Structured Workouts or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Rollers

For you folks out it Facebook land  - Alex again (this blog automagically shows up in my notes). Just so you know, while I can suck wheels with the best of them, I'm not THE Wheelsucker. That nom de plume belongs to Ali Meller, who also contributes to this blog.

Now that we've had so much snow, the prospects for riding on the road are dim dispite Chris Harshman's planned ride in Washington Co. tomorrow (I thought he we joking). So I've had to start thinking about indoor (stationary) riding again. Sure, trainers and rollers are excellent for well structured workouts. There's only one problem, I HATE structured workouts because frankly I'm just not that disciplined. However, after no riding this weekend, I got the rollers out, shoveled a spot in the driveway and mounted up. I was having some real trouble keeping upright, weaving all over the place. I was thinking "WTF" my bike handling is not *that* bad. I was riding my CAAD 9, so I thought maybe I'd switch to the Roubaix which has a little more relaxed geometry. No better. I was puzzled. What was going on? I checked the level and looked under them to make sure that I was not hitting anything. I suddenly realized, DOH, I was on them backwards (with the double drums in the front. Not good. I guess it's been *that* long since I've ridden them. I got things turned around and voila, I was off and riding.

I was all decked out in winter gear as it was 30 degrees, but the sun was so bright and warm, I was quickly down to my summer gear. It felt really good and I actually worked on redefining my faded tan lines...

What the heck, if I'm going to spend time on the rollers, I might as well make the best of it. Since the whole structured workout thing is foreign to me, I'm groping in the dark as to what is both the best time spent on them and what is bearable. I warmed up and decided to do 2x20 intervals, which gave me about 1:15 with warmup/down.

I listened to Car Talk - one of my favorite podcasts, light and funny. When that was over, on to some music. One really nice thing about the iPhone 3GS is the voice dialing/control. "Play artist Edie Brickell" and it starts playing; excellent. I love The album "Picture Perfect Morning" especially because it reminds me of the first ABRT Spain trip in 2008. Perfect for getting through this. To me, these two images are synonymous:

 

When I got done, I felt great.; tired, but refreshed and upbeat. Almost like I was riding outside on a nice sunny day! So maybe that's the key, get the contraption outside in the sun instead of cooped up in a dark, damp garage. Maybe, I can actually learn to like, and maybe even love the rollers. We'll see.

Playing In the Snow

Does anyone know what the official snowfall was? Twelve inches? Fifteen inches? Twenty inches? Not that it matters, because whatever the number it was more than enough to shut down Washington DC and shut down Annapolis. The wheelsucker finished his Tour de Balcony ride (the wheelsucker rides the indoor trainer on his balcony because it is cooler than riding indoors) just about the time the snow started to fall on Friday. By Saturday morning everything was covered. The wheelsucker eventually checked on his car and decided digging it out was too much work, and decided to wait for the snow to melt. But sitting at home got old quickly, so eventually the wheelsucker decided to try the MTB in the snow. After taking a guess at what tire pressure would work, the wheelsucker and his hardtail hit the snow. The wheelsucker was a little concerned about being hit by a car, but only saw four between his home and downtown Annapolis. There were a couple of falls when riding too close to the piles of snow on the shoulder, trying to give cars room to pass, but falling in the snow is a lot easier than falling in a road race.

Grinning ear to ear, the wheelsucker rolled into downtown Annapolis at the traffic circle and Market House and realized most of it was closed. His favorite coffee shop, the Hard Bean was dark. But a few bars and City Dock coffee were open, so the wheelsucker enjoyed a large latte as his reward. After savoring it to the last drop (and procrastinating as long as possible), the wheelsucker hit the road for the ride home. For some reason, everyone he passed had the same comment – that’s dedication – but the wheelsucker actually thought there were less complimentary words to describe riding in the snow.

Winter riding thoughts:
Keep the weight back so the front wheel does not dig in.
When riding in a car tire rut, don’t look down, look ahead.
Brakes work remarkably well in the snow
When you are about to wipe out, wipe out towards the shoulder, not into the road.

PowerCrank Season

The wheelsucker would do almost anything for a few more watts. Say enough additional watts to stay on Ace's wheel when the sprint starts, or enough more watts to hang on with Ace and Doetsch on the Patuxent Parkway climb on the way back to route 214, enough more watts to go hard off the top of Harwood Hill instead of holding on for grim death at the back, trying to recover and them move up nearer the front.

And the wheelsucker would do almost anything to get this additional power (caveats, it has to be legal, and ideally is ethical). May the wheelsucker present PowerCranks, legal and arguably ethical. You can read information on the www.powercranks.com website or check out one of the PowerCrank videos, but these are biased opinions, because they want you to buy a set. For other opinions on PowerCranks, try these.

From a hilarious posting on bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com The Fall Guys: A Guide to Cyclists in Autumn, specifically:

The Serious Roadie

Even the serious roadie takes some time every year to relax. He's no longer worrying about the season that's just passed, and he's not yet preparing for next season. He's just having fun. As it happens, this period of relaxation was last Thursday, from 12:00 to 4:30, and if you're a roadie worth your embrocations then you're well into training for next year's meaningless park races. At this time of year The Serious Roadie can be seen riding alone, or he can be seen riding with other identically-clad cyclists in tight formations designed to discourage any sort of autonomy or enjoyment. The Serious Roadie has temporarily downgraded from his $2,000 carbon race wheels to his $1,200 aluminum training wheels. He's also got either a Power Tap or an SRM, he's watching his watts more carefully than a security guard at a lightbulb factory, and he is under strict instructions from a highly-paid coach that he is not to ride hard lest he inadvertently compromise his chances for a top-20 finish in a Tuesday night Cat 4 training race, or, worse yet, enjoy himself. And if his spirit is not yet broken completely, or if he doesn't quite trust himself, he might even be riding a pair of Power Cranks, the cycling equivalent of a Victorian anti-masturbation device.

