This was it, the last weeknight training ride of the year. With the Daylight Savings Time clock change coming this weekend, there would not be enough daylight to ride any more. Actually even without the DST change, there was not enough light to finish the ride.
The wheelsucker kept on going on Patuxent Parkway when the others split off left, as he wanted to do his 2x20 @ 80-90% of LT workout, and would have been going too hard if on the front, and way too easy if sitting in.
By happenstance and some careful timing by the wheelsucker, just after he crossed 214 on his way back, part way through is second 20 minute interval, he saw a target -- the other riders -- some distance up the road. It was dark enough that the wheelsucker's aging eyes could not read the power numbers on his computer clearly. He was supposed to be averaging about 250 watts, but with a target up the road, a
"7" looked a lot like a "1", and the wheelsucker was probably seeing 27n, deciding it was 21n, and pushing harder. It took him all the way from 214 to the last level before the sprint to catch the group, though the chase was a little quicker once the 20 minute interval ended and the wheelsucker gave up all pretences of keeping his wattage in the target range and PUT THE HAMMER DOWN! (well, put the hammer down for the wheelsucker), and rolled up to the tail end of the group, huffing, puffing, hyper ventilating and wheezing, just as they were setting up for the sprint. But then a strange thing happened; no one seemed to be sprinting. The wheelsucker rolled up to Stu, who told him no one was sprinting. This was a little hard for the wheelsucker to believe, so he rolled past Stu and Steve, and accelerated to catch Ace who was in front a few bike lengths ahead. The wheelsucker pulled up next to Ace and asked him what was going on. Ace replied with "GO! He's jumping!", as Steve Owens (who it turns out WAS sprinting after all) whizzed by at speed. Gosh!, said the wheelsucker (well, not really, but this is a family blog so we'll leave it as "gosh") as the gap to Steve opened. But then the wheelsucker launched into the signature wheelsucker sprint, and went after Steve. But Steve was at speed and had a gap, and the wheelsucker could not get to him, and in the meantime someone else who was not going to sprint, was in fact sprinting. In the fading dusk light, the wheelsucker's eyesight was not good enough to distinguish who was second between him and the other person "not sprinting", but Steve was clearly first.
"Gosh!, so much for not sprinting", thought the wheelsucker, considering that it would be months until Tuesday/Thursday training rides started again, and provided a chance for revenge.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Tuesday October 28th Training Ride: The Wheelsucker Report
The cold! The wind! The suffering, the misery!
Four certifiable "hard men" did the training ride. It was so bad, Steve Owens was not there. There was so little daylight they turned right off of route 2 onto Polling House, for the short-short version of the route. Despite the shorter route it was still nearly dark when they returned to the Park & Ride.
Four certifiable "hard men" did the training ride. It was so bad, Steve Owens was not there. There was so little daylight they turned right off of route 2 onto Polling House, for the short-short version of the route. Despite the shorter route it was still nearly dark when they returned to the Park & Ride.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Saturday on Sunday, A Fine Piece of Wheelsucking
Since, according to Steve, we all screwed the pooch on the weather on Saturday (he had a fine ride with the Navy riders) and the rain that did eventually come washed out the proposed Sunday mountain bike ride, we gathered on Sunday morning at 9 for a "do over" on the Saturday training ride. The weather was glorious albeit a bit cool, but not bad for the end of October.
Steve, Ryan, Rick, Tom A, Ali, Ian, Dave, and Alex left for a nice tempo ride. The pace was nice and steady, not too fast for the first half to the store, though Ryan, Dave and Ali showed occasional alarming tendencies to take longer harder pulls. The wheelsucker stopped doing this when he very nearly went OTB after taking a long and hard (for the wheelsucker) pull, but Ryan and Dave were frequently at the front.
While rolling by the beach in North Beach the wheelsucker goes off the front pushing a steady 260 watts. Knowing it was just the wheelsucker, no one cared. The chase let him go, but kept him in easy range, and carefully timed the catch for just about the middle of the hill out of Rosehaven, after the wheelsucker had pedaled hard by himself all the way from North Beach to the hill. But the wheelsucker had "upped" his power on the climb to 310-330 watts and so was caught by a flying chase led by Ryan, but about 2/3rds of the way up the climb. "Oh, sh**!" muttered the wheelsucker as Ryan led the chase by, but he dug deep, and found a few more watts from somewhere to catch on the back and wheelsuck for all he was worth, and not go OTB. Dave and Tom Aga kept it fast up Leitch Road. The pace was high enough that the wheelsucker accused Dave of being nasty. Steve Owens and Alex Pline led down the hill to the wall, but Ryan and Dave put the hammer down, and rolled by everyone on the wall. The wheelsucker went to wheelsucker maximum power in an effort to stay with them, and did get to the top in third, just a couple of bike lengths behind, but thoughts of off season, leg pain, lung pain and wondering why he was doing this took over, and he gave up, and sat up, letting the gap open. The wheelsucker rolled to the back of the chase and let others do the work. Alex took up the chase and just about closed the gap at the stop sign, setting the stage for some successful wheel sucking shortly thereafter. The pace up the short climb after crossing the second road was not excessive, but no one was able to relax and catch their breath.
On the rollers after the dump, the bill from the chase over the wall was coming due. Alex went very quickly from garden variety wheelsucking with the Wheelsucker and Rick (who was tired from his previous days running), to a "grim determination" must-follow-the-wheel-in-front, to must-wheel-front... While riders were tiring, Ryan and Dave seemed to be in energizer bunny mode, taking long, fast, high cadence pulls while the rest hung on in varying degrees of pain. And if the others were pulling and not going fast enough, Ryan and Dave would simply roll by and take over. Alex finally did recover, but it took until after turning on Harwood.
The wheelsucker found himself leading up his favorite hill after the descent to the sweeping right, and was giving it a good, but–not-too-hard-in-case-someone-put-in-an-attack-at-the-top effort; he made it to the top, but just as he got to the false flat, Alex rolled by him (with a sh-eating grin) with the rest of the group on Alex's wheel. The wheelsucker was just able to gasp "You're dissing an old man!" while pushing hard to grab on at the back and wheelsuck some more.
The group stayed together across 214 and all the way to the sprint. Ryan and Alex did last leadout, while those who were maneuvering for the sprint jockeyed for position, with the wheelsucker wheelsucking at the back. Ryan got the group up to 28 mph on the climb to the finish turning it over to Alex before the would-be sprinters started rolling by him. The wheelsucker was hanging on at the back for dear life, as the sprinting group rolled by Alex. Every time someone pulled out to the left to pass a rider ahead, those following all stayed on his wheel. And so it came to pass that as the dwindling sprint group approached the finish line, it was down to only two riders, with Tom Aga doing the classic Tom Aga-I-can-spin-at-150-plus-seated sprint, while the wheelsucker, still glued to Tom's wheel, was standing and going as hard as a tired aging wheelsucker can go. All the passing had been to the left, so Tom was lined up fairly far left in the lane. But the wheelsucker was too tired and too focused to notice or care, and in a desperate move rolled a little further left, crossed the yellow lines he did not see, and inched past Tom Aga, and rolled across the finish line first, with Tom perhaps half a bike length behind his wheel.
Tom pointed out the wheelsucker's error, but the wheelsucker was gasping too hard to respond, and was way too tired to care. A remarkably strong Steve Owens held steady power up the climb to Davidsonville Road, easily pulling away. The wheelsucker gave chase after catching is breath, but could not catch Steve, and was caught by the others just before the right turn onto Davidsonville.
Later in the Park & Ride a quick comparison over average power was made. Ryan was the clear winner at 225, and the lowest figure was Rick's at 170 (with the wheelsucker only slightly above that). As Ryan put it, "a fine piece of wheelsucking!"
Steve, Ryan, Rick, Tom A, Ali, Ian, Dave, and Alex left for a nice tempo ride. The pace was nice and steady, not too fast for the first half to the store, though Ryan, Dave and Ali showed occasional alarming tendencies to take longer harder pulls. The wheelsucker stopped doing this when he very nearly went OTB after taking a long and hard (for the wheelsucker) pull, but Ryan and Dave were frequently at the front.
While rolling by the beach in North Beach the wheelsucker goes off the front pushing a steady 260 watts. Knowing it was just the wheelsucker, no one cared. The chase let him go, but kept him in easy range, and carefully timed the catch for just about the middle of the hill out of Rosehaven, after the wheelsucker had pedaled hard by himself all the way from North Beach to the hill. But the wheelsucker had "upped" his power on the climb to 310-330 watts and so was caught by a flying chase led by Ryan, but about 2/3rds of the way up the climb. "Oh, sh**!" muttered the wheelsucker as Ryan led the chase by, but he dug deep, and found a few more watts from somewhere to catch on the back and wheelsuck for all he was worth, and not go OTB. Dave and Tom Aga kept it fast up Leitch Road. The pace was high enough that the wheelsucker accused Dave of being nasty. Steve Owens and Alex Pline led down the hill to the wall, but Ryan and Dave put the hammer down, and rolled by everyone on the wall. The wheelsucker went to wheelsucker maximum power in an effort to stay with them, and did get to the top in third, just a couple of bike lengths behind, but thoughts of off season, leg pain, lung pain and wondering why he was doing this took over, and he gave up, and sat up, letting the gap open. The wheelsucker rolled to the back of the chase and let others do the work. Alex took up the chase and just about closed the gap at the stop sign, setting the stage for some successful wheel sucking shortly thereafter. The pace up the short climb after crossing the second road was not excessive, but no one was able to relax and catch their breath.
On the rollers after the dump, the bill from the chase over the wall was coming due. Alex went very quickly from garden variety wheelsucking with the Wheelsucker and Rick (who was tired from his previous days running), to a "grim determination" must-follow-the-wheel-in-front, to must-wheel-front... While riders were tiring, Ryan and Dave seemed to be in energizer bunny mode, taking long, fast, high cadence pulls while the rest hung on in varying degrees of pain. And if the others were pulling and not going fast enough, Ryan and Dave would simply roll by and take over. Alex finally did recover, but it took until after turning on Harwood.
The wheelsucker found himself leading up his favorite hill after the descent to the sweeping right, and was giving it a good, but–not-too-hard-in-case-someone-put-in-an-attack-at-the-top effort; he made it to the top, but just as he got to the false flat, Alex rolled by him (with a sh-eating grin) with the rest of the group on Alex's wheel. The wheelsucker was just able to gasp "You're dissing an old man!" while pushing hard to grab on at the back and wheelsuck some more.
The group stayed together across 214 and all the way to the sprint. Ryan and Alex did last leadout, while those who were maneuvering for the sprint jockeyed for position, with the wheelsucker wheelsucking at the back. Ryan got the group up to 28 mph on the climb to the finish turning it over to Alex before the would-be sprinters started rolling by him. The wheelsucker was hanging on at the back for dear life, as the sprinting group rolled by Alex. Every time someone pulled out to the left to pass a rider ahead, those following all stayed on his wheel. And so it came to pass that as the dwindling sprint group approached the finish line, it was down to only two riders, with Tom Aga doing the classic Tom Aga-I-can-spin-at-150-plus-seated sprint, while the wheelsucker, still glued to Tom's wheel, was standing and going as hard as a tired aging wheelsucker can go. All the passing had been to the left, so Tom was lined up fairly far left in the lane. But the wheelsucker was too tired and too focused to notice or care, and in a desperate move rolled a little further left, crossed the yellow lines he did not see, and inched past Tom Aga, and rolled across the finish line first, with Tom perhaps half a bike length behind his wheel.
Tom pointed out the wheelsucker's error, but the wheelsucker was gasping too hard to respond, and was way too tired to care. A remarkably strong Steve Owens held steady power up the climb to Davidsonville Road, easily pulling away. The wheelsucker gave chase after catching is breath, but could not catch Steve, and was caught by the others just before the right turn onto Davidsonville.
