MAROTTA WINS 60+ IN SOLO BREAK/ MORETON DITTO IN 55+ @ RMMC

By John McKee

Wow! I have 247 posts and never lost my work before but Thursday night. Poof. 4 hours of work gone. If the race wasn't important to report on, I would have thrown in the towel. It will take me half the time now. I know what I want to say and the pics I want to use. The Roger Millikan Memorial Criterium took on a different hue this year. For the last 9 years Canyon Velo has honored the memory of a former member with his name in their race title. This year with the race on February 9th, 2014 we the 60+ racers had to honor another lost rider. Fellow rider and racer Phil Richards was struck by a drunk driver on Dec. 29th and passed away 2 weeks later from the injuries incurred in the crash. Thank you to the  promoters of this event for permission to dedicate the 60+ race not only to the memory of Roger Millikan but also Phil Richards.

Phil Richards (1949-2014) RIP my good man! We will miss you!

The 60+ riders were scheduled to race for 40 minutes at 9:50 am. The category W 3/4 was to race at the same time. 2 groups can't technically race at the same time and be officially separated at the start though it is done in other parts of the country BUT if everyone agrees the slower group can fall off the pace and the motor ref can then step in and keep the groups separate. This was the plan anyway.
We all came to the line and Don Davidson and Annette Richards were in the announcer's booth. The announcer Ralph Elliot said a few nice words about Phil and gave the mic to Don. Don thanked everyone for coming out and supporting the memory of Phil. Phil would surely have been here under different circumstances and ready to race. Phil was training for events like this when he was needlessly struck by an out of control alcoholic at 12:30 in the afternoon!

Phil's favorite bike. He wasn't riding the day he was hit. We chose green to off set the black on the wrist band to match this color.

 Don also mentioned the memorial wrist bands that we were all wearing. I designed the bands and Rick Swanson sponsored the purchase.

Memorial wrist band

Opposite side

After Don gave his presentation, he came down on the tarmac to get ready to race. Don, John Rubcic and John Howard were selected to ride out in front of the pack of  racers for a parade lap to honor the memory of Roger Millikan and Phil Richards. Over 32 riders were registered in the 60+ only category. They all were ready to race once the parade lap ended.  The two Johns dropped off and the rest of us started our race. The idea of separate races with the W 3/4 unfortunately didn't happen. 2 SBW riders in the W 3/4 category jumped on the tail end of the men when they should have been creating a gap. So much for the pre race instructions. It was one big race now.
I am not going to vent about the type of riding I saw but I will say there were some really strong riders in the other category. Denise Mueller and Kim Nida of Sisterhood of Cycling looked sharp and strong and would be welcome to race with us anytime.

Phil and Annette- Photo courtesy of Arnie Shaw

There was the early darting and diving. Paul Rodiguez and Rick Roberson tried to get things going but were marked out by Swami's. Swami's had the most riders by far and some of the strongest and fastest riders, so no wonder that they were going to dominate the race.
Swami's John Roest and Velocity's Ricky Shorts got going on a mini break but Swami's Mike Birditt didn't like the make up here and sped forward and shut it down. He couldn't have thought we would let him charge up to them and ride away. LOL. No. That wasn't going to happen then but it might have later with all the primes. There were more primes than I can remember. Every 3rd lap and late in the race every 2 laps or sooner. This dictated the race. Ease off after coming across the line and pick it up on the back stretch. A couple of riders would usually take off between turn 3 and 4. Swami's was always involved. Ricky Shorts of Velocity and Monty Pettus of Paramount were able to wrestle a few primes away from the "Prime Killers".

Gary Shuey of the "Prime Killers" leading the way. Love those shoes Gary!

John Wagenaar leading the pack mid way through the race.

Rick Lilliberg in another one of his comebacks looked quite strong.

It looked like Swami's could have done most anything they wanted but there were still some very strong riders on other teams. The surge of the prime killing continued through the entire race and when the lap cards came up it got even worse because there were more primes. A lot of good stuff as well as money. Very well supported race. The first lap card to come up was 6 to go. I got on Mike Birditt's wheel but his gears jumped from the big ring to the small one and I coasted by him as he stalled for a moment. That didn't work out well for me. The pace of the race didn't pick up as you might think it would late in the race. The kind of pace that would make the race selective. Nope! It was jockeying time and prime killing of course. This is where I think Swami's should have stepped in and thrown a few riders out there to help make the race more selective but who am I to fault them since they ended up with such a good result but they would have had a good result anyway since they had the best riders and the race would have been safer.
The pivotal point in the race came with 2 laps to go. Mike Marotta picked up a couple of tires and kept going. Few people even knew he was away. There were lapped riders everywhere so unless you were at the very front you had no idea that Mike M. was away. Mike Birditt knew and raced accordingly. The bell lap came and Mike M. was off the front by a good ways with lapped riders all over the place. In the pack Rick Lilliberg was at the front with the Sisterhood of Cycling lining themselves up. 2 groups are trying to finish here and we do this all the time with the 55s.
After turn 3 the pace was slow but picked up as Rick Lilliberg led it out. Mike Birditt was right there waiting to pounce and let loose those "Thunder Thighs" of his. Mike will hit about 1165 watts here at his max but that is well within his training max.

