One note about Saturday Afternoon's Criterium..................

Hi Everyone! Just one note/change about this SATURDAY's 5:00pm Airport Long-Course Criterium: This event is going to be short, but painful....er.....sweet!! The "A" Category event will go for 40 minutes PLUS 3 laps........while the Category "B" event will go for 35 minutes PLUS 3 laps. One catch though - the winner of EACH lap(except the final lap) receives a 2-point Prime. So, the shorter event could be quite the workout - and possibly change some of the standings in the Series.(Yes, yes - I know - I'm evil.)

Saturday, May 16th - Airport LONG-COURSE Criterium (using the 1-Mile course for this afternoon Criterium) - We'll be using the NEW Criterium Course for this event - the 1-Mile Chico Airport Long-Course. Registration will open at 4:45pm for this one, with the Start at 5:00pm. The course Starts & Finishes on Marauder Street.......over by the old Koret building on the north end of the Airport. A map of this course can be found here:

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Airport-Criterium-Long-Course .

This event DOES count towards the 2009 Chico Airport Criterium Series. Expect lots of Point Primes. This new course has a little elevation gain to it as well - not much, but just enough to feel it. Category "A" will go for 40 Minutes PLUS 3 laps(remember - the course is 1-mile in length). Category "B" will go for 35 Minutes PLUS 3 laps. HELMETS ARE MANDATORY! RAIN OR WET PAVEMENT WILL CANCEL THIS EVENT!! (Part of the 2009 Chico Airport Criterium Series!)

2009 AIRPORT CRITERIUM SERIES CURRENT OVERALL STANDINGS:

Category "A" OVERALL:
1. Jeff Galland 150 points
2. David Albrecht 112 points
3. Mike Trowbridge 81 points
4. Alex Blease 60 points
5. Mike Smith 59 points
6. Roy Steves 33 points
6. Michael Jasinski 33 points
8. Mike Cordova 30 points
9. Kevin Speacht 28 points
10. Tim Creswell 27 points
11. Paul Sajben 26 points
12. Greg Golet 21 points
13. James Plummer 20 points
14. Margaret Jones 16 points (1st Place Woman in Category "A")
15. Brad Foster 15 points
16. Jeff Ochs 12 points
17. Ryan Olson 10 points
17. Aren Timmel 10 points
17. Rob Bishop 10 points
20. Kyle Hartelt 9 points
20. Anthony Ferretti 9 points
22. Charlie Dawson 8 points
22. Ethan Black 8 points
22. Paul McIntyre 8 points
25. Steve Vickery 7 points
25. Geno Gruber 7 points
25. Josh Bullock 7 points
25. Dave Berman 7 points
29. Ben Bryant 6 points
29. Mike Painter 6 points
29. Evan Carroll 6 points
32. Weston Crumm 5 points
32. Greg Melton 5 points
34. Jason Ziegenhirt 4 points
34. Jesse Rushing 4 points
36. Randy Moon 3 points
36. Mike Castaldo 3 points
36. Kenny Price 3 points
39. CJ Humphries 2 points
39. Janeen Thorpe 2 points
39. Michael Dufresne 2 points
42. Jim Clark 1 points
43. Morgan Bonar 1 point
44. Dain Melton 1 point
45. Dan Reymann 1 point
46. Kurt Haskins 1 point
47. Tom Embree 1 point

CATEGORY "B" OVERALL:
1. Shawn Hughes 116 points
2. Matt Itamura 81 points
3. Tom Embree 72 points
4. Charlie Pelton 69 points
5. Michael Dufresne 60 points
6. Frank Marinello 46 points
7. Mike Crumm 45 points
8. David Klein 27 points
9. Scott Heather 22 points
10. Denny McKenney 16 points
10. David Weathers 16 points
10. Joe Schlesinger 16 points
13. Colin Moakley 14 points
13. Dain Melton 14 points
15. Rob Glatthaar 9 points
16. Ray Bransky 8 points
17. BJ LaRossa 6 points
17. Kareem Speake 6 points
19. Tom Murphy 5 points
19. Sandy Speake 5 points
19. Adam Tischler 5 points
19. Samuel Bransky 5 points
19. Jeff Ochs 5 points
24. Jim Mensching 4 points
24. David Dura 4 points
24. Clay Johnson 4 points
24. Brian Strukan 4 points
28. Jim Clark 3 points
28. James Gilchrist 3 points
28. Jeff Davis 3 points
28. John Wiesinger 3 points
32. Christopher Cook 2 points
32. Mark Hendry 2 points
34. Skip Lees 1 point
35. Ken Petruzzelli 1 point
36. Jon Keyzer 1 point
37. Shawn Fisher 1 point
38. Steve Kodad 1 point
39. John D'Ewart 1 point
40. Johnny Jones 1 point
41. Walt Schafer 1 point
42. Gary Fowler 1 point
43. Greg Melton 1 point
44. Paul Begbie 1 point

WOMEN'S CATEGORY OVERALL:
1. Lisa Martens 42 points
2. Tracy Berman 27 points
3. Margaret Jones 25 points
4. Jenn Gruber 22 points
5. Janine Rood 20 points
6. Morgan Bonar 12 points
7. Christa Ritchey 7 points
8. Caryn Jones 10 points
9. Amy Dawson 1 point
10. Teresa Kludt 1 point
11. Kristen Schonauer 1 point
12. 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 Awful Cycling Events
Chico, CA
www.ChicoBike.com