Results from tonight's Super Windy Chico Airport Criterium..............

Whoa - THAT was one windy Airport Criterium tonight!! I have not seen a race that windy since the last time I raced at the Zamora Road Race! But, even with the wind, we had 24 riders come out to take part in tonight's Criterium - thank you ALL for suffering through that one! Remember - what doesn't kill ya, makes ya stronger......or so they say. Anyway, hope that Crit helped!

Tonight had two amazing races. The Category "B" race saw Charlie Pelton take off from the pack early in the race for a solo breakaway. He battled the wind and the race, alone - picking up Primes left and right - and before long......he had lapped the field solo!! Way to go Charlie!! That was quite a display out there!! Mike Crumm, Shawn Hughes and Janine Rood finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th respectively - with Janine also taking the Women's Category win!

The Category "A" event saw a 3-person breakaway take off from the pack, consisting of David Albrecht, Jeff Galland and Paul Sajben. Just before the race ended, these three riders had gone and lapped the field. In the finishing sprint, it was Jeff Galland taking the victory over David Albrecht, Paul Sajben - and a hard-charging Josh Bullock taking 4th place!

I would like to thank Steve Vickery at the Madison Bear Garden for donating BEAR BUCKS for Prime Prizes for tonight's Criterium - for every 1 Prime Point that was won, 1 Bear Buck was also given away! And, as you can see from the results below, we gave away quite a few Primes tonight! Thank you Steve and Madison Bear Garden for donating to the event!! Looks like Charlie and Jeff will be buying the next round of beers!!

Also, I would like to thank Mike Crumm for bringing out Clif Bars for the Clif Bar Primes won by Charlie Pelton and David Albrecht tonight!!

Okay, below are the Category Results from tonight's event - and below that section are the Current Overall Standings in the 2009 Airport Criterium Series. Thank you all again for coming out to this one - and we'll do this one again next Tuesday evening! AND - don't forget that we'll be doing the LONG COURSE AIRPORT CRITERIUM this Sunday afternoon!!

CATEGORY "A" RESULTS for the 4-14-2009 Airport Criterium:
1. Jeff Galland (7 points + 11 Prime Points + 1 = 19 points)
2. David Albrecht (5 points + 6 Prime Points + 1 = 12 points)
3. Paul Sajben (4 points + 6 Prime Points + 1 = 11 points)
4. Josh Bullock (3 points + 3 Prime Points + 1 = 7 points)
5. Rob Bishop (2 points + 4 Prime Points + 1 = 7 points)
6. Roy Steves (1 point + 1 = 2 points)
7. Weston Crumm (4 Prime Points + 1 = 5 points)
8. Mike Painter (5 Prime Points + 1 = 6 points)
9. Charlie Dawson 1 point
10. Mike Trowbridge (3 Prime Points + 1 = 4 points)
11. Greg Golet 1 point
12. Margaret Jones (2 Prime Points + 1 = 3 points)
Pack Finish:
Jeff Ochs 1 point
Mike Cordova 1 point
Michael Jasinski 1 point
Ben Bryant 1 point
Michael Dufresne 1 point

CATEGORY "B" RESULTS for the 4-14-2009 Airport Criterium:
1. Charlie Pelton (7 points + 14 Prime Points + 1 = 22 points)
2. Mike Crumm (5 points + 3 Prime Points + 1 = 9 points)
3. Shawn Hughes (4 points + 4 Prime Points + 1 = 9 points)
4. Janine Rood (7 points + 4 Prime Points + 1 = 12 points) - 1st Place in Women's Category!!
5. Rob Glatthaar (3 points + 1 Prime Point + 1 = 5 points)
6. James Gilchrist (2 points + 1 = 3 points)
7. Colin Moakley (1 point + 1 = 2 points)

2009 AIRPORT CRITERIUM SERIES CURRENT OVERALL STANDINGS:

Category "A" OVERALL:
1. David Albrecht 72 points
2. Jeff Galland 56 points
3. Mike Trowbridge 44 points
4. Mike Smith 40 points
5. Michael Jasinski 28 points
6. Alex Blease 26 points
7. Roy Steves 23 points
8. Mike Cordova 20 points
9. Tim Creswell 14 points
10. James Plummer 13 points
11. Paul Sajben 12 points
12. Margaret Jones 11 points (1st Place Woman in Category "A")
13. Kevin Speacht 10 points
14. Anthony Ferretti 9 points
15. Josh Bullock 7 points
15. Rob Bishop 7 points
15. Dave Berman 7 points
15. Kyle Hartelt 7 points
15. Ryan Olson 7 points
20. Mike Painter 6 points
20. Evan Carroll 6 points
22. Weston Crumm 5 points
22. Ben Bryant 5 points
22. Greg Melton 5 points
25. Jesse Rushing 4 points
25. Charlie Dawson 4 points
25. Greg Golet 4 points
25. Jeff Ochs 4 points
29. Jason Ziegenhirt 3 points
29. Kenny Price 3 points
31. Geno Gruber 2 points
31. Janeen Thorpe 2 points
31. Brad Foster 2 points
34. Michael Dufresne 1 point
35. Steve Vickery 1 point
36. Dain Melton 1 point
37. Dan Reymann 1 point
38. Kurt Haskins 1 point
39. Mike Castaldo 1 point
40. Tom Embree 1 point