Mike Birditt taking 2nd and Ricky Shorts 3rd. Mike Marotta was so stealth he fooled my wife who is pretty aware at the races and takes the pictures.

Mike "Stealth" Marotta quietly rolled across the line for the win! Mike Birditt sprinted across for 2nd followed in by Ricky Shorts, and Dale Luedtke. There was a close fight for 5th place as 3 60+ riders were with 1/2 a bike of each other with the 2 top riders from the other category mixing in. It looks even closer in the photo but Monty Pettus was going the fastest and got 5th. Wayne Rosenkrantz was 6th and Rick Lilliberg was 7th.

Dale Luedtke rolling across the line for 4th place with a fight for 5th place brewing behind.

It looks very close here for 5th.Kim Nida(nearest the camera) beat teammate Denise Mueller for the W 3/4 cat.

The 60+ race ended and no one got hurt and crashed so that was the most important thing. The 60s are better off racing with the M 55s then any other category for many reasons. Thanks to everyone that came out and raced or just came out to honor Phil like Kenny Fuller and his wife Pam. They broke into their very busy schedule gaming in Las Vegas to arrive just before we raced. They went back to Sin City later of course. Mike McKinney made a very good video of both the 60+ race and the 55+ race. Here is  the link for the 60+ race:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLmvw5qBZsY&list=UUiqlc_kKSMGNfEbu_BB2clA&feature=share&index=1
For the 55+ race: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8iKykVCXv0&list=UUiqlc_kKSMGNfEbu_BB2clA&feature=share
The 55+ race was 2 races later and had a good turnout. 46 total riders of which 10 were doing there 2nd race from the 60+ race. The official asked like the earlier race if the 2 groups wanted to have separate races and Suzanne Sonye stepped up and said her group wanted a 30 second gap and they honored that and there were 2 separate races. It didn't work out for the gals because of the 2nd pass from the 55s came late in the race and there was confusion amongst the women on how many laps to go there were for their race.
The outcome of the 55+ race was quite similar to the 60+ race in that a solo rider broke away late in the race and with another group on the course got lost. I think. If the other teams saw him, what were they doing? Jeff Moreton of Rokform won the race. Nice going Jeff! Mark Hoffenberg sprinted in for 2nd with 60+ racer Mike Birditt doubling up on the podium for the day at 3rd place.

60+ riders Mike Birditt and John Roest mix it up with the 55+ racers and are racing 55+ here.

Jeff Moreton is all in late in the race. Jeff hung on for the victory!

It was a good day for racing and always is in Brea at the Roger Millikan Memorial Criterium. Next year Ed Keck the behind the scenes promoter will put the 55 and 60s back together again. Thanks again to all that came out to honor Phil. There was a lunch afterward at the Yardhouse and it was a big success. Full results for both groups are below. Annette was there with a number of racers. I wish more racers had turned up. That's all for now folks! Train hard and race safe!

Group mixing around Annette Richards in the parking lot of the Yardhouse.

We traded cameramen and took the photo again.

HILL WINS 55 IN BREAK... BIRDY WINS 60 IN SPRINT @ RED TROLLEY

By John McKee

It's Super Bowl Sunday and and there is anticipation in the air of a good fun tough football game. The Broncos were favored by 2 points so the odd makers were thinking it was going to be close... BUT the game doesn't start until 3:30 pm PST. We have all day to do whatever we want. Well how about bike racing. Most years the Super Bowl falls on the Mothballs Criterium in Goleta but this year Red Trolley gets the honors. Again since the game is so late it doesn't really matter. We can race and still watch the game. Yeah baby!

My daughter's and son in law's hotel under construction in the Denver Area. Woolley's Classic Suites. Go Broncos!

My 3 year old grandson in his Peyton Manning jersey. He uses legos like a Star Wars light saber.

 The 55/60+ race was scheduled for 9 am so the game was not going to interfere with any 55 or 60+ racer watching the game. Let's concentrate on the bike race then. Go Broncos! Oops! Sorry!
The Red Trolley has a tradition of being the day after Blvd. Blvd. is one of the hardest road races on the calendar and is really early in the season. On top of that the 55/60+ race starts at 7 am. Well at 5,000 feet it is very cold in the morning there in early Feb. This year at the start time the temperature was a toasty 29 degrees. Ok.. no thanks. Sorry. Not doing that one. You guys that roughed that are tougher than I am and there was a good size field. At Red Trolley the temp at race time was around 60 degrees. Double the temp from the race the day before. The field was pretty strong at Red Trolley as well. The pre registration wasn't that great but we ended up with 40 racers between the 55s and 60s. The field was split pretty much down the middle between the 55s and 60s.

