- In 2004 I moved back to San Diego after being gone nearly a decade.
- During my time away, I race a Wednesday Night Worlds race in Denver around the famous Mile High Stadium an marveled at how thousands of racers and spectators would go to this Wednesday afternoon event. I fell in love with the event and the concept.
- From Colorado I moved to Northern California and put on a couple of races: a hill time trial called Bonny's Revenge, a semi-flat time trial and the UC Santa Barbara road race. I looking at a venue in San Jose for the duplication of the Wednesday Worlds but moved to San Diego before I could launch it.
- Riding home to Del Mar from a Wednesday ride, I took Jimmy Durante instead of going along the coast to visit my gym (Del Mar Workout, which sits behind the Fairgrounds) for some sit ups before going home. It dawned on me that the Fairgrounds could be a venue for the Wednesday Worlds concept and so I skipped the sit ups and went home to call the Fairgrounds.
- After some dialing and smiling, I got a meeting with Paul Blaney who is the VP of Events at the Fairgrounds.
- I spend some time educating Paul on the concept of bike racing, criteriums and how this idea would be a community event with a bike race in the middle of it, which happens to be the elevator pitch I still use today.
- I could tell Paul got it, but he needed some time to absorb and that follow up was going to be needed.
- Paul and I spent hours driving around the grounds looking at different options and possibilities -- one option took the riders through a tunnel to the infield (called Disneyland) that included a couple-a-hundred-yards dirt section. Another had the riders riding through one or two halls, which would have been neat but not very safe. We looked at every inch of the Fairgrounds and finally settled on the idea that the main parking lot is the largest and best venue for the race.
- Paul showed me the standard rate card for the parking log...a whopping $3,500 per day rental. Needless to say sticker shock set in, but I ran the numbers anyway, projecting sponsorship dollars, booth fees, registrations and the lot. There was no way for this race to have a chance of getting off the ground if it couldn't afford to pay the rent.
- It took me literally 9 months of negotiations and convincing to get Paul and the Fairgrounds to buy into the community event concept and they agreed to knock the rental fee down to $500 per event so long as it was on the parking lot and held on Wednesdays. This took me well into 2005 and well past Swami's first participation in the RAAM, which I also spearheaded and managed.
- With the deal in hand, I now had to find a way to find volunteers and to secure financing -- there was no way I could continue to do my day job, work on the event and pay for it so partnering was the right way to go.
- Knowing the Swami's piggy-backed on another race and given that I had come home and rejoined Swami's, the Swami's board was approached.
- With the 2005 racing season well underway, we shot for 2006 and coordinated with the SCNCA calendar, which was not difficult since we were the only mid-week race in town.
- I managed to land Hoehn Motors and other sponsors in a matter of weeks -- Hoehn was a cold call and the two-year title sponsorship secured in three weeks!!! The rest of the sponsors came on board once they realized the momentum had been established.
- We held 4 successful Wednesday races in 2006 that exceeded our expectations.
- In 2007, due to a mix-up in the Fairgrounds' calendar, we ended up holding two Wednesday races and one Saturday race, which was on a new course (due to the mix-up) and the race evolved in that direction.
- In 2008, once again due to an unfortunate calendar mix-up and the new daylight savings time, we held one Wednesday and one Saturday race. I'd argue that 2008 was our most successful year, even though we held less races in the event.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Kam/Raceplan history of the 2006 DMCS beginnings
Kam sent me this email:
Monday, March 31, 2008
More History from Members
Thanks to all for sending me new pictures and updating info.
John Roesch:
John Roesch:
Here's a couple of pictures of the earliest Swamis Jersey I have. It is the year previous to your '93 Jersey.
Also, you asked when Chris Horner was racing for Swamis... I don't know exactly when he started but I definitely remember him racing 1/2s in the McDonalds 94 jersey...
From Chris Daggs:
Dave -
This picture in in your History Album and was the 94 Masters team... I'm pretty sure it was taken in Ron Ellis' garage in the La Costa area of Carlsbad.
Back row L-R: Mark Lathrop, Ron Ellis, John Roesch
Front row L-R: Doug Kyle, Danny Tate(?), Tom Kattus
the photo titled Swami's Men's team 2000 is actually from 98 or 99 (I think 1998). The guys are: Mark Lathrop, Henry Chang, Eric Barber, Sam Dean, Ian Bettinger, and Eric Wochna
I have a 2000 jersey and photos of the 2000 team that i'll post soon.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Maybe there is no History, just Legend....
