Bill Neumann’s Howard/Carroll County Ride On a Fixie

The wheelsucker was on his way back from Collingswood NJ early Sunday morning and decided that since Bill Neumann’s ride was North of Annapolis, it would be better to go straight there, rather than go home first and do some other Sunday ride. But the wheelsucker’s coach was calling for a fixie ride, so the wheelsucker rode his fixie. He had checked this with Bill earlier:

"Is your Sunday ride still on? 9:00AM? Can I show up on a fixed gear?"

To which Bill had replied:

"Yes, yes, and yes!"

09:00 start time? You’re kidding, right? It was rather cold (26 degrees) and windy, but not as cold or as windy as Saturday morning in Philadelphia. The ride had a convenient starting point from a school parking lot, on route 97, a couple of miles south of interstate 70. After driving into the parking lot, the wheelsucker immediately noticed that no one else was riding a fixie. The wheelsucker became mildly concerned when some of the other riders expressed surprise that anyone would try it on a fixie.

Bill described the ride as "rolling". How long does a climb have to be before it stops being "rolling" and starts being "a lot of climbing"? The ride seems to cross the Patapsco River an inordinate number of times, mostly so one could enjoy the climb out of the valley. In theory one should enjoy the descent INTO the valley, but in practice, on a fixie, fast descents are not that relaxing. The ride pace is less than a hammerfest, which is consistent with what the wheelsucker’s coach was telling him to do, get good sub-threshold hours in, with a bit of pushing on short climbs. These are not "junk miles", but the ride generally avoids the frequent crossovers into anaerobic territory that the Saturday Davidsonville ride has. The course is much more rolling/climbing and turning than the Davidsonville Saturday ride, but at a slightly easier pace. This makes it a great winter training ride. This is NOT at a recovery ride. It is more like an Ellicott City ride at less than race pace.

The route is available on bikely.com at: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Western-Howard-County-Carroll-County. Bikely.org reports elevation gain as 2793 feet.

There is somewhat of a cumulative damage concept riding the fixie on a "rolling" ride; each time one forces one’s way up a hill at a slow cadence, the legs complain a bit more, and the next hill is a little harder. The wheelsucker was finding it hard not to think about this, as the other riders would urge him on with encouragements like "there are only two more walls to go." But a determined wheelsucker found that going slowly up a hill on a fixie was worse than going medium-hard, so the wheelsucker attacked most hills and was pleasantly surprised to find himself in good shape at the top on most of the climbs. Being a civilized ride, those to the top first would wait for the others. As per the wheelsucker’s coach, most climbing on the fixie is done seated, at least until that stops working and one HAS to stand.

Wheelsucker data: (no Power data on the fixie) 49.33 miles, time 2:57:38:

	Average	Maximum
HR	126	170
Cadence	74	163
Speed	16.66	36.2

Whe wheelsucker reports that doing 36.2 mpg with a cadence of 163 on the fixie is VERY exciting; but not relaxing.

Just Who Was that Mystery Latitude Rider

Several members of the 20-20 club (20 degrees, 20+ mph winds) gathered at the Dville park and ride to set off for a few hours of misery. Ace rolled in a bit late having been the only one to show up for the 45 mile Annapolis ride. Dave B rolled in with a couple of friends, and several other riders rounded out the group. It was a pretty good turnout given the weather. Notably absent was Lance who was supposed to be there collecting money.

The ride set off at a pretty good clip. There is significant motivation to go fast when the weather is so nice. Just before we got to the light there was a yell about riders off the back. Ace, Dave, and possibily a few others doubled back. The rest of the group sat up for awhile, but they never rejoined. Adding to the confusion was Kyle who's coach had told him to go fairly hard today (where have we heard that one before?) We rolled at a fairly good clip into the rest stop. At that point there were five of us left. Tom "fixie" Aga, Michel, Rick P, Kyle, and myself waited around for the others to join us. No one else showed, and we made our way back into the impending doom of a stiff headwind. The group did some pretty hard pulls into the wind even on the downhills, and Rick P finished it off with a nice piece of tempo work up Leetch Rd. It was at that point just before the wall that we encountered the "mystery Latitude" rider. He had to be fresh because both bottles were full. He did a quick 180 and joined the group up the wall. Actually he drove the group up the wall, and then doubled back at the next intersection. Rumor had it that it was Heff 2, but that was impossible since he was out with Chris "the ice man cometh" Harshman several miles away. Perhaps it was Heff 1, perhaps we'll never know. It is hard to recognize anyone in this weather when they've got 20 layers on.