CATEGORY "B" OVERALL:
1. Shawn Hughes 48 points
2. Charlie Pelton 42 points
3. Mike Crumm 41 points
4. Matt Itamura 39 points
5. Frank Marinello 30 points
6. David Klein 21 points
6. Michael Dufresne 21 points
8. Joe Schlesinger 16 points
9. Dain Melton 14 points
10. Colin Moakley 13 points
11. Denny McKenney 11 points
12. Tom Embree 9 points
13. Rob Glatthaar 8 points
13. Ray Bransky 8 points
15. David Weathers 7 points
16. Samuel Bransky 5 points
16. BJ LaRossa 5 points
16. Jeff Ochs 5 points
19. Clay Johnson 4 points
19. Brian Strukan 4 points
21. James Gilchrist 3 points
21. Jeff Davis 3 points
23. Adam Tischler 2 points
23. Christopher Cook 2 points
23. Mark Hendry 2 points
26. Johnny Jones 1 point
27. Walt Schafer 1 point
28. Gary Fowler 1 point
29. John Wiesinger 1 point
30. Tom Murphy 1 point
31. Greg Melton 1 point
32. Paul Begbie 1 point

WOMEN'S CATEGORY OVERALL:
1. Lisa Martens 23 points
2. Jenn Gruber 16 points
3. Janine Rood 12 points
3. Tracy Berman 12 points
5. Christa Ritchey 7 points
5. Margaret Jones 7 points
7. Caryn Jones 5 points
8. Amy Dawson 1 point
9. Teresa Kludt 1 point
10. Kristen Schonauer 1 point
11. Shirley Huffman 1 point

AIRPORT CRITERIUM SERIES INFORMATION:

After the great turn-out at last year's Tuesday Night Chico Airport Criterium Series, we're going to be doing them again for 2009......but starting up a bit earlier this year. For those curious, the definition of "Criterium" is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criterium

This Series starts up next Tuesday, March 10th and will go through September 15th, 2009......just before our Chico Downtown Criterium on September 20th! Registration normally starts at 5:40pm - with the event starting at 6:00pm.

How does it work???

Okay, here are a few notes for this year's Airport "Crit" Series:

1. We will be using more than 1 course for the Crits this year......including throwing in some lefty-turn Crits to get a feel for those - and some Weekend Criteriums as well. For the time being, we'll be using our standard Tuesday Night righty-turn course starting/finishing at Convair Avenue - http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Chico-Airport-Tuesday-Night-Crit-Course

2. ALL riders must sign in this year - There will be a small table on the sidewalk at the Start/Finish location on Convair Avenue - just sign in at the table and you are good to go! Sign-ins start at 5:40pm - the racing action starts at 6:00pm. We usually end the event by 7pm, at the latest - many times earlier than that - to get home before it gets too dark outside. RAIN AND WET PAVEMENT WILL ALWAYS CANCEL THE CRITERIUMS! In addition, last year we had some tremendous smoke from the Humboldt Fire in this area......which, in turn, would also cancel the Criteriums due to hazardous air quality.

3. The Category "B" races normally go for 45 minutes PLUS 3 laps.........while the Category "A" races go for 50-60 minutes PLUS 3 laps. There can be anywhere from 1 to 15+ Primes in the Airport Criteriums......just depends on the mood of the Dictator.....er......I mean, Director. ;)

4. Helmets are MANDATORY! So, please....please.....wear your helmet! Please!!

5. All are welcome - you don't have to do the Series - just come on out and give this Criterium training/riding a shot! It's amazing what kind of workout you can get in during a 45 to 60 minute practice event.

6. Points are used to calculate the Overall Standings in the Series. The point breakdown is as follows: 7-5-4-3-2-1, with an additional 1 point being given to each participant at each event. So, 7 points goes to the winner, 5 points goes to 2nd place, 4 points goes to 3rd place and so on.........in addition to 1 more point just for doing the event. The rider with the MOST points at the end of the Series wins the Overall Title - and the Chico Airport Series Championship Trophy, plus whatever goodies we can give you. Also, Prime points will be given out during each of the Crits - these are just lap prizes......but in this case, the prizes are points. We will also be having some product Primes out there this year!

7. Last year, we had just two categories during the races - Category A and Category B. However, the Series itself has even more Trophy Categories, including:

Category "A" Men
Women's Category
Women's Masters 40+ Category
Category "B" Men
Men's Masters 40+ Category
Men's Masters 50+ Category

These are the Categories which all qualify for a Series Championship Trophy. If nobody - or very few folks are in one category - we may eliminate it and add an additional category where the numbers allow it. As usual, sandbaggers are strongly discouraged ( A Sandbagger would be a Category "A" rider entering a Category "B" event).

8. Although donations to put on these events are always very appreciated and accepted, this Series is FREE - so come on out and take advantage of some, or all, of these Criteriums in 2009!

9. Finally, remember - these Criterium events are essentially for practice and exercise - we have fun out there and get a great little workout in, and we get to work on some quality cycling skills. But, overall, they're no big whoop....no World Championship/Olympic medals or million dollar contracts on the line. So, with that in mind, just treat 'em as such - a good training event to try some new things, gain some good fitness.....and maybe even get into a "real" sanctioned Criterium at some point in time. Or not. Just have fun with it!! We'll have trophies and hopefully some prizes for the Series winners - and definitely loads of fun....and pain and suffering. ;) But remember - it's all in good fun!

Hope to see you out there!!

Rodney............
Team Chico & R.A.C.E. - Rodney's Annoying Cycling Events
Chico, CA
www.ChicoBike.com