What are PowerCranks?
Basically, the two crank arms are not attached to each other, and each crankarm has a clutch, such that the crankarm only comes up if you pull it up with your foot, on the back of the pedal stroke. Piece of cake, you think, I pull up all the time! No you don't, and the wheelsucker will prove it to you by letting you try his bike with PowerCrank pedals. You will not be able to pedal more than a couple of minutes before stopping to rest your legs, and the tops of your quads will be screaming for mercy and will feel like mush.

It takes multiple workouts to work up to being able to ride PowerCranks nonstop for 20 minutes or longer. You are better off starting on the indoor trainer, because on the road you will find any and all excuses to coast and rest your legs.

But if you persevere through, you will develop stronger muscles to pull up with, and you will have better results on tests like the spin scan.

Despite his advanced age the wheelsucker is no expert on training (he has only been riding with a team for three years), but he listens to what his coach says, and he listens to people like John Howard, and both recommend PowerCranks. For that matter so does Pez Cycling.

Pez on PowerCranks

Last winter, during PowerCrank season, the wheelsucker worked up to 30 minutes non stop (note that this is hearsay and is not corroborated) nonstop on the PowerCranks. This year he wants to take the PowerCranks on the road for longer rides AFTER working up to 30+ minutes on the trainer. Right now he is back to five minute intervals and several days recovery.

Team Meeting December 7th

Instead of going to the Crofton Italian Market, the team went to the Annapolis Bike Doctor for the monthly meeting (December 7th). The owners -- Mr. Jack and son Andy -- rolled out beer, wine, cheese and fruit, which was very much enjoyed by the riders, even some who looked a little over their racing weights (unfortunately this last group includes the wheelsucker).

In addition to President Waring filling us in on various club activities, we had the legendary John Howard in to speak (BTW, he looked fit enough that he could eat all the fruit and cheese he wanted too).

Bobby Stu and John set up a bike for John to demo his FITTE system on

John also spoke about some of his experiences cyling.


This image is of the first cycling training camp in the US; that is some of the Raleigh Team on the porch in the image.

Three guesses as to which one John is ...

With a little rearranging Bike Doctor Annapolis turns into a very useful space.

A Good Idea? Not So Much.

Last night I was really hoping that the snow would melt and the roads would be clear today for the Ellicott City ride. Given that desire, I was predisposed to optimism this morning when I saw the temperature hit 32 degrees and the roads in West Annapolis clear of any snow, ice or moisture. I saw Mike Wagner's Facebook post "Michael Wagner is braving the cold and icy weather" so I knew I wouldn't be alone. And of course Steve Owens is always there if it is not raining. So it was the three of us that set off at 10:15. The roads looked good and the BWI path (at least the parts I saw on the drive in) were clear. So far so good. A little ways down the path, there were a few slippery spots and I'm thinking, hmm, maybe this isn't such a good idea, but we press on. Lawyers hill was wet but not slippery, certainly not anywhere near what High Rock was like last spring. All was good into Ellicott City, although we were taking the descents very carefully. All was good going up Oella, until about half way up we came around one of the left hairpins and like three dominoes down we went, floop, floop, floop. Luckily it was a pretty slow speed fall, so pretty much no harm, no foul. I'm sure there will be a few sore hips tomorrow though. There were a couple more icy spots on the way up and we went REALLY slow down Westchester back to the coffee stop.

We decided to go down River Road and see how that was (quite dry) and thought we'd go up Thistle road for the hill and then come back down it because we knew S. Hilltop would be treacherous. Thistle looked good at the bottom, but just after the first turn and out of the sun, not so good, so we skipped it and continued up Illchester and back to BWI. In retrospect, probably not the smartest thing in the world, but we did get in a nice 2:15 ride (only 4 miles shorter by cutting off Thistle/Hilltop). And at least it was a little more sane than Ali who, according to a text he sent me, was sitting at the Davidsonville Road park and ride yesterday, wondering why no one was there...

The New ABRT Team Bike - the "Team" Bike Model

It's going to be a great season - training rides start at 5 pm.

Dodged the bullet...

Now that fixed gear season is upon us, I've been wondering when others will get their fixies on. For our turkey day ride, I propsed a fixie friendly ride and made sure I explicitly told the other potential fixie riders that I was going fixed so I would have some company and not have to play Russian Roulette and if for no other reason it's a lot less bike to clean, give that it promised to be wet. Well Iain commented:

"That's the thing about russian roulette......it starts by not knowing if you will be the only one!"

How true that is. Turns out he got a flat on the way to the park and ride, so I was the only one... Uh oh, click, nothing, whew. However, it was a nice social ride so, the "Russian Roulette" fixed gear game got shelved and we had a nice sane 40+ miler, setting a very appropriate tone for the day.

Now the eating starts! Happy Thanksgiving.

Sometimes You Just Have To Get On The Bike

I was really looking forward to a day off today because that meant that I could get in a long mid-week bike ride. A few days ago the forecast went from bad to better when Ida changed tracks a bit. So, I put out the word to ABRT for a fixie friendly longish ride for Wednesday. Either there are not too many Feds in ABRT or everyone else was looking at the weather forecast because I got virtually no response.

Well, sometimes, you just have to get on the bike, weather be damned. Sure it's almost always more fun to have people to ride with, but I just didn't want to miss the opportunity: kids in school, wife traveling... I geared up with my Pactimo "rain cape" and tried a new thing of plastic bags between my shoes and booties in the hope that would keep my feet from getting totally soaked. Uh, right. I was a little worried because I couldn't find my full leg warmers, so just put on the knee warmers and hoped for the best. I rode from home in West Annapolis and made a swing through the park and ride just to take a few pictures.

