Wolfpack Women's Racing, 2021 & beyond

[72gmc]

Awesome, Dustin. Thanks for this thread.

[j44ke]

Yessir. +1000

[dashDustin]

I'm sure more will come from Tulsa as the weekend gets processed.

It was hard. That was the hardest weekend I've ever worked. And so, so hot. Bed at 3am Saturday morning, up at 6:30 to get parking. On course from 7am until 8pmish? I think. I don't remember. Bed at midnight, then up at 5:30am to get parking for Cry Baby. I'll save my rant for my own IG, but let me say this...Tulsa Tough is losing touch. And this isn't even considering the rider safety aspect and the seemingly awful treatment some athletes received over the weekend.

Anywho, next up for the ladies will be Dairyland.

Over past few weeks, a junior girl has been coming the clinics wifey has been hosting at COTA. This little girl is eager to learn, and her parents are so very supportive. Wifey was able to pull some strings, and got this rider 'sponsored' for the Novice Women p/b ATX Wolfpack series at ToAD. Her travel has been covered, entries covered, and she's going to be getting some Wolfpack kit to race in. She's pretty excited, as are her parents. More on that to come.

Now, more videos!







Also, just want to point out Mr Preston Eye from Nashville Local Cycling (their elite men's team has partnered with us this year...Nashville Local // Wolfpack). This kid is a champ in the making. Keep an eye on him. Unreal work ethic.

[dashDustin]

Oh, yeah...so that Tarmac with the broken handlebar. In a first for me, the cam on her rear skewer got bent, too, so I couldn't actually take out her rear wheel, except by using the lever like a wingnut. I don't have spare skewers (or brake cables and housing, because that's the only bike using rim brakes and I hadn't expected to be without our team frames for this late in the season....also why I didn't have a single 2.5mm hex key until the day before Tulsa). When putting it back in just so she could spin around in the morning, the rotating action of the lever caused the wheel to slip ever so slightly right at the end, which is why her rim was brushing against the pad. That was annoying. I think I spent half an hour trying to get the wheel straight and skewer tight at the same time. Ended up opting for tight skewer.

[dashDustin]

Day 1 of Dairyland

Harriet’s first race back post-concussion (her last race was around August of last year. She suffered a concussion at a (former) team camp prior to last year and tried riding through it. When she joined WP, we wouldn’t let her race till Drs cleared her. She was cleared only recently. Welcome back, Harriet). AND Alijah crosses the line 2nd to take the Cat2 W leader’s jersey. I might’ve teared up.

3FEC0038-41A7-44F4-9DBD-974655E16F82.jpeg

[dashDustin]

[j44ke]

Whoopah! Congrats!

[dashDustin]

I can't seem to find any good pictures at the moment, but...

This little junior (16) has been showing up to the clinics at COTA and has had a really solid attitude, really excited to learn and start racing. Kinda last minute, wifey was like "hey...why don't we see if we can get you up to Dairyland to race in our co-sponsored women's series" (Novice Women p/b ATX Wolfpack). So she reached out to promoter and was like "hey...will y'all comp her entry?" They said sure. Wifey reached out to USAC and was like "hey...will y'all cover her travel?" They said sure.

So it was done. We got her a kit from last year, drove her bike up to Wisconsin, and she set off. 16yr old starting her first races.

She did well. 3 x 4th, 2 x 2nd, and 3rd overall in the series. Field sizes up to 15, so it was pretty solid for a jr in her very first events. She was stoked, her parents were stoked.

The gist of the series was that some women from Wolfpack would mentor the racers in-race (including LeighAnn who won Pro Crit Nats in 2018). Teach them where to be, what to do, encourage them...all the stuff that, as a Cat4/5, you don't know and wished like hell someone would've told you. (first IG link doesn't seem to be working...try this: https://www.instagram.com/p/Ce7HtOJLP0I/?hl=en) Seems like it went pretty well.





Unfortunately, like all things...it's not all sunshine and rainbows. And this is the hard part of running a team. We placed the order/ put down a deposit for our team frames back in January, with the expectation being 2 - 3 months. Perfect timing. I'd have a month+ to get them built up and ready to roll before the season really kicked off. It wasn't a sponsorship...it was a hook-up. A discount off of retail. We got our old frames back, I rebuilt them to OEM spec, sold a few, etc etc.

