Walkersville and Tysons Race Reports

Here are the weekend race reports, goombahs.

Walkersville 35+

WWVC Racing had some high expectations for this race. It's safe to say that we fielded the strongest squad that WWVC has ever put into a single field in its history. For long-timers like me, it meant a lot just to be in it with those guys. Our plan was to be aggressive and to make sure we were either creating or reacting to every legitimate move. Given that we had three solid LT hammers, my job was to sit, sit, sit and unleash hell at the end. Chris Hall's job was the same.

After the neutral rollout, just as we made the right, an Evo guy launched and Chris Gould went with him. The move was doomed but it was good to see us being aggressive right from the start. They stayed away for almost the entire first lap. When they were close enough that the catch was evident (just after the last turn), Ramon launched and I went with him. Huh? Um, Joe, what're ya doin'? I noticed there was an ABRT guy, Evo guy, and a Kelly guy there too. For half a moment, I actually thought the move stood a chance based on representation alone. But, as I would have guessed, no one was going to let Ramon go. Hokie dokie. I slid back into the pack and caught my breath.

So it went for most of the race. I watched from mid-pack or so while our LT guys attacked, countered, responded, etc. With 3 to go on the hill, Chris Gould launched a well-timed attack and took an ABRT guy and a Kelly guy with him. Another ABRT guy, another Kelly guy, and teammate Jim waited half a second, then also launched to bridge. Unfortunately, Chris torched himself on the attack. Ideally, it really would have been Tom or Pete that went with the second wave since they're the other real LT hammers. So now it's ABRT & Kelly up the road with ABRT, Kelly, and Jim chasing. I think if the chase group would have rotated smoothly, Jim would have survived and ended up being with a five-man break. Instead - and rightfully so - the ABRT and Kelly guys started attacking Jim. They each had guys up the road so why bring Jim up there? Result: Jim got dropped and each of them made it. So the break was 2 ABRT and 2 Kelly. They'd end up staying away. Well played.

With 2 to go, the pack decided to try and reel in the break. Ouch ouch ouch. We were strung out single file into the wind and it f-ing hurt. We popped a bunch of guys there. The second-to-last lap surge turned out to be a bad thing because everyone was tired on the last lap. And tired means slow. I was astonished that out of the last turn with just over a mile to go, we were just puttering along. I saw Ramon trying to move up on the inside with moderate success. I chose the yellow line. With 500 meters to go - and in sight of the line - it finally started to pick up. I had a guy on my left shoulder riding the line but not moving up. I had all my matches and was dying to move outside and ramp it up. Now I know they say you're supposed to wait until 200 meters to use the whole road but in all the times I've done that race, it always opens up prior to that. So I was barking at the dude next to me to either move up or move out of my f-ing way. He didn't. And in that instant, it all ended. Someone on the right side went down and the domino effect swept left toward me. Little by little my path was being filled with riders. I kept moving left.....until there was no more road. I four-wheeled it into the grass, then into the dirt farmers field. I was moving pretty quickly and just tried to keep it upright for as long as possible until, eventually, my wheels found a rut and drove me down onto my left side. My calf immediately cramped up hard and my neck hurt pretty bad but I was very much unscathed (just dirty).

Teammates Pete Warner and Chris Hall didn't fare as well. Pete endoed but came out pretty much OK. Chris was very scraped up, looked way out of it, and could barely walk. He went to the hospital. He turned out OK for the most part but not a single piece of his equipment made it through OK (except, he tells me, his Livestrong band. How ironic.)

The positive of it was that teammate Jim did very well in the field sprint and took a 3rd in the 35+ group. Great for him. Great for the team.

Tysons 35+

Yet another beautiful day weather-wise. Got there with a few hours to spare since I knew the team tent would be set up. The cat 4s were warming up and most of us masters were there. We looked a bit battered. I was still very very sore from yesterday and my neck and back were definitely feeling the mini-crash I had. Warmup wasn't helping much. Oh well, HTFU.

The plan was much the same as the day before, though this time we didn't have either of the Chris's. The race seemed to start pretty fast though it could easily have been only my perception. It would take a few laps for me to overcome the soreness of the day before. The wind down the hill was pretty strong and really picked up at the point where the road flattened out. But, as laps went by, I tested various lines, moved up periodically, pushed it on the hill and settled on the descent, etc. Round and round we went.

Again, since the plan was for me to pick daisies and be ready for the sprint while the others did the attacking, I didn't concern myself with what was happening up the road. Not sure I could have done anything useful anyway. Toward the end of the race, I was just damn tired and ready for my Sunday evening Belgian ale. But, I wasn't going to go down without a fight so, as I approached the bell, I took the opportunity to move up during a very brief lull in the pace. Right as we crossed the start/finish, I found teammate Tom's wheel who was sitting about 15 back from the front. Perfect. He accelerated with the intention (he'd tell me later) of wasting himself on the downhill to get me through the last corner safely. Unfortunately (you knew I'd say that), I had the very inside line going through turn 1 and someone next to me decided he wanted to be efficient and cut it as close to the curb as possible. I was half a bike-length aft of him and he won. I grabbed a fistful of brakes and lost a good twenty positions in the time it took me to get my speed back up. Once I did, I noticed Tom way up toward the front and I was mid pack. I tried to catch on the downhill, but everyone else was doing exactly what I was. After making the last turn, it was already over as the whole group in front of me was spread from curb to cones. So, I tried to do the mature thing and sat up and rode steadily to the line vs. sprinting for 40th place.

Once again though, team results were good. Pete Warner took 8th and Jim 13th. It's early in the season and we're starting to learn each others' rhythym. More racing to come.

Ciao!!