The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful with Kyle taking the sprint just ahead of Rick P. Then the one legged pedaling drill competition started.

The parking lot was empty when we returned so we're assuming everyone else got back safely, and took shorter routes.

The weather is bound to get better. This would have been a marginal day for January, and was totally unexpected for November. The good news is that the long range forecast calls for a cold early start to winter with a much warmer ending. This means we might actually see Fabrizio in January this year!

The Wheelsucker Rides the Vino Velo Ride in Philadelphia

The wheelsucker’s girlfriend is very tolerant. So tolerant that even when the wheelsucker visits for one day on the weekend, he can go for a bike ride (the wheelsucker claims his coach forces him to do this). So tolerant that she says nothing when the wheelsucker heads out at 8:00AM when it is significantly below freezing and very windy.

The Vino Velo ride meets at the Art Museum in Philadelphia on Benjamin Franklin Parkway; of course ALL rides in the Philadelphia area start there. A small group, a surprising number of whom were first timers, followed an overly energized Bryant out of the circle behind the art museum. The wheelsucker was cold; everyone was cold. It gets worse first as the windchill takes its toll, but eventually the wheelsucker’s body warmed up, blood started to flow to extremities, and the feeling in his thumbs and fingers returned. The ride is apparently somewhat of a hammerfest in the warm season, but this was at a civilized pace. Riders joined on at some points, and dropped off at others. Though the wheelsucker was warming up (and congratulating himself on buying and wearing the ABRT warm winter jacket), it was still rather below freezing, as evidenced by the frozen-solid water in the gutters, and ice on the roads. While the group rolled through a number of intersections with the leader yelling "clear", the group also stopped at many; the wheelsucker noted with regret that Bryant was happy to jump after every such stop, forcing everyone else to jump to stay with him.

The ride returns along the river, and was partly into the wind. With only four riders going the distance, the two leaders pulled off and the wheelsucker and a still-recovering-from-some-horrible sickness Brit on a folding travel bicycle pulled through and took the lead. The wheelsucker had been careful to watch his power and his pulling all ride, but with the barn door in site, he held 240-300 to the Art Museum dragging the dying Brit with him, and somehow dropping the other two riders, without ever going hard.

This would be a great ride, thought the wheelsucker, if it was 45 degrees warmer.

High 36, low 27, WINDY, 44 miles, averages: 18.27mph, 168 watts.

The Wheelsucker Report on Riding Fixies in the Extreme Cold in a Park so Dark You Could Not See Where You Were Going

It was very dark as there were no lights of any kind in Quiet Waters park other than those attached to bikes and helmets; it was also very cold and windy. Despite a fully charged headlight the wheelsucker could barely see the road and only just managed to swerve to stay on the road and avoid riding into the grass and trees several times. The brightest things in the park were the deer’s eyes reflecting back bike headlights. Do the lights attract or repel the deer?

How crazy do you have to be? Very crazy. Need we mention that Quiet Waters Park is closed on Tuesdays, so riders probably should not be in there anyhow?

Four riders on fixies of various ages, sizes and gearing, with various strange and wonderful lighting "solutions", most of dubious value, rode the Quiet Waters loop last night. The wheelsucker’s light was not bright enough for him to see the road clearly, while Sue Estes had a green glow that would have worked well for a Martian Invasion B movie. Dennis’ NiteRider light was so bright that when he rode behind someone, the rider ahead cast a shadow that looked like a giant on a bicycle, dwarfing Quiet Waters Park. One hoped this apparition kept the deer off the road.

The wheelsucker was worried about overdriving his headlight and hitting a deer, a tree, or just riding off the road, but apparently the deer were also concerned about this possibility, and stayed out of the way. It is not clear who would have come off the worse in such a crash. Lars assured the other riders that the suicide squirrels were not out after dark, so that was one blessing.

Could this be any more dangerous? Sure, the deer could have been armed, there could have been black ice on the road, riders could have been in a serious pace line, or the wheelsucker could have been riding alone, so only would have been found the morning after the bad crash.

The wheelsucker is searching for more lights and hopes to be better prepared -- and faster -- next Tuesday evening.

