14th Annual Spring Fling Series

Click here for 2009 Spring Fling Flier

As the historical opening road event of the Kansas and KC Metro area road schedule here’s our call to arms.

From the Spring Fling’s humble beginnings in 1994 when there was only 2 race categories. An A race and a B race where daily ridership was 20 to 30 total riders. In the early years with the dirth of quality officials Jim Whittaker was the MC, Chief Official, Judge, Scorer, Promoter, Racer, and Coach. Besides producing a few gray hairs from doing too much work it was a blast. The Spring Fling Crit Series race exploded in 2003 and surged to over 100 racers per event and now floats around 150 participants. The 14th Annual spring fling is one of the longest running crit series in America and the longest in the Midwest. The fling was the brain child of coach, racer, promoter, entrepreneur Jim Whittaker. Much like Jim’s athleticism he may not be the fastest but he will be out there no matter what. Jim started the Spring Fling because he was tired of driving out of state to find races, in the early 1990’s the KC Metro area race scene was underdeveloped.

Over the years the Spring Fling has made a sizable contribution to the Clinton Lake Handicap Access Fund which builds trail access for everyone. The Fling as we call it also offers free junior racing in the junior class, and free Super B (youth) racing where everyone wins and no one is scored. We were also one of the first races to focus on Beginner and Intermediate level women’s cycling. Last year the largest Women’s cat 4 race included 15+ women which is fantastic. Revolution Racing is proud to help grow the sport.

The Spring Fling continues to evolve, grow, and mature. One of the big changes for the 2009 version is the addition of an Open Masters 40+ race category and the temporary retirement of the Cat 1/2/3 race. As the KC metro area ridership continues to age many riders are over age 40 and race masters exclusively. As the younger cat ½’s have changed priorities or raced out side this area for new challenges those race fields have become smaller. In the 2008 spring fling there were an average of three Cat 1 and Cat 2 racers that participated at each event.  Combining higher category races drastically change the race and outcome for the lower category racers. We look forward to bringing the cat 1/2/3 race back in the future.

I challenge the KC Metro area cycling community to develop more Cat 1 and Cat 2 riders. How do you improve the elite side of a sport? By focusing on the base of the pyramid that supports us all. More Juniors, more women, more families, more mentors, more free loaner bikes, and more experienced riders giving up a Saturday afternoon to work with new riders. In fact the health of any sport is directly proportional to the number of youth and families involved. Look at swimming, soccer, football, little league baseball, need I say more? Big Prizes lists and Pro races all excite our imagination and allow the journeyman Cat 1 and Cat 2 a chance to “live the dream” but it’s the weekend warrior events that are safe and run with a development focus that drive everything. Because cycling is so competitive with arbitrary categories it tends to divide us instead of unite us. Everyone starts as a beginner but only 1 out of a 100 Category 5 (beginner) cyclists will be a Category 1 (elite), heck cycling is so hard only a handful will be racing 5 years later… But that’s why you love to race but not everyone shares that view.

Furthermore Revolution Racing challenges every rider to befriend, mentor, coach, annoy, someone onto the bike, then their local group ride, and maybe even a free race at a Revolution Racing event. The spring fling is a fun, safe, and well run event that is beginner friendly. We clap for everyone off the front or off the back. As a professional coach I remind riders that last place is at home on the couch. I challenge an experienced racer to drop off the back of a local group ride to welcome the new rider who just fell off the pace. Put your contact info on a card and slip into their jersey pocket and tell them to contact you for a ride. Revolution Racing needs YOU to grow the sport ONE rider at a time.

Revolution Racing is proud to grow the sport one rider at a time since 1994. We honor our customers, cycling teams, community partners, and the countless volunteers that have made the Spring Fling such a special event. And of course thank you Clinton Lake State Park for being the epicenter of Spring Kansas and KC Metro area racing. A special shout out to our locally owned Bike Shops that are usually the first contact with the cycling world by a true beginner. Buy local = Race local.

See ya at the Fling.

Jim Whittaker,
Owner Revolution Racing, LLC
Spring Fling Race Director
913.269.VELO

Click here for 2009 Spring Fling Flier