I started this blog and the pictures because at present it does not seem that Swamis can remember very well the last century. So please add your comments, send me pictures of the past and help us clear up the Legends and make it History...
First Input to Swami History
This is the collection of emails I received when I started asking about Swami Lore...
John Howard:
Per John Howard he says the lore and legend of the club is rooted with Mark Lathrop, Ron Smith and Gary Hooker -- that is his memory but he has no stories to tell the tale.
From Brett Clare - Hi Dave-
How about Jenny Eyerman winning this NRC race around 2000? Sarah Hammer (2 time world champ), Pam Schuster (ex National Champ), and Therese Nugent also on podium.
From Jim Durbin - I started riding in 1990, joined swamis 1995, 1st jersey design 1996 (McDonalds):
Daniel Tout won or placed in the top 3 in every race he entered. He was Canadia
n National Champion and went from cat4 to cat1 in 1 season. Won Manhattan and La Jolla Grand Prix many times.
We have a picture (Lance.pdf) that shows Lance Armstrong with the Women Jane Team. Mark Lathrop says that Lance started out as A tri guy on the Swamis rode team in Carlsbad and graduated to strictly road and left Swamis
Hylton Murphy:
Here is my recollection on the origin of the phrase “Gurus of cycling”.
Mark Thomas was an early member of Swamis and was good friends with Dougie Pomeranz. I could always tell where they were in the peloton because they would be always be chattering away and chuckling and giggling. We used to have monthly meetings and one night (probably in 1993) we were sitting somewhere in Solana Beach (at least I remember that much) and Mark looks around with that big smile on his face and said “You know what we are? We are the gurus of cycling”. We all laughed and laughed. That is the first time that I remember hearing that phrase.
On early Chris Horner stories you have to contact Matt Hoffman. He used to go racing locally with Chris and had some really funny stories about them being real bike bums and doing bike bum stuff.
On early Swamis history you have to contact Mark Lathrop. He started the club back when he owned a bike shop with Dan Rock that at one time was very near Swamis in Encinitas.
I think it is great that you are trying to accumulate history and artifacts for the club. It is a great club having gone (so far) through three distinct and interesting eras. Those would be the Mark Lathrop, Howard Katkov and, of course, Dave Callender eras.
First Gurus of Cycling
Here is what I recall: The wavy primarily blue and white jersey I gave you was from 1993. I think the next year was McDonalds (1994), which I think of as the Adam Livingston jersey, and the year after that was the AMC jersey (1995). I think that the first Jane jersey followed that in 1996 (it was the red, white and blue fader) and I just looked at it (you didn’t expect me to give you ALL my old Swamis stuff, did you?) and it has “GURUS OF CYCLING” with a golden temple on the upper left hand chest area.
We need someone like Bryan Miller or Mark Lathrop to verify this. I am getting really old and my memory is fading fast.
Actually my buddy Rob Cohen joined the year of the AMC jersey if I recall correctly. Is that true Rob? What year was that?
Maybe that first Jane jersey was 1997 because I have this evidence (from Nov 1997). You can see the Gurus of Cycling temple in the photo.
Hylton
Steve Hughes:
I still have the 2nd and 3rd issue jerseys from Swamis, year 1991 and 1992. I had the first issue, which was all white but I lost it over the years. I still have the T-shirt that looks identical to the jersey if you want to see what the first swamis jersey looked like, or for the Swami's Museum.
The bike shop where Swamis spawned was Moonlight Bike Shop. A furniture shop now occupies the old shop, which is directly North of Swamis Cafe and just South of Hansens; it used to be an old gas station in the 50s-60s, I am told by my dad. Jim (CAT 3), who moved out from the Mid West to further his development in cycling, worked for Mark Lathrop and was very instrumental and provided some of the impetus behind gathering sponsors, I know because I was a sponsor back in 1991. I last ran into Jim at UCSD when I was an under grad and he just got accepted into medical school there.
Hope this helps add some background to your search.....