Wheelsucker data:
35:12, 10.75 miles, 18.32 mph (including warmup and cooldown), 132/154 bpm, 83/113 rpm, 15.66/24.82 mph. 48-17, which is 74.2 gear inches.

Deer 0: Riders 0.

Saturday on Sunday: A Wheelsucker Report

As per Steve Owens' Saturday ride report, the only people to show up for the usual Saturday ride were Doug Milliken and Steve. Ryan, his friend David, Alex and Ali did the Pete Penzell ride instead, but without Pete.

Perhaps ABRTers were feeling a little contrite about missing the Saturday rides; the proposal to do the Saturday ride again on Sunday met with wide support,and a significant number of riders started from the Davidsonville Park & Ride at 10:00AM Sunday, including John K, Lance, Kyle, Aaron, Bob, Steve, Mike Wagner, Ali, and Greg Smith.

Different riders have different training objectives at this time of year, and the group quickly split into Steve Owens and Mike Wagner doing the 2TT off the front, the wheelsucker by himself behind them trying to hold steady power numbers, and the first chase not far behind him, followed by a second chase.

Mike, Steve, the wheelsucker and the first chase all recombined shortly before crossing route 2 before the rest stop, but the wheelsucker was leading into the traffic circle, got a gap in traffic, and got away. By upping his target power band for a short while the wheelsucker was able to stay away to the rest stop.

When Mike, Steve and the chase one group rolled in, the wheelsucker announced he would continue without stopping and left, assuming the rest of the group would follow, and would probably catch him as there was a strong headwind to be dealt with on the way back. But the wheelsucker had a long and tiring ride by himself.

When he finally arrived back at the Park & Ride all the ABRTer's cars were gone. Greg Smith was still there and reported that the entire group had short cut the course or turned around at the rest stop. No WONDER no one caught the wheelsucker...

The "Other" Saturday Ride, a.k.a the Pete Penzell ride

Given the wet roads and chance of rain, and looking at the workouts my coach gave me, I decided to do my Sunday MTB (or fixie) ride on Saturday on the fixie, and ride the Saturday group ride on Sunday. That is why I was not in the Davidsonville Park & Ride at 9:55AM on Saturday. Rather, I was at the small parking area just off 450, close to the naval academy bridge, with Ryan Guttride and his friend David. Alex Pline rolled in a few minutes late after flatting on the way over. Ryan, Alex and Ali were on fixies, Dave was on a nice old road/commuter bike with fenders and GEARS.

As Alex reported on e-mail:

"Ryan, Dave, Ali and I had a nice ride (45 fixie miles) on the "other
ride". Hopefully, we'll see a wheelsucker report!"

It would appear that we are NOT seeing a wheelsucker report.

I was trying to avoid high intensity and was hoping to stay in aerobic zones, so was slower on the short hills. Ryan and Dave apparently do not believe in an off season or pre season where you work on aerobic rather than anaerobic systems. Or perhaps 340 watts is still aerobic for Ryan :-)

A Lesson in Meterology?

For the third Saturday in a row the ground was wet at 10AM when the Davidsonville ride was supposed to go off. For the third Saturday in a row the temperatures were unusually warm, and while rain was threatening later in the day, it wasn't an immediate issue. How do I know this? It's called radar. Perhaps we should drop a link to the current regional radar on this site. That way riders won't have to rely on the "groundhog method" of poking their heads out of the door seeing wet ground, and going back to bed. For those of you who have missed any, or all of the last 3 Saturday rides you've missed some good ones. I don't want to hear any complaining later in the year when the wind is howling and the temperature struggles to break 40. We'll see if this is Fabrizio's true threshold.

In any event I rolled into the park and ride around 9:50 to see Doug Milliken already riding around. After getting ready it became apparent that no one else was showing up so we set off. I hit some glass just past the trailer park (no comment) and flatted about half an hour in, but the rest of the ride was uneventful. Every so often Doug, or I would remark how nice it was outside. In fact after fighting a persistent headwind for the first hour the sun came out. Once we rolled out of the rest stop it was mostly tailwind all the way back. Somehow those rollers just don't seen all that significant when you've got a 25mph wind at your back.

Doug and I managed to get a good 3 hour endurance/tempo ride in, and wondered what happened to everyone else.