Love the outfit on this doggie at Red Trolley.

55+ big hitters Mark Hoffenberg, Evan Teske and Malcolm Hill were present. Hot new 60s Mike Birditt and Dale Luedtke were also lining up. Kal Szkalak and Monty Pettus had good races in 60+ the prior race at Mothballs so with all this star power you expect a fast hard race. Or would you. Mark didn't have many teammates there and had been sick for the prior weeks. Evan and Malcolm are on the same team. Not sure of what to expect from the new 55+ Pinnaclife riders. Would the 60+ riders mix it up or sit in. There were a lot of questions that would make you wonder what was going to happen. I guess we wouldn't know until we actually raced the race. Yes, let's race the race! Go Dog Go!(I like to read stories like this book to my grandson when I visit Denver).

Best arty/farty picture I have taken accidentally- pretty cool.

It's 9 am and the officials give a few pre race instructions. Announcer Ralph Elliot has a few choose things to say and we are off! A racing we go. The 1st few laps not much went on but then fireworks went off. Larry Shannon of Monster Media on his bright green Masi tried to mix it up and laid down some major power. Monster Media is in a black kit but black kits are way popular this year so it isn't easy picking out the teams in a mixed pack. At least Monster Media's team bike really stands out. The field is lined out with gaps here and there. This effort didn't last long and we were back bunched up. "Big" John Roest in a new Swami's kit was the next to put some real effort into mixing things up. John is 61 this year coming off a good rookie 60+ season. "Big" John's health has been suspect lately with a winter cold. John had a partner in a 2 man break effort and they did pretty well. They had a 150 meter gap but they only lasted 3 laps. Larry Shannon put in another hard effort and this time to chase. Rick Swanson also of Swami's tried to come to the front to "monitor" the pace but 3 laps was all the twosome could do. All back together.
I was feeling pretty good and getting in the flow of the race. The effort felt easier than the prior week at Mothballs and my heart rate monitor would bear this out later. The race was easier for me. Possible a bigger field made for a greater drafter. The course itself at the Cyclo Vets crit course is pretty challenging. We gained over 700 ft. in the 40 minutes we raced. This is a new course for Red Trolley. The prior course was really tough. Hard power climb to the line every lap. It wore you down after a while. There was an open business near the course that complained heavily about parking violations, peeing violations, etc. and out we went. No city permit there.
Another break effort got going pretty quick. Malcolm Hill got himself away with a good gap. Kenny Steward of Pinnaclife, Mike Birditt of Swami's and Ricky Shorts on yet another team and it is Velocity are in a small group between Malcolm and the pack. Their gap is not bad. I am amazed that the threesome didn't become a foursome and stay away. The 3 guys much not have been committed. Malcolm was totally committed to winning in a break. He knew he couldn't outsprint Teske or Hoffy though Teske is his teammate. I assume the team game plan was Malcolm in a break situation and if it is a bunch sprint then Teske would be the team player for Breakaway from Cancer.
Larry Shannon put in a hard chase and maybe some Rokform riders helped out because they weren't represented. The 4 guys were swept up and the pack was totally churning with great surges in speed and pace after that. The play at the front on different laps was dynamic. Riding in the middle of the pack you don't see a lot of this. There were primes of course that brought certain riders up to swope up the goodies. There were Spy glasses for a 55+ rider AND a 60+ rider. The sprint out for the 60+ prime was between 2 brand new 60+ racers, Ricky Shorts(Ricky would flat within 5 to go and couldn't finish) and Mike Birditt. Mike won the glasses.
The time was running down and Malcolm was now marked pretty closely. Malcolm was looking to break away with a little over 5 to go but was marked out of doing so. With 4 to go the pressure was really put on. Rick Swanson was smoking it up at the front. There were small pods of riders and then the pack. Somewhere after Rick pulled off Malcolm made another play. Coming into 3 to go Malcolm had a decent gap. 2 riders from Rokform and Pinnaclife went out to chase but weren't successful. The remaining riders wouldn't even get on the chasers. Everyone was setting up for a sprint finish. Half the riders were 60+ anyway. Malcolm is 55+.
As far as Malcolm was concerned, he was all in. He was where he wanted to be and it was win or lose. Malcolm had another motivating factor in his corner. Malcolm lost his younger brother Mitch to pancreatic cancer in 2013 and Malcolm wanted this victory to honor his brother  in his first race of 2014.

