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CLUB MEMBER SPOTLIGHT Race Team report – January 2006 That was the year that was… the year in review. 2005 was a good year for the FFBC Race Team with a number of notable achievements, on both the racing and the organizational front. During the early season, we were fortunate to grow our numbers – to a peak of 30 riders in mid-season. Of the new members, we knew that Chris Coble was strong when he started riding with us last winter.
This was confirmed when Chris won the cat 5 event at the Snelling Road Race in February. Chris upgraded to the 4’s and it didn’t take long for him to find his legs, culminating with a second win at the Patterson Pass Road Race in August. Needless to say, Chris joined the ranks of the cat 3’s shortly afterwards and achieved a top 10 result at the San Ardo Road Race before the close of the season. After a hard winter of training, the cat 3 team of Garry Birch, Brian Ziegler & Richard Brockie were ready to rock and roll in a big way this season. After some promising early season rides, Richard’s broken bones sustained in his crash at the velodrome in April knocked a large hole in his season, but to make up for it, Brian Ziegler had a stellar year in the 3’s in 2005, ably supported by Garry whenever possible.
Ziggy won 3 races in 2005, the first, at the Clover Santa Rosa Criterium, was a spectacular breakaway where Brian used his varied breakaway partners to good effect to solo to victory. Victory 2 was at the EMC/Documentum Criterium in Pleasanton with a more traditional bunch sprint victory. The highlight however must be Ziggy’s win in our very own Fremont Freewheelers Criterium – our first home win on the Stevenson/Eureka course! Ziggy then upgraded to cat 2 and now has the distinct pleasure of racing against the local professional racers with our other cat 2 rider, Robert “Biker Bob” Russell. Other riders to upgrade in 2005 were Don Goodhew, German Villa and Jorge Rotea who all joined the ranks of the cat 4 squad. Our 2005 criterium broke a notable milestone with over 400 participants for the first time. Our race is now firmly established on the NCNCA racing calendar and we are in the process of exploring exciting possibilities for the event in 2006. Watch this space for news when we have it. We look set to continue our success in 2006. With a solid base of riding in our legs through the winter months we should be ready for the new season when it starts in February… Happy New Year everyone, and keep the rubber side down. |