Hmm, no wonder I couldn't get anyone to join me. The ride out was pretty nice given that it was a tailwind. I looped around Gov. Bridge and St George Barber and after an hour with some headwinds it started to get cold. The last 1/2 hour was pretty chilly since it was a full-on headwind back. But I know it's almost over when I get to my favorite part of riding back to the house: the section on Ridgely Ave from Bestgate Rd. You come down the hill and over the Weems Creek Bridge. Ahh, home sweet home.

So how'd I fare on the cold, rainy ride gear? Defeat long sleeve base layer, check; Pactimo long sleeve jersey, check; Nike full finger dryfit gloves and balaclava, check. Pactimo rain cape, check. Legs/rear, wet and cold. Feet, wet, cold, numb. I think I need some long bibs that have more insulating properties for the 40-60 degree and wet rides. For booties, I am wondering if there is an insulated shoe cover that is 100% waterproof that is essentially a mini "drysuit" with neoprene seals to keep the water from running down your legs and into the shoes. All in all, and hour and a half, 30 miles. Perfect.

One Ride Too Many?It Seemed a Good Idea at the Time

Turns out the 7:00AM Rock Creek ride, which is supposedly 7:00AM year round, started at 7:30 this past Saturday; just as well, it was QUITE dark at 7:00, but I had lights. There were three minor crashes early as the road surfaces were a bit slick, probably because the very light drizzle was not enough to wash the oil off the surface. This might have slowed the overall pace slightly. I was more comfortable than the last time I did this ride, so pick one: I am a bit stronger, pace was lower, or knowing the route a bit better helps a lot.

I avoided chasing breaks on Clara Barton and tried to stay fresh for the McArthur Road climb, but the pace on Clara Barton was still high enough to hurt. I started the McArthur climb closer to the front than last time, and instead of gaps opening in front of me, I stood and tried to stay with the leaders as long as I could. This worked for a short time, but probably not even 1/3 of the climb. I kind of lost interest; I am not sure if this is me hitting my physical limit, or lack of mental toughness. Looking at the Powertap data I hit a max HR of 172 on this climb, and my normal max is 173, so that probably was as hard as I could go.

The way this ride works is that the lead group does the climb, turns off McArthur into a park, descends for a few minutes, turns around and climbs out, goes back down McArthur and does one more climb/wall. Everyone else skips the back down McArthur and one more climb/wall, but some also skip going down and up in the park. The dropped riders wait at an intersection for the leaders to go by, and rejoin.

After sitting up and recovering, I got it going for the rest of the climb, passed a couple of dropped riders, kept going into the park (some others stopped there), did a very slight shortcut at the bottom to catch on with a chase of five, and experimented with sitting and standing, seeing how I did with them. While standing gets me my best High Rock times, seated was working better here. After struggling a little to stay with them early on the climb out of the park, I got a gap and led them back to McArthur, though they did catch me at McArthur.

Everyone who was not with the leaders regrouped part way up McArthur and waited for the leaders to show up. There are no long hard climbs for the rest of the ride. I rode near the front, and chased to stay with break attempts. Eventually Chuck Hutcheson and another guy got off the front; there are some sprint points, but I don't know exactly where they are. When people started winding it up I thought it was attempts at breaks, so I just chased to stay on. Chuck H. and the other guy sat up after one of these sprint points, and I had some momentum and rolled by and kept going, but not hard. I looked back after a couple of minutes and had a huge gap. I guess everyone sits up there and regroups. The next time I looked back, I could not see the peleton. I got so far ahead I thought they had turned off the road behind me. This was on Democracy, and they only caught me as I was soft pedaling in Rock Creek Park. I went all the way back to the gate where the 10:00AM ride starts, with a small group.

I decided I was still feeling reasonable, so slowly rode back to the car at East West Highway, ate a bit, got rid of extra clothing (it hard warmed up slightly) and figured I would jump on the 10:00AM for a little while, and then turn around.

Chuck Hutcheson. and a couple of other guys also did both rides.

The 10:00 ride also starts easy and it is some distance/time before it gets hard. I was actually feeling better than I did at the start of the 7:00AM. Recently I have been more willing to stand on short climbs and this does seem to work at times. I was trying to stay near the front but not actually take any pulls; I think I pulled through once. Sure, I know this is lame, but having been dropped a couple of times on this ride, I am trying to conserve energy and hang. Lance Lacy was there along with some of his new Haymarket team mates. Lance was active on the front for awhile, but dropped back after taking a pull and I did not see him again.

There were multiple attacks and desperate chases, but I managed to hang on to the rapidly shrinking lead group. Then it happened: Chuck and two other guys got off the front, I was near them when they went and went hard to try to get to them. I chased and closed, and almost go there, but ran out of gas on a climb, and was caught AND PASSED, AND DROPPED, by everyone left in the chase. I again had that feeling I could not go any harder. I slowed and recovered at the top of the climb and tried to chase briefly, but I couldn't close. I sat up and then waited for a single rider behind me. I think over half the group had been dropped by this time. I was stronger than the other rider, so I had to wait for him for time to time (and I also tired a bit as we got closer to the end of the ride), so I it was relatively easy ride from that point on. I still tried to go decently hard on the climbs, but had to wait at the top for my riding companion on most of them.

The two of us somehow caught three of the guys (two of them were Haymarket) in front as we got close to the end in Rock Creek Park; they must have sat up. They had no idea where Lance was.

Just as I had finished putting the bike in the car and changing, the second group with all the dropped riders, rolled by, going easy. Lance waved from within the group.