Mitch Hill  (1958-2013) RIP Mitch

Malcolm carried his strength to the line for the victory in 55+. Nice going, Malcolm!! Malcolm had about a 1/4 lap on the field at the end. Everyone else was lining up for the bunch sprint. 2 and 3 were left in 55+ and all 3 places were still up in 60+. Red Trolley didn't give up any money though we paid top dollar at $30 and $37 same day. We did get medals and a podium for each category.
The pace on the backside of the last lap wasn't that fast. Kal Szkalak was a little far back and started to move up on the outside. I took a ride up behind him. Kal jumped a little harder coming near the last corner. Monty Pettus jumped out of the pack and on his wheel. I was a little back now. David Fetah was taking the corner a little wide trying to vie for a wheel with Dale Luedtke. David has something to learn. When Dale wants a wheel at the end well he is going to get it. David must have been leaning toward Dale who was on the inside and David hit his pedal down hard. His bike jumped up. I was now right behind him and I had to hestitate to see what happened. David saved himself and maybe me too though I think I could have gone inside David since he was on the corner. He would have slide straight toward the curb leaving the lane open for the rest of us who were turning right.
Evan Teske showed his stuff in the sprint and came across the line for 2nd place in 55+ followed in by defending 55-59 national champion Mark Hoffenberg. The 55+ podium was taken care of. Time for the 60s to show their stuff and they did. Mike Birditt came across next for a clear win in 60+ though he was having trouble with his gears jumping around. Didn't seem to matter. Mike smoked all the 60s. Next across the line was Nelson "Teach" Alaan. Monty asked me later "Where did he come from". That's Nelson's stealth riding style. Hang back and move up late and use his great sprint to get a good finish. If it was fast near the end Nelson would be in trouble.
The next 3 riders to finish were 60s and were close together. Monty Pettus on the inside, Dale Luedtke in the middle and Kal Szkalak on the outside. It went Dale, Monty and Kal. The next pod of riders to cross the finish line were Randy Liechy(55+), David Fetah(55+ David got going again after his near diaster), Ed Marcelo(55+) and myself(60+ and then some). There was a little gap and the rest of the field came across the line. The officials gave us our results mixed but were broken out to 55+ and 60+ for USAC and SCNCA.
The average speed of the race was a little slow for the field at 24.7 mph. It was a fun race and a pretty good turnout considering there was no purse. Thanks to all that did come out and race. The Broncos sucked later from the first snap on but that's sports. Steve Borer was there but not racing because of illness and took some great video and made a production out of it. Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfKAk_qp2IA (you have to cut and paste the link). That's all for now folks! Train hard and race safe!

60+ podium- Pettus 3, Birditt 1, & Luedtke 2

55+ podium at Red Trolley- Hoffenberg 3, Hill 1 & Teske 2

60S SMOKE 55S AT MOTHBALLS CRITERIUM- 1ST 55/60+ RACE OF 2014

By John McKee

Its the 1st 55/60+ race of the year and back where we use to be. The Mothballs Criterium use to be the first criterium on the calendar but Ontario moved in front as did CBR so Mothballs had to take a back seat. Ontario and CBR use to include 55/60+ races in their lineup but there was a shake up for 2014 because of lower attendance by racers in 2013. Panic set in and ways were devised to get more racers at more events. 60+ attendance had been low in 2013 so they became the whipping boy. I knew that CBR was going to drop the 55/60+ race but was a little surprised that Ontario did as well. So many of us had supported their race for many years but they combined 50 with 55 and no 60. Just a few years ago after we would do the 55/60+ race at Ontario we would sign up for the 50+ race and they would have over 100 riders including the 55/60s as a second race.
We have what we have now for 2014 and the 55 and 60+ racers need to make the best of it. Many 55 racers from 2013 aged up to 60+ in 2014 making the 60+ category very strong this year. Without the 60+ category to shoot for many 55s would quit racing and I think that category would be in jeopardy as well if we didn't have 60+ as a viable category to race in and gain Socal Cup points.The important thing for both the 55s and 60s is to show up at the early races and demonstrate to promoters later in the year that we are viable categories and will show up at their races as well.

At the start line at Mothballs Criterium. Chris Black is giving pre race instructions

Lets get on with the race at hand. The Mothballs Criterium. I always liked this race and have developed at good relationship with the race director/promoter, Armando Requejo. Armando or "Mondo" as he is known to his friends has always given us a time slot and a small purse as well. He definitely deserves our fullest support. The turnout for the 60s was good at 20 but for the 55s it was poor at 10. The day before at the road race PCKRR the 55s had 25 finishers with just 14 60s. I don't know where the 55s went but back home. Too bad. Mothballs is a fun race but the 55s are the "new" guys and they know not what they do. The "counter" is on every race so some support is better than none.
At Mothballs we use to be the 2nd race off at 7:30 am and we faced cold weather, torrential rain, etc. We got moved back a slot to 8:15 am and that was much appreciated. I was able to drive to the venue from my home in the morning. The prior day I went to the Phil Richards Memorial Ride and the turnout was phenomenal. Over 200 cyclists participated in the ride and more showed up at a park for his life celebration. Phil was looking forward to the 2014 racing season and was on the road training for it on Dec. 29th when a drunk driver came ACROSS the yellow line and hit Phil head on. Phil succumbed to his massive injuries 2 weeks later. It was a tragic awful loss! Those that knew him will miss him so much. My condolences to his beautiful wife Annette(who I got to meet at the celebration)and all of his family and friends.

