The 2021 La Verne Grand Prix: Kings of the Road

"The bicycles go by in twos and threes -

There's a dance in Billy Brennan's barn tonight,

And there's the half-talk code of mysteries

And the wink-and-elbow language of delight...

A road, a mile of kingdom. I am king

Of banks and stones and every blooming thing."

(Inniskeen Road: July Evening, Patrick Kavanagh) 

Did anyone happen to notice it was cooler this morning? Naw, I didn't think so. If you weren't racing, you were probably jumping up and down and yelling encouragements for your favorite racer. Either way, I'm guessing you were still working up a sweat. I mean, clouds in July mean only one thing, right? High humidity. True we got that, but we also got some fine racing to go with it.

I've got to tell you, I have been waiting a long time for this day, a day with a race a short enough distance away for a comfortable ride to where the action was. The place was the next burg to the west and Majestic Cycling, after a years' delay, was finally able to host their La Verne Grand Prix. From the women cat. 3/4/novice who started things off at the noon hour, to the men cat. 5, and all the way up, racers came from across the region to make this mile section of road their kingdom for a day.

After Friday's hike-a-thon, I wasn't going to be on my feet all day Saturday, so I only caught the first few races; that is my loss since, from what I have seen elsewhere, the action remained hot for the remainder of the day, and into the night as well.

Women Cat 3: 1st Tina Grant (Velo Club La Grange), 2nd Melissa Haley (Los Angeles Bicycle Club), 3rd Courtney Wiseman (Go Fast)

Women Cat 4: 1st Taisha Walker (unatt), 2nd Camila Arenas. (Los Angeles Bicycle Academy), 3rd Erin Morten (unatt)

Cat 5: 1st Mateo Diaz (unatt), 2nd Paolo Panganiban (Velo Club La Grange), Mario Nava (unatt)

Cat 3/4: 1st Brockton Smith (Team Velosport), 2nd Andrew Stallings, 3rd Kyle Kilmartin

Masters 55+: 1st Bart Clifford (E-Voke Racing), 2nd Jon Nist (Monster Racing), 3rd Tony Smith

Masters 60+: 1st Douglas Pomeranz (Davis Phinney Foundation), 2nd Chris Jaggers (Southern California Velo, 3rd Thurlow Rogers (Davis Phinney Foundation)

complete results list is here

This is not the first time the course has been used for racing, and while it ain't a downtown criterium drawing curious passers-by in to see what the heck is going on, the nicely paved streets, many smooth turns, straight shot to the line, big shade trees, and the offerings of local food and beverage vendors make the La Verne Grand Prix one of the better crits in the region. Much effort clearly went into organizing the race, so the banner proclaiming "Home of USA Crits 2022" will be a well-deserved honor. Assuming that comes off as planned, it will be a worthy testament to Alfie and Majestic who have been building this for some time, as well as a boon to the city of La Verne. If you have never seen a USA Crit, check out a video of a past race - they bring in massive crowds lining downtown streets everywhere they take place, all across the country. Good job all who contributed their time and effort.

more photos in yonder Google album.