2 - 3 months passed. No frames.

4 months...no frames.

Finally just had to re-rebuild some of the bikes we hadn't sold and send those out to some of our riders. Had to buy-back one bike we had sold. That was fun. A few riders opted to race their own bikes. Doesn't seem like too big of a deal, right? Well, it is. Especially when it comes to race support. Rim brake, 140/ 140 disc thru-axle, 160/ 140 disc thru-axle, and 160/ 160 QR disc. Due to ongoing supply issues, I couldn't even get everyone on the same rotor sizes. Hard to have spare wheels in a car or pit.

5 months, no frames.

We're now half-way through our season, and our frames have finally arrived in the US, just shy of 6mos after ordering. I'm kind of frustrated here, because in 2 weeks, we hit the ground for our 2nd block of racing...Boise, SLC, Intelli, and Littleton...5 weekends in a row of races (Intelli is another 10-day series). ToAD continues on for another week. There's no time to get bikes shipped to me, from supplier and athletes, and get them all rebuilt, then shipped back out. On top of that, having lost financial sponsor A late in the game, and financial sponsor B having not given us any payment, wifey and I are funding the team. We straight up just don't have $10k sitting around to get these frames paid for, while still sitting on the CAADs from last year that we couldn't sell off. Another reason why the 2-3 month timeline worked for us. That was plenty of time to off the old bikes and set that money aside for the new frames, while also being able to set aside some cash for surprises.

Anywho...highs and lows. Onward we go.

[htwoopup]

I can't seem to find any good pictures at the moment, but...

This little junior (16) has been showing up to the clinics at COTA and has had a really solid attitude, really excited to learn and start racing. Kinda last minute, wifey was like "hey...why don't we see if we can get you up to Dairyland to race in our co-sponsored women's series" (Novice Women p/b ATX Wolfpack). So she reached out to promoter and was like "hey...will y'all comp her entry?" They said sure. Wifey reached out to USAC and was like "hey...will y'all cover her travel?" They said sure.

So it was done. We got her a kit from last year, drove her bike up to Wisconsin, and she set off. 16yr old starting her first races.

She did well. 3 x 4th, 2 x 2nd, and 3rd overall in the series. Field sizes up to 15, so it was pretty solid for a jr in her very first events. She was stoked, her parents were stoked.

The gist of the series was that some women from Wolfpack would mentor the racers in-race (including LeighAnn who won Pro Crit Nats in 2018). Teach them where to be, what to do, encourage them...all the stuff that, as a Cat4/5, you don't know and wished like hell someone would've told you. (first IG link doesn't seem to be working...try this: https://www.instagram.com/p/Ce7HtOJLP0I/?hl=en) Seems like it went pretty well.

This is truly impressive to me. Mentorship is so important. Particularly for kids/ young adults who can't get it otherwise. And for the kids to see older adults who they can be when they grow up is really cool. Kudos to you and the women of Wolfpack.

[j44ke]

Dustin - seems like the team has fans so maybe setting up some way donations can flow would be a good idea. A "tires and tubes" fund or something. Might not make up for the absentee sponsors, but could round the sharp edges off the finances.

[dashDustin]

Dustin - seems like the team has fans so maybe setting up some way donations can flow would be a good idea. A "tires and tubes" fund or something. Might not make up for the absentee sponsors, but could round the sharp edges off the finances.

We will be doing something like this after some more disappointing news late last week.

In other news, Harriet has clinched the W12 omnium jersey at Dairyland following a badass win today. What an unreal return to racing for her.

[72gmc]

Are one or more of these financial sponsors promoted on your kit without providing payment?

[dashDustin]

Are one or more of these financial sponsors promoted on your kit without providing payment?

Yeah…


https://usacycling.org/article/usa-c...pWxg&fs=e&s=cl

USAC’s press release announcing the partnership is finally live.

[dashDustin]

I freakin love Romina. She is already a monster on the bike. Super low-key, unsuspecting.