RIP Phil Richards (1947-2014) Picture courtesy of Arnie Shaw

It's hard to move on now. The memorial ride was harder than I thought it would be and then Rick Swanson and Gary Shuey beat up on me riding back from the park to the start area. 2 and 1/2 hours of riding and I was tired. Monty Pettus drove all the way from the park in Beaumont to Santa Barbara on Saturday afternoon. Tough drive. I choose to just get home and drive to Goleta Sunday morning with my wife. It all worked out well. "Mondo" is thinking of moving us back another slot for 2015.
30 riders showed up at the line around 8:15 am. I am at the line with my back up bike. My race bike had a dent in it from the Ontario crash last year that I didn't see. The frame is toast. Oh well. Trek is giving me a good deal on a new one through a crash replacement policy. Trek has an even better policy with a new bike purchase that covers total crash replacement without additional cost to the owner/Trek policy holder. My Trek was a 2010 model and wasn't covered as well at that time.
OK, at the line. 55+ racing strong man Chris Black was an official for this race and gave us our pre race instructions. Once given the race was on! Let's go! Another season is under way!! Go Dog go!!! Every time I start a season there is always that question. Can you do it again? Everyone else is a year older but guys aged into your cat and you have a new crop of 55s. Guys that you use to race with drop by the wayside. Robert Paganini(78 this year), Dale Harless and Michael Edwards are the only racers older than myself out there. Rick Lilliberg is one year younger. Yikes! It just gets tougher out there. The 1st 3 laps were pretty tough and I knew that there is nothing that tests you like a race. I didn't look at my Garmin much because the heart rate numbers were so high. I was breathing hard but started to feel comfortable out there. Yes, I can do this again!
This race was like so many others. There were more new faces out there that I will have to get to know. Of the 10 55s 7 were just 55. Racers would charge off and everyone would chase and it would get hard. The rider would get caught and things would ease off and then more fireworks. Swami's new 60s Dale Luedtke and Mike Birditt were hanging out at the front which isn't new for Mike but is for Dale. My teammate Monty Pettus has been riding very well so I wasn't surprised to see him up front.

Swami's new 60+ duel threat- Luedtke and Birditt. It only gets tougher!

It looks like I am leading the pack but no.. just not following the wheel in front that close.

It didn't take long for a few 60s to pop off the back. It is tough out there. A small group of riders formed off the front. At first I didn't know whether the riders were off the back or front but when you see them still ahead of you after a few laps then they are off the front. They were all 55+. Young guys. I don't know who they were unfortunately but I will get the names down soon. I do know that one of the breakers was Kim Bleth. Kim is on another team again. This was half way through the race. 60+ racer from SBW Rick Lilliberg thought he would try and get across the gap and he did! Nice going Rick. Rick is 67 this year. 4 guys are off and the race is winding down. Is that it? It would be 1, 2, 3 in 55+ and Rick Lilliberg would win the 60+ race over the heavy favorite Mike Birditt.
Monty Pettus thought he would test his legs and he went off the front to try and chase down the foursome.  The break group didn't seem to be working that well ahead. As the laps counted down Monty was still in no man's land. Mike Birditt started an effort to bridge to Monty. He got some help from a few other 55s. The one picture below kind of sums it all up. The foursome was failing. Monty hung in there and was actually almost with the foursome but the pack was just a few bike lengths behind him with 2 and 1/2 laps to go. We turn the last corner and we are all together again. Doug (Time) Knox went to the front and gave it what he could. Definitely picked up the pace when it was needed. I wondered if my teammate Monty would be able to recover and sprint at the end.

Monty in between the break group and the pack. Seconds before it was all together again.

The bell lap came and we were all together. No one wanted to go to the front. It got so bad on the back side of the D shaped course that we were snaking. Snaking late or actually at any time is dangerous. We all weathered the storm. We all came to the last corner and there is a ways to the line from there. 3 different sprint lines formed. Monty was the first one to jump and he did it the short way. On the inside after he turned the corner smoothly but sharper than the rest. Dale Luedtke took the "long" line. Way to the outside. Mike "Mama Bear" Birditt took the middle route. When Monty got out of the saddle everyone else also got out of the saddle and it was a long ways home. I had been on Kirk Freeman's wheel and got around Kirk but felt a little under geared. Monty was going good but got passed by Mike Birditt, Kal Szkalak,  and Dale Luedtke. In that order. Kal complained that the lead up to the sprint wasn't fast enough. Kal likes a long fast lead in to the final sprint.
2 55s Wayne Steely and David Cranston finished between Monty and myself for 1/2 in 55+. I rolled across the line for 5th in 60+ but the 8th person to finish. The 55s were basically crushed. The 1st 4 finishers were 60+. Wow! Never seen that before. Kenny Steward rolled in for 3rd in 55+. Good thing the 55s had their own finish purse. Robert Paganini hung on at the ripe young age of 78 to finish 13th on the finish list but one woman was listed ahead of him. She and a friend raced for Sisterhood of Cycling. One of the gals got lapped and one didn't. Robert wasn't sure if the lapped gal was the one that was placed ahead of him. He could have gotten on the board so to speak otherwise.
The overall speed was around 25.3 mph on a fast course. There were just 2 corners on the course. Good start for the 60s. Pathetic for the 55s. There were 3 60s that don't show on the results. Doug Knox, Carlos Soto and Ron Carlson(We could have used his son out to do pictures and video. He was good). The unknown 60 was Mike Fleming. Mike looked good out there. Thanks to all that came out. That's all for now folks! Train hard and race safe!