Wheelsucker data:

92.16 miles

5:01:50 ride time

3025 calories

Saturday Rock Creek Rides

For those looking for an alternative to the Saturday Davidsonville Park & Ride rides, the two Rock Creek rides are worth considering.

7:00AM
The 7:00AM ride starts at Beach Drive and East West Highway. There is a brief description on the DC Velo website at: http://www.dcvelo.com/rides.php. There is parking on the shoulder for the soccer field.

The route description does not actually mention Clara Barton Parkway (shh, apparently bikes are not allowed on the Parkway, but the peleton apparently takes the safety in numbers view), I am so busy holding a wheel and making sure gaps don’t open in front of me I am not certain it is Clara Barton we ride on (plausible deniability?  ) The ride starts easy, then there are some decent climbs, and then the ride gets fast on what I think is Clara Barton, and then comes the McArthur climb. This splits the group. The strong/fast guys do an extra climb and the ride regroups at Brickyard Road and Falls Road. There is at least one more sprint point, but things slow down on Democracy and for the ride back to East West Highway. The ride continues past East West highway and goes south on Beach Drive with some sprinting for the gaps in the road closure barriers. This is apparently a year-round ride.

10:00AM
The 10:00AM ride starts at the gate on Beach Drive and Broad Branch Road (just north of Peirce Mill on Beach Drive). There is a brief description on the DC Velo website at: http://www.dcvelo.com/rides.php A number of riders join at East West highway and Beach Drive (where the 7:00AM starts). This ride goes easy for awhile, and then as it turns of Tuckerman the cat 1-2 and 35+ guys decide it is time to have some fun with everyone else and drive the pace on the rollers and climbs. The peleton shatters over this, and there is no official regroup point, though frequently dropped riders reform into a second groupetto. Ace, Nat and I did one of these a few weeks ago; I was dropped on the rollers while Ace and Nat beat up on the surviving cat 1-2s.

Both rides are harder – at least for me – than the Saturday Davidsonville ride, as there is more climbing and more strong riders to drive the pace.

Yet another wet saturday ride!

Ace and Amanda said it all at the Dash-In. Hmm, maybe cross is the thing - just a slight shift in perspective makes all the difference. At least we're all getting good practice cleaning our bikes!

Granogue and Wissahickon CX Race Report

Well, I think the weather pretty much summed up the weekend. For those of you who experienced 'cross at Hyattsville last weekend, here's what a few days of rain and some 40 degree temps produce. And for those of you who dared not step outside for fear of melting, here
are a few pics of how to enjoy this weekend's weather on a bike.

http://www.pbase.com/dens/granogue09

http://www.mlkimages.com/2009-Sports/Granogue-Cyclocross-2009

http://www.mlkimages.com/2009-Sports/Granogue-Cyclocross-2009

For those of you not familiar with the cross scene, Granogue and Wissahickon make up the King and Queen of the Mid-Atlantic Cross series races. Now the two longest standing venues in the MAC, after the Gloucester, MA USGP races, these are the two hottest cross races
on the east coast. The backdrop for Granogue is the Du Pont estate in Montchanin, DE. The Du Pont family graciously allows knuckleheads like us to come out and completely destroy their estate grounds once a year, twice if you also count the mountain bike race there but that
course doesn't tear around the gardens on nicely manicured grass.

Granogue - This wasn't so much a bike race as much as it was a running/ walking/trying to just stay upright race. I think Adam Myerson summed it up when he attributed his success of the day to "not crashing and not pedaling". A new course with a new treacherous run up to the
tower and a second that was ankle deep mud the consistency of peanut butter. My weekend didn't start well when I severely tweaked my lower back loading the EZ-Up into my buddy's car through the side door. Next time we'll go the extra step of taking the bikes off of the rack
to load it in through the hatch.

Yanni represented in the always strong Men's 2/3/4 B race while I was in the Elite Master's. For racing an hour apart we both suffered the same fate, mechanical.

I think Yanni was the same as me, a sheared off rear derailleur. Mine was actually the derailleur hanger, and as luck or really misfortune should have it, earlier in the week I had ordered two replacement hangers as back ups but didn't realize the wife didn't check the mail Friday. Saturday after I tell her what happened says, "oh BTW, your thingies were in the mail." Fantastic. I also think the DA rear derailleur is blown as well as it got sucked through the wheel.

Wissahickon - the Noreaster that was pounding us all week and into Saturday finally let up over night but the damage was done. The relatively flat course at the equestrian center in Ludwig's Corner north west of Philly is usually super fast but was more like an ice rink by Sunday. Once again Yanni was in the 2/3/4 field and pulled off a nice top 10 performance, either 8 or 9th I think. I should have cut bait when I had the chance and sat this one out but decide to try
and make up for the day before but the back was having none of this course. I was so far back and mentally blown I decide to just listen to Joe Jefferson announce.

The hard part now is pulling myself to go out to the garage and survey the carnage that is two mud encrusted 'cross bikes and think about having to rebuild them for Sunday's DCCX race, which if you've never watched 'cross is another close race down in DC that is very spectator
friendly. Free beer courtesy of Sonoma's and Belgian waffles courtesy of the Belgian embassy!

http://www.dcmtb.com/blog/dc-cx

The End of the (Century) Season

The Seagull Century last Saturday marked, at least for me, the end of both the "Century Season" and the season as a whole. I think that is especially true given the very fall like weather we are having this week.

