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.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
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?) :-)
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?) :-)
Thursday, July 2, 2009
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.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
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
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
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