Night Out With The Homies

Friday night as I was riding home in the car with my wife, Dana, I get a call from one Lance Lacy at around 4:30pm. He tells me some of us who live with 10 miles of each other were gonna be getting together with spouses and girlfriends for dinner at the Sakura Japanese Steakhouse on Housley Road (near Westfields Mall) in West Annapolis and follow it up with some drinking and fun at Stevie D's house in Millersville. My wife had a long day and didn't want to go, but I was up for it, so long as I got a ride in before. Dana gave me a pass and told me to have lot fun. So after doing a 45 min stint on the rollers, I got dressed, put on the sharp, new Team Latitude polo and headed on over to the restaurant. I got there and everyone except Sue Estes had already arrived. Ali, aka The Wheelsucker, was there sans date too. That's good, so now I wont feel like a total loser being by myself.

L to R: Amanda Wu, Amy Jones, Lance Lacy (partially hidden), Kyle Jones, Sherry Collison (Lance's girlfriend), Ty Wu (mostly hidden) and Ali Meller. Not shown, is me who took the picture.

They seated us pretty quick and took drink orders. I was kind of disappointed at the beer choices so I ordered the old standby, Sam Adams. Mind you they had every Japanese beer and Sake, but I'm not a fan of either.

They seated us a a really large grill horseshoe style. I took and end seat directly facing the Teppanyaki chef so as to get the best opportunity to get my eyebrows singed off. He did warn me...



Amamda, Ty, Sherry and Lance



Kyle, Amy and Ali



Me, and Amanda. Only Sue is missing.



That's Sue on the right.

I ordered the Filet Mignon and Chicken combo with Teppanyaki Shrimp and fried rice appetizers. The chef did all the usual stuff, the egg on the spatula trick and the onion volcano. It was pretty cool to see a Teppanyaki chef work the grill in person versus watching it on The Food Network. The food was excellent. I left nothing on my plate.

After we were done, we all packed into our vehicles and headed to the beer store and then Steve's place. While at the Waterbury there was much discussion about the proper 40 to pick up. I was looking for a 40 of Bass, but ended up with a 24 oz Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Kyle Jones on the other hand went right for the good stuff. We all thought he was getting these for Amy, but he said they were for him. You draw your own conclusions...LOL.



When we all got to Steve's he was out on his back deck blowing off fire crackers and bottle rockets at his neighbors. Seems the party was already going. After tiring of lighting off noisemakers a hasty retreat was made back into Steve's kitchen for some shots of Bourbon. Doetch went all out and picked up a bottle each of Makers Mark and 1792 Ridgemont Reserve. First up was the Ridgemont. I took my shot and slugged it down expecting the burn and gag, but not this time. It was like drinking a shot of ice tea. 1792 is probably the smoothest Bourbon I've ever had. I'm normally a vodka guy, but I will buy this. The Makers Mark was next and it was quite good also, but not nearly as smooth as the Ridgemont. Just to be sure we had another shot of Ridgemont. Did I mention this stuff is really smooth? After this I was ready for a beer so Steve handed me Grolsch to go along with the Sierra Neveda. Needless to say I drank them both and I think there was more Ridgemont too. After awhile things were getting really warm and fuzzy. I also think there was some guitar playing going on too, but I don't think I could call what I was doing guitar playing. It's been 13+ years since I played out with a band, and when I stopped gigging, I pretty much stopped playing for myself too. I've picked it up for longish stints on occasion over the years, but I'm very rusty to say the least and being drunk doesn't help.

All in all we had a great time and around 11 pm we all took off. I live 5 mins away from Steve, so my ride home, while not kosher, was not a big deal.

So now I've learned a few things about my teammates. Outside of racing, they're all great people and lots of fun to hang with. I need to start practicing my guitar on a more regular basis. And lastly I still get hangovers. I didn't do my 3 1/2 hour training ride until 1pm. By then I was able and the weather had cleared up. I did a pretty decent solo ride from the Park & Ride to North Beach and back. Using my TT bike I stayed mostly in zone 1-3 and came in with a nice 18 1/2 mph avg with 2500 feet of elev. gain for 60 miles. Maybe I should drink more often.

One last thing before I forget. There is no such thing as a free lunch when your married. Dana had off work on Sunday and her birthday is tonight. Happy 39 hon!

Even so I spent the whole day with her on Sunday and we went to Stitches 2008. A yarn and knitting expo at the Baltimore Convention Center. I think we actually spent more time at the light rail stops waiting for the damn train then we did at the expo. Still any day I get to spend with my wife is a good day.

