FGBC: Altona Race Report

Sunday, March 05, 2006

Altona Race Report

Good times at the first ever FGBC race held out of town. The Altona crew put on quite a show. Cool prizes (including urination devices, DVDs, and a martini set), rink dogs galore, and an FGBC-style stage race: a bike race followed by a knockdown. Mr. Sawatzky and Co. deserve another turn at hosting. And they deserve more serious consideration from Winnipeg folks wary of making the long, bumpy trip to the deep south.

The race portion of the event was short and fast, featuring highlights of the heralded Altona "trails system," a snow-covered mountain, and a bridge crossing. A perfect course for the red Raleigh Ltd., which is to say minimal bike handling skills were required. Just pedal hard and go. Stage 1 results were as follows:

Chris
Johnny G
Curt
Johnny S
Jeff R
Cheryl
David S
Brenda
Rachel

Where's the Duker?

Stage 2 was the knockdown--Altona style, which is to say in a cage, with no fixed direction, and with knocked-down riders and wandering toddlers serving as obstacles: 7 rounds with the top three finishers in each round scoring points to be combined with the race. After switching the Softride for his townie bike, Johnny S. proved once again to be the king of the knockdown. He won three and never finished lower than third. The big loser of the knockdown was Johnny G, still reeling from trying to race with his brakes engaged on his back wheel, perhaps. He failed to get any points during the knockdown portion and as a result was knocked down and off the podium, dropping from 2nd place to 4th. Johnny S., as predicted, rocketed upwards. But not quite high enough. In fact, though it only became clear well after the fact, it all came down to the final round, where I beat Johnny in a knockdown for the first time ever and held on to first place overall by a mere point. Johnny S. took 2nd, and Curt rounded out the podium for 3rd place.

Overall standings

9th place - Brenda Schritt (8th in race, 0 knockdown points)
8th place - Cheryl Koop (6th in race, 0 knockdwon points)
6th place (tie) - David Sawatzky (7th in race, 3 knockdown points)
- Rachel Klassen-Huebner (9th in race, 5 knockdown points)
5th place - Jeff Rempel (5th in race, 0 knockdwon points)
4th place - Jon Koop-Guenther (2nd in race, 0 knockdwon points)
3rd place - Curt Falk (3rd in race, 10 knockdown points)
- prize pack included assorted DVD's, insulated coffee mug and strap-on urination bag
2nd place - Jonny Sawatzky (4th in race, 16 knockdown points) (mildly disputed due to vague ruling on single bike entry)
- prize pack included assorted DVD's, Manchurian Candidate DVD, strap-on urination bag, home spa
1st place - Chris Klassen-Huebner (1st in race, 8 knockdown points)
- prize pack included assorted DVD's, THE WHO LIVE DVD collection, portable martini set and CD

Oh yeah . . . there was a basketball game of sorts too. The Devils lost to the Heels. Uggh. Hopefully they'll be pissed but refocused and ready to play in the tournament. Or else what looked like it was shaping up to be a dream season is heading for a disappointing finish. Get ready for the annual March Madness pool.