The first Modesto bicycle festival featured three major events. The main event was the “All Around the Town” race, a roughly 30-mile route that circumnavigated Most of Modesto and went down part of Hatch Rd. in the adjacent city of Ceres. The race began and ended at the corner of Stoddard Rd. and Kieran Ave. in front of the California Highway Patrol office. Planners decided the race should be two laps long, a total of almost 60 miles. Some argued that professional cyclists considered the race to be a sprint and should cover more of Stanislaus County, but those on the planning committee who were serious amateur cyclists told the other members of the group that two times around the proposed course would take about two to three hours, assuming an average speed on the relatively flat terrain in the Modesto-Ceres area of 25 miles per hour. They reasoned that people would be excited to watch a bicycle race that began and ended on the same day, unlike the Amgen Tour or the Tour de France, both with multiple stages and lasting for several days or even weeks. Additionally, if the race proved to be successful, all on the task force agreed that developing a larger race that included a greater part of the county would be beneficial to the entire region.
“We could call it the ‘Tour de Stans’ for Stanislaus County,” quipped one of the members of the task force, to the laughter of those present.
In addition to the featured road race, planners developed a shorter “slow poke” route for casual bicyclists. In order to pay for police protection and traffic control along this route, participants paid a $25 fee. Surprisingly, people from all over Northern California bought tickets for the “slow poke” route, mainly because part of the slower route included a portion of the highway known as Route 99. Apparently, many people are fascinated with riding a bicycle on a California highway.
To the astonishment and delight of the planning committee, 5,327 people paid $25 for the chance to participate in the slower and shorter race and raised over $133,000. The slower route was a little less than five and a half miles long. Interested people purchased their tickets online, but only 876 riders showed up on the day of the “slow poke” ride.
This was a relief to the festival planners because the parking lots in downtown Modesto evaporated. The festival planners prepared for this and coordinated with city and police officials to allow free parking along all the downtown streets. Parking spaces were available at the shopping mall and most of the local high schools. Those who parked in those places rode shuttle buses that pulled specially equipped trailers for bicycles to the downtown starting point.
The “slow poke” ride had a 3-hour window, from 8 AM to 11 AM on a sunny Saturday in May, the day before Sunday’s “All Around the Town” road race, the featured event of the festival.
The third event of the festival, scheduled for early Saturday afternoon, was for children up to 12 years of age, a one-mile sprint around the Modesto Junior College West Campus on Blue Gum Ave.. Electric bikes, road bikes, and those with different speed settings were not allowed. The winner was the child who clocked the fastest time around the route. Her name was Marianna Dominguez Richardson, one of the last racers of the day. She won because as soon as her race began, a Basenji broke loose from its leash and chased her. Terrified of the hound and the strange noise it made, called a baroo, Marianna screamed and pedaled furiously toward the finish line. Her time was a full three seconds ahead of the second-place racer, a boy wearing a racing outfit who rode an expensive-looking BMX bike. Marianna won on an ancient “sting ray” type bike with a banana seat and new BMX handlebars. Her grandfather Richardson helped her install the handlebars on the old bike because the original handlebars were too tall and started to rust. The tires were good, and they lubricated all the moving parts.
As soon as she crossed the finish line, Marianna hopped off her bike and ran to her parents and all four of her grandparents. “Mama,” she gasped, “a dog chased me; I was so scared!” Her father went to retrieve her bike. When he rolled it over to where Marianna, her mother, and her grandparents sat on a blanket in the shade of a large tree, the owner of the dog had reattached the leash and walked toward them. “I’m so sorry Momo (the dog’s name) chased you. I don’t know what got into him. I’m glad you’re safe, but did you know that you won? You beat the next kid by about three seconds, so congratulations.”
Then he walked away, Momo the Basenji straining his leash until the clasp snapped and he ran off again. “Dammit Momo! Get back here!”
Marianna’s family laughed, watching Momo’s owner huffing and puffing, chasing after his pet.
Then grandpa Richardson turned to grandpa Dominguez and declared, “Who says ain’t nothing good on the west side of town?
The “All Around the Town” road race started on the corner of Kiernan Ave. (CA-219) in front of the California Highway Patrol office and went eastward to Kiernan/Claribel (the name changes when Kiernan crosses McHenry Ave.) to make a right turn onto Claus Rd/Garner Rd. (the name changes when Claus crosses Yosemite Blvd.) then southward to make a right turn onto Finch Rd., then a left turn onto Mitchell Rd., and on into the city of Ceres. Riders then made a right turn onto Hatch Rd. and continued west to make a right turn onto Herndon Rd. The route continued on Herndon Rd. where riders made a left onto River Rd. and continued to where River Rd. intersected with South Ninth Street. After making a right turn onto South Ninth St., the route continued through the western edge of downtown Modesto. At the intersection of North Ninth and North Carpenter Rd., riders made a right onto the Briggsmore-Carpenter overpass, then a left onto Sisk Rd. and northward to make a right turn onto Kiernan Ave. up to the place where the race started. The entire route was almost 30 miles long, and its two laps took most of the riders about 3 hours at an average speed of about 25 miles per hour.
The winner of the main event was 27-year-old Bernardo Sanchez-Reynoso, racing for Team Aguascalientes, based in central Mexico. The assembled crowd cheered his bicycling triumph.
Three days later, a couple of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents attempted to arrest Bernardo at his home in the nearby city of Ripon, a few miles north of Modesto. They accused him of being in the country illegally. As it happened, his sister, Azalea Blackstone, an immigration attorney, was visiting Bernardo and his family. There were at least 25 people there, including a couple of Ripon city officials, all celebrating Bernardo’s win in the bicycle race. In front of everyone present, Azalea told the ICE agents that both she and her brother were born in Berkeley, California, and grew up in the nearby town of San Pablo.
Given the tenor of the times in the United States between 2020 and 2030 C.E., Bernardo and his other family members decided to carry copies of their birth certificates and other pertinent documents verifying their citizenship with them at all times. They considered that doing so provided them with some degree of protection against some of the more aggressive immigration officers they sometimes encountered. Azalea shared that it all reminded her of the passbooks that black South Africans had to carry during the days of apartheid, something she learned about in college. Nevertheless, she showed Bernardo’s birth certificate and high school diploma to the agents. They both took a quick glance at the documents and exchanged looks of resignation and possibly relief.
“By the way, idiots,” she angrily told them, “Both our parents are naturalized American citizens. They were both born in the Mexican state of Aguascalientes. That is where Bernardo trains for the races he participates in. Now leave! And next time, bring a warrant!” The agents left the premises. They never returned