Later in the Park & Ride a quick comparison over average power was made. Ryan was the clear winner at 225, and the lowest figure was Rick's at 170 (with the wheelsucker only slightly above that). As Ryan put it, "a fine piece of wheelsucking!"
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Saturday October 25 Training Ride
Under cloudy skies with warm temperatures, a stiff wind out of the South, and no rain (did I mention it wasn't raining?) Steve was the only ABRT rider to show up for the ride. As he put the bike together contemplating a 3 hour tempo ride several Naval Academy team members showed up for the ride. A bit after 9AM it was apparent that no one else was going to show so Steve, and 4 Naval Academy cycling team members set off.
Early in the ride it became apparent that the Navy team had an old school coach as they were just out to do base miles, and Steve's tempo was breaking the group up. There was a bit of dissention in the group about who wanted to go hard, but it was agreed upon that things would start out at a fairly relaxed tempo. After a brief pause for a flat tire early in the ride things continued at an endurance type pace until the first rest stop. As the ride progressed it was obvious that unlike ABRT the Naval Academy team actually waits for their women. A women's collegiate "A" rider from the team was doing a good job hanging in, but the team would slow up for her after some of the short hard efforts on the hills.
At the rest stop knee warmers and arm warmers were disappearing as the weather had warmed a bit. The sun would make an occaisional appearance at various times throughout the ride. As we hit the light at the beach a glance at the flag revealed that we'd have a very nice stiff tailwind for the remainder of the ride. The pace picked up a bit, but things were still fairly relaxed. Coming up the hill out of the beaches Steve was sitting comfortably on the wheel of an Academy rider who was cranking out a fairly steady 350 watts. This was the smoothest trip he could remember up this hill in quite awhile, but alas after less than a minute there was a cry from the back about reducing the pace.
The group continued to do a nice steady pace on the rollers with several riders taking long even pulls. After the light at Central Avenue Steve was informed that only two of the Academy riders would be participating in the sprint, and that he was welcome to move up in the pace-line. He happily sat on wheels until the sprint, but not knowing who the best sprinter was he ended up picking the wrong wheel, and finishing second.
Just as the group finished the sprint the wind picked up, and the rain started. It was light at first, but by the time the group made it back to the park and ride things had picked up considerably. The Academy riders decided to try, and fit all four of their bikes into the one vehicle as 3 of them had ridden to the start, but none wanted to deal with the 20 to 30+ mph crosswinds on the way back to the Academy.
The Academy team will most likely be attending some of our future rides this winter, and a brief discussion on the merits of "old school" training versus "new school" ensued. There was definitely some interest in the "new school" philosophy.
Another interesting thing about riding with the Academy team is that aside from the usual bits of useful insight shared by motorists we actually did get a "Go Navy" a couple of times. Somehow I never remember hearing a "Go ABRT" on any of our rides although I do remember several phrases that started with the word "go".
Those of you who were sitting on the couch (gee I guess that would be all of you) missed a really nice off-season ride.
Early in the ride it became apparent that the Navy team had an old school coach as they were just out to do base miles, and Steve's tempo was breaking the group up. There was a bit of dissention in the group about who wanted to go hard, but it was agreed upon that things would start out at a fairly relaxed tempo. After a brief pause for a flat tire early in the ride things continued at an endurance type pace until the first rest stop. As the ride progressed it was obvious that unlike ABRT the Naval Academy team actually waits for their women. A women's collegiate "A" rider from the team was doing a good job hanging in, but the team would slow up for her after some of the short hard efforts on the hills.
At the rest stop knee warmers and arm warmers were disappearing as the weather had warmed a bit. The sun would make an occaisional appearance at various times throughout the ride. As we hit the light at the beach a glance at the flag revealed that we'd have a very nice stiff tailwind for the remainder of the ride. The pace picked up a bit, but things were still fairly relaxed. Coming up the hill out of the beaches Steve was sitting comfortably on the wheel of an Academy rider who was cranking out a fairly steady 350 watts. This was the smoothest trip he could remember up this hill in quite awhile, but alas after less than a minute there was a cry from the back about reducing the pace.
The group continued to do a nice steady pace on the rollers with several riders taking long even pulls. After the light at Central Avenue Steve was informed that only two of the Academy riders would be participating in the sprint, and that he was welcome to move up in the pace-line. He happily sat on wheels until the sprint, but not knowing who the best sprinter was he ended up picking the wrong wheel, and finishing second.
Just as the group finished the sprint the wind picked up, and the rain started. It was light at first, but by the time the group made it back to the park and ride things had picked up considerably. The Academy riders decided to try, and fit all four of their bikes into the one vehicle as 3 of them had ridden to the start, but none wanted to deal with the 20 to 30+ mph crosswinds on the way back to the Academy.
The Academy team will most likely be attending some of our future rides this winter, and a brief discussion on the merits of "old school" training versus "new school" ensued. There was definitely some interest in the "new school" philosophy.
Another interesting thing about riding with the Academy team is that aside from the usual bits of useful insight shared by motorists we actually did get a "Go Navy" a couple of times. Somehow I never remember hearing a "Go ABRT" on any of our rides although I do remember several phrases that started with the word "go".
Those of you who were sitting on the couch (gee I guess that would be all of you) missed a really nice off-season ride.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Mountain Biking: A Wheelsucker Report
Apart from the two road racing bikes, the rain/indoor trainer bike, the TT bike, the fixie and the Powercranks bike, the wheelsucker has a mountain bike. So far he has mostly ridden it downtown for coffee, as it is nice in traffic (one sits more upright, and can be seen better). In fact he has only been off-road with it once, in Quiet Waters park. The dirt on the tires has been left on so others would not immediately realize the wheelsucker was a poseur when it came to mountain biking. The wheelsucker has wanted to try riding off road, but his cycling workout schedule has either had him on road bikes of one kind or another, or recovering, every day since last November. But all this changed after the Deep Blue TT; the wheelsucker was – and is -- free to try other things. So when the Latitude/ABRT mountain bike team started e-mailing about a ride, the wheelsucker thought, "Why not?", and "I’m in!"
The wheelsucker showed up at the appointed parking lot at the appointed time, let young Tom adjust his tire pressure and front fork (thanks, Tom!), and then they were off.
But it turns out there is no place to hide in the woods, no way to wheelsuck and let others do the work; no way to hide the wheelsucker’s weaknesses.
Whoever came up with “It is hard to teach an old dog a new trick” was on to something, thought the wheelsucker as he struggled after his teammates, who were somewhere well up the trail. Mountain biking is not easy, and it is not easy to learn either.
The quiet of the woods was rent by loud “Uhhhh” sounds as the wheelsucker fell, hitting rocks and tree roots and temporarily deflated his lungs on impact, or simply fell into a tree (same “Uhhhh sound on impact) he was trying to go around. The rocks and stones were unhurt, and the tree he ran into did not appear to be damaged; the wheelsucker did not get off as lightly.
When he wasn’t hitting rocks and trees, the wheelsucker’s helmet was fending off low hanging braches. This seemed a useful feature to the wheelsucker, until the time he partly hooked a branch with the helmet, and had a very strange sensation as the helmet slowed down while still attached to his head.
Why was the wheelsucker falling all the time you ask? Perhaps it was his failing eyesight; unable to notice the tree roots and rocks partly hidden by sun-dappled leaves, or maybe it was the trail his team mates picked which apparently went through many streams/creeks (or maybe the same stream over and over again), and over some number of large logs, a section paved with logs (BTW, the origin of the word corduroy.. cord du Roi.. were roads built for the king of France). Then there was the difficulty steering while the front wheel was in the air, having bounced up over a large log, or lifting off the ground as the wheelsucker frantically tried to propel the bike up a steep section.
As the wheelsucker tired and overheated, he started to wonder if he was going to get lost in the woods. His teammates would tire of waiting for him, or they would not stop at a fork, and the wheelsucker would take the wrong turn, and ride down a trail by himself. Eventually, realizing he was lost, he would use the GPS in his iPhone to try to navigate his way to a road, but the iPhone battery would die before he made it, and would be stranded in the woods with winter coming on. :-)
Fortunately for the wheelsucker the others were willing to stop and wait for him many times. They would rest, and then when an exhausted, bruised and battered wheelsucker would roll up, they would be ready to go on. Eventually, after two and a half hours, the wheelsucker made it back to his car.
By that time it hurt to pedal and hurt to walk. The wheelsucker had difficulty removing his cycling clothes to put on dry clothes. When the others noticed that there wasn’t any fresh blood dripping from him, they offered to take him back out for more (I am not making this up).
Getting into his car was hard. The wheelsucker could barely drive it home as his right leg was so stiff and sore. Once parked at home, he was barely able to get out of the car.
The wheelsucker’s thoughts on mountain biking:
1. Thanks to the guys for waiting so many times
2. Riding over large logs is a skill the wheelsucker needs to work on
3. Clipping in an out of the pedals gets harder as the wheelsucker tires
4. Apparently the bike can take rather more than the rider
5. The bike does not steer well when you are braking
6. Not braking means you hit the next tree/rock/ground a LOT harder
7. Perhaps the wheelsucker’s weight weenie tires need to be replaced with wider tires
8. Maybe the wheelsucker is too old a dog: For Sale: one Motobecane 9627 Fly weight weenie mountain bike ;-)
9. It all feels better with ibuprofen and Goslings rum (for medicinal purposes only, you understand).
The wheelsucker showed up at the appointed parking lot at the appointed time, let young Tom adjust his tire pressure and front fork (thanks, Tom!), and then they were off.
But it turns out there is no place to hide in the woods, no way to wheelsuck and let others do the work; no way to hide the wheelsucker’s weaknesses.
Whoever came up with “It is hard to teach an old dog a new trick” was on to something, thought the wheelsucker as he struggled after his teammates, who were somewhere well up the trail. Mountain biking is not easy, and it is not easy to learn either.
The quiet of the woods was rent by loud “Uhhhh” sounds as the wheelsucker fell, hitting rocks and tree roots and temporarily deflated his lungs on impact, or simply fell into a tree (same “Uhhhh sound on impact) he was trying to go around. The rocks and stones were unhurt, and the tree he ran into did not appear to be damaged; the wheelsucker did not get off as lightly.
When he wasn’t hitting rocks and trees, the wheelsucker’s helmet was fending off low hanging braches. This seemed a useful feature to the wheelsucker, until the time he partly hooked a branch with the helmet, and had a very strange sensation as the helmet slowed down while still attached to his head.
Why was the wheelsucker falling all the time you ask? Perhaps it was his failing eyesight; unable to notice the tree roots and rocks partly hidden by sun-dappled leaves, or maybe it was the trail his team mates picked which apparently went through many streams/creeks (or maybe the same stream over and over again), and over some number of large logs, a section paved with logs (BTW, the origin of the word corduroy.. cord du Roi.. were roads built for the king of France). Then there was the difficulty steering while the front wheel was in the air, having bounced up over a large log, or lifting off the ground as the wheelsucker frantically tried to propel the bike up a steep section.
As the wheelsucker tired and overheated, he started to wonder if he was going to get lost in the woods. His teammates would tire of waiting for him, or they would not stop at a fork, and the wheelsucker would take the wrong turn, and ride down a trail by himself. Eventually, realizing he was lost, he would use the GPS in his iPhone to try to navigate his way to a road, but the iPhone battery would die before he made it, and would be stranded in the woods with winter coming on. :-)
Fortunately for the wheelsucker the others were willing to stop and wait for him many times. They would rest, and then when an exhausted, bruised and battered wheelsucker would roll up, they would be ready to go on. Eventually, after two and a half hours, the wheelsucker made it back to his car.
By that time it hurt to pedal and hurt to walk. The wheelsucker had difficulty removing his cycling clothes to put on dry clothes. When the others noticed that there wasn’t any fresh blood dripping from him, they offered to take him back out for more (I am not making this up).
