and it was altogether again. The last break that I remember was Tom Reilly of guess who and 60+ rider Phil Richards. The move was short lived.

It definitely was looking like a bunch sprint and the lap card came down for 5 laps to go. Everyone was looking around for a jump or move and trying to get in good position without being in the wind. Not easy. Don Davidson tried a move with 2 laps to go but was reeled in. The bell lap came and yes we were all together. I had been watching Dale Luedtke. I know a good wheel when I see it. Rick Swanson had been protecting it but somehow in the last lap I got it. Dale wanted on Ricky Shorts and Monty (And he's still alive) Pettus gave it up and ended up getting buried. 3 left turns and it was the only right hander. Here's where Santa Clarita Velo took control of the race. Tom Reilly drove to the front and started to pull hard and immediately the pack started to string out. Ricky Shorts was on his teammate Rod Mallory. Dale was on Ricky and I was on Dale. I felt good about where I was as long as the pace didn't slow down and it didn't. Just before the next left turn Mike Gourley hit it even harder. He was going to try and take it home from a long ways out. This hadn't been done from here since Howard Miller of Paramount did it 3 years ago. Rod kept fairly close to Mike but didn't close the gap. The pace was high. The next to the last corner and Mike still had a gap and you knew all hell was going to break loose soon. Dale Luedtke didn't want to close the gap to Mike and bring Ricky and the rest of the pack with him. He was going to try and close the gap from the last corner home. The course dips a bit at the last corner and gives you a sling shot toward the finish line. Gourley came through leading and really nailing it. Nour Tillo had worked his way to the front and was right there. At the corner Dale got out of the saddle to start his sprint pretty far out. Ricky jumped off Rod to get on Dale and I knew this was my time to go as well. My pre ride plan was to sprint out of the saddle at the last corner and give it my all to stay on a good wheel and try and hang on later. 

Dale and Ricky were really cooking it and were gaining on Mike but alas it was Gourley! 1st place!

Photo courtesy of K. Hill- Gourley near line

Photo courtesy of K. Hill- Luedtke leading pack in

Luedtke came in followed by Ricky Shorts. I was a little behind and now in the saddle trying to hang on. I thought someone was going to pass me anytime but it didn't happen. I got 4th overall and was the 1st 60+ racer across. Monty Pettus was next after passing 10 riders coming in which his wicked sprint and taking 2nd in 60+. 5 of the next 9 riders were 60+. Except for the first 3 riders, 60+ kicked butt. Mike Gourley showed again what a strong rider he is. I happen to show good form and of course was very pleased with the outcome and dedicate my victory to my newest grandson, Jonathan "Hungie" Woolley(Photo at bottom). "H" came across the line as the 3rd 60+ rider and Joe Wells placed 4th in 60+ for his new team. Good clean hard race and great teamwork by the Santa Clarita Velo guys. Complete results are below plus photos of the winners. That's all for now folks! Train hard and race safe!

Dare to Race GP  (Rank 1.0)
Masters 60+
Place	License	Name	Team	SoCal Points
1	180386	John McKee	Paramount Racing	14
2	219074	Leo Pettus	Paramount Racing	11
3	315702	Harold Schneider	Team Simple Green/Bike Religion	10
4	48252	Joseph Wells	Paramount Racing	9
5	39024	Bob Wright	Santa Clarita Velo	8
6	107852	David Lang	DARE	7
7	129293	Michael Fleming	SBW	6
8	189814	Leo Longo	South Bay Wheelmen	5
9	243425	mark wisnosky	ACQUA AL 2/SDBC	4
10	3793	Raphael Gomez	Rage Cycling	3
11	228631	James Swigart	ACQUA AL 2/SDBC	2
12	101582	William Carvin	Unattached	1
12	195498	Donald Kimper	ACQUA AL 2/SDBC	1
13	238828	Phillip Richards	Citrus Valley Velo	0
14	57726	Ernest Hoffer	Herbalife LaGrange	0
15	50498	Richard Rodriguez	Pacific Sunset Velo/Pac Sun Velo	0
16	45763	Robert Paganini	Pasadena Athletic Assoc (PAA)	0
17	61278	Mario Seri	Herbalife LaGrange	0
18	45342	Domenick Forte	Pasadena Athletic Assoc (PAA)	0
19	50013	Ray Moreno	DARE	0
20	48278	Donald Davidson	Citrus Valley Velo	0
21	50406	Michael Edwards	Velo Club LaGrange	0

