Author

Luke Seemann on Apr 24, 2010

Race name: Whitnall Park Spring Classic Race date: Saturday, Apr 24, 2010

I love this course. With three successive climbs and gentle, sweeping descents, it's perfectly suited to maximize my strengths and conceal my liabilities. I certainly wasn't going to let dire forecasts of thunderstorms spoil my fun.

It had been six months since I last had occasion to use my Hed race wheels. I'd forgotten how splendid they are. How they carve corners like an electric knife on a Christmas ham. How their freewheel purrs like an idling engine. How they make you feel like you have an extra 200 watts with every jump.

My first race was the masters 1/2/3. A small field, but I recognized the Wisconsin aces. It had started to mist just before the race, and the rooster tails drove me crazy. It was hard to follow someone's wheel, and I was nervous riding in a crowd with such poor visibility.

So I looked for an early escape.

On the second lap, an IS Corp rider was about 10 seconds up the road. The pack had split, one of those early-race dramas that never amount to much, and I was pulling the second half up to the lead group. When we made contact, the leaders were slowing on the third hill, but I still had a lot of momentum, so I rode up the right side. Over on the left, I spotted a Wheel & Sprocket rider getting out of his saddle. Thus I continued up the hill and met him at the top. We traded a few pulls and caught the ISCorp rider -- and we were already out of sight. That's what I love about this course. It doesn't take much to get away.

And that was pretty much the race. Like any break with a hope for surviving, we were instant BFF's. We traded pulls evenly. Indeed, a three-person break was perfect for this course, with each of us taking responsibility for one of the three stairstep climbs. When a prime for some Clif product was called, it was a no-brainer to agree split it evenly and roll through smoothly.

We received lots of helpful time gaps from the sidelines, and we eventually hit more than a minute. Even with a minute gap and less than a few laps to race, I still feel insecure about any break, so I tend to drive it harder than I need to. Such was the case here, but after having twice finished last in the break here, I was determined not to repeat.

With four to go, I started putting in attacks at various spots on the course, hoping to shed at least one of my two new best friends. Nothing doing. As in past years here, I think it may have been because our gap was *too* big: In between attacks, everyone could afford to rest a little. As a result, we all had fresh legs to cover any cat-and-mouse action.

So it would come to a sprint. I entered the final stretch in second wheel. At the base of the second climb, ISCorp attacked from behind. Since it was early, I let Wheel & Sprocket cover it. Cover it he did, but it was all I could do to hold his wheel, and I didn't have enough gas to overtake him. Nonetheless, he was able to tow me past ISCorp, so I did not finish last in the break. Progress!

As soon as I stopped riding, I started trembling with cold. I was soaked, and my feet felt like bricks. Quickly I headed to the car and cranked up the heat. Ordinarily I would have gone home in that condition, but I knew Dave was coming up for the P/1/2/3 race, and it would have been poor form to abandon him.

The mist had receded but it was still cold and damp. Nonetheless it was an active race from the beginning. Team Wisconsin, ISCorps and Trocadero all had good numbers and were determined to get off the front, and of course everyone had their eye on Cole House of BMC's u23 team, fresh from Europe.

Dave and I took turns trying to get into moves or bridge to moves. About halfway through the race, a threesome was charging off the front, and since Dave had just had a move reeled in, it was my turn. I launched from my favorite attack point and got away clear ... but I just didn't have the legs to get across. A chase group was coming up behind me, however, and I was able to latch on to them. We worked well enough -- except for the ISCorp rider, who rightly sat in, since he had a teammate up the road -- but didn't make much progress. The break was soon out of sight.

That's about when we were joined by House, who put in a huge pull for more than a lap. If he was going to put in many more pulls like that, I knew I'd have trouble sticking on.

I must say, it was pretty cool to be holding a BMC wheel. I haven't ridden against such a prestigious kit since my days in the 5's racing against U.S. Postal and Pink Floyd.

Since the first rule of Break Club is "Don't get dropped from the break," I started skipping pulls and sitting in at the back. ISCorp noted this, however, and didn't like it, so he cleverly let a gap open ahead of him, daring me to close. I tried but couldn't, and he was able to leapfrog around me, leaving me behind in no-man's land with six laps to go.

Oh, the shame.

It wouldn't last long: After two laps by myself, Dave was bounding up to me, having broken free of the pack. As soon as he caught up to me I put in one hard pull to give him brief relief and then bid him on his way.

Five laps later, I would roll in midpack. Dave, on the other hand, was able to salvage our race and stay away and even pass some of the chasers for 6th.

Just one out of the money for Dave, but a profitable day all things considered, and it left me really looking forward to a great season of racing with everyone.