Getting into his car was hard. The wheelsucker could barely drive it home as his right leg was so stiff and sore. Once parked at home, he was barely able to get out of the car.
The wheelsucker’s thoughts on mountain biking:
1. Thanks to the guys for waiting so many times
2. Riding over large logs is a skill the wheelsucker needs to work on
3. Clipping in an out of the pedals gets harder as the wheelsucker tires
4. Apparently the bike can take rather more than the rider
5. The bike does not steer well when you are braking
6. Not braking means you hit the next tree/rock/ground a LOT harder
7. Perhaps the wheelsucker’s weight weenie tires need to be replaced with wider tires
8. Maybe the wheelsucker is too old a dog: For Sale: one Motobecane 9627 Fly weight weenie mountain bike ;-)
9. It all feels better with ibuprofen and Goslings rum (for medicinal purposes only, you understand).
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Saturday October 18th Training Ride: The Wheelsucker Report
The wheelsucker cannot remember the last time he rode 60 miles. Certainly last winter, but there have been few MABRA road races this past season, and few long training rides since last winter. The last few races were crits or time trials, the first typically under an hour, while the Deep Blue TT was only a 25 minute ride. This has left the wheelsucker ill prepared to deal with the rigors of a Latitude Saturday training ride.
A wheelsucker firmly in off season, who had not ridden 60 miles in some time, pedaled out of the Davidsonville Park & Ride on a cool morning, not feeling super strong. While Ace, Doetsch and Keith were not there, Ryan Guttridge, Tom MacKay, a strong rider from Florida, and Mike Wagner were part of the large group of (mostly Latitude/ABRT) riders.
Overall it was not a super fast pace, but it was fast in places, with times when the wheelsucker was hard pressed to hold a wheel (frequently when Ryan, who must not have gotten the e-mail about it being off season, was taking a pull).
The lead group had shrunk substantially by the time it re-crossed 214. Some riders had turned around at the rest stop; others may have been strewn through south county. A suffering wheelsucker was still with the lead group; he was impressed with how well Ted Harris and Alex Pline were riding.
Ryan did lead out; a number of riders started sprinting early. The wheelsucker was doing what he does best, wheelsucking at the back, as the group approached the sprint. He moved up a few places just before and during the last downhill. Riders started winding it up early, and the wheelsucker gratefully moved over behind the sprinters and rode the entire way to the finish line, wheelsucking, or at least shielded from the breeze. The wheelsucker believes that the Florida rider won the sprint, with the wheelsucker overtaking several sprinters who went too early and sat up before the finish, to cross 3rd.
A wheelsucker firmly in off season, who had not ridden 60 miles in some time, pedaled out of the Davidsonville Park & Ride on a cool morning, not feeling super strong. While Ace, Doetsch and Keith were not there, Ryan Guttridge, Tom MacKay, a strong rider from Florida, and Mike Wagner were part of the large group of (mostly Latitude/ABRT) riders.
Overall it was not a super fast pace, but it was fast in places, with times when the wheelsucker was hard pressed to hold a wheel (frequently when Ryan, who must not have gotten the e-mail about it being off season, was taking a pull).
The lead group had shrunk substantially by the time it re-crossed 214. Some riders had turned around at the rest stop; others may have been strewn through south county. A suffering wheelsucker was still with the lead group; he was impressed with how well Ted Harris and Alex Pline were riding.
Ryan did lead out; a number of riders started sprinting early. The wheelsucker was doing what he does best, wheelsucking at the back, as the group approached the sprint. He moved up a few places just before and during the last downhill. Riders started winding it up early, and the wheelsucker gratefully moved over behind the sprinters and rode the entire way to the finish line, wheelsucking, or at least shielded from the breeze. The wheelsucker believes that the Florida rider won the sprint, with the wheelsucker overtaking several sprinters who went too early and sat up before the finish, to cross 3rd.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Tuesday October 14th Training Ride: The Wheelsucker Report
The wheelsucker LOVES the Tuesday/Thursday training rides, and with the days shortening, and the imminent arrival of daylight savings time, the wheelsucker believes these training rides are something to be treasured while one can. On the other hand, two days of bouncing around on a fixed gear were not kind to the wheelsucker; so it was a conflicted wheelsucker riding out of the Davidsonville Parker & Ride, wondering if the soreness in his legs would go away as he warmed up.
The Doetsch was a no show, but with Ace and Invincible Nat to drive the pace, there was certainly enough horsepower to make it interesting. The ride started with a medium sized group including a couple of non Latitude riders, one wearing team kit. There was a minimal warmup and the pace was “solid” not long after crossing Governor Bridge Road. The peleton started to take casualties shortly after turning off Patuxent Parkway, on the first climb. The wheelsucker was trying to ride at the back early, but people kept letting him in before he rotated all the way back, and he was also concerned about early attacks from strong riders, so was not entirely comfortable riding all the way at the back. Ace rolled by and off the front at the top of Harwood hill, but the wheelsucker found Nat’s wheel and took the pull up. The pace stayed solid-but-not-too extreme to route 2, faltered a little on route 2 as the paceline had to stop rotating and slow down to go by some cars parked in the shoulder, but then started to ramp up on Bayard. There was not enough daylight for the full course, so Ace charged past the right turn for South Polling House, trying to put the hurt on riders. The peleton had been weeded down to the stronger riders, and everyone left was determined to hang.
The wheelsucker’s legs were thoroughly warmed up, and the tightness was gone, but he was still not far from the limit, and was being careful to take short pulls and have enough in reserve to get back on. Ace rolled off the front on one of the rollers on Bayard, everyone looked at each other wondering who was going to close it and then Nat went hard. The wheelsucker had been waiting for just such an opportunity and just as any wheelsucker would do, was on Nat in a flash. The trouble is that Nat is young, strong, fit, and has been riding a LOT with a pro team. The wheelsucker took the tow up to Ace, but then decided enough was enough, as Nat kept accelerating and went right on by Ace. This created a predicament for the wheelsucker, as there were no more wheels to suck, and Ace was having none of it, and was on the wheelsucker’s wheel. With exhortations from Ace in his ear, the wheelsucker put in a nominal pull and rotated off to let someone else (the peleton had caught up) take a turn. Nat was soon reeled in (no thanks to the wheelsucker) and the peleton continued down Bayard. The wheelsucker was leading at the turn onto Sands, but sat up immediately to let the paceline go by, so he could wheelsuck at the back. The group continued up Sands, with the wheelsucker taking short pulls when he had to, and conserving his limited strength to cover attacks.
The boys gather round to tell stories after the ride
But then a possible opportunity presented itself. As you know the wheelsucker’s sprint is less than impressive, so the wheelsucker hopes to “thin the herd” and make the break smaller, so he can finish something like 6th instead of something like 9th. So when the rider leading the paceline pulled off just before one of the Sands road rollers (Rule #7, NEVER pull off just before, or on a climb, as you will struggle to get back on and are vulnerable to the next guy pushing the pace!), the wheelsucker pulled through, stood and just HAMMERED (well, hammered for the wheelsucker) up the short hill. A quick glance under his arm revealed that people were on his wheel, so the give-it-everything-you-have burst from the wheelsucker had not shaken much loose, EXCEPT for the poor guy who had just pulled off. The wheelsucker’s victim was Aaron Canale, who had been riding hard despite not feeling 100%. So once again age and treachery do in youth and strength.
Hammering up the hill took it out of the wheelsucker, so he promptly pulled off and caught on the back of the paceline and caught his breath.
The wheelsucker AGAIN found himself leading going down the dip before the "T" where Sands ends at Patuxent, but carefully coasted and then pedaled easily encouraging the next rider to pull through as soon as possible. The wheelsucker was able to grab on the back (though it was a near thing) and was still attached at the top of the climb.
And then a random car turning left from Patuxent onto Sands forced the group to slow right down, giving the wheelsucker the break he needed. Ace was the first onto Patuxent, with two riders on his wheel. The wheelsucker briefly thought about closing the gap himself, but then saw Nat to his left, and decided to let Nat do it (with the wheelsucker on his wheel). Up the wheelsucker’s favorite climb things were looking good, except that the wheelsucker’s burning legs refused to accelerate as fast as the riders in front, and the wheelsucker was very nearly gapped, but somehow struggled back on. The light at 214 turned red just as the break arrived, so it sat up, looked both ways, waited for the green light (No WAY!!! It looked both ways and crossed). But then a funny thing happened; everyone sat up while Ace was having a conversation with another rider. This suited an aging and tired wheelsucker very well, so he did nothing to disturb the relaxed pace. One of the non Latitude riders asked if that was it for the ride, and the wheelsucker reassured him we still has about 12 minutes to go, and it would probably get fast again. Then Steve Owens ramped it up a little, and the wheelsucker reluctantly grabbed his wheel rather than let him go. The respite was over, and soon the group was hammering again. The group was reasonably large, so there was lots of recovery time, but the pace was fairly high when Ace or Nat were pulling, and there was still a risk of being gapped on the hills. The wheelsucker actually lit it up HARD (hard for the wheelsucker) on one of the climbs, opened a gap, and then realized that no one in the group was worried about it, knowing the wheelsucker would come back quickly. The wheelsucker sheepishly sat up and caught on the back again.
more 'revisionist history' about the ride
As the group approached the finish line, Ace asked the wheelsucker if he wanted to sprint. The wheelsucker was tired, winded, sore and not feeling super strong (even for the wheelsucker), but having Ace as a leadout man was tempting, so the wheelsucker said "YES!" and sucked Ace’s wheel in the paceline. Going down the hill, Nat went early with Steve Owens trying to hold his wheel. The gap behind Nat opened. But without appearing to be working hard, Ace’s speed was increasing, with the wheelsucker desperately trying to stay on his wheel. As Ace passed Steve, the wheelsucker found himself without quite enough room to stay on Ace’s wheel -- he was forced over to the left -- and found himself working MUCH harder than he wanted to, to stay on Ace’s wheel, and then, as Ace’s speed continued to increase, the gap started to open, and the wheelsucker lost the draft, and howled in misery to Ace that he was off. Unencumbered by having to wait for the wheelsucker, Ace turned on the afterburners and reeled in Nat, going by him so fast that Nat sat up. The wheelsucker in turn passed Nat, just as Stu rolled by him easily at a higher speed. So Ace won easily wth Stu second and the wheelsucker 3rd.
Stu assures the wheelsucker that "it's only money!", and that he should buy Bill's SRM Pro
The wheelsucker is enjoying freedom from the tyranny of the Powertap (and the additional weight in the rear hub), so had no data for the ride.
Despite not feeling 100%, Aaron rode hard
But others did: 23.6 mph average from the Park & Ride to the finish line, and a ride of about 28 miles.
Tom rode strong, and was first back to 424
Ace cannot BELIEVE that the wheelsucker could not stay on his wheel at the sprint
The Doetsch was a no show, but with Ace and Invincible Nat to drive the pace, there was certainly enough horsepower to make it interesting. The ride started with a medium sized group including a couple of non Latitude riders, one wearing team kit. There was a minimal warmup and the pace was “solid” not long after crossing Governor Bridge Road. The peleton started to take casualties shortly after turning off Patuxent Parkway, on the first climb. The wheelsucker was trying to ride at the back early, but people kept letting him in before he rotated all the way back, and he was also concerned about early attacks from strong riders, so was not entirely comfortable riding all the way at the back. Ace rolled by and off the front at the top of Harwood hill, but the wheelsucker found Nat’s wheel and took the pull up. The pace stayed solid-but-not-too extreme to route 2, faltered a little on route 2 as the paceline had to stop rotating and slow down to go by some cars parked in the shoulder, but then started to ramp up on Bayard. There was not enough daylight for the full course, so Ace charged past the right turn for South Polling House, trying to put the hurt on riders. The peleton had been weeded down to the stronger riders, and everyone left was determined to hang.