TORRANCE CRITERIUM 55/60+ RACE SEE BIRDITT/PETTUS ON TOP

By John McKee

August 11th, 2013 was the date for the Torrance Criterium. This is the 1st time the 55 and 60+ racers have had a cash purse. Races in the past have been paid with merchandise. The host team is the Peninsula Cycle Club. This is the 17th year for the Torrance Criterium though it is fairly new to the Telo course. The Telo course is used Tuesday evenings for criterium practice for those in the South Bay area that wish to do a El Dorado or Hughes Park type midweek race type effort.
This year as mentioned earlier the 55s and 60s are being paid cash in the amount of $200 each. Thank you!
The category sponsor is the Harmonic Life Center which is a full service chiropractic office in San Pedro. The Torrance Criterium is the week after the Brentwood race which is a very tough act to follow. The head count was bound to fall off and it did. The race was early at 7:35 am vs prime time at Brentwood and that hurt. There were a total of 30 riders broken down to 16 55s and 14 60s. One of our smallest fields of the year and definitely the smallest for a $400 payout.
The Peninsula Cycle Club has stayed in Torrance for the 17 years. The city is named after a early 20th century developer by the name of Jared Sidney Torrance. Mr. Torrance had the vision of a mixed use industrial/residential. Torrance and other investors purchased an old Spanish Land Grant and had a planned community designed in 1912. The city was incorporated in 1921. Torrance has seen a few large aerospace companies come and go but is the USA headquarters for Toyota and Honda.
The Bike Palace bike shop and CalBikeLaw.com are major sponsors at this race. CalBikeLaw.com is the law practice of Gerald Agnew a 65+ time trialist and track specialist. He also is an expert in injuries to cyclists and the law. On the course is a new brewery by the name of Strand Brewery. They started in 2010 and you could only find their craft beers at their Torrance Taproom Thursday thru Sunday. In 2013 they are launching their beer at Whole Foods Markets. Here is an excerpt from the OC Register:
"Don't let the industrial park locations fool you. There is some serious beer-making happening in Torrance.
Sure, people are making great beer all over Southern California. But there is something special going on in Torrance now, with three very good craft brewing operations getting a lot of attention.

It's a destination that might seem odd, but with its location not far from Orange County and Long Beach, Torrance is a good place to make beer these days. And, for those who like to try new brews, it's a terrific place to drink beer these days." The address is 23520 Telo Ave. between turn 5 and 6 of the race course. Unfortunately the taproom didn't open until 12 noon so it wasn't going to do any of us any good. Otherwise it would have been a great place to decompress after a race.

Pre race field.

They're off!

The 55/60+ lined up at 7:35 am to partake in the 40 minute criterium. Sometimes we race and say hello to our fellow participates not knowing much about them. I just learned of the background of SBW member Deogracias Asuncion. Deo as he is called a track cycling legend in his home country of the Philippines. He joined the national track team at the age of 16 and participated in cycling races for his country through 2007 as far as the research took me. Look at his bike some time. It says Olympian all over it. You can see it in one of the photos. Here is a short resume:

1979 - Southeast Asian Cycling Games held in Indonesia; 100kilometers, 3rd place
1982 - 9th Asian Games held in New Delhi, India; Velodrome 400m Team Pursuit; 3rd place Bronze. Points Race, 4th place.
1981 - World Championship Road and Track held in England; Participated
1981 - Southeast Asian Games held in Manila, Philippines. Participated in 8 events in track racing - 8 gold medals
1983 - Asian Cycling Points Race Track and Road. Gold Medal recipient. Team Pursuit, 3rd place bronze medal.
1984 - Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles CA. Points race track, 14th place
1988 - Manhattan Beach Grand Prix, Manhattan Beach CA, 1st place.
In 2007 he competed at a World Cup event at the Home Depot Center or as it is now known Stub Hub Center in the points race.

