SPECIAL HAPPENINGS To all the members and friends of the FFBC Raceteam who lent a hand Dear Friends Many many thanks for all your hard work and support in helping make our first "downtown" race promotion in recent times a great success. The race planning began many many months ago and with a few weeks to go it was touch and go. But with a following wind, some luck and some sacrifice, the race happened and it happened with "style". The vast majority of The Raceteam, plus a select few club members and friends assembled at city hall at 06:00, some of us even before that. Coffees in hand we swung in to action, and it went so smoothly I was amazed. I always thought the sign of a well run project is the project manager sitting with his feet up, all jobs delegated to a team of trustworthy friends. And so it worked out. The hay bale team, the road cone team, the street barrier team, the registration crew and the finish area people all swiftly and happily went about there duties. In fact it went so well we had to slow down to accommodate the scheduled road closures. Joyce Tanaka gathered together a fantastic group of qualified first aiders, and it was a relief that the only customers they had were minor road rash cases in the morning. And our first race started exactly on time, with all marshals in place and the course properly marked. All day long the thanks and positive remarks came in, from riders, spectators, Celebrate Fremont committee member Gene Toy, the Fremont PD and the City of Fremont maintenance crew who set out the road closures and stayed to watch some racing as well. Also passing through was Annabel Holland, director of Fremont parks and leisure, and one of her fellow bosses at Fremont, Chuck Canada. All were impressed with the spectacle. I would like to make special thanks, in no particular order, to the following people. These guys and girls worked extra hard. Tim Bisson, big truck man and hay bale boss Richard Brockie, co-organizer, registration boss, City liaison, results master. Brian Meiers, co-organizer, sponsorship and finance warrior, who gathered the vast majority of our funding Jorge Rotea, co-organizer, equipment gatherer, truck rentals and NCNCA liaison Jason Sage, honorable race promoter, co-organizer, City liaison, sponsorship gathering and major player Kathleen Sage, loads of work behind the scenes and on the day and supporting Jason. Thanks for the bagels. Carl Anderson, trophy manufacturing Joyce Tanaka, queen of the first aid, who removed all my worries in that arena Christy, RB's s.o., who worked registration and kept RB focused Dan Brock, one of the clubs newest members, met him for the first time the week before the race and who worked ALL day, and is now nursing major sun burn. And also from the club, John G, Ted Burmas and his wife, again some of our newest members, Darryl and Sally Wilson, ultimate volunteers. Tim and Robin O'Hara, (sorry about lunch guys) Molly and Neil Michaelfelder, who manned the FFBC booth and who made the lunch run. Tom Simpson of Pillarcitos Cycle Sports, provider of the start finish truss, podium and backdrop, who commentated all day and really gave the event some polish. Jeff, the PA and our two way radio supplier. All in all, we had over over forty team and club members working throughout the day, a wonderful showing, and it gives me the tingles. Looking forward to next year already Garry Volunteer coordination and prize / prime master. Photos by W. Kageyama   Close this article