The wheelsucker’s legs were thoroughly warmed up, and the tightness was gone, but he was still not far from the limit, and was being careful to take short pulls and have enough in reserve to get back on. Ace rolled off the front on one of the rollers on Bayard, everyone looked at each other wondering who was going to close it and then Nat went hard. The wheelsucker had been waiting for just such an opportunity and just as any wheelsucker would do, was on Nat in a flash. The trouble is that Nat is young, strong, fit, and has been riding a LOT with a pro team. The wheelsucker took the tow up to Ace, but then decided enough was enough, as Nat kept accelerating and went right on by Ace. This created a predicament for the wheelsucker, as there were no more wheels to suck, and Ace was having none of it, and was on the wheelsucker’s wheel. With exhortations from Ace in his ear, the wheelsucker put in a nominal pull and rotated off to let someone else (the peleton had caught up) take a turn. Nat was soon reeled in (no thanks to the wheelsucker) and the peleton continued down Bayard. The wheelsucker was leading at the turn onto Sands, but sat up immediately to let the paceline go by, so he could wheelsuck at the back. The group continued up Sands, with the wheelsucker taking short pulls when he had to, and conserving his limited strength to cover attacks.
The boys gather round to tell stories after the rideBut then a possible opportunity presented itself. As you know the wheelsucker’s sprint is less than impressive, so the wheelsucker hopes to “thin the herd” and make the break smaller, so he can finish something like 6th instead of something like 9th. So when the rider leading the paceline pulled off just before one of the Sands road rollers (Rule #7, NEVER pull off just before, or on a climb, as you will struggle to get back on and are vulnerable to the next guy pushing the pace!), the wheelsucker pulled through, stood and just HAMMERED (well, hammered for the wheelsucker) up the short hill. A quick glance under his arm revealed that people were on his wheel, so the give-it-everything-you-have burst from the wheelsucker had not shaken much loose, EXCEPT for the poor guy who had just pulled off. The wheelsucker’s victim was Aaron Canale, who had been riding hard despite not feeling 100%. So once again age and treachery do in youth and strength.
Hammering up the hill took it out of the wheelsucker, so he promptly pulled off and caught on the back of the paceline and caught his breath.
The wheelsucker AGAIN found himself leading going down the dip before the "T" where Sands ends at Patuxent, but carefully coasted and then pedaled easily encouraging the next rider to pull through as soon as possible. The wheelsucker was able to grab on the back (though it was a near thing) and was still attached at the top of the climb.
And then a random car turning left from Patuxent onto Sands forced the group to slow right down, giving the wheelsucker the break he needed. Ace was the first onto Patuxent, with two riders on his wheel. The wheelsucker briefly thought about closing the gap himself, but then saw Nat to his left, and decided to let Nat do it (with the wheelsucker on his wheel). Up the wheelsucker’s favorite climb things were looking good, except that the wheelsucker’s burning legs refused to accelerate as fast as the riders in front, and the wheelsucker was very nearly gapped, but somehow struggled back on. The light at 214 turned red just as the break arrived, so it sat up, looked both ways, waited for the green light (No WAY!!! It looked both ways and crossed). But then a funny thing happened; everyone sat up while Ace was having a conversation with another rider. This suited an aging and tired wheelsucker very well, so he did nothing to disturb the relaxed pace. One of the non Latitude riders asked if that was it for the ride, and the wheelsucker reassured him we still has about 12 minutes to go, and it would probably get fast again. Then Steve Owens ramped it up a little, and the wheelsucker reluctantly grabbed his wheel rather than let him go. The respite was over, and soon the group was hammering again. The group was reasonably large, so there was lots of recovery time, but the pace was fairly high when Ace or Nat were pulling, and there was still a risk of being gapped on the hills. The wheelsucker actually lit it up HARD (hard for the wheelsucker) on one of the climbs, opened a gap, and then realized that no one in the group was worried about it, knowing the wheelsucker would come back quickly. The wheelsucker sheepishly sat up and caught on the back again.
more 'revisionist history' about the rideAs the group approached the finish line, Ace asked the wheelsucker if he wanted to sprint. The wheelsucker was tired, winded, sore and not feeling super strong (even for the wheelsucker), but having Ace as a leadout man was tempting, so the wheelsucker said "YES!" and sucked Ace’s wheel in the paceline. Going down the hill, Nat went early with Steve Owens trying to hold his wheel. The gap behind Nat opened. But without appearing to be working hard, Ace’s speed was increasing, with the wheelsucker desperately trying to stay on his wheel. As Ace passed Steve, the wheelsucker found himself without quite enough room to stay on Ace’s wheel -- he was forced over to the left -- and found himself working MUCH harder than he wanted to, to stay on Ace’s wheel, and then, as Ace’s speed continued to increase, the gap started to open, and the wheelsucker lost the draft, and howled in misery to Ace that he was off. Unencumbered by having to wait for the wheelsucker, Ace turned on the afterburners and reeled in Nat, going by him so fast that Nat sat up. The wheelsucker in turn passed Nat, just as Stu rolled by him easily at a higher speed. So Ace won easily wth Stu second and the wheelsucker 3rd.
Stu assures the wheelsucker that "it's only money!", and that he should buy Bill's SRM ProThe wheelsucker is enjoying freedom from the tyranny of the Powertap (and the additional weight in the rear hub), so had no data for the ride.
Despite not feeling 100%, Aaron rode hardBut others did: 23.6 mph average from the Park & Ride to the finish line, and a ride of about 28 miles.
Tom rode strong, and was first back to 424
Ace cannot BELIEVE that the wheelsucker could not stay on his wheel at the sprint
Monday Post Party Ride: The Wheelsucker Report
Being new to the sport, the wheelsucker does not fully understand how to train, the seasons, when the off season starts, and what one does during the off season. Hiring a coach has helped, as the wheelsucker simply checks a website to check what today's (or tomorrow's) workout is, and does it.
But the wheelsucker's coach has not assigned any workouts since the Deep Blue TT, just over a week ago, and has simply told the wheelsucker to do what he wants, "ride your bike if you feel like it." Well, the wheelsucker has a somewhat addictive personality, and after two or three days off the bike, the wheelsucker NEEDED to get back on the bike! GIVE ME THE BIKE AND NO ONE WILL GET HURT!!!!
Another point that confuses the wheelsucker is when to ride a fixed gear and how. There seem to be different schools of thought on this. So the wheelsucker was a little lost as to what to do for a bike ride, and chose to ride the fixie because ... well maybe it was just that he had not ridden the fixie in awhile. So the wheelsucker rode the fixie on the Sunday ride, and when he heard about a MONDAY ride, he decided to use the fixie again, but changed the gearing from 44-18 to 44-17 so he would not be spinning QUITE as fast going down hills.
Stu Waring suggested the Monday ride. The wheelsucker had trouble getting out of work, but Stu, the amazing Amanda Wu, Ty, Jeff "Ace" McDermott and Alex Pline were all still waiting for him when he turned up at the Bike Doctor Annapolis parking lot. How could you NOT want to ride on such a nice afternoon!
Alex was NOT wearing his team kit, and it turned out that a sore back was keeping him off the bike. So Alex jumped on the team photographer role.
The wheelsucker is happy wearing Latitude/ABRT kit with blue socks (the wheelsucker prefers higher wool socks for fall training rides) and riding his matching Cannondale Capo with blue bar tape and blue Michelin tires. But the wheelsucker is NOT happy with his tummy bulge!
The Latitude squad rode out of the parking lot and turned right onto Bestgate Road, and there was the official Latitude photographer blocking the left lane (we already had the right lane blocked) taking photographs. NO WONDER Annapolis drivers are so aggressive towards us!
Less traffic on Ridgley
Rather than ride down Rowe Blvd, we made the left and then right onto Ridgley, quickly "zagged" onto Annapolis, went over the Naval Academy bridge and out the St. Margaret’s Road route.
It was just KILLING photographer Alex Pline to NOT be riding!
Despite being advertised as "we're going to the beach!", we did NOT turn into Sandy Point State park, but simply turned left onto East College Parkway, after crossing over route 50.
East College Parkway is easy; almost no traffic. College Parkway has more traffic, but a wider shoulder until it gets closer to route 2. It then gets interesting with lots of traffic and no shoulder, so we turned off it as soon as we could, used back roads to get to route 2, crossed it, and came back on the B&A trail, stopping at Asquith (our local version of Ilchester) to do the climb seated.
It was twentyeight miles round trip @ 19.5 mph. The wheelsucker was grateful for his 44/17, particularly going down the hills! He was bouncing too hard downhill to read the cadence on the bike computer, but was taking pulls at a cadence of 100+, and distinctly recalls holding 115-120 for some time while riding at the back while Ace took a faster pull.
But the wheelsucker's coach has not assigned any workouts since the Deep Blue TT, just over a week ago, and has simply told the wheelsucker to do what he wants, "ride your bike if you feel like it." Well, the wheelsucker has a somewhat addictive personality, and after two or three days off the bike, the wheelsucker NEEDED to get back on the bike! GIVE ME THE BIKE AND NO ONE WILL GET HURT!!!!
Another point that confuses the wheelsucker is when to ride a fixed gear and how. There seem to be different schools of thought on this. So the wheelsucker was a little lost as to what to do for a bike ride, and chose to ride the fixie because ... well maybe it was just that he had not ridden the fixie in awhile. So the wheelsucker rode the fixie on the Sunday ride, and when he heard about a MONDAY ride, he decided to use the fixie again, but changed the gearing from 44-18 to 44-17 so he would not be spinning QUITE as fast going down hills.
Stu Waring suggested the Monday ride. The wheelsucker had trouble getting out of work, but Stu, the amazing Amanda Wu, Ty, Jeff "Ace" McDermott and Alex Pline were all still waiting for him when he turned up at the Bike Doctor Annapolis parking lot. How could you NOT want to ride on such a nice afternoon!
Alex was NOT wearing his team kit, and it turned out that a sore back was keeping him off the bike. So Alex jumped on the team photographer role.
The wheelsucker is happy wearing Latitude/ABRT kit with blue socks (the wheelsucker prefers higher wool socks for fall training rides) and riding his matching Cannondale Capo with blue bar tape and blue Michelin tires. But the wheelsucker is NOT happy with his tummy bulge!The Latitude squad rode out of the parking lot and turned right onto Bestgate Road, and there was the official Latitude photographer blocking the left lane (we already had the right lane blocked) taking photographs. NO WONDER Annapolis drivers are so aggressive towards us!
Less traffic on RidgleyRather than ride down Rowe Blvd, we made the left and then right onto Ridgley, quickly "zagged" onto Annapolis, went over the Naval Academy bridge and out the St. Margaret’s Road route.
It was just KILLING photographer Alex Pline to NOT be riding!Despite being advertised as "we're going to the beach!", we did NOT turn into Sandy Point State park, but simply turned left onto East College Parkway, after crossing over route 50.
East College Parkway is easy; almost no traffic. College Parkway has more traffic, but a wider shoulder until it gets closer to route 2. It then gets interesting with lots of traffic and no shoulder, so we turned off it as soon as we could, used back roads to get to route 2, crossed it, and came back on the B&A trail, stopping at Asquith (our local version of Ilchester) to do the climb seated.
It was twentyeight miles round trip @ 19.5 mph. The wheelsucker was grateful for his 44/17, particularly going down the hills! He was bouncing too hard downhill to read the cadence on the bike computer, but was taking pulls at a cadence of 100+, and distinctly recalls holding 115-120 for some time while riding at the back while Ace took a faster pull.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
October 12th Team Ride and Party/BBQ
A large number of Latitude/ABRT riders descended on Lynn and Steve Doetschman's home near Millersville at noon today, first for a relaxed team ride, and then a party/BBQ.