Cheers,

FGR

ABRT Mt Bike Ride 11/9

On Sunday, 9 members of ABRT showed for a great mt bike ride on a beautiful day at Patapsco. It was a spirited but not-too-hard pace for me and easy pace for the experts. It was pretty cool to be sportin' the team kits in mass as we came across a fair amount of on-coming bikers and hikers! The woods sure afforded some nice protection from what seemed like a windy day everywhere else. I may be missing someone, but those in attendance included Mike Cunningham, Kidd Manville, Sean Sullivan, Dennis Scanlon, Dee (Mike’s wife), Dave Bradshaw, Tom Mackay, Rick P, myself, Jonathon Seibold (from Family Bike shop), and Jim McNeely from Coppi. Kidd, Sean, Jonathan, and Jim had already been out with some others for an hour or so before we joined forces along the way.

The woods were beautiful with bright fallen leaves everywhere; they added to the challenge because they were hiding some sneaky ruts and obstacles here and there. We crossed several small streams that were *COLD* but refreshing enough on my toes (that is, if you splashed too much as you were attempting to get across). It was a great workout for me, especially since my mt bike muscles have atrophied over the past few months...that and my brake was rubbing, among a few other mechanical excuses (not to mention that I am slower than everyone else, of course). I was busy bitching about my gears not shifting down when I needed them to, yet there were several others on freakin' single speeds sans a single complaint. There were a few logs that I didn’t bother to ride over- but I did ok on some of the smaller uphill logs that I would typically have avoided. It's always fun to watch Young Tom and all the others who are more technically savvy out there! I felt pretty good w/ the occasional rock garden and seemed fine with my rear shock locked out.

Mishaps along the way included Rick w/ a flat pretty early on the ride. He was straddling his brand new Cannondale 29'er with tubeless tires- so probably just squeezed some air out on one of the more significant rock edges (but I am not sure)- he managed to get air back into it without a long wait or incident. Later however, Dave broke his derailleur! This was followed by his having to convert his machine to a single-speed, using my trusty chain tool. I think I have loaned out that tool to at least 4 or 5 folks in the past... never actually having to learn how to use it myself. I had one spectacular endo- but of course it is not spectacular unless there are witnesses. Thank goodness I was in the back, so no one else saw me (blush)! I still have no idea what reached out and grabbed my front wheel. It was fast and silent. I slammed my diaphragm on my bars hard enough to painfully knock all the wind out of me. I couldn’t get enough air in my lungs to squeeze out even a feeble attempt at “help”! All that I accomplished was a comical whimper and faint whisper- I might have done just as well to have thought the words instead. So I laid there and thought real hard as I watched the rest of the group ride off up the trail ahead without me. Eventually I was breathing again and back on my bike wondering when they would figure out that they had one less rider. But it wasn't but a few minutes later that I encountered Mike coming back to look for me. This as Dennis went off on an adjacent trail thinking I had simply made a wrong turn (very likely since I have no clue where I am out there). But I was fine and ready for another hour or so and off we went. Shortly before the finish, Rick went down somewhere and lost his pump. So he doubled back to find it. Rick is apparently getting used to the way his shiny new 29'er handles out there...(whereas I'm getting used to the way a bike actually handles out there...). I noticed Rick had some slightly skinned knees peeking through some newly "vented" tights. But it was all in a day's fun on the trail and I think everyone had a good time or workout. Let's do it again and again! And remind me to bring my helmet cam along next time...

Not sure how long or far we went exactly, but it was just enough for me.

SuePer

This Week's "The Other Saturday Ride"

Not sure who was at the Davidsonville Park n Ride yesterday, but Peter P, Doug Shapter and Alex Pline did the "other Saturday Ride" from the B&A Trail Park n Ride. I had been watching the radar map which showed a brief shower at 9:30 being the last of the rain. Regardless, I was going to ride my new Surley fixed gear bike. I had been doing a few shorter rides just to get acquainted with the fixie and was really looking forward to a group ride, so I was riding, rain or shine. At least it was pretty warm! I got there at 9:55 and after doing a few laps around the parking lot figured I'd be riding alone, but in rolled Doug and a bit after 10, Peter. The three of us rolled out and did the same loop as last week (see the full course on bikely.com), cutting it short a hair (to ~37 mi) by turning on Chesterfield Rd and then going south on Crownsville back to Md 450.