This year I did 4 centuries along with a number of ABRT riders: Rick's Solomon's Island ride, our Bay Country Century, the Civil War Century and the Seagull Century. In reflecting on the season during a chili ride yesterday, I realize one of the reasons I did more centuries that races this year is that I really enjoy the longer, steadier effort rides (including our Saturday Training rides) much more than I do the shorter, intense efforts of our typical summer crit schedule. Not that there is anything wrong with those type of events, it's just that they are not really my thing. For me, especially when there are stronger riders in the group (like almost always), these rides are "races" in the sense that they are physically challenging and they simulate certain aspects of road racing. While the focus of the club is on attending, participating in and winning races, I think there are a lot of riders that have this shared sense of purpose in the Club.

Solomon's Island Century: About 10 of us did the ride straight down Rt 2/4 to Solomon's Island on August 1st. It was a fairly warm day with very little wind. Perfect. The ride is quite flat with just some rolling hills and we kept the speed rolling. From a terrain standpoint it was not all that interesting (although it was my first time to Solomon's Island), but was great from an endurance/pace standpoint. Witness the fact that our own endurance pace junkie Iain Banks pulled the last 20 miles hard. A great start to the "Century Season".

Bay Country Century: The Women/Elite Teams put on another great event and the weather was perfect.



The ABRT train hit the road about 8:30 and stayed together pretty much the entire ride. Other than a little road rash thanks to a very large combine taking up most of the road and my bottom bracket sounding like it had marbles in it, the ride was a lot of fun.

Civil War Century: This was my first time doing this ride, although I did do the southern portion last fall on our training ride. Ace, Tom and I represented ABRT. It was raining for the first hour and was chili for most of the ride, but I really enjoyed it nonetheless. Ace humored us until the second rest stop and then took off to chase down the DC Velo group. Tom and I picked it up for the last 20 miles back from Gettysburg, finally dropping all but one of the "non workers" that hitched on with us.

Seagull Century: I really like this ride because it is soo fast. This year the DC Velo train left a half hour earlier, which was OK with me since my family was in Ocean City and I was hip on minimizing the time away. Again, only Ace, Tom and I were at the 7:30 start although, we did see Arch and Sarah on their gold plated tandem early on. Michel was there but started later and rode with a second DC Velo group. It rained hard for most of the trip to Assateague, although it was quite warm, but as a result the pace was not as fast as past years. My only problem in the whole ride was that I got caught in a split during a nasty crosswind section, when some weaker DC Velo riders started opening gaps. I got back on at the 40 mile rest stop and was much more vigilant about staying upfront after that. As usual, we skipped the first rest stop to get in front of the crowd, but stopped briefly at the 40, 60 and 80 mile stops. You have to love the 80 mile rest stop with the band playing. The pace on the last 20 miles was fast with ACE putting the hurt on everyone. It was mildly annoying that a lot of folks didn't want to take pulls because of the wind or were really unsteady pace-wise and unfortunately, due to the slight change in course at the end and some traffic, the sprint, which ACE most certainly would have won, was spoiled, but c'est la vie. I did a fair amount of work and got in a great ride.

At this point I look forward to the off season Saturday rides, which I hope at some point will slow enough that the fixies will start making an appearance. My goal for this winter is to get all the way around on mine with the group - no Russian Roulette.

Lost River 50+ (Combined with 35+)Thanks to Steve Owens!

By now you all know that Art Brown not only won the 50+ race, but crossed the finish line second overall, beating all the 35+ riders except Chuck Hutcheson. Well done, Art! Art was racing 50+; if he registered for 35+ in all the combined 35+/50+ races he has done, he would probably be winning the 35+ BAR easily.

I think the pack started shredding soon after the rollout. It was not a large field, with 18 pre-registered for 35+ and 11 for 50+, Chuck Hutcheson and a Coppi rider jumped off the front early, but the Coppi rider came back not long afterwards. There were two hard climbs a lap, two descents, a short flat section, and a roller section. Our race was four laps and 40 miles. At the top of one of the hard climbs what was left of the main pack split, with six to eight riders including Greg Smith, Randy Thrasher, Steve Owens and myself in the second group. We chased down a fast descent and came within a few bike lengths of the group in front, close enough for Randy to sprint across, but the catch was at the start of a climb and no one else from our group made it across. Our group kept it close for a lap or two, but the group in front was larger and had stronger riders.

Knowing that Greg is a stronger sprinter (and kilo) rider than I am, I wanted to drop him rather have him near me at the finish. And Greg was skipping pulls trying to conserve energy. I was trying to figure out how to do this, when Steve took a long hard pull leading into the start of a climb. A little like Jens Voight in a TdF, Steve pulled hard right up to the start of the climb and kept going, making everyone work hard. When Steve finally pulled off it occurred to me that everyone else in the group was more tired than they wanted to be at the start of the climb, and I upped my cadence and power. Without having to stand or jump, I was able to open a gap, ride away from the group and catch a 50+ AVC rider who was a strong climber a short distance up the road (he had jumped hard on an earlier climb and opened the gap). I would have been OK with some of the 35+ riders coming with me, but none did. I caught the AVC rider about the time he caught a 35+ NCVC rider coming back from the group ahead.

The three of us rode together for awhile, with the chase behind us occasionally in view. The AVC rider gapped the NCVC rider on one of the fast descents, I went around the NCVC guy and closed the gap, but this happened as the descent flattened out, and on the flat section that followed. The NCVC rider dropped back to the chase behind us. I was blown from closing the gap and the AVC rider pulled away on the climb and I was never able to close it. Then Paul Mittelstadt came back to me and we raced together, but I was tiring and having a harder and harder time staying with him at the top of the climbs. I discreetly checked behind me every now and then to see if the chase with Greg was getting close; I did not want Mittelstadt to know that Greg might be close behind us.

I was unable to drop Mittelstadt and he sprinted away from me at the finish.

Art won, Randy Thrasher was second, Ad Bax third. I think the AVC rider would have been 4th, Mittelstadt 5th, me 6th, and Greg 7th, but I have not seen the results yet.

