Thursday, March 6, 2025

Nifty Ten Fifty 2025





Update 4/1/25:

We have an organization, Broom Wagon, that has volunteered to set up a rest stop/refreshment station at the top of Pinehurst/Shepard's Canyon. This will be primarily a water stop and they will have liquid refreshments from Hummingbird Fuels. They may also have a few granola bars which I will provide. Feel free to stop and check them out, refuel, and learn about their cause. Broom Wagon is NOT affiliated in any way with the Nifty Ten Fifty, however we welcome them to the event to spread the message and help riders. With that said I will always support any cause that encourages recovery from drug and alcohol abuse. This is a very real and relevant issue in our society today. Here is a statement from them: 

"We are a new local nonprofit that works to raise funds for Athletic Scholarships for people in recovery from drugs and alcohol.  Essentially, we work to encourage people committed to their sobriety stay fit and active by helping them get cycling/running equipment or helping them to pay for race registrations and similar expenses.
Part of our strategy for promoting Broom Wagon includes setting up informal aid stations at popular cycling intersections to get some water and calories to riders and to spread the word about this new organization"

Please keep in mind that in order to be listed in the results you must do 3 things. 1. You must sign a waiver at the start. 2. You must upload your Strava file before 6 PM on April 6. And finally, 3. You MUST be sure your ride is public or friend me (Paul McKenzie on Strava) so that I can see your post. If you fail to do any one of these three things, you will not be listed in the results and I will not be able to go back after the fact and adjust the results. DO NOT list your ride as "Private." See you in the morning!

Nifty Ten Fifty will be held on Apri 5, 2025! We will start at Cerrito Vista Park, 950 Pomona Avenue El Cerrito, CA. Registration opens at 8:30 AM. Registration closes at 9 AM. Riders can roll anytime after registering. There is an optional non-mandatory $5 donation to participate. Juniors must have an adult signed waiver. Results are virtual from Strava. In order to participate in results you must sign the waiver and you must upload your Strava file by 6PM day of the event.

The Nifty Ten Fifty will again travel the newer route that was first run in 2015. Please scroll down for information about the event. Riders will self guide on the newer, improved, easier to follow course, so be sure to download the gps route. Click the link above to download.

Use the new 2025 course above in the update. Services are available after 7 of the 10 climbs, at mile 41.6 in Montclair, so do bring food for several hours, and some cash to resupply. There is plenty of water on the course in the East Bay Regional Park system.

Check out this video done by Chris Leavel at Peloton Magazine about the Nifty Ten Fifty. You may need to sign in with a free Vimeo account to view the video. And the link may not work, but I will fix it if possible... 

We will have a Strava KOM challenge on Marin avenue, Thorndale, and Claremont/Grizzly/Vollmer Peak, the final climb of the day, and the largest elevation gain. Marin Avenue KOM and QOM will track the best climbers with fresh legs on steep terrain. Vollmer KOM and QOM will go the riders with more endurance, those who have paced well over the day.

If the full Nifty seems a bit daunting, consider the Nifty Lite which is about 42 miles and 7,000'. Still a tough ride, with some difficult climbing. It's also perfectly OK to come out and ride as many climbs as you like, then leave the course and head home. Here is the Nifty Lite 2018 Course.

Do read What is the Nifty Ten Fifty and Nifty Ten Fifty FAQ.

You can also read the New Nifty Ten Fifty Ride Description, a new, fully updated description for 2015 and beyond!

Saturday, April 6, 2024

 Nifty Ten Fifty 2024 Results:


We had a perfect day for the Nifty Ten Fifty 2024. It was a smaller group as I'm seriously injured and didn't have the inspiration to promote the event but many hearty souls showed up anyway. And I thank you for that. Along with a very strong local crew we had a few notables show up. Katheryn Curi made the trip and was the fastest woman on the course with regular competition from the very fast Master's rider Jennie Phillips. I won't talk about age here but suffice to say both of these women are still competitive on a national level in their disparate age categories. The overall winner was a repeat of last year. James Kinney, 28, lit the course on fire again and set an unbelievable record on Marin Ave of 5:34. Frankly, anything under 8 minutes is extremely fast. I hope a few of you had the pleasure of watching James as he wisked by you. Even with age/gender compensation, and very strong riders like Will Harrower, Dan Pannell and the aforementioned ladies — nobody could not touch him. I hope everyone enjoyed the ride and had a safe outing. Below you will find a bunch of photos courtesy my good friend Hugh Rodman, and below that you can scroll down to a list of results, both with and without age/gender compensation. Thanks again for coming and perhaps I will be physically able to ride next year!