Despite concerns that Latitude/ABRT could not have an easy civilized no-drop ride, no matter how hard it tried, we ended up with a good ride with no one dropped. The long lost John Ver Byrke was there, as was new member Larry Dieran. Doetsch had a nice rolling route chosen which took us just over two hours to cover at a good, but not killer pace. Not only was no one dropped, but it was even a "fixie friendly" ride, as Ryan, Tom and Ali all rode their fixies.
Beer is a recovery drink. Who knew?
We were back at Lynn and Doestch's by 2:15, but the party did not really get rolling until about 3:30, as riders returned with spouses and family, and others rolled in.
The correct recovery behaviour after a ride. Sit down and drink your beer! Tom did not ride, so is drinking cola
The people playing volleyball had not done the ride!
Between multiple courses of Red, Hot and Blue, and several beers, President Shapter gave the volunteer of the year award to Dana Mellerio (club secretary), who helped keep ABRT going through some shaky times in late 2007 and early 2008, and recognized Sue Estes for rebuilding Latitude/ABRT's junior program from a standing start of zero riders, to a BAR winning program. Members present did concede that some of the credit might also go to the riders ;-)
While some considered this to be an afternoon party, others hung on for the evening.
I left before things got out of hand, but Monday rumours of late night drunken hair cutting, Jack Daniels shots, more shots, etc. are circulating.
Great company, great food, multiple kegs of beer, wine, and shots of Jack Daniels; a good time was had by all. We should do this more often!
Despite concerns that Latitude/ABRT could not have an easy civilized no-drop ride, no matter how hard it tried, we ended up with a good ride with no one dropped. The long lost John Ver Byrke was there, as was new member Larry Dieran. Doetsch had a nice rolling route chosen which took us just over two hours to cover at a good, but not killer pace. Not only was no one dropped, but it was even a "fixie friendly" ride, as Ryan, Tom and Ali all rode their fixies.
Beer is a recovery drink. Who knew? We were back at Lynn and Doestch's by 2:15, but the party did not really get rolling until about 3:30, as riders returned with spouses and family, and others rolled in.
The correct recovery behaviour after a ride. Sit down and drink your beer! Tom did not ride, so is drinking cola
The people playing volleyball had not done the ride!
Between multiple courses of Red, Hot and Blue, and several beers, President Shapter gave the volunteer of the year award to Dana Mellerio (club secretary), who helped keep ABRT going through some shaky times in late 2007 and early 2008, and recognized Sue Estes for rebuilding Latitude/ABRT's junior program from a standing start of zero riders, to a BAR winning program. Members present did concede that some of the credit might also go to the riders ;-)
While some considered this to be an afternoon party, others hung on for the evening.I left before things got out of hand, but Monday rumours of late night drunken hair cutting, Jack Daniels shots, more shots, etc. are circulating.
Great company, great food, multiple kegs of beer, wine, and shots of Jack Daniels; a good time was had by all. We should do this more often!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Tuesday October 7th Training Ride: The Wheelsucker Report
A few months ago the wheelsucker followed a link in an e-mail and found an amusing cycling blog. One of the posts that have stuck in the wheelsucker's memory was something like:
Being new to the sport (this is the wheelsucker's second year of racing and being a Latitude/ABRT member), the wheelsucker has heard many references to the "off season", but is confused as to when it occurs, how long it lasts, and what about one's cycling changes, during the off season.
Since the last MABRA race was this past Saturday, and some of the die-hards have switched to cyclecross, and the wheelsucker's coach has stopped giving him workouts and told him to do whatever he wants, the wheelsucker could perhaps be excused for concluding that we were in the off season. He even left his primary race bike at home and took out the ultra light but twitchy Scott CR1 SL (and it IS superlight), and left all instrumentation off. The sense that it was off season and was going to be an easy ride continued when, early in the ride, the peleton caught up with Doug Milliken who was riding a cross bike. So Doug thought it was off season, too!
Frankly the first part of the ride met the above description. With Doetsch yelling encouragement from the back (the wheelsucker does wonder why Doetsch rides at the back at lot early in a ride) about "single file!" and "car back!", the ride was steady, smooth and even relatively easy. Feeling relaxed and not worried about being dropped, the wheelsucker took a couple of good (well, good for the wheelsucker) pulls, and was rewarded for his efforts with Doetsch telling him, "that was a wussy pull!" Actually, that is not quite the wording Doetsch used, but it was similar sounding and rhymes. Now the wheelsucker knows that Doetsch usually only rags on the people he likes, so took this as a compliment, though he did have his doubts.
On his next pulls the wheelsucker went a little harder just to be sure he was not being a "rhymes with 'wussy' ", but the peleton simply let him roll off the front and kept its smooth steady pace. The second time this happened (soon after going through the circle and turning onto Bayard) the wheelsucker concluded the group simply did not want to go any faster and sat up to wait. But then there was a WOOOSH as Doetsch went by grinning, towing another two or three riders at a high rate of speed. The wheelsucker gave it everything he had and managed to latch on the back and wheelsuck for all he was worth. But Doetsch eased up, and the remains of the peleton (which was shrinking fast) caught back on, and the rest of ride down Bayard was fast, but not crazy. Doetsch was still leading as the peleton stayed straight on Bayard, skipping the right turn on to South Polling House. Then Ace hit it HARD at the turn onto Sands doing an 800 meter sprint out of the corner, with one rider (Steve Owens?) trying to stay on his wheel. The wheelsucker was at the back, but noticed that Doetsch was organizing a chase and made sure he was wheelsucking on the correct wheels and took the tow up. It took a little while for everyone to line up after the corner to start the pursuit, and Doetsch waited for the chase to form, while drafting the amazing Amanda Wu. The amazing Amanda Wu simply does not know that she is not supposed to be able to catch Ace by herself when he jumps (very few riders in MABRA can), and was trying to do just that, rather than get to the back of the line and recover for the chase. This effort must have been so far beyond what she could sustain, that when Doetsch got the chase moving, she went OTB. How fast was the chase going? The wheelsucker rides an 11-26 on his CAAD9 and has a 12-25 on his Scott CR1 SL. And he normally time trials with a cadence of 95-99, so is comfortable with a high cadence. But once Doetsch got going, the wheelsucker was riding at the back of the chase, spinning out in his 53-12 gear, and wishing he had an 11 or smaller! Ace was soon caught by the Doetsch-led chase. But the peleton was shrinking fast as more and more riders were OTB, typically in pairs.
The next attack, a team effort from Doetsch and Ace, had a couple of other riders (including the wheelsucker) bridge up, but was quickly countered by some of the chase, though it took a fair bit of work by the stronger chasers to bring them back, and the effort tired out the wheelsucker, who was at the front of Doetsch and Ace's paceline slowing up so someone else could pull through, when it was caught. Doetsch and Ace quickly rotated to the back, and a careless wheelsucker (still not quite realizing that the ride had completely changed) was taking a decent pull when WOOOSH!!... Ace and Doetsch went by at a VERY high rate of speed. The wheelsucker learned later that the two had started scheming as soon as they got to the back with Doetsch urging Ace to "hit them again!" Having been pulling for a little while after bridging up to Ace and Doetsch, the wheelsucker was in no condition to respond (the normal response would be to accelerate hard and either lead the chase or catch a wheel and go with them) and was left yelling S...! (expletive deleted) and then pulling off so someone fresher could start a chase. He nearly went OTB as the chase accelerated, but somehow stayed on the back. Ace and Doetsch were going hard, but were not very far ahead as the chase tried to organize itself. The chase had Steve Owens, Matt Albanese, Rick Paukstitus, Tom Aga, Aaron Canale and the wheelsucker (and perhaps one or two more), so working together pulling them back WAS possible. But the chase did not fully organize, and the rotations were not happening quickly enough, and the chase was tiring, and Ace and Doetsch were not coming back. The wheelsucker saw all this from the back of the chase (where he was wheelsucking HARD and trying to catch his breath), and then, just as Ace and Doetsch were part way up a roller, and the chase was slowing down as it started to climb it at the bottom, the wheelsucker saw Matt Albanese pull out of the middle of the line and HAMMER! The wheelsucker wishes he could jump and sprint like Matt. The wheelsucker, in a doomed-before-it-started attempt to catch Matt's wheel, launched a monster (by wheelsucker standards) sprint up the hill, and was rewarded by seeing Matt open the distance between them only slowly. Matt caught Ace and Doetsch not long after the top of the roller. It took the wheelsucker rather longer but he somehow made it up and grabbed a wheel, just as Ace pulled off and rotated back. A spent wheelsucker managed to mumble "skip" loud enough for Ace to understand, and Ace graciously pulled back in, in front of the wheelsucker. Hoping for a few more seconds to catch his breath, the wheelsucker tried again as the next rider rotated back, but this rider was Doetsch, who in response to the wheelsucker's plea, yelled "GET UP THERE!!", and then pushed the wheelsucker forward. The wheelsucker wobbled but did not fall, and accelerated just enough to keep his place in the rotation, take a pretend pull at the front, and rotate off. Ace and Doetsch were still keeping the hammer down, and the wheelsucker's effort to stay with them was so great that various wheelsucker body functions were starting to shut down, presumably so the oxygen the wheelsucker was extracting from air with his desperate gasps could be dedicated to the wheelsucker's quads. All the wheelsucker could think of was staying on a wheel, taking the shortest pretend pulls he could, and rotating back and grabbing a wheel. Given the very limited oxygen reaching his brain, it is perhaps understandable that the wheelsucker did not see what happened to Matt; at some point the wheelsucker realized he was gone, and the wheelsucker was by himself, trying to stay with two of the strongest riders in the region.
Ace pulled off shortly before the last dip before Sands rises to the Patuxent Parkway intersection, and the wheelsucker found himself leading down the dip, and up the other side. "This is it", thought the wheelsucker, "this is where I will be slowly, painfully, inexorably, unable to keep the small gap to the wheel in front of me, and the gap will open and I will struggle manfully for a few more seconds, go off the back, sit up, and the pain will end." But though the gap opened a little near the top, the wheelsucker was somehow able to stay on.
The wheelsucker was leading again down the last hill before the sweeping right at the low point that often floods and the wheelsucker's favorite climb, doing his best. He continued pulling around the sweeping right and part way up before rotating off and grabbing a wheel. "This is it", thought the wheelsucker, "this is where I will be slowly, painfully, inexorably, unable to keep the small gap to the wheel in front of me, and the gap will open and I will struggle manfully for a few more seconds, go off the back, sit up, and the pain will end." Sure enough the wheelsucker could not stay with Ace and Doetsch at the top where it gets steeper before starting to level off, and he muttered "So long, boys" as they accelerated off the top. But Ace and Doetsch decided to be merciful -- or maybe they were enjoying the wheelsucker's suffering and wanted to continue it -- and slowed up a little, forcing the wheelsucker -- who had pretty much given up -- to stand and accelerate as hard as he could and get back on. They took it easy on him for awhile, and then hearing the gasping rate slow slightly, ramped it back up. The three caught the green light at 214 and hammered across. The wheelsucker was taking only token pulls, and was feeling bad from the effort. It seemed like more body functions were shutting down; one second the wheelsucker was expecting to "toss his cookies", the next he was wondering if he really needed to stop NOW and run for the trees to go to the bathroom. Several more times the wheelsucker thought "This is it; this is where I will be slowly, painfully, inexorably, unable to keep the small gap to the wheel in front of me, and gap will open and I will struggle briefly, go off the back, sit up, and the pain will end, and I will run for the trees." But each time Doetsch and Ace slowed just enough, and yelled at the wheelsucker to get back on.
All the wheelsucker remembers of the ride from 214 to the finish is back wheels and jerseys from the back; it was all he could do to hang on; his token pulls were probably ten seconds long. Then, on the last flat before the dip and the sprint, a miracle happened. NO, not the "I can suddenly sustain 1300 watts for 30 seconds miracle", which the wheelsucker has often hoped for, but the miracle where Ace sits up, turns to the wheelsucker and says "lets go back and pick up the others." Given that the alternative would have been to try to close a gap to Doetsch and then sprint against him, the wheelsucker gratefully accepted Ace's offer, and rode slowly back towards 214 with him, seeing first the chase group charging by, then some stragglers, and then turning to ride in with two of the last stragglers.
