Nickman Pedals to Front Too Soon and Brady Wins

Roy Nickman, team player, bumped and fought and cranked in the pack for the first 49 laps of the inaugural All American Sportsclub Winter Bicycle Race in downtown Long Beach Sunday, so it was mildly surprising to see him distancing the field by 100 yards as he headed into the final lap.

In the parlance of bicycle racing, Nickman just launched. He launched past his teammates, past the field, past the expectations of the estimated crowd of 10,000 that lined Ocean Boulevard and Shoreline Drive.

In the process, he launched himself past the limits of his stamina and right out of the race.

As suddenly as he appeared, Nickman vanished. His lead, which grew to about 150 yards with a half-mile to go, evaporated in seconds as the field reeled him in. He finished in the pack, exhausted, his usually smooth cycling strained and awkward.

Gliding through as smoothly as he started was Ireland’s John Brady, who lives in Long Beach, to win the $1,500 first-place money.

“With three laps to go, I wanted to rest and I did,” said Brady, who was mobbed by fans at the start/finish line following the race. “With a lap to go, I moved up quickly. Once I came around the corner, I just went for it.”

Second, several bike-lengths behind, was Steve Edgar of Trexlertown, Pa., and close behind in third was Denmark’s Stig Larson.

As it turned out, January was tough on Nickman, who is from Ventura.

“This is the problem with this time of year,” Nickman said. “You’re used to riding a certain way, but then you’re not in shape at this time of year.

“I’d been riding for the (7-11) team, setting up my teammates . . . when we came out of the turn, we were clear. So I just launched and went for it.”

And suddenly there he was, tearing ahead of a field that included 1984 Olympic road-racing gold medalist Alexei Grewal, Davis Phinney and Steve Hegg, not to mention American sprinters Ken Carpenter and Nelson Vails.

“But then I hit that last hill,” Nickman said. “I knew I’d had it. The race was one quarter lap too long.”

For Nickman and most of the other racers, this January is warm-up time for the upcoming series of spring and summer events. Most riders claimed to be in poor shape, and some looked that way, including the popular Vails, who did not complete the race.

Brady, rather, was fresh. He crossed the line with arms in air. He had not gone for any of the primes--cash bonuses of up to $400 for winning certain laps--and that allowed him to go for the big money in the end. In cycling, anything over $1,000 is an ample purse.

“I haven’t signed with anyone (sponsor) yet for this season, so this should help,” Brady said.

Grewal flirted with the lead throughout and collected a $100 prime along the way, but seemed to tire in the last three laps and finished in the pack.

The women’s race, which was 25 laps as opposed to 50 for the men, featured several exciting runs for the primes and a distancing win by Betsy Davis of LaVallette, N.J.

Davis, who won a $200 prime early in the race, hung with the leaders throughout and then made a sudden burst on the last lap to finish far ahead of second-place Sandy Meister to win $1,000.

“I stopped pedaling 300 yards from the finish,” Davis shouted, unrestrained. “Nobody was even close to me. I don’t believe it. I’ve ridden ten days in the last six months.”

Third was Mindee Mayfield-Gurtis of Detroit. Rebecca Twigg and Bunki Bunkaitis-Davis both appeared faster than Betsy Davis at times during the race. But both admitted that going for primes burned out their chances at the end, and both finished in the pack.

“I just didn’t have the last oomph,” said Bunkaitis-Davis, who won three primes for $400 and was nicked by Twigg in another for $400 with three laps to go.

“I was thinking I should save myself for the end, but it was too late to happen,” said Twigg of the run for the $400. “I had already gone for it.”

Twigg, of South Pasadena, was the top prime winner with two for $700.