Katheryn Curi keeping puffy warm before the ride

Jennie Phillips with Mister Nifty


Dan the press man


Morgan Griffin flying BBC colors













Hugh Rodman supplied most of the photos seen here with Paul McKenzie





James Kinney flies up Marin in 5:34 like it's nothing




Preliminary results from Marin Ave. April 6, 2024

1J K5:34
2Will Harrower7:29
3Dan Pannell7:30
4Katheryn Curi8:08
5Steven Wu8:23
6Jake Titlenutz8:32
7Damian Trujillo8:47
8Tim D8:55
9J Piglet9:17
10Torsten Fink9:22
11Hugh 🍱9:27
12Dave Ritzman9:32
13Justin Walz9:41
14Baslyos Estifanos9:47
15Veer Ravuri9:57
15Vinson Fan9:57
17Rick Crawford10:06
18Hoops McCann10:42
19Andrew Brown10:58
20Antonio Beroldo11:03
21Tosh Hotchi11:16
22Morgan Griffin11:34
23Cliff Federspiel12:29
24Susan Parkinson12:50
25Henryk Laqua13:01
26Steven Payne15:11
27Elai M16:14
28Alberto Perez16:15
29Hussein Jamsheed16:24
30Ionuţ Georgescu19:09
31Jill Herschleb19:26
32Geoff Potter20:14
THORNDALE
1J K4:11
2Dan Pannell5:20
3Will Harrower5:21
4Steven Wu5:46
5Katheryn Curi6:01
6Damian Trujillo6:08
7Torsten Fink6:12
8Dave Ritzman6:35
9J Piglet6:45
10Vinson Fan7:13
11Veer Ravuri7:15
12Rick Crawford7:27
13Hugh 🍱7:31
14Joshua Speer7:34
15L A7:44
15Lucy Andrews7:44
17Tim D7:45
18Morgan Griffin7:50
19Steven Payne8:12
20Justin Walz8:14
21Baslyos Estifanos8:26
22Antonio Beroldo8:57
23Cliff Federspiel9:10
24Ionuţ Georgescu9:24
25Hussein Jamsheed9:26
26Tosh Hotchi9:28
27Andrew Brown9:35
28Alberto Perez9:59
29Elai M10:40
30Susan Parkinson10:44
CLAREMONT/VOLLMER
1J K18:24
2Dan Pannell22:23
3Will Harrower24:54:00
4Damian Trujillo28:45:00
5Dave Ritzman28:48:00
6Torsten Fink29:20:00
7Veer Ravuri29:56:00
8J Piglet30:22:00
9Steven Wu30:39:00
10Katheryn Curi30:46:00
11Hugh 🍱32:29:00
12Morgan Griffin33:47:00
13Vinson Fan34:00:00
14Antonio Beroldo34:05:00
15L A35:36:00
15Lucy Andrews35:36:00
17Baslyos Estifanos37:39:00
18Justin Walz39:55:00
19Rick Crawford40:48:00
20Tim D41:27:00
21Kester Allen41:44:00
22Tosh Hotchi44:58:00
23Susan Parkinson45:04:00
24Hussein Jamsheed46:32:00
25Andrew Brown47:56:00

Marin Ave Age/Gender Compensated:


Thorndale age/gender compensated:

Thorndale
1J K4:11
2J Piglet4:27
3Katheryn Curi4:34
4Dan Pannell5:07
5Will Harrower5:21
6Torsten Fink5:23
7Steven Wu5:46
8Damian Trujillo5:53
9Dave Ritzman5:55
10Lucy Andrews6:34
11Hugh 🍱6:36
12Rick Crawford6:51
13Morgan Griffin6:53
14Vinson Fan7:13
15Veer Ravuri7:15
16Steven Payne7:27
17Cliff Federspiel7:36
18Tim D7:45
19Justin Walz8:14
20Alberto Perez8:17
21Susan Parkinson8:22
22Baslyos Estifanos8:26
23Tosh Hotchi8:36
24Andrew Brown8:43
25Hussein Jamsheed8:52
26Ionuţ Georgescu8:55
27Antonio Beroldo8:57
28Elai M10:40

Claremont age/gender compensated:

CLAREMONT/VOLLMER
1J K18:24
2J Piglet20:02:31
3Dan Pannell21:29
4Katheryn Curi23:22:58
5Will Harrower24:54:00
6Torsten Fink25:31:12
7Dave Ritzman25:55:12
8Damian Trujillo27:36:00
9Hugh 🍱28:35:07
10Morgan Griffin29:43:46
11Veer Ravuri29:56:00
12Lucy Andrews30:15:36
13Steven Wu30:39:00
14Vinson Fan34:00:00
15Antonio Beroldo34:05:00
16Susan Parkinson35:09:07
17Rick Crawford37:32:10
18Baslyos Estifanos37:39:00
19Justin Walz39:55:00
20Tosh Hotchi40:55:11
21Tim D41:27:00
22Andrew Brown43:37:10
23Hussein Jamsheed43:44:29


Overall age/gender results:

Note: Since these results are age/gender compensated, everyone competes on a theoretical even playing field so of course these results do not include separate men's and women's categories. It should be noted that both of our top females, Jennie Phillips and Katheryn Curi were top pro level athletes in their day. James Kinney, overall winner at just 28 years of age, of course gets no age or gender compensation. He is an exceptionally strong pro level athlete in his prime and I hope a few of you had the pleasure of seeing him climb as he started well after everyone and set records on the course. To the rest of you, great job! And for the older and female athletes, I hope you enjoy the age compensated results with the ability to compete with any age/gender. For the rest of you 40 years old and younger males, your overall results without compensation are also included above!

Results are the sum of your placings in each category with age compensation. So if you win all three timed sectors, your score is 3. If you place 5th, 4th, and 3rd, your score is 12. Lowest score wins.