Later that evening, as the wheelsucker poured himself his preferred recovery drink -- hot skim milk with chai tea powder and Goslings rum -- the wheelsucker wondered how fast he had been going, how many watts he had put out, and more. But this was an off season ride, and the wheelsucker had no instrumentation at all on the bike. So it will just have to go down as an epic ride, and the wheelsucker will just have to make something up about the numbers... How fast are you doing when you spin out with a 53-12?
All roadies know they are supposed to have an off-season to rest and recuperate. For most roadies it was last Sunday, at 4:00PM
Being new to the sport (this is the wheelsucker's second year of racing and being a Latitude/ABRT member), the wheelsucker has heard many references to the "off season", but is confused as to when it occurs, how long it lasts, and what about one's cycling changes, during the off season.
Since the last MABRA race was this past Saturday, and some of the die-hards have switched to cyclecross, and the wheelsucker's coach has stopped giving him workouts and told him to do whatever he wants, the wheelsucker could perhaps be excused for concluding that we were in the off season. He even left his primary race bike at home and took out the ultra light but twitchy Scott CR1 SL (and it IS superlight), and left all instrumentation off. The sense that it was off season and was going to be an easy ride continued when, early in the ride, the peleton caught up with Doug Milliken who was riding a cross bike. So Doug thought it was off season, too!
Frankly the first part of the ride met the above description. With Doetsch yelling encouragement from the back (the wheelsucker does wonder why Doetsch rides at the back at lot early in a ride) about "single file!" and "car back!", the ride was steady, smooth and even relatively easy. Feeling relaxed and not worried about being dropped, the wheelsucker took a couple of good (well, good for the wheelsucker) pulls, and was rewarded for his efforts with Doetsch telling him, "that was a wussy pull!" Actually, that is not quite the wording Doetsch used, but it was similar sounding and rhymes. Now the wheelsucker knows that Doetsch usually only rags on the people he likes, so took this as a compliment, though he did have his doubts.
On his next pulls the wheelsucker went a little harder just to be sure he was not being a "rhymes with 'wussy' ", but the peleton simply let him roll off the front and kept its smooth steady pace. The second time this happened (soon after going through the circle and turning onto Bayard) the wheelsucker concluded the group simply did not want to go any faster and sat up to wait. But then there was a WOOOSH as Doetsch went by grinning, towing another two or three riders at a high rate of speed. The wheelsucker gave it everything he had and managed to latch on the back and wheelsuck for all he was worth. But Doetsch eased up, and the remains of the peleton (which was shrinking fast) caught back on, and the rest of ride down Bayard was fast, but not crazy. Doetsch was still leading as the peleton stayed straight on Bayard, skipping the right turn on to South Polling House. Then Ace hit it HARD at the turn onto Sands doing an 800 meter sprint out of the corner, with one rider (Steve Owens?) trying to stay on his wheel. The wheelsucker was at the back, but noticed that Doetsch was organizing a chase and made sure he was wheelsucking on the correct wheels and took the tow up. It took a little while for everyone to line up after the corner to start the pursuit, and Doetsch waited for the chase to form, while drafting the amazing Amanda Wu. The amazing Amanda Wu simply does not know that she is not supposed to be able to catch Ace by herself when he jumps (very few riders in MABRA can), and was trying to do just that, rather than get to the back of the line and recover for the chase. This effort must have been so far beyond what she could sustain, that when Doetsch got the chase moving, she went OTB. How fast was the chase going? The wheelsucker rides an 11-26 on his CAAD9 and has a 12-25 on his Scott CR1 SL. And he normally time trials with a cadence of 95-99, so is comfortable with a high cadence. But once Doetsch got going, the wheelsucker was riding at the back of the chase, spinning out in his 53-12 gear, and wishing he had an 11 or smaller! Ace was soon caught by the Doetsch-led chase. But the peleton was shrinking fast as more and more riders were OTB, typically in pairs.
The next attack, a team effort from Doetsch and Ace, had a couple of other riders (including the wheelsucker) bridge up, but was quickly countered by some of the chase, though it took a fair bit of work by the stronger chasers to bring them back, and the effort tired out the wheelsucker, who was at the front of Doetsch and Ace's paceline slowing up so someone else could pull through, when it was caught. Doetsch and Ace quickly rotated to the back, and a careless wheelsucker (still not quite realizing that the ride had completely changed) was taking a decent pull when WOOOSH!!... Ace and Doetsch went by at a VERY high rate of speed. The wheelsucker learned later that the two had started scheming as soon as they got to the back with Doetsch urging Ace to "hit them again!" Having been pulling for a little while after bridging up to Ace and Doetsch, the wheelsucker was in no condition to respond (the normal response would be to accelerate hard and either lead the chase or catch a wheel and go with them) and was left yelling S...! (expletive deleted) and then pulling off so someone fresher could start a chase. He nearly went OTB as the chase accelerated, but somehow stayed on the back. Ace and Doetsch were going hard, but were not very far ahead as the chase tried to organize itself. The chase had Steve Owens, Matt Albanese, Rick Paukstitus, Tom Aga, Aaron Canale and the wheelsucker (and perhaps one or two more), so working together pulling them back WAS possible. But the chase did not fully organize, and the rotations were not happening quickly enough, and the chase was tiring, and Ace and Doetsch were not coming back. The wheelsucker saw all this from the back of the chase (where he was wheelsucking HARD and trying to catch his breath), and then, just as Ace and Doetsch were part way up a roller, and the chase was slowing down as it started to climb it at the bottom, the wheelsucker saw Matt Albanese pull out of the middle of the line and HAMMER! The wheelsucker wishes he could jump and sprint like Matt. The wheelsucker, in a doomed-before-it-started attempt to catch Matt's wheel, launched a monster (by wheelsucker standards) sprint up the hill, and was rewarded by seeing Matt open the distance between them only slowly. Matt caught Ace and Doetsch not long after the top of the roller. It took the wheelsucker rather longer but he somehow made it up and grabbed a wheel, just as Ace pulled off and rotated back. A spent wheelsucker managed to mumble "skip" loud enough for Ace to understand, and Ace graciously pulled back in, in front of the wheelsucker. Hoping for a few more seconds to catch his breath, the wheelsucker tried again as the next rider rotated back, but this rider was Doetsch, who in response to the wheelsucker's plea, yelled "GET UP THERE!!", and then pushed the wheelsucker forward. The wheelsucker wobbled but did not fall, and accelerated just enough to keep his place in the rotation, take a pretend pull at the front, and rotate off. Ace and Doetsch were still keeping the hammer down, and the wheelsucker's effort to stay with them was so great that various wheelsucker body functions were starting to shut down, presumably so the oxygen the wheelsucker was extracting from air with his desperate gasps could be dedicated to the wheelsucker's quads. All the wheelsucker could think of was staying on a wheel, taking the shortest pretend pulls he could, and rotating back and grabbing a wheel. Given the very limited oxygen reaching his brain, it is perhaps understandable that the wheelsucker did not see what happened to Matt; at some point the wheelsucker realized he was gone, and the wheelsucker was by himself, trying to stay with two of the strongest riders in the region.
Ace pulled off shortly before the last dip before Sands rises to the Patuxent Parkway intersection, and the wheelsucker found himself leading down the dip, and up the other side. "This is it", thought the wheelsucker, "this is where I will be slowly, painfully, inexorably, unable to keep the small gap to the wheel in front of me, and the gap will open and I will struggle manfully for a few more seconds, go off the back, sit up, and the pain will end." But though the gap opened a little near the top, the wheelsucker was somehow able to stay on.
The wheelsucker was leading again down the last hill before the sweeping right at the low point that often floods and the wheelsucker's favorite climb, doing his best. He continued pulling around the sweeping right and part way up before rotating off and grabbing a wheel. "This is it", thought the wheelsucker, "this is where I will be slowly, painfully, inexorably, unable to keep the small gap to the wheel in front of me, and the gap will open and I will struggle manfully for a few more seconds, go off the back, sit up, and the pain will end." Sure enough the wheelsucker could not stay with Ace and Doetsch at the top where it gets steeper before starting to level off, and he muttered "So long, boys" as they accelerated off the top. But Ace and Doetsch decided to be merciful -- or maybe they were enjoying the wheelsucker's suffering and wanted to continue it -- and slowed up a little, forcing the wheelsucker -- who had pretty much given up -- to stand and accelerate as hard as he could and get back on. They took it easy on him for awhile, and then hearing the gasping rate slow slightly, ramped it back up. The three caught the green light at 214 and hammered across. The wheelsucker was taking only token pulls, and was feeling bad from the effort. It seemed like more body functions were shutting down; one second the wheelsucker was expecting to "toss his cookies", the next he was wondering if he really needed to stop NOW and run for the trees to go to the bathroom. Several more times the wheelsucker thought "This is it; this is where I will be slowly, painfully, inexorably, unable to keep the small gap to the wheel in front of me, and gap will open and I will struggle briefly, go off the back, sit up, and the pain will end, and I will run for the trees." But each time Doetsch and Ace slowed just enough, and yelled at the wheelsucker to get back on.
All the wheelsucker remembers of the ride from 214 to the finish is back wheels and jerseys from the back; it was all he could do to hang on; his token pulls were probably ten seconds long. Then, on the last flat before the dip and the sprint, a miracle happened. NO, not the "I can suddenly sustain 1300 watts for 30 seconds miracle", which the wheelsucker has often hoped for, but the miracle where Ace sits up, turns to the wheelsucker and says "lets go back and pick up the others." Given that the alternative would have been to try to close a gap to Doetsch and then sprint against him, the wheelsucker gratefully accepted Ace's offer, and rode slowly back towards 214 with him, seeing first the chase group charging by, then some stragglers, and then turning to ride in with two of the last stragglers.
Later that evening, as the wheelsucker poured himself his preferred recovery drink -- hot skim milk with chai tea powder and Goslings rum -- the wheelsucker wondered how fast he had been going, how many watts he had put out, and more. But this was an off season ride, and the wheelsucker had no instrumentation at all on the bike. So it will just have to go down as an epic ride, and the wheelsucker will just have to make something up about the numbers... How fast are you doing when you spin out with a 53-12?
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Deep Blue TT: A Wheelsucker Special Report
Images taken by Chris Premar: http://gallery.me.com/permstar#100310&view=null&bgcolor=black&sel=0"
Results spreadsheet: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p0dGdZHV_Way5PNxiOmxrXA&hl=en
The wheelsucker recalls that a summer lasted nearly forever when he was a young boy, but the older he gets the faster time moves. This past road racing season has just flown by, and not long after it started at Jeff Cup, it was down to the last MABRA road race of the season, the rescheduled Deep Blue TT, October 4th, in Augustine Beach DE.
Never heard of Augustine Beach, DE? Neither had the wheelsucker, but rest assured it is just south of Port Penn DE. Never heard of Port Penn DE? Neither had the wheelsucker. Fortunately there were directions on the bikereg registration page and a link to a Googlemap of the course on the team website, which the wheelsucker was able to get Googlemap directions to.
The TT course starts next to the Delaware River, or it might be Delaware Bay; the wheelsucker is not entirely clear on exactly where the name changes as the river widens into the bay. It is downstream of the Delaware Memorial Bridge, a little downstream of the Delaware end of the canal between the Chesapeake Bay and the Delaware River (or bay).
The course starts along the river, crosses a few low bridges over creeks and marshes and then turns inland slightly. The turning point is triangular where the road you ride in on ends in a "T", using a small "Y" configuration, and then it is back down the road to the starting area. The course is roughly 11 miles long, which had the wheelsucker thinking it would be easy, after doing Church Creek twice.