Towards the end of the ride, I was feeling the effect of the fixie. Going downhill was increasingly becoming difficult so I was feathering the brake more. On Sunday morning, I was definitely feeling a little beat up, way more tired than almost double the mileage for the regular Saturday ride. Better workout for less time?? I think I still have a ways to go before I attempt the regular Saturday ride on the fixie...

The other Saturday ride has worked well for me when I (like Peter and others) am a little constrained by family obligations, especially now that the rides are all starting at 10. I encourage others to attend if this works for you! Very fixie friendly.

Alexander Cyclocross Superstar

I had the pleasure of officiating at the Rockburn CX race yesterday out in beautiful Rockburn Park in Howard County. This was the site of Ali Meller's first cross race. I managed to get quite of few pics of the ole' boy tearing it up on his mountain bike. He looked like he suffered quite a bit, but as this after race pic shows, he looked like he had a blast. So did Chris and Pete. Pete bagged a season best (?) 6th place in the Masters B. Hef #1 looked like he was having an off day I'm sad to say, espcially since he did so well last week at DCCX. I'm sure he be back on form for Tacchinno and the MABRA Champs race at the end of the month. Chris raced the 9am Cat 4 race and I'm afraid I didn't get any pictures during that one. But I did get him looking all gangster after the Masters B. Great job fellas! Race results are here.

The rest of the pictures are here. In there is a seqence where you can see Ali almost making out of the sand pit before he fell over. Dont feel bad Ali, the only guy who made it thru the pit without dismounting was KBS/Medifast pro Jonny Sundt in the Elite Men's race and he only bagged a lonely 4th place.

Cheers,

FGR

The Rockburn Cross

When the wheelsucker told his coach he wanted to try cyclocross, he meant in general, perhaps hypothetically, not NOW! But Coach Mike apparently misunderstood and scheduled a Sunday workout that was the Rockburn Cyclocross race. The wheelsucker's coach is VERY enthusiastic about cyclocross. The wheelsucker even tried to beg off by pointing out that the team had a great hill ride planned for the same day, but Coach Mike was adamant.

Did we mention that the wheelsucker does not have a cross bike?

So after some last minute advice from Mike Heffernan and Peter Jensen, the wheelsucker started near the back of the 3/4 35+/45+/55+ pack, riding his mountain bike, with the new wider-and-much-more-aggressive tires (the stock tires were not up to Patapsco riding as per an earlier wheelsucker report). The pack sprinted over the parking lot to the first turn and then jammed on the brakes and unclipped and waited, 'cause there was no way 80-plus riders were going to fit around the turn into the narrow grass lane at the same time. The rest of the race is a daze. The wheelsucker believes the race was supposed to be 45 minutes long; it seemed rather longer. The wheelsucker's HR monitor (when the wheelsucker was even able to take a look) was showing a heat rate 3-8 beats below the wheelsucker's maximum. The wheelsucker was slowing a lot going into corners, and slow through the corners, slow at the obstacles, and was losing distance/time, but could gain on the climbs. Early in the race as the course wound back and forth, the wheelsucker could see his team mates Mike Heffernan and Peter Jensen near the front of the race. But the field spread out, with the wheelsucker close to the back. Peter ended up 6th, Mike was 29th, and the wheelsucker was rather further back, actually near the back. In fact the wheelsucker was in such a daze he did not realize it was the last lap, and did not accelerate/sprint for the finish (rather he was setting up for the right turn to start the next lap) and an opportunist sprinted by him just before the line. But the wheelsucker took some solace from passing rather more riders than passed him, despite some early losses at the sandpit (the wheelsucker hopes that he did not get sand inside the bottom bracket) and the obstacles.

The wheelsucker's takeaways:
1. Use the faster tires
2. Do NOT try to pedal through the sand trap unless you know how to pedal in sand
3. Work on the dismount and mount technique so one loses less distance at the two "carry bike over" obstacles.
4. Carefully consider if he wants to do cyclocross again
5. Wear as little team kit as possible when you suspect you are not going to do well

Chris Adair rode an earlier race, but the wheelsucker neglected to ask him how he did.

Peter and the wheelsucker had a nice ride in Patapsco afterwards, which left the wheelsucker believing he was a little better at MTB riding than the first time he was in Patapsco. And the forecast rain will probably wash the blood off the rocks and trees.

