NorCal Cycling News – Cycling and Racing in Northern California

FROM Roger Worthington … the head screwnut down there in Dana Point:
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Racers and Race Fans:

Huddle up. We’re only five days from kick-off. The DPGP team is mobilized. The set up crew is poised and ready. Our volunteers are caffeinating. The kids are carbo- loading. The podie girls are fasting. The pros are tapering. The sponsors are primed to throw down cash and product. The City of Dana Point’s welcome wagon is loaded up with goods and beer.

With apologies to Eminem: Our palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy…

Snap back to reality! The clock’s ticking. Months of hard work on the line. Hundreds of hours donated. Neighbors, motorists and local merchants on high alert. Cancer survivors and advocates massing at the gates. Beer, burgers, swag, hay bales, trinkets, gallons of hand-sanitizer and celebs in route.

This is the BIG DADDY. The 5th Annual Dana Point Grand Prix. A six corner, wide open speedfest on historic Pacific Coast Highway (Del Prado) in the seaside, five-star resort town of Dana Point.

We are breaking new ground, taking more chances, and incurring more costs in our effort to give you, your friends and your family the best race day experience of the year or, perhaps, lifetime. Even the weather is cooperating – the forecast calls for sunshine and 77 degrees on gameday Sunday.

Sign up now. Don’t wait. Show your support. Click here for registration.

The DPGP doesn’t just talk about putting on the best crit course on the coast. We do it. It’s not easy – far from it. Think about what it takes to hold a rock concert for hipsters in the desert. Now imagine putting on an all day rock concert for four generations on a sunny Sunday in Spring in an iconic SoCal beach town smack dab on Pacific Coast Highway, the busiest thoroughfare in South Orange County.

Most cities these days or any day would run from the idea. Heck, General George Patton would probably balk at it. Too hard. Too expensive. Too many complaints. Not enough financial or spiritual upside. BUT NOT the city of Dana Point. Our fearless city has defiantly welcomed the challenge. It will be hard. Traffic will need to be averted. A few neighbors and merchants will be inconvenienced.

The City doesn’t have to do it, and nobody would fault them in these tough economic times for backing off, or settling for “goodnuff.” But they didn’t back off. They didn’t dumb it down. They elevated their game in their unshakeable quest to showcase the treasures of our fair city and put on a show for you, your kids, and even your parents.

Take a look at the race course maps. Check out the detail – the shaved ice vendor spot, the kids fun zone, the beer garden, the primes booth, the food tents. Is this cool or what? You will be racing on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, winding through a tranquil neighborhood, attacking the slight uphill between turns 4 and 5, slotting in behind your leadout as you set up for the off-camber final turn, and finally sprinting for glory down a wide open PCH in front of thousands of cheering fans!

Are you fired up yet?

Register today

We appreciate your support. This bike race, this kid’s race, this Breakaway Cancer walk, this City, these Sponsors, these volunteers, this incredibly cool rock star course, this wildly upbeat celebration of life – this experience – is all for you.

And the proceeds? They don’t wind up in the oily mitts of a for-profit promoter. All net proceeds go to the Dana Point Community Cycling Foundation, a non-profit, which in turn generously donates a portion to worthy charities like the Boys and Girls Club of Capistrano Valley and the Dana Point 5th Marine Regiment Support Group.

No matter how you cut it, the price you pay for entry fees doesn’t come close to the cost of putting on this show, or the value of the experience you will enjoy.

Yo!

Roger Worthington
President
Dana Point Community Cycling Foundation, Inc.

PS. Not fired enough yet? bursting with spills, chills and thrills!!! ICTV ROCKS!

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Editor(s):  whatever … socal still sucks