Looking at the registration page and the "confirmed riders" page on the bikereg listing, the wheelsucker noted that not a single field had 12 riders, so at that point in time, EVERYONE who showed up was going to get BAR points. This made doing a second race quite attractive at the time (it was rather less attractive when it actually came time to start the second race, but that comes later). Looking at the list of confirmed riders, the wheelsucker registered for 50+ and picked what he thought was the field with the fewest registered riders, that he was also eligible for. He picked "cat 3" because there were (at the time) only about three riders registered. This was a mistake, because there was ANOTHER field the wheelsucker overlooked, the 30+, which had ZERO registered riders at the time. Fortunately, this error was fixable, after a series of e-mails with the organizer, and the wheelsucker was in fact racing 30+ and 50+ on race day (this worked out very well as the wheelsucker was the only Latitude rider in both fields, so was not risking taking points from a teammate or vice versa).
A number of riders besides the wheelsucker were planning on racing twice, so the starting order was all mixed up, not in field order, as the organizers tried to accommodate everyone's wishes. One result of this was that the wheelsucker's first start was his 30+ race, while the one he really cared about, the 50+, was his second start.
Spencer warming up
Latitude/ABRT was well represented with Tom Mackay, Aaron Canale, Steve Owens, Spencer Becket and Bobby Phillips all there. Some registered riders were unable to make the new date (recall that Deep Blue was postponed due to a tropical storm), so though they were registered, Arch McKown and Bill Neumann were not there.
Somehow, despite arriving an hour before his start time, the wheelsucker found himself with only 5 minutes to warm up, in contrast to Spencer, who spent over half an hour riding on the trainer. Actually, Spencer was the best organized and best warmed up rider of the team.
Tom and Aaron had their starts very shortly after 9:00 (they had the second and third slots), with the wheelsucker starting at 9:17:00, and Spencer a minute behind at 9:18:00.
Steve's first start was 9:21:30. There were a lot of no-shows, so neither the wheelsucker nor Spencer had 30 second riders to pace behind. Feeling rushed and disorganized, the wheelsucker started too hard and it took several minutes to get the power numbers down to what his target was. The course had several turns that the wheelsucker could not take at full speed/target power, and a few rollers. The wheelsucker passed several riders, but since starts were not by field and one did not know who one was passing, this did not provide much useful information.
At the turnaround the wheelsucker still had a good gap on Spencer, but was suffering from going out too hard. All the way back, every time the wheelsucker checked his power, he was below target. He would push harder, get the number up, suffer more, but the next time he checked the power would be down again. He never looked back (do NOT turn your head when wearing a TT helmet), but suspected that Spencer was closing.
Sure enough, at the finish Spencer had not passed the wheelsucker, but closed considerable time on him.
The interval between races was far too short for the wheelsucker, just enough time to have race numbers swapped and grab a drink, as his next start was at 9:58:30. It was a tired and suffering wheelsucker lining up for his second start (who thought doing two races was a good idea!), with Steve Owens starting 30 seconds behind him. Being tired, it was much easier to start on target power numbers. The wheelsucker made it to the turnaround, and even passed a few riders on the way, but he was clearly not going as well as the outbound leg in the first race, and it was harder and harder to hold power.
It did not appear that Steve had closed much at the turnaround.
The ride back after the turnaround was misery. Unable to get to even threshold power numbers for long, the wheelsucker worked on being as aero as possible. The wheelsucker suffered all the way to the finish line, hammered (for the wheelsucker) across the line and coasted down the road, too spent to even sit up, turn around and see where Steve was.
After a short wait in the parking lot finish places/times were posted.
Once the wheelsucker fought his way through the crowd reading the finish times, he saw the yellow highlighted winners. Spencer had won 40+! Tom had won juniors 17-18, with Aaron second! Tom had also finished 4th in cat 3, despite riding a road bike not a TT bike, in both his races! Steve Owens had very good finishes in cat 4 (2nd) and 40+ (4th), five seconds behind a rider in one, and seven seconds behind the same rider in the second.
Bobby Philips was 4th in 60+, and the wheelsucker learned to his amazement that he has won 50+ and 30+, and even more amazing, his second race time was only nine seconds slower than his first. This led the wheelsucker to conclude that he would rather be aero than good :-)
Indeed, the wheelsucker has an exceptional TT bike, which must be EXCEPTIONALY aero, because the wheelsucker's sustainable power is not what a strong experienced rider can put out.
For example, do you see a front brake caliper? Does the wind see a front brake caliper?
Winning 30+ was a gift, as only two 30+ riders had started, and the wheelsucker had the faster time of the two. Winning 50+ was great, even though the strongest time trialers the wheelsucker had raced against at the Church Creek races and the Tour of Washington County TT were not there.
Winning a TT is 15 BAR points and second is 13 points, so a very good day for Latitude winning five fields, and getting some seconds and fourths. for a total of 111 BAR points. The wheelsucker cannot remember any of the finishing times, but does recall that Spencer had a REALLY good time, having the fastest time of all competitors including two man teams, tandems and cat 1-2.
The results/times spreadsheet is available at http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p0dGdZHV_Way5PNxiOmxrXA&hl=en.
What a great end to the season!
Results spreadsheet: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p0dGdZHV_Way5PNxiOmxrXA&hl=en
The wheelsucker recalls that a summer lasted nearly forever when he was a young boy, but the older he gets the faster time moves. This past road racing season has just flown by, and not long after it started at Jeff Cup, it was down to the last MABRA road race of the season, the rescheduled Deep Blue TT, October 4th, in Augustine Beach DE.
Never heard of Augustine Beach, DE? Neither had the wheelsucker, but rest assured it is just south of Port Penn DE. Never heard of Port Penn DE? Neither had the wheelsucker. Fortunately there were directions on the bikereg registration page and a link to a Googlemap of the course on the team website, which the wheelsucker was able to get Googlemap directions to.
The TT course starts next to the Delaware River, or it might be Delaware Bay; the wheelsucker is not entirely clear on exactly where the name changes as the river widens into the bay. It is downstream of the Delaware Memorial Bridge, a little downstream of the Delaware end of the canal between the Chesapeake Bay and the Delaware River (or bay).
The course starts along the river, crosses a few low bridges over creeks and marshes and then turns inland slightly. The turning point is triangular where the road you ride in on ends in a "T", using a small "Y" configuration, and then it is back down the road to the starting area. The course is roughly 11 miles long, which had the wheelsucker thinking it would be easy, after doing Church Creek twice.
Looking at the registration page and the "confirmed riders" page on the bikereg listing, the wheelsucker noted that not a single field had 12 riders, so at that point in time, EVERYONE who showed up was going to get BAR points. This made doing a second race quite attractive at the time (it was rather less attractive when it actually came time to start the second race, but that comes later). Looking at the list of confirmed riders, the wheelsucker registered for 50+ and picked what he thought was the field with the fewest registered riders, that he was also eligible for. He picked "cat 3" because there were (at the time) only about three riders registered. This was a mistake, because there was ANOTHER field the wheelsucker overlooked, the 30+, which had ZERO registered riders at the time. Fortunately, this error was fixable, after a series of e-mails with the organizer, and the wheelsucker was in fact racing 30+ and 50+ on race day (this worked out very well as the wheelsucker was the only Latitude rider in both fields, so was not risking taking points from a teammate or vice versa).
A number of riders besides the wheelsucker were planning on racing twice, so the starting order was all mixed up, not in field order, as the organizers tried to accommodate everyone's wishes. One result of this was that the wheelsucker's first start was his 30+ race, while the one he really cared about, the 50+, was his second start.
Spencer warming upLatitude/ABRT was well represented with Tom Mackay, Aaron Canale, Steve Owens, Spencer Becket and Bobby Phillips all there. Some registered riders were unable to make the new date (recall that Deep Blue was postponed due to a tropical storm), so though they were registered, Arch McKown and Bill Neumann were not there.
Somehow, despite arriving an hour before his start time, the wheelsucker found himself with only 5 minutes to warm up, in contrast to Spencer, who spent over half an hour riding on the trainer. Actually, Spencer was the best organized and best warmed up rider of the team.
Tom and Aaron had their starts very shortly after 9:00 (they had the second and third slots), with the wheelsucker starting at 9:17:00, and Spencer a minute behind at 9:18:00.
Steve's first start was 9:21:30. There were a lot of no-shows, so neither the wheelsucker nor Spencer had 30 second riders to pace behind. Feeling rushed and disorganized, the wheelsucker started too hard and it took several minutes to get the power numbers down to what his target was. The course had several turns that the wheelsucker could not take at full speed/target power, and a few rollers. The wheelsucker passed several riders, but since starts were not by field and one did not know who one was passing, this did not provide much useful information.
At the turnaround the wheelsucker still had a good gap on Spencer, but was suffering from going out too hard. All the way back, every time the wheelsucker checked his power, he was below target. He would push harder, get the number up, suffer more, but the next time he checked the power would be down again. He never looked back (do NOT turn your head when wearing a TT helmet), but suspected that Spencer was closing.
Sure enough, at the finish Spencer had not passed the wheelsucker, but closed considerable time on him.
The interval between races was far too short for the wheelsucker, just enough time to have race numbers swapped and grab a drink, as his next start was at 9:58:30. It was a tired and suffering wheelsucker lining up for his second start (who thought doing two races was a good idea!), with Steve Owens starting 30 seconds behind him. Being tired, it was much easier to start on target power numbers. The wheelsucker made it to the turnaround, and even passed a few riders on the way, but he was clearly not going as well as the outbound leg in the first race, and it was harder and harder to hold power.
It did not appear that Steve had closed much at the turnaround.
The ride back after the turnaround was misery. Unable to get to even threshold power numbers for long, the wheelsucker worked on being as aero as possible. The wheelsucker suffered all the way to the finish line, hammered (for the wheelsucker) across the line and coasted down the road, too spent to even sit up, turn around and see where Steve was.
After a short wait in the parking lot finish places/times were posted.
Once the wheelsucker fought his way through the crowd reading the finish times, he saw the yellow highlighted winners. Spencer had won 40+! Tom had won juniors 17-18, with Aaron second! Tom had also finished 4th in cat 3, despite riding a road bike not a TT bike, in both his races! Steve Owens had very good finishes in cat 4 (2nd) and 40+ (4th), five seconds behind a rider in one, and seven seconds behind the same rider in the second.
Bobby Philips was 4th in 60+, and the wheelsucker learned to his amazement that he has won 50+ and 30+, and even more amazing, his second race time was only nine seconds slower than his first. This led the wheelsucker to conclude that he would rather be aero than good :-)
Indeed, the wheelsucker has an exceptional TT bike, which must be EXCEPTIONALY aero, because the wheelsucker's sustainable power is not what a strong experienced rider can put out.
For example, do you see a front brake caliper? Does the wind see a front brake caliper?Winning 30+ was a gift, as only two 30+ riders had started, and the wheelsucker had the faster time of the two. Winning 50+ was great, even though the strongest time trialers the wheelsucker had raced against at the Church Creek races and the Tour of Washington County TT were not there.
Winning a TT is 15 BAR points and second is 13 points, so a very good day for Latitude winning five fields, and getting some seconds and fourths. for a total of 111 BAR points. The wheelsucker cannot remember any of the finishing times, but does recall that Spencer had a REALLY good time, having the fastest time of all competitors including two man teams, tandems and cat 1-2.
The results/times spreadsheet is available at http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p0dGdZHV_Way5PNxiOmxrXA&hl=en.
What a great end to the season!
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Seagull Century
I don't think it could have been a better day for the Seagull. Bright sunshine, very little wind and cool, dry air. It rolled, 4 hr and 10 minutes by my watch.