Dare to Race GP  (Rank 1.0)
Masters 55+
Place	License	Name	Team	SoCal Points
1	13802	Michael Gourley	METALMTN Cycling	14
2	47262	Dale Luedtke	Swami's Cycling Club	11
3	52251	Ricky Shorts	Velo Allegro	10
4	16360	Fred Hoblit	Santa Clarita Velo	9
5	35603	Nour Tillo	Unattached	8
6	34753	Rick Swanson	Swami's Cycling Club	7
7	15874	Steve Hensler	Team Redlands	6
8	30596	Wayne Rosenkrantz	Pinnaclife Racing Team	5
9	2734	Richard Barron	SC Velo	4
10	52086	Cyril Hunte	Unattached	3
11	12354	Kirk Freeman	Santa Clarita Velo	2
12	245777	Steven Borer	ACQUA AL 2/SDBC	1
13	66553	John Sinz	Canyon Velo	0
14	66019	Brian Cote	Team Velosport Club	0
15	178495	Steve Diamond	Swami's Cycling Club	0
16	271566	Alex Gonzalez	Velo Allegro	0
17	56643	Robert Shupper	Pasadena Athletic Assoc (PAA)	0
18	101454	Robert Morris	Major Motion Cycling Club	0
19	277180	John Roest	Rock N' Road Cyclery	0
20	107559	Rodney Malloy	Velo Allegro	0
21	167453	Bob Estupian	Citrus Valley Velo	0
22	51400	Mark Rich	SC Velo	0
23	155459	Thomas Reilly	Santa Clarita Velo	0
24	18156	Craig Jones	Velo Avanti Cycling Team	0
25	186482	Rick Skalak	Santa Clarita Velo	0
26	9271	Pete Dern	Herbalife LaGrange	0
27	289270	Sanda Timbal	Simple Green	0

Jonathan "Hungie" Woolley

60+ Winner- McKee

55+ Winner- Gourley

55+ CALLVILLE STAGE RACE

By Michael Birditt

The Callville Bay Stage race is always a special date on the stage racers calendar. As more race reports come in from our teams you will hear this year was "special" due to record breaking weather.

Friday: ITT / Prolog, a hill climb as most riders forego TT bikes and just use their normal road bike. Once I saw this I took off the clip-ons and followed most and rode my road bike. Pretty straight forward, go up a mostly steady 3-4% climb for about 2.5 miles, hit a 6-7% kicker the last .5 mile and drop to the finish about 4-500 meters away.
Warren Wicks had the pleasure of being #1 for 55+. I was 3rd. Gary Shuey and Kim Bleth later. Warren and I were on our way back down when we saw Gary and Kim coming up. Gary was pulling time back on Kenny Fuller who was going to be Swami's biggest GC threat. 

Final podium Wilcox and Shuey

End result Gary won the ITT and was in 1st place overall with Kenny 2nd and Robert Wilcox (UCC) 3rd.

Saturday: 57 mile "rolling" (LOL) RR.
Ok so I'm writing this and I will take liberties with the course description. Rolling is NOT what a sprinter would call those mountains. No matter, we woke to cold, wind, and a steady rain. We all knew the job was to keep Gary close to Kenny and Robert. One challenge was we were racing with the 45+ and that field was stacked with talent
that was not going to allow a nice slow ride. They did not disappoint. It was game on from the start. I understand we popped people right from the get go. I only made it over the first climb and then could not hold on. Kim quickly followed. Warren was able to stay up there
and was a big help to Gary later at the finish. I rode the next 50 miles soaked and with numb hands and feet. It was bad to the point that I could not get food out of my jersey and almost dropped water bottles numerous times. 
There were 2 turn around points and each time as we passed 
I could see Gary sitting in protecting that GC. When they
came to the finish Warren led Gary out and Gary was right 
on Kenny. Kenny won, Gary was second with a 17 second GC lead. 

Robert Wilcox of UCC was 19 seconds down after the second stage.
One stage to go.