While I would like to have had the strength to stay with the lead group (I am so far away from being able to hold Chuck Hutcheson’s wheel I’m not going to worry about it), being able to attack on the climb and drop Greg and the rest of that group was the highlight of the race for me, and I have Steve Owens to thank for setting it up.

Giro di Coppi

The wheelsucker has fond memories of the Giro di Coppi in 2007. Two years ago, in the wheelsucker’s second race in a 40+/50+ field (the wheelsucker was 40+ at the time), he managed to make the winning break (largely due to blind luck and excellent timely advice from Doug Milliken), and finished 6th with riders like Ramon Benitez, Art Brown, Randy Thrasher, and Andreas Gutziet. Unfortunately, being so new to racing, the wheelsucker did not realize how incredibly lucky he had been, and started to think that this sort of result was reproducible, and that he had some ability to race bicycles; it turns out neither is true!
Coppi was racing by cat only in 2008, but a master’s field was back in 2009. This time the wheelsucker was hanging on for dear life about 10 seconds after the rollout started, and went off the back on the first lap near the top of a medium length shallow climb. OUCH! He chased down a group of four riders a short distance ahead, but only one of them hung on to the finish, so it was a long ride with no other 50+ riders in sight. Fortunately for the wheelsucker's placing, he was not the first 50+ rider to be gapped, so he did finish above middle in his field.

Other Team Latitude riders had great races with Art Brown winning the 50+ and demonstrating yet again that he can be a very serious threat in the 35+ field against some of the strongest riders in MABRA. Sara Clafferty was a very strong second in the women’s cat 3/cat 4 race, coming very close to winning over Team CycleLife’s cat 3 star, Sara Zeigler. The amazing Amanda Wu was 8th and Amy Westenfeld 13th.
Rockstar Denzil Hathway WON the master’s 4/5 race with Jerry Chapmon 10th.
In the cat 4 men, Chad went down in the sprint when he could not avoid a rider who flipped in front of him, and ended up in hospital. Chad reports that he is OK. Iain Banks was 20th. Iain’s immediate concern must have been for Chad, as when the wheelsucker rolled through with one other 35+ racer to finish his race he saw the ambulance, the paramedics and Iain, all trying to help an injured rider, but did not yet know that the injured rider was Chad.

Tuesday July 14 Training Ride:The Wheelsucker Report

The wheelsucker has been taking it easy, not racing, and backing off on training, for a few weeks, hoping to make it all fun again. While he did not miss intervals, he did miss the group rides, so started doing those again two weeks ago.

After a vacation week (which included a good Tuesday evening group ride in Guelph Ontario Canada) and no riding at all Friday through Sunday, the wheelsucker went out and tried to beat up the Monday Bike Doctor ride, and then showed up for the Tuesday Davidsonville ride. But the D’ville ride is very different from the Monday BD ride, with rather stronger riders. And the wheelsucker was still hoping to race Giro di Coppi on Saturday, so did not want to overwork himself.

The wheelsucker did have a go at pushing his CP1 higher before the ride, something he had tried to do a couple of weeks earlier and failed at. This time it went well, and the wheelsucker finally has a higher CP value, the first new high CP value he has set since the Spain training trip.

With Keith Reeder, Steve Doestchman (what is this, an Altlantic Fitness ride?), Jay Murphy (AABC) and Ace along, it was not looking as easy as the Monday BD ride. It was a large group with Sue Estes back, the amazing Amanda Wu and ex ABRTer Heidi von Teitenberg, lots of Team Latitude Riders and a number of visitors. The size of the group may have been a problem, as it took forever to single or double the group up when a car wanted to pass.

The wheelsucker was careful to sit in and conserve energy. This was clearly not the plan of other riders, as plenty of others took pulls, tried to ride away early, etc. The wheelsucker was content to take a pull when he got to the front, follow wheels when he could, and only close part of a gap, letting other riders pull through to finish the job. While Jay was taking pulls early, Keith, Doetsch and Ace were not, and why should the wheelsucker tire himself out early if they were not?

So the wheelsucker sat in to wait (and wait, and wait, and wait) for the inevitable attacks from Keith, Doetsch, Jay and Ace. But a strange thing happened; there were no effective attacks. Not at the end of route 2 before the circle, not on the last rollers on South Polling House, not climbing the hill after the fat man’s sprint. There was a half hearted attack on Sands when Keith jumped, but just as the wheelsucker (riding several places back) was starting to become concerned about the gap opening, Lance (no, not that Lance, Lance Lacy) went hard from behind to close the gap, and the wheelsucker merely accelerated and took the tow up, the rest of the peleton came along. Lance Lacy’s new aero wheels make so much noise when he goes that it sounded like there was a car trying to pass! There was another half hearted attack on the nice climb before 214, but with a timely push from Ace, the wheelsucker pulled through and grabbed a wheel at the top, and once again the entire peleton was still there. In fact the peleton was still there as the sprint opened.

Ty and Amanda were on the front in the early leadout, keeping the pace high.

Ace led out with Jay and Doetsch (or maybe it was Doetsch and Jay) on his wheel. Aaron, Jerry and a couple of other riders were up there as well. The wheelsucker knew he should be on Jay or Doetsch’s wheel, but couldn’t figure out how to get there, as Ace had the group strung out in a line for most of the last kilometer, and the wheelsucker did not want to burn his last matchsticks before the sprint, just trying to pass three guys and then finding that whoever was on Jay or Doetsch’s wheel was actually happy to be there and would not want to let the wheelsucker in.