2007 World Cup. Photo courtesy of Arden Arindaeng.

No wonder Deo Asuncion is so good at the end of races. Major track background. The SBW squad was working for Deo at the Torrance Criterium and I will fill you in on that later.
Let's go right to the race itself. 30 racers started off and the 60s were most active at the beginning. John Roest tried to get away early with a 55+ racer. I had to shut that down early before they got too far away.

Rick Swanson leading the pace early on. Mike Birditt is always near the front.

The race early on was pretty straight forward and somewhat aggressive. A number of small groups tried to get away. Bruce Steele was very active looking for the right group to breakaway with.

Bruce Steele lining everyone out with some hurt.

The "Inland Strongman" John Roest putting some hurt on and he can do it even though he is 60 this year.

4 man break with Roest, Birditt, Pettus and Ralph.

SBW likes riding in the rear. "The Man" has an excuse. He is 77 years old and still keeping up. Way to go Pags!

Here is a pic of Pags racing in France in the early 50s.

The pressure is being put on by Mike McConnell with Birdy on his wheel.

If it wasn't for the "Inland Strongman" Mike and Mike might have gotten away. Kirk Freeman is chasing John. The hurt was definitely on. I can remember that.

 A number of riders tried to get away with one group including John Roest, Mike Birditt, Monty Pettus and Bill Ralph. This time like always in the race there were strong riders willing to chase. Rod Malloy with Kirk Freeman on his wheel put the chase into this group. One thing I didn't see much of were counter attacks. When most everyone has their tongues hanging out including guys like Cyril Hunte you counter if you are stronger. You may be hurting but the others are hurting more.
Another opportunity came with Mike Birditt and Mike McConnell. Mike has a torn rotatoar cuff and is having a tough time but is still racing. Birdy saw a chance to with Mike M. but the "Inland Strongman"(his initials are JR) dug deep to get across the gap and inspired Kirk Freeman to chase him and Bruce Steele to chase him. It definitely wasn't an easy day to breakaway. The field was compact and strong. There was always someone strong to chase hard and it was hard at times but not all the time like at Brentwood.
As we reached down to less than 1/2 the race to go it became clear or so it seemed that nothing was going to stick. It's tougher in the later parts of the race because if your attempt fails you are way tired. At the beginning of the race you can recover and have plenty for the finish. The stakes are higher but the possible reward is greater as well. You also have to know what you can do and can't do. Sometimes you don't know what you can do until you try.
With 10 minutes left the pace slowed and it dodgey in the pack. This is where larger teams help. They have riders to spare and pull or attack to keep the pace up. This of course is only good if your team members are strong and can withstand the pressure. A team with straight sprinters would rather see it slow before the end so he can use his strength to his advantage. Some sprinters are also strong like Birdy and Hoffy and they would rather see it fast and hard to keep the lesser riders back and away from them.
The lap cards came and it was hard to maintain position with the speed like it was, slow. 2 laps to go and Bruce Steele jumped. Alex Gonzales got on his wheel pretty quick. This was great for the race.

One lap to go and Bruce Steele is trying to stay away.

Alex Gonzales is falling off of Bruce's wheel.

The thing was who was going to chase. If you chase, you lose some stuff for the sprint. Well Kirk Freeman went out and took a pull. The SBW team came to life. Marlon Cortez went to the front with Deo on his wheel.

The pack with one lap to go. You can see Ralph on the other side of Deo. He launched solo on the backstretch.

One lap to go.

The rabbits were out front and something to shoot for. Bruce and Alex are it. Bruce is doing most of the work. Bruce is riding strong right now. I know. I see him every Wed. morning at the track. We came around to hear the bell and Bruce and Alex are still there. Alex looked to be hurting and was having a tough time staying on Bruce's wheel. Bill Ralph was lurking near the front on the other side of Deo. After the chicane and turn 4 there was a long stretch and Bill Ralph attacked the field. It was all or nothing in situations like this. Bill flew by Bruce on the other side of the road and Bruce was spent anyway. It was up to SBW to pull now. Marlon was doing a pretty good job of keeping a distance to Bill. Mike Birditt was Deo. Coming to the next to the last corner Paramount member Lee Romans decided to throw his ring into the race. He took off in chase of Bill Ralph. All good for Mike Birditt. Mike jumped wheels and now had a faster ride. Turning the last corner Bill was ahead by a ways but the pack was closing in on him. Lee Romans was the next to the last corner with Mike on his wheel. Mike looked down the straightaway and tried to gauge how far Bill was away and what effort it would take to over take him. Mike used his track form and hit it hard in the saddle.
Mike put the jets on he does have an extra jet speed in his legs. Mike hit a max speed of 38.6 mph which was the fastest of the speeds I checked of fellow riders. When Mike got 100 meters from the line he knew he was going to get it. He hadn't over taken Bill Ralph yet who was putting in a terrific effort. At less than 50 meters Mike came by Bill to win the 55+ race. Mike is still hot after winning 2 national championship jerseys at the track championships in Indianapolis in the scratch race(closest thing to a criterium on the track) and the 4 man team pursuit. This man has some skills! Like Ned(played by Paul Rudd) in the movie "My Idiot Brother" said to his former girlfriend(this gal is way funny in the new move "We're the Millers") "You know what. You know what. Wow!"

