The Tour of Washington County provided the latest venue for Whole Wheel Velo Club to showcase its “team first” mentality for the MABRA community.  In the Cat 4 event, Pete “Slip ‘n Slide” Warner took the top GC honors while Gus Grissom took 8^th overall.  In the Cat 3 event, Tom “Old Man” Draffen took 7^th overall.

The Cat 4 squad, bolstered by Ryan “Not In Front of My Girlfriend” Callahan and Chris “Horn Tootin’” Gould, was focused on one goal heading into the weekend: protect Warner in the RR so he could take charge in the TT.  To that end, Grissom posted himself near the front of the peloton and marked all the breaks.  Though a few potentially promising groups got away on the short climbs very early, nothing was sticking on the flat, windy sections.  Once the field realized this, the squad became content simply to drive the pace on the climbs and bleed off as many racers as possible.  This tactic worked well as several riders from Bike Rack pitched in to shrink the peloton down to a more manageable level.  As the final lap approached, Warner was well positioned to finish strong with a fairly small group of GC contenders.

Warner took control by dominating the TT and posting a 27:35 to seizing the GC lead by over thirty seconds.  Moving from the TT to the Crit, the squad’s plan again was simple: protect Warner and contain his main GC threats.  While Gould and Grissom patrolled the front of the pack during the opening phases of the race, Warner was able to relax and focus on staying out of trouble.  When the time bonus primes came along, Warner said, “I didn’t need to contest any of the bonus points throughout so I bowed out of the Bike Rack rampage for those.”  Going into the last turn of the last lap, Warner seems to have lost his head for a moment and took a bad line which resulted in a quick trip to the pavement.  Though he said he “was embarrassed, sad and absolutely ripping myself up for the stupidity,” the officials consulted the rule book and awarded him the same time as the field.  His well deserved GC lead was protected and the team could not have been more excited to have been a part of his success.  Grissom, even after working for Warner all weekend, moved up to 8^th overall and called the weekend his “best ever.”

The Cat 3 squad, consisting of Draffen, Chris “I Hate TT’s” Hall, Rusty “I Hate ‘em More” Williford, and Dave “Hey, That’s My Mom” Harrell, didn’t experience the same level of drama and was able to rely on their higher experience levels to relax and keep Draffen out of trouble on the RR.  Posting a 27:28 in the TT, Draffen moved up from 26^th to 6^th in the GC.  He was able to ride comfortably in the Criterium, confidently supported by his team who did what was necessary to keep him out of the wind.

Overall, Whole Wheel Velo Club enjoyed a solid weekend of team racing.  Every member of both squads played a part in securing three top-10 positions in two categories of this tour and, as Gould noted, the team’s performance was “proof-positive that it’s possible to work hard to help a teammate get a win and still do quite well in your own right.”