This past weekend Whole Wheel Velo Club hosted the Ride Sally Ride Criterium in Sterling, VA.  Though some local racers have taken to calling the event the “Crash Sally Crash,” the wide, flat course and nearly perfect weather conditions brought about fast, smooth racing in nearly every category.  WWVC was primarily focused on organizing the races and maintaining the safety of the racers, but a few Whole Wheelers still found a way to achieve personal success by notching their best finishes of the season to date.

Race director Michael “T-Lump” Randers-Pehrson set the stage for this event, now in its second year, by making a few changes to the course and the available racing categories.  His decisions, based on suggestions from the MABRA racing community, proved to be good ones as they led to even faster, more spectator-friendly racing and to a well attended, hotly contested Women’s Cat 4 event.  Always a glutton for punishment, however, Randers-Pehrson was heard talking after the race about “an idea for a new, late season omnium” at a yet-to-be-disclosed location.  Though most race directors spend the time after their race swearing they will never do another race, it seems RP is already preparing for his next challenge and, without doubt, his next success.

Phil “Phunk” Bracken notched his first win in the Men’s Cat 5 race by outsprinting a hard-charging field over the last hundred meters.  Though Phunk admitted that he was “not terribly confident in my ability to race and very nervous leading up to the start,” he has spent a lot of time on the rollers, working around a hectic travel schedule.  Apparently his training plan works.  After spending most of the race in pack, trying to conserve energy, Phunk said the last few laps were fun and filled him with confidence.  He said, “it was really cool to feel comfortable enough … and to have the energy to grab on to wheels as attacks happened.”  In the end, “an NCVC guy attacked and I hooked on to his wheel… I came through the turn making sure not to scrape my pedal, and then sprinted to the finish. I knew I attacked a bit early, because with 100 yards to go, I was spun out and feeling quite miserable.”  His attack, however, was perfectly timed and Phunk held his advantage to the end with several bike lengths to spare.

Simon “Mr. Italy” Kim had his strongest showing ever, taking 6th In the Men’s 35+ 4/5 field.  In true Kim fashion he downplayed his fitness level saying “as usual, I didn’t expect much more than to be able to finish the race without getting pulled.”  The reality, however, was that Kim was not only strong enough to finish but he reported “feeling super comfortable with the pace.  As the laps started to go down I realized my fitness must be better than most folks since I was hearing a lot of heavy breathing and seeing a lot of painful faces.”  In the end, Kim believes he mistimed his final attack and put in a “half hearted sprint to catch handful of people” for 6th place.  Everyone else was left to wonder “what if the sprint had been whole hearted?”  Kim, no doubt, has begun to leverage a consistent training schedule and a growing experience level to position himself for more success in the future.

Overall, it was a banner day for Whole Wheel Velo Club.  As usual the team turned out in force to support the race, each other, and the MABRA community as a whole.  While individual praise must be given to the those who raced, team praise must also go out to everyone who made this day a success!