Mike Birditt with his Natz jersey. Nice going, Mike!

Mike follow fellow rider in the scratch race. 2 man break and Mike won the sprint.

With Mike in for the win Bill Ralph was just trying to hang on and I am sure in a whole lot of hurt. Deo Asuncion was hot on his tail and closing fast. You can see from the photo that Bill just beat Deo at the line for 2nd. Right after the line Deo passes him but it is too late. Deo is 3rd in 55+. Then a mass of 4 55+ riders come through with Cyril leading the gang of 4. Cyril was next to last with one lap to go. No worries I guess. Ricky hit 38.0 mph. After the gang of 4 Monty Pettus came in to win the 60+ race. Monty's top speed was 36.8 mph. I was a ways back at the turn and didn't take a good corner per Mike Fleming. Once I straighten up I saw the "Inland Strongman" John Roest. I thought I could take him as he got out of the saddle. I started my sprint out of the saddle and wasn't making much headway. I had to kick it up a notch and did get by John and then cruised in for 2nd place in 60+ with John taking 3rd. John was followed in by Mike Fleming and Howard Miller.
Nice payoffs by the host team. Thank you. I got $60 for 2nd place. Per an earlier declaration I am donating any winning from racing to animal rescue groups and had focused on Best Friends Animal Society but decided to spread it around. I gave half to Ghetto Rescue FFoundation in LA. They do some great work helping out animals in distress and helping people with spayed and neutering of their animals in certain areas of LA. I also gave $30 to Paw Protectors Rescue of Seal Beach. They do some great work as well. I found out about this group from Chris Lotts. He is an animal lover. He interfaces with animals better than humans and I think he would admit that. All of these groups are on Facebook.
It was a fun race that was well organized and run. Thank you to all that came out. No crashes and good competition. Full results below. Thanks to Alicia McKee for most of the photos and Make Yamakazi for one of the photos and the video of the finish which I have on my 55/60+ bike racing Facebook page. Put a like on it and you will get all the updates and stuff and there is lots of stuff. Well over 100 photos of the race plus the vid. That's all for now folks! Train hard and race safe!

Birditt wins!

Ralph holds on for 2nd place. Deo is 3rd in 55+.

Cyril is leading the pack of 4.

The pack of 4. Romans, Luedtke, Shorts and Hunte.

Pettus winning the 60+ race.

McKee besting Roest for 2nd in 60+.

55+ podium- Ralph 2, Birditt 1, Asuncion 3, Hunte 4.

60+ podium- McKee 2, Pettus 1 and Roest 3.

Torrance Criterium  (Rank 1.0)
Masters 55+
Place	License	Name	Team	SoCal Points
1	47255	Michael Birditt	SKLZ-Swami's Cycling Team	14
2	125834	William Ralph	Rokform/Rock N' Road	11
3	50532	Deogracias Asuncion	South Bay Wheelmen	10
4	52086	Cyril Hunte	Southern California Velo	9
5	52251	Ricky Shorts	Bahati Foundation p/b Major Motion Cycli	8
6	47262	Dale Luedtke	SKLZ-Swami's Cycling Team	7
7	110259	Lee Romans	Paramount Racing	6
8	64439	Nelson Alaan	Lightning Velo	5
9	54084	Lothar Cramer		4
10	34753	Rick Swanson	Southern California Velo	3
11	23303	Michael McConnell	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	2
12	107559	Rodney Malloy	Bahati Foundation-CA	1
13	49110	Rino Barbagiovanni	Santa Clarita Velo	0
14	271566	Alex Gonzalez	Bahati Foundation p/b Major Motion Cycli	0
Total # of riders	16

Torrance Criterium  (Rank 1.0)
Masters 60+
Place	License	Name	Team	SoCal Points
1	219074	Leo Pettus	OCW/Paramount Racing	14
2	180386	John McKee	Paramount Racing	11
3	277180	John Roest	Southern California Velo	10
4	129293	Michael Fleming	South Bay Wheelmen	9
5	49424	Howard Miller	OCW/Paramount Racing	8
6	3793	Raphael Gomez		7
7	170779	Edgardo Potes	Bike Palace	6
8	228631	James Swigart	ACQUA AL 2/SDBC	5
9	195498	Donald Kimper	UC Cyclery/JW Floors	4
10	12354	Kirk Freeman	CA Pools/ Primal	3
11	301363	Mick Iwadare	South Bay Wheelmen	2
12	140826	Robert Mosier	Bahati Foundation-CA	1
13	45763	Robert Paganini	PAA/REMAX	0
14	236498	Bruce Steele	South Bay Wheelmen	0
Total # of riders	14