Steve
Bryan Miller:
I served on the board a few years and even published the newsletter in the pre-internet era. I joined in 1992 and remember the Horner, Meeker, Brydon trio.
I am also the proud owner of a Buda Trophy, that yes, Mark Lathrop made! I will dig in my old computer and see what stuff I can find, and I kept at least one kit from every year.
When I get some time I will gladly help assemble some Lore and Legends. FYI -- I believe Gurus of Cycling was either Mark Lathrop or possible Jim Durbin. I do know that Jim Durbin cemented the idea/logo one year when he created it and stuck it on our jersey.
Bryan Miller
John Roesch:
This is what I know of the history...
I have known Hylton for years... Since about 1988. I would ride at lunch in Penasquitos Canyon. Every once in a while, I would see a group usually led by this big helmet-less blonde-haired guy on an old mountain bike with running shoes. He would just hammer away at the trails with a big smile on his face... Yep, it was Hylton. When he saw me or my little group, he would stop just to say a big friendly hello.
Over time I started meeting their group and riding with them. We would always have friendly competition and would host underground races in the canyon quite a bit. As he says, I was responsible for getting him on the road. I would always tell him he was a horse and should try road riding/racing. His usual response was: "Nah, I don't want to be a road-weenie!" Well, eventually I talked him into it by giving him my old Klein race frame and he started there.
We had met Mark Lathrop and some of his buddies when they came out to ride some of our underground mountain bike races. I also knew him from the road. If you have never met Mark, he's definitely one of the "good guys." In the late 80s, Mark started Moonlight Bike Shop. The shop was located on Hwy 101 across the street from the Self Realization Center and the Swamis surf spot. When he started a small club out of the shop with a few buddies, they named it Swamis Cycling Club. Hylton had Mark build up the bike I gave him and he became a Swami soon after. I was not part of the initial cadre. I was a loyal member of Celo Pacific at that time. A few years later (late 1993 I believe) I was given an invite to join the 35+ Masters team. That's when I became a member. I have jerseys from 1993 and 1994. Do you have either/both of those?
Andrew Lee, the owner of Adams Avenue Bikes was an early member. He might be able to give you some info too.
http://www.aabikes.net/bios.php
See you on the road!
John Roesch
Vince Pandes wrote:
In case you didn't know..... IBR has Swami's roots. Rob Coronel, Peter Plaisance, Jeff Trevino and I were all Swami's before deciding to form our own Hui. Not for your history book, but just another connection to your great club.
Gary Emerson:
I opened The Chart House in Cardiff in 1978. One of the Chart House owners, Ron Smith, was an original Swami. I believe they started up in the late 70's, early 80's. I believe it was a very small group. 8 or 10 riders...
Geoff Doyle
No it wasn't Mike Bryd, the guy the New Years Day ride was Doug Pomeranz. Hylton had mentioned him in one of his e-mails relating to early Swamis. Doug lives in Atlanta now, but he has a condo in Carmel Valley and was out here training this winter. He has that rare but envious combination of traits, his sense of humor and ability to laugh while riding is as good as his excellent hammering skills.
My first remeberence of Swamis was sometime in 1987 or 1988. Charlie Meredith and Dan Jenkins I think were some of the charter members, and I know it was Charlie that started what is now the Swamis ride. Does anyone know what Charlie is doing these days?
Later,
Geoff
Chris Daggs
This is not the first time Cannondale has sponsored Swami's. Back when Swami's main sponsor was Jane Cosmetics, Swami's obviuosly had an awesome women's team. Members included Jenny Eyerman, Shelley Orem (sp?), Rebecca McClintock, Jessica Haddock (now Jessica Quesnell), Cheynna Treto (now Cheynna Frischkorn), Julie Hudetz, Erin Mirabella, Rhonda Quick, Stacy Spencer, Marie Holjer...the list goes on! Basically a lot of WORLD CLASS ladies rode for Swami's. ANYWAY, Cannondale was a sponsor from 1998 thru 2001. Ryan Cady, owner of Cycleworld, helped arrange the sponsorship as his shop was the sponsor. I rode a red CAAD5 with the Jane squad back in 2000.
Chris Daggs
Gary Flynn
Re the "Horny Toad" name...