Latitude Thurmont Ride

Question: is it considered wheelsucking if there are no wheels to suck? More on that later...

We had a great turnout for today's Ace, rip the legs off hill ride, apologies for anyone I've missed: Ace, Tom A, Rick P, Stu, Bob W, Chris H, Steve, Eric, Mike W, Mike H, Ty, Amanda, Alex, and our two token riders in Red, Dave and Greg Smith.

The weather was cool with a moderate wind from the northeast which proved to make the second half of the course harder. Chris H and Mike H, both had a couple hours riding in by the time we rolled out of the Mountain Gate Restaurant a little after 10am. Pretty much out of the box we were going up Catoctin Mountain on MD 77. Alex led up the bottom of the climb at a very reasonable tempo (purely self centered preservation!), but after swinging off, the pace ramped up and promptly split the group in half, a theme that would repeat throughout the day.

The temperatures were fairly warm while there was some sunshine, making me wonder whether I had over dressed. After regrouping at the top, we continued on eventually stopping again to regroups at about the 20 mile mark, which was about at the bottom of the first climb.

Regrouping at Gathland State Park

We just kept trucking over the rollers and up to the top of the intermediate climb to Gathland State Park, then decending into Boonsboro, where we stopped for drinks. A few decided to take a "short cut" back. Chris H unfortunately had two broken spokes in addition to an additional 2 hrs on the bike so he was happy to take a route that he thought would avoid the long hill on 491 to Fort Ritchie. Turns out it really didn't save much and was perhaps just as hard if not harder according to Mike Wagner.

Things split up pretty quickly on the last climb up 491, with the me being in the B group. Back to my question:

Q: Is it still wheelsucking if you are so OTB that there are no wheels to suck?
A: No, it is NOT wheelsucking. It is just sucking... (thanks for the answer-you know who your are!)

Anyway, the group waited for me at the top at the corner of Ft Ritchie Road. The A group decided to deviate from the cue sheet and follow the "new" Civil War Century route up Wise Rd (I think that is it), which according to Steve O, was a couple very hard miles. Our group short circuited the route a hair by going down Ft Ritchie Rd, which dumps out on 550 in Sabillasville. From there, a clean shot back to Thurmont. By this time, it was cloudy wit 4+ hrs in the saddle and getting very cold. I am very happy I had the gear that I did.

Yeah Baby, all you can eat fried chicken!

The "short cut" group got back to the cars a little before the B group, followed shortly thereafter by the A group. After changing, 6 of us went into the Mountain Gate for the all you can eat buffet. Restraint was difficult, but Ace was the only one who gave into the pie table! We all joked about eating dinner again when we got home. I'm not sure who else did, but I polished off the Chinese food leftovers!

It was a great hilly ride. I don't know about anyone else, but I certainly suffered on the last climb. Thanks Ace and Chris for organizing the ride! Hopefully, this is reasonably coherent as I am really, really tired.

The New "Other Saturday Ride"

Six riders cam out for the inaugural "Other Saturday Ride" led by Peter Penzel: Peter P, Peter, a West Annapolis Neighbor I never knew I had, Ty and Amanda Wu, Alex Pline and another rider who's name I did not catch (sorry!). We departed the B&A Trail Parking lot on MD 450:


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The route will be familiar to most team members: through West Annapolis, down Bestgate Rd, out MD 450 to Rutland Rd, Left on Rossback (away from the Dville park and ride), left on St George Barber, looping around to Governor Bridge and back to Rossback, over 424 and back down to MD 450. Because I was going to do the Team Thurmont Ride Sunday, I chose to pretty much wheelsuck the entire ride. I was chatting with Peter P (who rode the whole ride on the front) for a bit, but had to work too hard, so promptly went back to wheelsucking! As such, I made a bee line back to Annapolis on MD 450 with the other Peter, while the 4 remaining riders added a loop through Crownsville. and based on the suffering in Thurmont, I'm glad I did (see next post). Up St. Stephens Church Road, right on Chesterfield, north on Crownsville to Sunrise Beach, River Road, Generals Highway, Bestgate and back to the park and ride, for about 40 and change miles. A very nice course. If you short circuit and eliminate the Crownsville loop it's more like 35 miles.

As Peter P explained, he wants to have this be a real training ride that is very focused on making best use of 2.5 hours for training, rather than the rather unstructured standard Saturday ride. So if this appeals to you, come on out, Peter will be there.