Quincy Jeffries dominates Lighthouse Uphill Challenge (so what else is new?)
Irene Tice soaks up the sun at MLK 3.
After weeks of what passes as brutal winter weather in Southern California — bone-chilling winds, below average temps threatening to dip below the freezing point — the sun came out, and so, too, did 23 Trikke riders who carved up Long Beach on a hot and gorgeous Saturday in January at the 3rd Annual MLK Ride.
But while the 80-degree weather may have been a surprise, the rider with the fastest time in the fourth-ever Lighthouse Uphill Challenge was not. Quincy Jeffries came out on top again, besting all comers for the fourth time is as many tries. The Santa Clarita carver’s 42-second sprint up the spiraling path also means Jeffries is the men’s division frontrunner for the TrikkeWorld LUC Cup, a yearlong competition based on a year’s worth of results. Some have already penciled him in as Cup champ, but don’t count out SouthBay Trikke’s Andy Pliska, who, after Saturday, has now finished a close second in his only two LUC runs, to date.
The “most improved rider of the day” award goes to Bill Barnes, who nearly sliced his hill-climb time in half, from four minutes and forty seconds on his first run at September’s Labor Day Ride 3, to a little over two and a half minutes at MLK 3. Color him a rookie rider whose persistence is paying off.
In the women’s division, three competed but only two chose to make their times public. In any case, the LUC Cup female frontrunner is Lisa Pearce, who clocked in at a minute and seventeen seconds.
Like November’s LSM Ride, MLK 3 began and ended in the Belmont Shore area of Long Beach, which meant favorable wind conditions to go along with the picture-perfect Southern California day.
Here’s what some riders said about the day when asked in the So Cal Carvers group on Facebook: the best part about MLK 3 was …
Charlene Goff: On a beautiful sunny warm So Cal day, seeing all the smiling faces on everyone who joined in the MLK 3 super ride.
Dan Marazon charges forward in the Lighthouse Uphill Challenge.
Jenard de Castro: The weather and temps, ’cause just last week the high was in the 50′s and windy!
Wilson Wong: Having a beautiful day to gather together and step up and ride
Margaret Park: Getting to sit on a bench at the lighthouse, chatting with friends, enjoying the view of the Queen Mary, watching and cheering the Lighthouse Uphill Challenge participants as they struggled up the hill, and finally, learning that my Pon-e lite battery can go the distance at Long Beach!
Rich Goff: I like the move to depart from Belmont and the plan to outsmart the wind. Parking is not a problem from this location and we get to take over the patio at Road Table Pizza, which is cheaper and easier to socialize with all our friends (than what we used to experience at Tequilla Jacks.
Lighthouse Uphill Challenge 4 Results
(Trikke model in parenthesis)
Men’s Division
Quincy Jeffries (T12)…………42.0 (seconds)
Andy Pliska (T12)………….…44.5
Dan Marazon (T12).….………50.7
Wilson Wong (T12)………..…57.5
Way-Chung Wong (T12)……1.00.9
Bill Barnes (T12)……………2.36.0
Women’s Division
Lisa Pearce (T12)………..…1.17.3
Monica Jeffries (T12)………1.24.7
Human-powered Pon-e Division (non electric)
Randy Boyd (Pon-e)…….…1.05.4
See results from every Lighthouse Uphill Challenge.
Plus: read about past MLK Rides
MLK 1 in 2011
MLK 2 in 2012
See more photos of MLK 3 here.
Disclosure: the MLK Ride is hosted by the So Cal Carvers Trikke club, which is sponsored by TrikkeWorld and SouthBay Trikke.
About Randy Boyd
Wow! Who’s the covergirl?!!!! . . . . . Who? Sean’s wife! . . . (back stepping out of the room) . . . She’s Pretty! . . (hiding from Sean, ssshhh!)