1981 was the first year that the Cherry Pie Criterium was conducted in the parking lot of the Napa Junior College. When most heard about the new location for the race, it was believed that the promoters of the race must have been desperate to find a venue and that this was the best that they could do. As history would have it, this was (and is) its best course ever. To many, the Cherry Pie Criterium marks the start of the racing season. One nice attribute to this course is that one can see over ninety percent of it from the start/finish area, making it a joy for participants, spectators, referees and promoters alike.
My team arrived at the race healthy both in number and in strength. It was clear to me that the Berkeley Bicycle Club was going to dominate the race. Teammate Alex Osborne would be the man for me to support, and the man for others to beat. It is a great feeling when your team outranks all others in both quantity and quality. In fact, at least half of the team members were excellent candidates for a high placing in the race, but Alex was simply the best.
The race went unusually smoothly and rapidly for an early season race. A number of good riders attempted to get away on numerous occasions, but were quickly neutralized or swallowed by our team. This happened again and again. One guy who repeatedly went off the front by himself was clearly very strong, and I towed the entire pack up to him no less than three times after he had been off the front for more than a lap. I did not recognize him, and he was wearing a plain green jersey.
The race wound up very well. Nobody had gotten away, and when it came down to the sprint, our team was in command. One of my teammates gave Alex a scorching leadout, and I kept a dangerous sprinter trapped in a box until the last instant. Alex won by a healthy margin, Alex's leadout man finished not far behind, and I got fifth place. We were awesome!
While packing up after the race, the strong man in the green jersey agressively walked up to the car. He was steaming mad about something! No, he was mad at me! He was incomprehensible at first, and none of my teammates recognized him. We then found out that he was a member of our team. Whoa! This shocked us as none of us had never seen him before and he was obviously a very strong rider. But none of my teammates had heard of him, and he was not wearing a team jersey (category one and two riders are required to wear matching jerseys). He simply did not understand why we didn't know that he was on our team and why we persistently chased him down. He seemed to have decended from Mars, but unless his spaceship was ready for its return, we knew that this was not the last that we would see of him. I thought that we better get acquainted on better terms and asked him his hame again to which he replied, "F***, my name is Guy Gelband, God damn it!" Okay...