Not the Chuck Pontius Memorial Criterium

I had every intention of going out to Santa Clarita this morning for the annual Chuck Pontius Memorial Criterium. As sometimes happens though, those intentions were actually hope in disguise, and hope just was not enough to get it done.

The last time I was out at the Chuck Pontius race was 1995. The previous year I had moved up to the front with five laps to go; lap four came and went in usual fashion, but then with three to go the bunch started to snake around, from one side of the road to the other; when I collided (but didn't go down) with another racer who I, according to the journal, blamed for being "out of sync with the snake" I got cold feet and backed out of the finish. Aw well...

picking up in 1995: "Both Chris and myself were the designated leaders, though Mitch was also in the race along with Nelson, Bill and Carrie. As a team we always had someone up front which made a good impression... Mitch was first, about half way through, and lasted for a few laps (he ended up taking 4th and won $70.00 on the day). I went with one other racer with 5 laps to go and were away for two laps when we were joined by another guy for another lap before we were caught." Meh, I could get away before the finish, but at the finish was another matter.

Anyway, Chuck Pointius was out this year, but as I was mucking around out in the garage in the morning I heard the unmistakable ding, ding, ding of a bicycle bell from up the drive. Poking my head out the door I saw the little drama told by this sequence of photos:

Ha, ha, that is a severely undersized bike there...

oh, its our neighbor Ling Fong and his grandma...

"you're not doing too good, grandma...

let me help. I'll give you a push...

oooff, that's not working...

this way is the best. Love you grandma! 👵 "