The WWVC Racing team set some lofty goals for 2010 road season. Although we are not yet a team stacked with numerous Cat 1’s & 2’s, we did have some strong Masters racer’s looking to make a mark on that scene in addition to some very promising  talent coming up through the ranks in the 4’s & 5’s.

As one of the smaller teams in MABRA, we like to think we make up for that deficiency in racing and training as a team. We’ve removed the sometimes seeming barriers between our experienced rider’s and younger rider’s to foster growth and an enrichment toward feeling positive about the personal and team accomplishments we realize on race day. At the end of the day, it’s the relationships you build and the camaraderie you gain through blood, sweat and hard work which makes bike racing so rewarding.

In the off-season, during our goal setting, we challenged our membership to begin transforming ourselves from a widely viewed “club” to a “racing” team. We adjusted various pieces of our membership and enrollment requirements to align with our new mission. Needless to say, our team rallied around this calling with a renewed enthusiasm and drive to make things happen.

Our Masters squad garnered some early success which we were all thrilled about. We definitely started out on a good note. Our Cat 4 & 5’s quickly took over the momentum and started achieving result after result. The train was rolling!

As we entered the mid-late season races, we were really gelling as a team. One of our bright up and coming stars, Nicholas Taylor, was absolutely on fire. We again set some lofty team goals with eyes focused up the road.

During the period of July and August, our 3 and 4 squads produced some incredible individual and team performances:

MABRA Crit Championships: 3^rd Place Cat 3, Nicholas Taylor

Giro di Coppi: 1^st Place Cat ¾, Nicholas Taylor; 4^th Place Cat ¾ Peter Warner

VA & MABRA Road Race Championships- Page Valley: 1^st Place Cat 3, Nicholas Taylor (And Yes, we are thrilled to have the C3 RR Jersey(s)!); 5^th Place Cat 5, Ed Patrick

Luray Crit: 3^rd Place Cat 3, Nicholas Taylor; 7^th Place Cat 5, Ed Patrick

Tour de Millersburg: 2^nd Place Cat ¾ TT, Peter Warner; 2^nd Place Crit, Peter Warner; 6^th Place RR, Peter Warner; 1^st Place GC, Peter Warner (HUGE team effort here!)

MABRA TT Championships: 1^st Place Cat 3, Peter Warner; 2^nd Place 40-45, Chris Gould

VA TT Championships: 2^nd Place Cat 3, Peter Warner; 7^th Place Cat 3, Chris Gould

Dawg Day’s: 1^st Place Cat 5, Ed Patrick

South Mtn Hill Climb: 1^st Place W4, Melissa Goldbold

What a way to end the road racing season! From a team perspective, we couldn’t be more proud about the sacrifices and dedication it took to end the year on a high note!

Folks are already dusting off their cross bikes and the listserve is booming with excitement over the cross calendar looming on the horizon. Watch out for the Red and Black! The rest of us will be there cheering them on with beer in our hands, packing on the much needed lbs for a winter of off-season training to come.

**If you interested in learning more about racing for WWVC during 2011, please feel free to direct your interest to wholewheel@gmail.com. We will be setting our roster for the 2011 year during the Nov-Dec time period.