Several riders from Whole Wheel Velo Club successfully made the long trip to West Virginia in search of the Lost River and a soon-to-be classic race on the MABRA calendar.  The team is pleased to report two things: they found the Lost River and it did in fact live up to the hype.  The race was epic, the course was spectacular, and the team’s results were solid.

In the Cat 5 event, Phil “The Phunk” Bracken simply wanted to test himself in a road race featuring gravity as a main competitor.  By positioning himself well on the climbs, however, and staying focused on maintaining contact with the lighter climbers who were setting the pace, Phunk found himself able to make up a lot of ground on the descents where he says “I wanted to use my weight to my advantage.”  It was mission accomplished for Phunk as he found himself making the selection and, in the end, “sprinting as good as a big guy can on an uphill” to take 6^th place.  He looks forward to upgrading by the end of the year and working with the Cat 4 squad very soon.

The Cat 4 squad of Chris “ISO Volunteers” Gould, Michael “The Director” Randers-Pehrson, and Gus Grissom also found success at the event.  The teamwork started early as Gus Grissom, having been given permission by the team director to “attack on the first climb,” leveraged Gould’s steady climbing tempo and forced a significant selection at the top of the first climb.  Grissom said “Gould was setting a solid tempo upfront and I heard a lot of gears shifting and heavy breathing, so I jumped hard on the steep part to see what would happen.”  Though the attack broke the field apart and forced a solid selection of competitors, Grissom admitted later that his attack was mostly due to fear.  “I really suck at going downhill and mostly didn’t want anyone around to see how white my knuckles would get on that screaming descent.”  Regardless his motive, the damage was done.  With the field broken apart behind him, Grissom worked hard in the break and captured another top-10 finish in his quest for a Cat 3 upgrade.

On Sunday, Gould was joined by Brian “Bantamweight” Stefanish in the 540 Developmental Series criterium event.  Both riders agreed that the event was a great opportunity to hone their racing skills and used the course to the their advantage, by maintaining their position near the front of the field and staying alert for opportunities.  Though Gould said his “44 year old body didn’t have much left from the Lost River,” he was able to secure a top-10 finish and Stefanish called the day a solid validation of his recent nutrition and fitness improvements.