Sunday, March 24, 2024

Nifty Ten Fifty 2024

2024 Update:




Final Update 4/5/24: Unfortunately I am injured and have not been able to pre-ride the course. For that reason my normal update about road conditions/closures will not be provided. So plan to be careful and flexible. Also, 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 6, 2024! 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. Official Nifty Ten Fifty 2024 https://ridewithgps.com/routes/4394647


Please read the information below carefully:

I will report on any road closures or issues before the event.

The Strava KOM for Thorndale will include ONLY Thorndale Dr. It will NOT include the uphill portions of Thornhill, Sobrante, and Elverton. Other Strava KOM's are Marin Ave, and Claremont/Grizzly all the way to Vollmer Peak.

Please be courteous to other participants, to pedestrians, and to motorists. You will encounter many hikers on the climb to Vollmer Peak. Please warn hikers of your presence, and pass slowly and carefully.

Do upload the course below to your Garmin. Upload your file to Strava by 6:00 PM on April 6th in order to be included in the results.

Be sure to upload the rwgps course below to your Garmin. You may also wish to print out a route sheet. You can do this from the link for the gps file.

The Nifty Ten Fifty will occur on Saturday, April 6, 2024. 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.

Do not download the 2014 course. Use the new 2024 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 1, 2023


                            Nifty Ten Fifty 2023 Results Below!

Questions? macpaulster@gmail.com ThankYou!

                                                    Nifty Ten Fifty 2023 RidersA film by 

Nifty Ten Fifty 2023 Results:

Today, Sunday April 2, 2023 I will be compiling and posting results incrementally as the day passes. Josephine Nitschke (a.k.a.) Fini En) was our strongest female rider. While I thought Kenny Owen had a strong enough performance on the day to take the men's title there was another strong rider, way ahead and unbeknownst to me, quietly crushing the course at warp speed and setting new Strava records on Marin and Claremont/Grizzly/Volmer. That would be James Kinney. While I haven't yet applied the age/gender handicaps, 27 year old Kinney, with no handicaps whatsoever, is almost certainly fast enough to take the overall title even with age/gender adjustment. The overall title before handicaps is determined by summing the placing on each of 3 climbs, which are weighted equally. Lowest number wins. Note that many riders did not register the top of the final climb for some reason. I have fixed what I can but some riders have private accounts and I cannot get in without permission. If you see that you should be here but are missing results, please LMK and friend me on Strava and/or make your ride public and/or send me your ride url. Paul McKenzie.

Marin Ave Results overall:

1James Kinney5:47
2Cameron Bronstein7:45
3Elliot Krigel7:50
4Kenny Owen8:04
5Ian Myjer8:08
6Naor Deleanu8:22
7Tim D8:48
8Damian Trujillo8:55
9Steven Zulim9:04
10Chris Brassell9:22
11Hugh 🥐9:24
12David Gould9:39
13Torsten Fink10:00
14Connor Ashenbrucker10:34
15Julien Guy10:38
16Dhurty Roadee10:43
17Ted Ognibene10:51
18Jesse MacEwan11:16
19Fini En11:28
20Ben Yee12:21
21Tosh Hotchi13:01
22Steve Schwartz13:09
23Alison Millar14:14
24Gabby 🦄14:44
25Eric Asuncion15:23
26Jon Liu16:09
27Christina Solomon16:13
28Ionuţ Georgescu19:43


Overall Results Thorndale:


Overall Results Claremont/Grizzly/Vollmer:

1James Kinney18:52
2Kenny Owen25:39:00
3Naor Deleanu27:47:00
4Damian Trujillo29:30:00
5Torsten Fink32:00:00
6Elliot Krigel32:58:00
7Tosh Hotchi33:28:00
8David Gould33:46:00
9Christina Solomon34:49:00
10Hugh 🥐35:15:00
11Dhurty Roadee35:17:00
12Jesse MacEwan35:18:00
13Ian Myjer36:53:00
14Alison Millar43:07:00
14Fini En37:00:00
15Ted Ognibene40:00:00
16Steve Schwartz44:44:00
17Julien Guy44:48:00
19Connor Ashenbrucker52:36:00
20Ben Yee53:03:00

Below are the overall results with age/gender compensation. Even playing field for all. Note that even with zero handicap, James Kinney still crushes the competition. What an amazing rider. Arguably the fastest human ever to ride the Nifty! Numbers are total minutes on the three climbs that were scored with handicap applied. Special mention goes to Women's champ Josephine Nitschke (a.k.a. Fini En), and Kenny Owen the runner up men's after Kinney. Also Hugh Rodman who completed the Nifty after a 170 mile brisk jaunt the day before! A big thank you to everyone who came out to ride and especially Mary Ann Jawilli and Steve Schwartz for helping out with logistics! Numbers below are minutes in total spent on the 3 timed sectors with handicap time subtracted for age/gender.

1James Kinney31.7
2Kenny Owen39.5
3Naor Deleanu45.6
4Torsten Fink46.6
5Damian Trujillo48
6Hugh 🥐49.75
7Dhurty Roadee51.1
8Fini En52.1
9Elliot Krigel52.2
10David Gould53.3
11Tosh Hotchi53.5
12Jesse MacEwan53.9
13Ted Ognibene55
14Christina Solomon55.2
15Ian Myjer55.9
16Alison Millar60.2
17Julien Guy65.75
18Steve Schwartz66.6
19Ben Yee72.75
20Connor Ashenbrucker77.1