Sunday: 40 minute Crit. Woke up to rain and record cold. Our 7am start
time did not help. Wet, cold course (34 degs at start) but at least
no wind !! Not too many guys showed up for this from either field,
45's or 55's. As I rode around taking "warm up" laps I really
questioned myself. But we had the GC lead and would work to protect
it. Gary was drilled the previous night that all he had to do was
stick with Kenny and finish. We all would do what we could to help. We
figured that the pace would be dictated by the 45's and it was right
from the gun we were popping people. Only 16 started in the 55's and 7
did not make it to the finish. Average speed was posted as 29.4 mph. At 6 laps
to go I could tell nothing was going to stay away and it would end in
a field sprint. Got up with Gary and made sure he stayed calm. He was
looking pretty relaxed. Kenny took a little flyer with several laps to go
but you could tell the 45's were not going to let him go anywhere. He
was quickly brought back. On the bell lap about half way into it Kenny
took off again and Gary missed the move. I was able to get to him and
yelled for him to grab my wheel. He got gapped a little but then
started to recover and off we went. Could not quite close down Kenny's
move but we were just behind. After bonus seconds and all were figured
Gary had closed the deal with 8 seconds to spare.
Final GC:
 

1st Gary Shuey

2nd Kenny Fuller

3rd Robert Wilcox

4th Dirk Cowley

5th Warren Wicks
6th Kim Bleth

7th James Morehouse
8th Mike Birditt
9th Mark Ainslie

Wow, what an event.

By Michael Birditt

The Callville Bay Stage race is always a special date on the stage racers calendar. As more race reports come in from our teams you will hear this year was "special" due to record breaking weather.

Friday: ITT / Prolog, a hill climb as most riders forego TT bikes and just use their normal road bike. Once I saw this I took off the clip-ons and followed most and rode my road bike. Pretty straight forward, go up a mostly steady 3-4% climb for about 2.5 miles, hit a 6-7% kicker the last .5 mile and drop to the finish about 4-500 meters away.
Warren Wicks had the pleasure of being #1 for 55+. I was 3rd. Gary Shuey and Kim Bleth later. Warren and I were on our way back down when we saw Gary and Kim coming up. Gary was pulling time back on Kenny Fuller who was going to be Swami's biggest GC threat. 

End result Gary won the ITT and was in 1st place overall with Kenny 2nd and Robert Wilcox (UCC) 3rd.

Saturday: 57 mile "rolling" (LOL) RR.
Ok so I'm writing this and I will take liberties with the course
description. Rolling is NOT what a sprinter would call those
mountains. No matter, we woke to cold, wind, and a steady rain. We all
knew the job was to keep Gary close to Kenny and Robert. One challenge
was we were racing with the 45+ and that field was stacked with talent
that was not going to allow a nice slow ride. They did not disappoint.
It was game on from the start. I understand we popped people right
from the get go. I only made it over the first climb and then could
not hold on. Kim quickly followed. Warren was able to stay up there
and was a big help to Gary later at the finish. I rode the next 50
miles soaked and with numb hands and feet. It was bad to the point
that I could not get food out of my jersey and almost dropped water
bottles numerous times. There were 2 turn around points and each time
as we passed I could see Gary sitting in protecting that GC. When they
came to the finish Warren led Gary out and Gary was right on Kenny.
Kenny won, Gary was second with a 17 second GC lead. Robert Wilcox

of UCC was 19 seconds down after the second stage. One stage to go.

Sunday: 40 minute Crit. Woke up to rain and record cold. Our 7am start
time did not help. Wet, cold course (34 degs at start) but at least
no wind !! Not too many guys showed up for this from either field,
45's or 55's. As I rode around taking "warm up" laps I really
questioned myself. But we had the GC lead and would work to protect
it. Gary was drilled the previous night that all he had to do was
stick with Kenny and finish. We all would do what we could to help. We
figured that the pace would be dictated by the 45's and it was right
from the gun we were popping people. Only 16 started in the 55's and 7
did not make it to the finish. Average speed was posted as 29.4 mph. At 6 laps
to go I could tell nothing was going to stay away and it would end in
a field sprint. Got up with Gary and made sure he stayed calm. He was
looking pretty relaxed. Kenny took a little flyer with several laps to go
but you could tell the 45's were not going to let him go anywhere. He
was quickly brought back. On the bell lap about half way into it Kenny
took off again and Gary missed the move. I was able to get to him and
yelled for him to grab my wheel. He got gapped a little but then
started to recover and off we went. Could not quite close down Kenny's
move but we were just behind. After bonus seconds and all were figured
Gary had closed the deal with 8 seconds to spare.
Final GC:
 

1st Gary Shuey

2nd Kenny Fuller

3rd Robert Wilcox

4th Dirk Cowley

5th Warren Wicks
6th Kim Bleth

7th James Morehouse
8th Mike Birditt
9th Mark Ainslie

Wow, what an event.