The weekend was a busy one for Whole Wheel Velo Club as the team sent squads to three separate racing venues: the Poolesville Road Race, the Turkey Hill Road Race, and the Wintergreen Ascent Time Trial.

At Poolesville, Chris “M.O.T.O.” Hall, Jonathan Mullins and Gus Grissom, left the carnage of the challenging dirt road section of this course in their wake as they worked together to secure a top-10 finish for protected rider Hall. Though Grissom lost both water bottles on the first pass at what could only be described as more pothole than road, the teamwork of Whole Wheel came through as J-Mull and Moto did what they could to prevent dehydration in a teammate. In the end, their efforts were successful and Grissom was able to provide a solid leadout to Hall which put him in great position with 200 meters to sprint. Grissom’s tactical mistake – providing the leadout a bit early – probably cost Hall the win as he was swarmed at the line. The top-10 finish, however, was still a great result in the first hot, dry road race of the season.

At the Turkey Day Road Race, Dave “NuSkin” Harrell worked alone to secure a solid result in what he termed a “sketchy” Cat 3/4 Field. To avoid the carnage of dropped chains, sudden braking, and random swerves in the peloton, Harrell spent most of the race conserving his energy in the rear of the pack. He later said that “the Moto-Ref and I are now best friends!” In the end, Dave’s energy conservation paid off as he mowed his way through the field “with almost no effort” and took 13th place, certainly a great result considering his recent loss of skin due to a sudden deceleration in the proximity of pavement.

Showing Whole Wheel’s respect for the disciplines of bothTime Trialing and Hill Climbing, Richard “Face” Gendron took on the Wintergreen Ascent Time Trial. As he warmed up, Gendron realized the enormity of the effort facing him. He said that he looked up at the mountain and thought “I’m going up that! …it was a statement of awe.” Though he claimed that, in the end, “gravity wins,” Gendron put in a solid effort and dragged his 170 pound frame up the mountain kicking and screaming. As he crested the top and realized his kids were there to support him, he said that “the pain is worth it to gain their support for my racing habit.”

 

Joe "Da Prez" Mazza sprinted clear of the field to take second place in the Cat 4/5 field at the Carl Dolan Memorial Classic. On a day marked by wind and rain, Mazza, assisted by fellow Whole Wheelers Chris "Your Turn" Hall and Mike "Ready for Prime Time" Ahlers, says he understood the "importance of a plan as well as racing with purpose" and the three of them focused their pre-race efforts on setting up a winning combination in what was likely to be a field sprint finish. Their vision for the race came true as the field entered the final laps all together.

At this point, Mazza said "Chris turned into a man possessed" and set such a quick tempo for the next 700 meters that Mazza was able to follow him all the way to the front of the pack. Then, just as Chris' heroic leadout was fading, Mazza hopped out of the saddle and broke free of the pack. In his own words, it was a sprinter's dream: "there it was. Open road." The open road lead straight to the podium and another big result for Whole Wheel. As for Chris' efforts, Mazza said that this result was "all about him."

Once again, the point is proven that individual results in cycling are most often due to selfless acts of a tight team like Whole Wheel. 

Chris "Flappin' Straps" Hall made his first podium appearance of the year by sprinting to second place at Tyson's Corner.  After entering the Cat 4 event with low expectations from a week of laryngitis, Hall put his pain aside and flawlessly managed his effort around the rain-slicked course.  Fellow Whole Wheeler Joe "Numbahs" Mazza took off his normal sprinter's cap in favor of a new role as support rider patrolling the front of the pack and covering the breaks.   While Numbahs kept the peleton tight and softened the group up a bit, Hall to made a gutsy dash to the line.  Hall said that, as the pack entered the final lap, he "just took the front and went for it and it paid off big time."  Noting that "this wasn't a normal hide and sprint" finish, Hall showed that he is more than capable of dominating races from well beyond the kilometer mark.

In the Cat 5 race, Simon "Holy Shorts" Kim took second in the field sprint and fifth overall.  Kim noted that it was the "three amigos of a WWVC train," namely Jonathan "Numbahs Jr." Mullins, Rich "Big Arms" Gendron, and "Wiki-Mike" Ahlers, who kept the field strung out and provided him the perfect launching pad for his sprint.  As the Whole Wheel train neutralized the field, Kim "committed 100% and started to sprint hard."  The effort resulted in second place for the field and his first top-5 finish.

At the end of the day, it can be said that Tyson's Corner is just another venue at which Whole Wheel demonstrated its commitment to teamwork which nearly always nets individual results.