Being a Seagull Century virgin, I was a little apprehensive the night before because of all the stories I heard about the DC Velo pain train. This sparked my pathological fear of being dropped with 50 miles to go. On top of that, nothing gets the adrenaline pumping like leaving yourself enough time to get to Salisbury, but realizing AFTER going over the Bay Bridge that you forgot your helmet; Doh! I did manage to get back to Annapolis, get the helmet and in 1.5 hrs get to Salisbury, park, change and ride to the Hardees. I was actually the first Latitude rider there!
Crisis averted, Michel was next followed by Sue, Dennis, Tom, Ace, Amanda and Ty. On top of that, we had a definite John Ver Bryke sighting! We rolled out a few minutes after 8 to a nice tempo, weaving around the crowd. I was not fully prepared for how this was going to go; there are a LOT of riders of all walks of life on this ride. Some try to hop in, some wander all over the road, some wave... Anyway, we stayed left, and it was interesting balancing the riders on the right and the oncoming cars on the left. For the first 20 miles past the first rest stop (that we skipped), it was dodge and weave. After that point, it steadied out considerably and the train built steam until the second stop.
After a nature break and some food, a few DC Velo guys started rolling, so Tom, Michel and I rolled out slowly. We were anticipating the train coming by, but in the end our pace ramped up a bit and we formed a nice rotating paceline. This was the hardest point of the day because there was a little easterly headwind, and no train to hide behind! Nonetheless, we ended up getting to Assateague ahead of the rest of the group by a couple minutes. Funny, just before the bridge to Assateague, a pony wandered on the path, and left a nice large present for the rest of the riders. Assateague was spectacular, especially today. I've been to Chincoteage, and the lower part of Assateague, but never this part.
More steady tempo riding until the last rest stop. Unfortunately SuePerFlat got delayed fixing a puncture, but she and Dennis just rolled in as we were leaving, so they hopped on the train. Things definitely stepped up a notch in the last 20 miles. I was surprised that I still felt pretty good, less tired than a typical Saturday ride. Given this, I started spending some more time up front, taking some pulls with Ace and John Ver Bryke, who rode very strong given that his longest ride recently was about 35 miles! In the last 10 miles, there was a camera van with a guy sitting in the back of the mini van with the hatch up video taping the group rocking along. I hope that video will be available some place because he had an awesome vantage point. With a couple miles to go, there were attacks that pretty much broke up the group. John, Tom and I were up towards the front with Ace off the front with the leaders. Not sure how he faired in the final sprint, but I think he sealed the deal.
We stopped in Easton at this little hole in the wall BBQ place which was just what we needed! For anyone who has never done this, I highly recommend it next year. Take my word for it: it feels good to loose your virginity at 47!
Being a Seagull Century virgin, I was a little apprehensive the night before because of all the stories I heard about the DC Velo pain train. This sparked my pathological fear of being dropped with 50 miles to go. On top of that, nothing gets the adrenaline pumping like leaving yourself enough time to get to Salisbury, but realizing AFTER going over the Bay Bridge that you forgot your helmet; Doh! I did manage to get back to Annapolis, get the helmet and in 1.5 hrs get to Salisbury, park, change and ride to the Hardees. I was actually the first Latitude rider there!
Crisis averted, Michel was next followed by Sue, Dennis, Tom, Ace, Amanda and Ty. On top of that, we had a definite John Ver Bryke sighting! We rolled out a few minutes after 8 to a nice tempo, weaving around the crowd. I was not fully prepared for how this was going to go; there are a LOT of riders of all walks of life on this ride. Some try to hop in, some wander all over the road, some wave... Anyway, we stayed left, and it was interesting balancing the riders on the right and the oncoming cars on the left. For the first 20 miles past the first rest stop (that we skipped), it was dodge and weave. After that point, it steadied out considerably and the train built steam until the second stop.
After a nature break and some food, a few DC Velo guys started rolling, so Tom, Michel and I rolled out slowly. We were anticipating the train coming by, but in the end our pace ramped up a bit and we formed a nice rotating paceline. This was the hardest point of the day because there was a little easterly headwind, and no train to hide behind! Nonetheless, we ended up getting to Assateague ahead of the rest of the group by a couple minutes. Funny, just before the bridge to Assateague, a pony wandered on the path, and left a nice large present for the rest of the riders. Assateague was spectacular, especially today. I've been to Chincoteage, and the lower part of Assateague, but never this part.
More steady tempo riding until the last rest stop. Unfortunately SuePerFlat got delayed fixing a puncture, but she and Dennis just rolled in as we were leaving, so they hopped on the train. Things definitely stepped up a notch in the last 20 miles. I was surprised that I still felt pretty good, less tired than a typical Saturday ride. Given this, I started spending some more time up front, taking some pulls with Ace and John Ver Bryke, who rode very strong given that his longest ride recently was about 35 miles! In the last 10 miles, there was a camera van with a guy sitting in the back of the mini van with the hatch up video taping the group rocking along. I hope that video will be available some place because he had an awesome vantage point. With a couple miles to go, there were attacks that pretty much broke up the group. John, Tom and I were up towards the front with Ace off the front with the leaders. Not sure how he faired in the final sprint, but I think he sealed the deal.We stopped in Easton at this little hole in the wall BBQ place which was just what we needed! For anyone who has never done this, I highly recommend it next year. Take my word for it: it feels good to loose your virginity at 47!
Friday, October 3, 2008
Thursday October 2 Training Ride: The Wheelsucker Report
Thursday was a beautiful fall day, windy with temps in the mid 60s. For this wheelsucker, that means arm warmers, knee warmers and wind vest. The usual small 5pm group was assembled: Ace, Stu, Tom A, Rick P, Ty, Amanda, Aaron, Russ, and Alex. Sorry to anyone I may have missed as it was, thanks to ACE, a "high watts" ride, at least for me: Must focus on the wheel in front of me....
The ride started out as a "Low watts: I wonder what kind of tree that is? Funny I don't remember seeing that mailbox there before" kind of ride until near the end of Rt 2. Aaron, practicing for Saturday's TT with TT clipons, got the pace up for most of Rt 2 until after the false flat. I took over (ok, I'm not like the REAL wheelsucker) at a reasonable tempo. It must have been a little too reasonable, because after a minute Stu with Ace, Rick and Ty on his wheel came screaming by. I jumped as hard as I could and eventually caught on. The first instance of "Must focus on the wheel in front of me..." We slowed at the circle and the group reassembled.
We got into a nice rotating paceline on Bayard ala last week, but again at the downhill section just before Polling House comes back into Bayard (we skipped Polling House due to light constraints), Ace put in attack number two, again with the usual suspects on his wheel. I went as hard as I could to get on and was able to even take a pull or two. At Sands, we again regrouped, but Ace had enough of that and took off really hard. We organized a chase that whittled down to Stu, Tom, Rick and me. Must focus on the wheel in front of me... We eventually reeled him in just at Harwood.
Not sure who all got back on after the turn but we ran into the incredible shrinking Doug Shapter. It cranked up again, down around the flood area and up the hill at which point the incredible Shrinking Doug Shapter "Seagulled" up to 214.
"Seagulling" - a phase used to indicate the behavior of someone who comes into a group, flaps their wings, craps all over the place and leaves.
Doug, being relatively fresh, egged Ace on and ramped it up for Ace attack number 3 which pretty much split the group for good. At 214, we had to wait a second for the light - the incredible shrinking Doug Shapter went his own way - but once again put the hammer down up Patuxent River Road. With 2 more rollers to go, Ace took control. Must focus on the wheel in front of me... with the finish in sight, I took over for 2 pedal stokes and Tom and Rick shot by with Tom taking the sprint.
The ride started out as a "Low watts: I wonder what kind of tree that is? Funny I don't remember seeing that mailbox there before" kind of ride until near the end of Rt 2. Aaron, practicing for Saturday's TT with TT clipons, got the pace up for most of Rt 2 until after the false flat. I took over (ok, I'm not like the REAL wheelsucker) at a reasonable tempo. It must have been a little too reasonable, because after a minute Stu with Ace, Rick and Ty on his wheel came screaming by. I jumped as hard as I could and eventually caught on. The first instance of "Must focus on the wheel in front of me..." We slowed at the circle and the group reassembled.
We got into a nice rotating paceline on Bayard ala last week, but again at the downhill section just before Polling House comes back into Bayard (we skipped Polling House due to light constraints), Ace put in attack number two, again with the usual suspects on his wheel. I went as hard as I could to get on and was able to even take a pull or two. At Sands, we again regrouped, but Ace had enough of that and took off really hard. We organized a chase that whittled down to Stu, Tom, Rick and me. Must focus on the wheel in front of me... We eventually reeled him in just at Harwood.
Not sure who all got back on after the turn but we ran into the incredible shrinking Doug Shapter. It cranked up again, down around the flood area and up the hill at which point the incredible Shrinking Doug Shapter "Seagulled" up to 214.
"Seagulling" - a phase used to indicate the behavior of someone who comes into a group, flaps their wings, craps all over the place and leaves.
Doug, being relatively fresh, egged Ace on and ramped it up for Ace attack number 3 which pretty much split the group for good. At 214, we had to wait a second for the light - the incredible shrinking Doug Shapter went his own way - but once again put the hammer down up Patuxent River Road. With 2 more rollers to go, Ace took control. Must focus on the wheel in front of me... with the finish in sight, I took over for 2 pedal stokes and Tom and Rick shot by with Tom taking the sprint.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Tuesday September 30th Training Ride: A "Sort of" Wheelsucker Report
The wheelsucker works hard at recovery. He is an old man and even putting out the limited maximum watts he can, does tax him. The wheelsucker's coach is aware of this and schedules the wheelsucker's workouts with that in mind. So in the week before the last event of the season offering MABRA BAR Points -- the rescheduled Deep Blue TT -- the wheelsucker has very easy workouts. And they very clearly do NOT include giving it 110% to desperately stay on Ace or Keith or Doetsch or whoever’s wheel, even if that is what the wheelsucker does best. So no Tuesday (or Thursday) training ride for the wheelsucker this week.
But the wheelsucker does hear a few things from time to time... so here goes with the Tuesday September 30th Training Ride report.
An aggressive Stu Waring attacked VICIOUSLY on route 2; waiting until after Doetsch took a long hard pull, and barely waiting for Doetsch to hook on the back before launching. Stu went clear, but Ace caught him alone, leaving Doetsch in the chase pack.
After catching his breath a very determined Doetsch put his dead down and went so hard he shed the entire pack and closed the gap solo.
"I killed myself to catch him and Ace after my pull", said Doetsch. "It took me one mile to get on -- and I managed to drop everyone ... in the process. The whole time I was chasing I was thinking ... deleted ... deleted ... deleted.... LOL"
The three stayed away together, though Stu faltered on the long climb coming out of the flood area, before 214, and Doetsch was more than happy to drop him. But a mellowing Ace (is he feeling OK?, who would call Ace mellow?) convinced Doetsch to slow up just long enough for Stu to catch back on. Stu hung on until just before the sprint.
But the wheelsucker does hear a few things from time to time... so here goes with the Tuesday September 30th Training Ride report.
An aggressive Stu Waring attacked VICIOUSLY on route 2; waiting until after Doetsch took a long hard pull, and barely waiting for Doetsch to hook on the back before launching. Stu went clear, but Ace caught him alone, leaving Doetsch in the chase pack.
After catching his breath a very determined Doetsch put his dead down and went so hard he shed the entire pack and closed the gap solo.
"I killed myself to catch him and Ace after my pull", said Doetsch. "It took me one mile to get on -- and I managed to drop everyone ... in the process. The whole time I was chasing I was thinking ... deleted ... deleted ... deleted.... LOL"
The three stayed away together, though Stu faltered on the long climb coming out of the flood area, before 214, and Doetsch was more than happy to drop him. But a mellowing Ace (is he feeling OK?, who would call Ace mellow?) convinced Doetsch to slow up just long enough for Stu to catch back on. Stu hung on until just before the sprint.
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