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the Horny Toads were an organized group (maybe "clan" is a better name) of runners, triathletes, cyclists, etc. that were strong in the late 70s and 80s. The Toads put on some races, including "The Horny Toad Triathlon." Some members met regularly to get in some miles, and the Swami ride evolved out of that. As for the name "Horny Toads," I don't remember but use your imagination.
John Howard:
Per John Howard he says the lore and legend of the club is rooted with Mark Lathrop, Ron Smith and Gary Hooker -- that is his memory but he has no stories to tell the tale.
From Brett Clare - Hi Dave-
How about Jenny Eyerman winning this NRC race around 2000? Sarah Hammer (2 time world champ), Pam Schuster (ex National Champ), and Therese Nugent also on podium.
From Jim Durbin - I started riding in 1990, joined swamis 1995, 1st jersey design 1996 (McDonalds):
Daniel Tout won or placed in the top 3 in every race he entered. He was Canadia
n National Champion and went from cat4 to cat1 in 1 season. Won Manhattan and La Jolla Grand Prix many times.We have a picture (Lance.pdf) that shows Lance Armstrong with the Women Jane Team. Mark Lathrop says that Lance started out as A tri guy on the Swamis rode team in Carlsbad and graduated to strictly road and left Swamis
Hylton Murphy:
Here is my recollection on the origin of the phrase “Gurus of cycling”.
Mark Thomas was an early member of Swamis and was good friends with Dougie Pomeranz. I could always tell where they were in the peloton because they would be always be chattering away and chuckling and giggling. We used to have monthly meetings and one night (probably in 1993) we were sitting somewhere in Solana Beach (at least I remember that much) and Mark looks around with that big smile on his face and said “You know what we are? We are the gurus of cycling”. We all laughed and laughed. That is the first time that I remember hearing that phrase.
On early Chris Horner stories you have to contact Matt Hoffman. He used to go racing locally with Chris and had some really funny stories about them being real bike bums and doing bike bum stuff.
On early Swamis history you have to contact Mark Lathrop. He started the club back when he owned a bike shop with Dan Rock that at one time was very near Swamis in Encinitas.
I think it is great that you are trying to accumulate history and artifacts for the club. It is a great club having gone (so far) through three distinct and interesting eras. Those would be the Mark Lathrop, Howard Katkov and, of course, Dave Callender eras.
First Gurus of Cycling
Here is what I recall: The wavy primarily blue and white jersey I gave you was from 1993. I think the next year was McDonalds (1994), which I think of as the Adam Livingston jersey, and the year after that was the AMC jersey (1995). I think that the first Jane jersey followed that in 1996 (it was the red, white and blue fader) and I just looked at it (you didn’t expect me to give you ALL my old Swamis stuff, did you?) and it has “GURUS OF CYCLING” with a golden temple on the upper left hand chest area.
We need someone like Bryan Miller or Mark Lathrop to verify this. I am getting really old and my memory is fading fast.
Actually my buddy Rob Cohen joined the year of the AMC jersey if I recall correctly. Is that true Rob? What year was that?
Maybe that first Jane jersey was 1997 because I have this evidence (from Nov 1997). You can see the Gurus of Cycling temple in the photo.
Hylton
Steve Hughes:
I still have the 2nd and 3rd issue jerseys from Swamis, year 1991 and 1992. I had the first issue, which was all white but I lost it over the years. I still have the T-shirt that looks identical to the jersey if you want to see what the first swamis jersey looked like, or for the Swami's Museum.
The bike shop where Swamis spawned was Moonlight Bike Shop. A furniture shop now occupies the old shop, which is directly North of Swamis Cafe and just South of Hansens; it used to be an old gas station in the 50s-60s, I am told by my dad. Jim (CAT 3), who moved out from the Mid West to further his development in cycling, worked for Mark Lathrop and was very instrumental and provided some of the impetus behind gathering sponsors, I know because I was a sponsor back in 1991. I last ran into Jim at UCSD when I was an under grad and he just got accepted into medical school there.
Hope this helps add some background to your search.....
Steve
Bryan Miller:
I served on the board a few years and even published the newsletter in the pre-internet era. I joined in 1992 and remember the Horner, Meeker, Brydon trio.
