February 4 - CCCX Circuit Race, Seaside
Race website and Results

Masters 35+ 1/2/3 and Pro/1/2/3 report by Michael Hernandez, SAFEWAY/GA Communications

A smilin' hernando Photo by Sabine Dukes

Masters 35+ 1/2/3

The CCCX evil crew put on a sinful little circuit-uous race out at the Fort Ord demilitarized zone. The loop was a 3 mile slug-fest of wonderfully challenging terrain. There were kicker climbs to provide quadricep punishment (repeated-like) and long drags of false-flats and head-wind downhills to tempt the tempo-beasts. And, the temperatures were hovering in the perfectly civilized mid-60's on the F'inheit scale.

It was a little packet of sweetness tied up in a bow.

The Geezers race went first and the unSafeWay boys went to work. After a lap of attackey & counter-attackey, a wee group of 4 got away from the pack. It was Reedimus Maximus and Kyle Glare-um with me for the MIB vs a lone rider from the San Jose Bike Club. It was a guy I'd never seen before but became EXTREMELY impressed with by the end of the race. What a class rider.

His name is Chris Wire and apparently he rode the road back in the (not so distant) day with Caldwellian and other local legends. Very, very cool cat.

Kyle Glerum puts in a solid race Photo by Sabine Dukes

Anyway, our Geezer-break went on the second circuit and we averaged very fast and consistent lap times. Kyle was especially yummy as he bridged across to the break as it was forming ... in what I must call a 'pure act of studliness.' You see, we three were motoring along pretty briskly (hell ... Reed was ripping my legs off!) when Kyle came across the gap.

Man-size.

Since the San Jose rider (Chris Wire) was so class and hip, we four rotated through all gentleman-like until the final half-lap. Reed, Kyle and I started hitting him with the attack/counter-attack mambo, but Mr. Wire stuck like the glue. After the 3rd attack I was starting to really like this guy. After he covered the 5th attack, I just started to cry with joy. I hope this brudda rides every single race - 'cause he's got that kind of coolio in his stride.

The breakaway companions work the hill Photo by Sabine Dukes

Anyway, our little group came to the final turn of the course and were looking at a dasturdly little 350 meter uphill drag to the line. San Jose Chris jumped through the corner to lead out the sprint ... and I will go ahead and ask everyone to apply a duplicate "studliness" descriptor to that act.

What bravery.

I hopped on his wheel and had to come around him in the final 50 meters for the win. In a 3 against 1 scenario - he nailed a 2nd. That's about as good as you can get. I was soooo impressed. AND, he was all nicey-nicey and cracked a couple jokes with us afterwards. Pure class. Reed and Kyle were third and fourth with the Pasconator (Robert Pasco) cleaning up for fifth with an excellent pack sprint effort. We were happy. "Yay" for the unSafeWay boys.

Pro/1/2/3

After the Geezers race, most of us hung out for the youngin's event. Same bit of early shenanigans occured with an eventual break of five getting away. Taylor Tolleson was there again with Pat "what's that smell?" Briggs riding a bit friendly with him. There was also a very cool cat from the Gatos named Sam Pickman in the break, as well as this total hammer-head toughie, John "cadence of 5" Gill. That dude has massive leg strength.

We road along fairly well in the race... but, this move definitely didn't have the cohesion of the Geezer's break - so our lap times jumped around a bit. Overall, it was a good training day, but we could have been a bit faster if we weren't all kind of interested in winning the race. I mean, the CCCX darkmen, Keith and Rod, had put together some cash for the top-3 ... so, we might as well put on a show for them, eh?

And so, during the final couple of laps we started punching the fun-bag. I threw down my digs to try and solo it to the line, but them youngins were too feisty. Taylor made an excellent counter off of Briggs chasing me down with a K to go. I saw the move and gave the little super-model a thumbs up of approval. Briggs didn't waste any time on my wheel and jumped me, too. Sigh. We three time trialed each other for the final kilometer and would finish in that order. Kyle Glerum would do another big effort and solo away from the chase pack for the final 2 laps, snagging a top 6. Nice.

Endgame? ~ a good day of race-training. No real poetic license given to this account - just thought I'd spread the narrative a bit to those interested.

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