The Lesson: It's good to have a team working together, difficult if you don't.  But you still learn a lot about your own riding.

Everything I know about Wisport races is the hammer drops at the line and a break forms.  If you're in it - great.  If you're not - game over.  As I plop myself near the front of the start line I hear Fred say "hey.  Joel" and nod towards a guy who looks like a rocket ready to launch.  (I find out later it's Mark Brone, who owns a WI bike shop and apparently he and his team routinely clean up Wisport races).  So I follow him.  We roll out nice and easy, and I get ready for the launch.  Sure enough, when the open road hits the launch countdown completes and from the bridge to the first turn (~3 miles) the pace stays over 27 mph.  I'm sure my HR is redlined, but probably so is everyone else.  However, coming around the turn I'm still near the front and able to be in the mix.  Then chaos hits.  My interpretation is this is intentional as Brones and Big Ring Flyers had several people at the front, let their rider off and created road blocks for everyone else.  I got blocked in behind one of them and got shut back from the break.  Drat!  At this point the chase pack pace slows way down to about 23 mph and we watch the break slip away.  I'm gassed from the start and stuck about 10 riders back with nothing else to do but catch my breath.  After a few miles I'm feeling better and it's clear the guys at the front can't and/or won't bring up the pace to reel them back.  I figure there's two choices: 1) ride along and hope we are able to catch them or 2) Chase.  I already determined we will not reel them back if the guys at the front have any say in it (which they did since they were controlling the pace), so I found an opening, slid around the side of the pack, and kept on going off the front.  It worked, the whole pack came along for the ride.  Pulling at about 27 mph I took a long turn, gained some good ground and faded back.  I was sure someone would be excited to reel them in and keep it going.  Nope, back to 23 mph.  I saw Fred up front taking turns too, but nothing consistent materialized.  OK, I'll keep trying.  After a little recovery I took another pull.  Nothing.  A little more recovery.  Next time I decided fine, I'll just pull the whole group all the way myself then.  I launched up to and off the front pulling a 28 mph pace and held it as long as I could before fading to much.  I peek back to see... nobody.  They let me dangle all alone.  Then into my corner vision someone flys by, it's Matt who bridged up to me (presumably to help) but at that point I couldn't hold his wheel.  We both faded back to the pack.  I was left wondering if I wouldn't have looked back and just hammered on if I could have made it.  That pull took it's toll and it took me a while to recover.  In that time nobody except Fred really tried to get some cooperation.  So along we cruised for a while.  A couple of times Fred was able to get a paceline started and we notched it up a bit.  But only about 10 people got in, most just freeloaded on the back, and then a few got mixed in and disrupted the whole thing.  On the rollers Fred did his best to keep the pace up the hills, and I took several more long pulls on the front. 

We kept loosing ground and I figured if I kept pulling I would not have enough left at the end to even contend the sprint for our group.  But why fight for 10th?  Might as well keep trying to make something happen.  Finally wear and tear got the best of me.  Each pull took longer to recover, and after one long grind up a shallow slope I got boxed in by two other tired riders.  The pack whizzed by us and by the time I got around the two we were gapped, and I was not yet recovered.  I struggled for a few minutes trying to regain a pace and then redlined it for a few miles slowly gaining ground.  I almost got back on when two cars (from the race, even!) got between us as we rounded a turn  The cars came to a near halt and by the time I got around the corner the pack was gone.  ugh.  I was completely shot and knew I was done, with about 10 miles to go.  I slogged on for a while, keeping the group in sight when I saw what looked like everyone stopping.  As I got closer I guessed there was a crash, and ended up catching a few guys as they struggled to get going again.  But I couldn't hold on and ended up riding solo the rest of the way.  By the end I couldn't even hold a 20 mph pace and slowly cruised to the finish line.  Even with burning out and 10 miles solo I finished with a 23.2 mph average.  I'll take it.

In the end the results sheets shows poor placing, but all in all I was very pleased with my riding and that I actually could attempt to make a difference.  I felt great and was happy I could take so many turns at the front.  It was also super fun to ride with Matt, Mike, and Fred and great to see four of us in the mix.  Of course post-race replay we came up with several scenarios of what we could have done differently, and that if we had some practice working together and had a few other of our teammates there we might just have been able to make a break ourselves.

The weekend was great overall.  Thanks to Tim and family for hosting us at the farm, a beautiful night for sleeping outside, and a great time seeing and reconnecting with friends.  Thanks to everyone for your friendship, and the fun we had over the weekend.  It was more than a race, more than an event, it was great fellowship!