I am also the proud owner of a Buda Trophy, that yes, Mark Lathrop made! I will dig in my old computer and see what stuff I can find, and I kept at least one kit from every year.When I get some time I will gladly help assemble some Lore and Legends. FYI -- I believe Gurus of Cycling was either Mark Lathrop or possible Jim Durbin. I do know that Jim Durbin cemented the idea/logo one year when he created it and stuck it on our jersey.
Bryan Miller
John Roesch:
This is what I know of the history...
I have known Hylton for years... Since about 1988. I would ride at lunch in Penasquitos Canyon. Every once in a while, I would see a group usually led by this big helmet-less blonde-haired guy on an old mountain bike with running shoes. He would just hammer away at the trails with a big smile on his face... Yep, it was Hylton. When he saw me or my little group, he would stop just to say a big friendly hello.
Over time I started meeting their group and riding with them. We would always have friendly competition and would host underground races in the canyon quite a bit. As he says, I was responsible for getting him on the road. I would always tell him he was a horse and should try road riding/racing. His usual response was: "Nah, I don't want to be a road-weenie!" Well, eventually I talked him into it by giving him my old Klein race frame and he started there.
We had met Mark Lathrop and some of his buddies when they came out to ride some of our underground mountain bike races. I also knew him from the road. If you have never met Mark, he's definitely one of the "good guys." In the late 80s, Mark started Moonlight Bike Shop. The shop was located on Hwy 101 across the street from the Self Realization Center and the Swamis surf spot. When he started a small club out of the shop with a few buddies, they named it Swamis Cycling Club. Hylton had Mark build up the bike I gave him and he became a Swami soon after. I was not part of the initial cadre. I was a loyal member of Celo Pacific at that time. A few years later (late 1993 I believe) I was given an invite to join the 35+ Masters team. That's when I became a member. I have jerseys from 1993 and 1994. Do you have either/both of those?
Andrew Lee, the owner of Adams Avenue Bikes was an early member. He might be able to give you some info too.
http://www.aabikes.net/bios.php
See you on the road!
John Roesch
Vince Pandes wrote:
In case you didn't know..... IBR has Swami's roots. Rob Coronel, Peter Plaisance, Jeff Trevino and I were all Swami's before deciding to form our own Hui. Not for your history book, but just another connection to your great club.
Gary Emerson:
I opened The Chart House in Cardiff in 1978. One of the Chart House owners, Ron Smith, was an original Swami. I believe they started up in the late 70's, early 80's. I believe it was a very small group. 8 or 10 riders...
Geoff Doyle
No it wasn't Mike Bryd, the guy the New Years Day ride was Doug Pomeranz. Hylton had mentioned him in one of his e-mails relating to early Swamis. Doug lives in Atlanta now, but he has a condo in Carmel Valley and was out here training this winter. He has that rare but envious combination of traits, his sense of humor and ability to laugh while riding is as good as his excellent hammering skills.
My first remeberence of Swamis was sometime in 1987 or 1988. Charlie Meredith and Dan Jenkins I think were some of the charter members, and I know it was Charlie that started what is now the Swamis ride. Does anyone know what Charlie is doing these days?
Later,
Geoff
Chris Daggs
This is not the first time Cannondale has sponsored Swami's. Back when Swami's main sponsor was Jane Cosmetics, Swami's obviuosly had an awesome women's team. Members included Jenny Eyerman, Shelley Orem (sp?), Rebecca McClintock, Jessica Haddock (now Jessica Quesnell), Cheynna Treto (now Cheynna Frischkorn), Julie Hudetz, Erin Mirabella, Rhonda Quick, Stacy Spencer, Marie Holjer...the list goes on! Basically a lot of WORLD CLASS ladies rode for Swami's. ANYWAY, Cannondale was a sponsor from 1998 thru 2001. Ryan Cady, owner of Cycleworld, helped arrange the sponsorship as his shop was the sponsor. I rode a red CAAD5 with the Jane squad back in 2000.
Chris Daggs
Gary Flynn
Re the "Horny Toad" name...
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the Horny Toads were an organized group (maybe "clan" is a better name) of runners, triathletes, cyclists, etc. that were strong in the late 70s and 80s. The Toads put on some races, including "The Horny Toad Triathlon." Some members met regularly to get in some miles, and the Swami ride evolved out of that. As for the name "Horny Toads," I don't remember but use your imagination.
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