Ace led through the final dip and part way up the other side and then pulled off to the right. Jay (riding a fixie!!!!!) and Doetsch launched; the next few riders tried to go with them, but were quickly gapped. The wheelsucker wheelsucked until point blank range, and then went around the last rider, probably crossing a distant third. He was so far behind Doetsch and Jay he could not tell who won it.

Wheelsucker data:

Average power 206 watts, maximum 902 watts
Average heart rate 139 bpm, maximum 174 bpm (at sprint)
Average cadence: 95 rpm
Average speed: 24.0 mph, maximum 39.8 mph
New CP1 (Critical (average) power for one minute): classified

It was such a nice evening that lots of people hung out in the Park & Ride afterwards, chatting with friends. Heidi handed out some awesome blueberry banana bread (maybe we should let her back into the club?) :-)

An Evening with John Howard

If you don’t know who John Howard is, among his accomplishments are:

Gold medal in the 1971 Pan Am Games Road Race
Olympic team member
One of the Raleigh boys
Won stage in Tour of Ireland
Helped develop the first carbon fiber bicycle
Second in the RAAM
Won Ironman twice
Set multiple bicycling speed records including world land speed record (152.6mph)
Helped other riders break those records
Lead out man for Bobby Phillips
Helped put cycling in the public and USOC eye

So when Bobby Phillips invited the team and then MABRA to come up to Baltimore for dinner with John Howard, I jumped on the opportunity.

While dinner with John Howard and other cyclists discussing some of his achievements and some of the history of cycling might be interesting, John is probably more interested in talking about cycling here and now including training, drugs in cycling, can Lance win the Tour and his FiTTE System.

We had a great evening at Johnny Dee's -- a Bobby Phillips hangout.

http://www.johnhowardsports.com/

http://www.viddler.com/explore/jhps/videos/2/?secreturl=62493230

Thanks to John for a fascinating evening, and thanks to Bobby for organizing this.

Tuesday June 30th Training Ride:The Wheelsucker Report

After a particularly bad Saturday race at ToWC – the wheelsucker did not feel strong or motivated, went OTB and did not finish – the wheelsucker decided to take some time off the bike.

Trying to mitigate some frustration and wanting to check if riding the bike was fun again, the wheelsucker turned up early for the Tuesday ride.

The wheelsucker’s Plan A was to warm up well and go hard from the left turn onto Rossback, and then keep going hard, alone or with a lead group; the idea was to go hard and attack, trying to hurt someone, even if it was just the wheelsucker. Another advantage of Plan A was that it required little thought or intelligence, merely the application of as much brute force as an aging wheelsucker could muster; so an excellent fit.

The other riders who arrived early may have wondered why the wheelsucker was doing hard – for the wheelsucker – warm up laps in the Park & Ride and sprinting – yes, that was a sprint for the wheelsucker – out of the lower turn. The first rider ready for a bit of warmup outside the P&R was Stephen Wahl, so the wheelsucker followed him out for a lap behind the P&R. As soon as they turned right on Rossback, the wheelsucker was at VO2Max power, with Stephen on his wheel. A few medium length pulls later (with wheelsucker power slowly decreasing) they were back at the P&R, sweating and warmed up.

Once the group was ready and Doetsch had survived the arrival of the bus (the wheelsucker only saw the final violet turn by Doetsch to avoid being hit, but does not know how this set up), the group rolled out.

As per Plan A, the wheelsucker rolled to the front immediately after turning left on Rossback, and went to VO2Max+ power; on the hoods, head low, nose nearly on the stem, not looking back. A minute or two later the wheelsucker sneaked a peak to see if he had a gap and caught a glimpse of Jay on his wheel, and no sign of the group. A little while later a slightly longer glance revealed Jay and Kyle on his wheel and a gap as far back as the Wheelsucker could see (it should be pointed out that the aging wheelsucker’s eyesight is not what it once was, and he is riding without vision correction, so cannot see s&*@ anyway!) After pulling long enough to deal with immediate frustrations, the wheelsucker thought it was time for someone else to do some work, so he flicked his elbow and pulled off. Kyle pulled through and over and then Jay went to the front, but did not pull very hard. The wheelsucker rested and then went hard (for the wheelsucker) again when it was his turn. This continued, but since it was mostly consistent with Plan A, the wheelsucker was OK with it, though it would have been nice if Jay and Kyle went hard and the three tried to stay away.

But all of a sudden the pack returned, and that was before 214! The wheelsucker was all set to go again at the light, but Jay encouraged him to sit in and recover. Somewhat reluctantly the wheelsucker suspended Plan A and reverted to wheelsucking. Being a natural talent, this did not require much thought either. From that point on the wheelsucker only took pulls when he had no alternative, took the shortest pulls he could, and even tried to jump over into the returning side of the paceline when he was riding second or third wheel. This last move drew ire from Doetsch and Jay, which merely drew retorts back from the wheelsucker.

