Gearing Up
The Los Gatos Bicycle Racing Club has been organizing the Cat's Hill Criterium for 28 years in the Almond Grove district
By Sandy Sims
Photographs by George Sakkestad
Robert Gaggiolli flew all the way from Italy to ride his bike up the Nicholson Avenue grade in Los Gatos. Gaggiolli and some 400 other cyclists, decked out in helmets and latex, bicycles at the ready, gathered on a glorious Saturday morning May 11 in the historic Almond Grove district for the 28th annual Cat's Hill Criterium.
Organized by the Los Gatos Bicycle Racing Club, the Cat's Hill Criterium is one of the best-known cycling races in the country and one of only a few criteriums in Northern California.
A criterium is a lap race on a course, typically a mile or shorter, with many turns. The Cat's Hill race, which loops around charming little homes in Los Gatos, draws professional cyclists and teams from around the world. Scouts even come out to look over youngsters for future winning stock.
In fact, Cat's Hill was a favorite of Greg LeMond, three-time Tour de France winner and three-time world champion. LeMond's agent, Warren Gibson, a Los Gatos resident, watched this year's bicycles whiz by and by and by as they lapped the course down Tait, Bean and Massol avenues and up the Nicholson Avenue grade, then down Belmont and Bachman avenues, and back to Tait.
This course is not for beginners.
"It's too scary," says Barry Gordon, president of the Los Gatos Bicycle Racing Club. "You have to be very skilled to ride a criterium. Going around corners, you have to accelerate and brake, and if something happens, 50 people can go down," he says.
He explains that bicycle racers ride in a tight pack called a peleton in order to take advantage of the draft created by the lead rider. Teams use the peleton as part of a strategy to win, putting one of the team members at the front to slow the pack down so that another team member can pull out ahead.
"The guys in the peleton save energy because they don't have to work as hard as the leader," Gordon says.
Later in the race, they all try to sprint to the front.
Climbing up the 23 percent Nicholson Avenue grade is a tough go for cyclists competing in the Cat's Hill Criterium.
The critical part of the Cat's Hill race is right after the left turn off Massol Avenue, when the grueling 23 percent grade up Nicholson Avenue begins. That's what's called the Cat's Hill. Racers come out a month ahead of the race and practice the turn and the climb up the hill. Gordon says a rider must be in the right gear heading into the hill because it's too tough to change gears on the hill.
There were 10 categories of racers in the event, each race with its own number of laps--from three for youngsters and up to 35 for professionals.
"This year we had no injuries," Gordon says. "Usually, we send at least two to the Community Hospital of Los Gatos," he says. The hospital is one of the race's sponsors.
Eric Wohlberg, from Ontario, Canada, won first place in the men's professional category by 1.5 laps. He hit the top of the hill the most times and was the first to the top of the hill each lap, all of which added up to his winning a trip to Hawaii. Gaggiolli, winner of the national professional championship in Philadelphia, came in seventh in the Cat's Hill this year.
Karen Brems (formerly Kurreck), a former Bay Area Olympian, won first place in the women's professional category. She also won the Cat's Hill in 1994, '96, '98 and 2000.
The Los Gatos Bicycle Racing Club is well-respected in the bicycle-racing world, and was recently named regional club of the year by U.S.A. Cycling and the U.S. Cycling Federation. The club is located in region five--an area that includes Northern California and Nevada--which is the biggest region in the country. The Los Gatos club is the only amateur U.S. club to be invited to the Tour de Suisse Femine, the biggest women's race in the world.
Karen Brems (Kurreck), this year's winner of the women's professional category in the Cat's Hill Criterium, makes her way up the grueling Nicholson Avenue grade.
Winners of the Cat's Hill Criterium
The competitors come to the race categorized according to their level of competitive skill, beginning with level 5 for men and level 4 for women, up through level 1, then to professional-level skill. Espoir racers are men ages 19-23 who are up and coming.
Winners
Categories--pros,1,2, Espoir (84 competing)
Eric Wohlberg
David Fuentes
David McCook
Women
Categories 1,2,3 (24 competing)
Karen Brems
Heidi Witherell
Sandra Kolb
Women
Categories 3,4 (23 competing)
Jamie Crawford
Catherine Malone
Davis Freitas from Stanislaus, who competed in the Junior 10-12 category of the Cat's Hill Criterium, gets a little boost up the Nicholson Avenue grade.
Juniors
Boys
10-12 (3 competing)
Daniel Tisdell
Davis Freitas
13-14 (8 competing)
Kevin Eriksson
Daniel Griffin
Easton Menez
15-16 (7 competing)
Adam Switters
Sheen Yen
Daniel Holloway
17-18 (8 competing)
Nathan Miller
Brad Harter
Duke Schimmer
This man lying on the sidewalk is getting a low-profile view of the Cat's Hill race as the cyclists grind up the 23 percent grade of Nicholson Avenue.
Girls
10-12 (3 competing)
Elissa Taylor
Erika Puglia
Kelsey Freitas
13-14 (3 competing)
Emily Valkenaar
Dawn Tisdell
Samantha Fox
15-16 (1 competing)
Jeanne Eriksson
17-18 (1 competing)
Tracie Nelson
Men's Master 35+
Categories--1,2,3 (46 competing)
Don Langley
Michael Hutchinson
Mike Audley
Categories--4,5 (56 competing)
Wayne Puckett
Paul Roeder
Tomas Morris
Professional cyclists in the Cat's Hill Criterium are at their highest speed making a right from Bachman Avenue onto Tait Avenue.
Men's Seniors
Category 3 (45 competing)
Michael Moore
Carl Hekkert
Billy Clark Jr.
Category 4 (49 competing)
Adam Switters
Jonathan Baker
Jean-Luc Callahan
Category 5 (11 competing)
Tim Brackett
Nick Todd
Brian Levering
Los Gatos, California Since 1881
Eric Wohlberg, from Ontario, Canada, claims first place by 1.5 laps in the Cat's Hill Criterium. 