Doetsch and Kyle went on the last rollers at the top of South Polling House, but the wheelsucker was in wheelsucking mode and let them go, content to follow wheels. The pack was slowed by a right-of-way car, so Doetsch and Kyle had a nice gap at the left turn onto Polling House, but the pack went into a long rotating paceline and reeled them in soon enough. While the wheelsucker could have attacked, he figured he would not stay away for long, as speed would build for the fat man’s sprint and the climb up the hill to the right turn on Bayard would be hard. So the wheelsucker waited for the climb and did not work hard. Jay said he would go at the top of the climb, and then changed that to the second climb (a little bump that is hard to do fast if you went hard on the first climb) and the wheelsucker should follow whoever chased Jay at that point. So the wheelsucker initially sat on Jay’s wheel, let a gap open when Jay went hard, and grabbed Kyle’s wheel when he decided to close the gap. Jay, another rider, Kyle, and the wheelsucker (no thanks to the wheelsucker) had a gap of about 5 bike lengths, so the wheelsucker yelled (from the back of the group of four, where he was doing no work at all), “We have a gap!” This was intended to encourage one of the other three riders to work hard and extend the gap, but did not have the desired effect. In retrospect the wheelsucker wonders what would have happened if he had drilled it at this point and tried to extend the gap. The trouble was that after the right turn back onto Bayard, the slight downhill makes for a very fast section, and the wheelsucker figured it would be hard for four guys to stay away if the chase was at all organized and rotating. So the group was caught before the turn, and the wheelsucker sat in waiting for an opportunity. Nothing happened on the rest of Bayard, and nothing on Sands, but the wheelsucker saw an opportunity at the last dip before the left back onto Harwood/Patuxent Parkway. The group was going medium hard, but none of the strong riders were at the front as the group reached the bottom. A lane opened up on the right, and the wheelsucker coasted up to the lead and then went to full (wheelsucker) speed. This was enough to roll by the previous paceline leaders and start a gap. As the short climb took its toll, he stood up and worked even harder. Two riders had followed him and they rolled through, but the wheelsucker was expected this and worked to keep the gap small and was able to catch a wheel (as he had expected) as they slowed to check for oncoming traffic at the left turn.

And there they were; Tom, Kyle and the wheelsucker with a useful gap. But the wheelsucker had been working hard and couldn’t do much yet. The three rotated pulls down to the dip, and still had a useful lead at the sweeping right where the road floods and the start of the climb. They were going hard but not super hard, but the wheelsucker was unable to pull through when Kyle moved over and then the wheelsucker started to go OTB at the top of the climb. What does a wheelsucker do when the going gets hard? Look for a wheel of course! The wheelsucker glanced back and decided they had been caught, so sat up and caught a wheel at the top. The wheelsucker had expected that the strong riders could bridge if they chose to, but was surprised that the entire peleton had closed up at the top of the hill. Doetsch and Jay attacked off the top, but the wheelsucker let others close the gap and hung on to a wheel part way back in the group. There was a risk that the leaders would catch the light, but since the wheelsucker has only actually caught the light at 214 once in three years of Tuesday/Thursday rides, he suspected the risk was not great, and did not try to move up. Sure enough a red light allowed everyone to regroup.

A few riders went hard on the green, so the wheelsucker briefly worked hard to catch a wheel and took the tow up with the leaders. Behind him others reacted and the entire peleton made it on easily enough. Half way to the finish, Jay suggested the wheelsucker stay on his wheel, and that they would go early at the sprint. The wheelsucker was rotating back at the time, so had a little bit of work to do to get back up to Jay, who was riding 10th or so, but he made it to Jay’s wheel and Kyle let him in.

The cool thing about being a strong sprinter is that you have so many more options; Jay was not worried about not being near the front and merely waited for riders to tire and pull off, but never actually got to the front himself. There was a bit of work to be done at the top of the penultimate climb and then again a short bit on the flat as Jay maneuvered for position, but the wheelsucker was still glued to Jay’s wheel at the last dip, albeit with a HR of 168 (wheelsucker max HR is normally about 173). Jay put in a couple of short spurts as the last climb started as he got himself (and the wheelsucker) a lane and then wound it up slowly enough that the wheelsucker could stay on. This was working remarkably well, the wheelsucker had just enough oxygen getting to his brain to think, as the remaining riders ahead of Jay disappeared backwards, leaving Jay leading out, and the wheelsucker glued to his wheel. Jay was looking back, metering his effort to avoid losing the wheelsucker, but then started to encourage wheelsucker more and more. The wheelsucker was giving it all he had left, but this was down to about 790 watts, which was not only not enough to come around Jay, but not enough to hold off Doetsch, who powered by in the last few meters to beat the wheelsucker, but not Jay. The wheelsucker nearly fell of his bike after this effort, but did notice that his HR was 178.

A good and mostly hard ride thought the wheelsucker. If he had stuck with Plan A he probably would have worked harder, but may well have been dropped when too tired to grab a wheel. But it felt good to be on the bike working hard.

Wheelsucker data:
24.25 average mph
1:14:22 and 30.06 miles from rollout to finish line
223 watts average (max 878 hit during finish sprint)
154 bpm average, max 177, which is higher than the normal max of 173, also at sprint

The other strong impression of the ride was that everyone was there the entire ride. It seemed like every time the wheelsucker looked up, the Amazing Amanda Wu was taking a pull, or he was following Rick Paukstitus, Bob or Will, almost no one went OTB.

And Tom MacKay was styling on his new Giant SL1

Thursday June 25th Training Ride

Thursday ride images. Some of these are hand held from the car... so not the best images.

Ty Wu and Jay Murphy warm up before the ride starts, approaching 214



The pack at the fat man's sprint!



So where is the sprint line for the fat man's sprint?



The climb after the fat man's sprint.
Why did you go so hard before, knowing you would have to climb?



Oh, oh! Are you going OTB?

Almost there! Hang on!



Bayard part two is flat (slightly downhill) and fast!



On Sands









Waiting for the leaders at the crest of the climb before 214



There they are



Is that a gap?



Jay off the front on his fixed gear



gaps are opening after the climb

The remnants of the main pack between 214 and the finish



Turning back into the park and ride







After the ride



The man the myth, the legend

Tuesday June 23rd Training Ride

Images of a really nice Tuesday evening ride.

Team members arriving at the Park & Ride



Sara and her new Orbea getting ready







Bill and Jay warming up



Sara's new Orbea



Aaron and Chad are ready



Warming up



Off they go down Rossback Road



Three off the front at the 214 traffic light










Crossing 214



The pack crossing 214, "groupo compacto"



Off they go



Down Patuxent Parkway