Deep Blue TT: A Wheelsucker Special Report

Images taken by Chris Premar: http://gallery.me.com/permstar#100310&view=null&bgcolor=black&sel=0"

Results spreadsheet: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p0dGdZHV_Way5PNxiOmxrXA&hl=en

The wheelsucker recalls that a summer lasted nearly forever when he was a young boy, but the older he gets the faster time moves. This past road racing season has just flown by, and not long after it started at Jeff Cup, it was down to the last MABRA road race of the season, the rescheduled Deep Blue TT, October 4th, in Augustine Beach DE.

Never heard of Augustine Beach, DE? Neither had the wheelsucker, but rest assured it is just south of Port Penn DE. Never heard of Port Penn DE? Neither had the wheelsucker. Fortunately there were directions on the bikereg registration page and a link to a Googlemap of the course on the team website, which the wheelsucker was able to get Googlemap directions to.

The TT course starts next to the Delaware River, or it might be Delaware Bay; the wheelsucker is not entirely clear on exactly where the name changes as the river widens into the bay. It is downstream of the Delaware Memorial Bridge, a little downstream of the Delaware end of the canal between the Chesapeake Bay and the Delaware River (or bay).

The course starts along the river, crosses a few low bridges over creeks and marshes and then turns inland slightly. The turning point is triangular where the road you ride in on ends in a "T", using a small "Y" configuration, and then it is back down the road to the starting area. The course is roughly 11 miles long, which had the wheelsucker thinking it would be easy, after doing Church Creek twice.

Looking at the registration page and the "confirmed riders" page on the bikereg listing, the wheelsucker noted that not a single field had 12 riders, so at that point in time, EVERYONE who showed up was going to get BAR points. This made doing a second race quite attractive at the time (it was rather less attractive when it actually came time to start the second race, but that comes later). Looking at the list of confirmed riders, the wheelsucker registered for 50+ and picked what he thought was the field with the fewest registered riders, that he was also eligible for. He picked "cat 3" because there were (at the time) only about three riders registered. This was a mistake, because there was ANOTHER field the wheelsucker overlooked, the 30+, which had ZERO registered riders at the time. Fortunately, this error was fixable, after a series of e-mails with the organizer, and the wheelsucker was in fact racing 30+ and 50+ on race day (this worked out very well as the wheelsucker was the only Latitude rider in both fields, so was not risking taking points from a teammate or vice versa).

A number of riders besides the wheelsucker were planning on racing twice, so the starting order was all mixed up, not in field order, as the organizers tried to accommodate everyone's wishes. One result of this was that the wheelsucker's first start was his 30+ race, while the one he really cared about, the 50+, was his second start.

Spencer warming up


Latitude/ABRT was well represented with Tom Mackay, Aaron Canale, Steve Owens, Spencer Becket and Bobby Phillips all there. Some registered riders were unable to make the new date (recall that Deep Blue was postponed due to a tropical storm), so though they were registered, Arch McKown and Bill Neumann were not there.

Somehow, despite arriving an hour before his start time, the wheelsucker found himself with only 5 minutes to warm up, in contrast to Spencer, who spent over half an hour riding on the trainer. Actually, Spencer was the best organized and best warmed up rider of the team.



Tom and Aaron had their starts very shortly after 9:00 (they had the second and third slots), with the wheelsucker starting at 9:17:00, and Spencer a minute behind at 9:18:00.


Steve's first start was 9:21:30. There were a lot of no-shows, so neither the wheelsucker nor Spencer had 30 second riders to pace behind. Feeling rushed and disorganized, the wheelsucker started too hard and it took several minutes to get the power numbers down to what his target was. The course had several turns that the wheelsucker could not take at full speed/target power, and a few rollers. The wheelsucker passed several riders, but since starts were not by field and one did not know who one was passing, this did not provide much useful information.


At the turnaround the wheelsucker still had a good gap on Spencer, but was suffering from going out too hard. All the way back, every time the wheelsucker checked his power, he was below target. He would push harder, get the number up, suffer more, but the next time he checked the power would be down again. He never looked back (do NOT turn your head when wearing a TT helmet), but suspected that Spencer was closing.
Sure enough, at the finish Spencer had not passed the wheelsucker, but closed considerable time on him.




The interval between races was far too short for the wheelsucker, just enough time to have race numbers swapped and grab a drink, as his next start was at 9:58:30. It was a tired and suffering wheelsucker lining up for his second start (who thought doing two races was a good idea!), with Steve Owens starting 30 seconds behind him. Being tired, it was much easier to start on target power numbers. The wheelsucker made it to the turnaround, and even passed a few riders on the way, but he was clearly not going as well as the outbound leg in the first race, and it was harder and harder to hold power.

It did not appear that Steve had closed much at the turnaround.

The ride back after the turnaround was misery. Unable to get to even threshold power numbers for long, the wheelsucker worked on being as aero as possible. The wheelsucker suffered all the way to the finish line, hammered (for the wheelsucker) across the line and coasted down the road, too spent to even sit up, turn around and see where Steve was.

After a short wait in the parking lot finish places/times were posted.

Once the wheelsucker fought his way through the crowd reading the finish times, he saw the yellow highlighted winners. Spencer had won 40+! Tom had won juniors 17-18, with Aaron second! Tom had also finished 4th in cat 3, despite riding a road bike not a TT bike, in both his races! Steve Owens had very good finishes in cat 4 (2nd) and 40+ (4th), five seconds behind a rider in one, and seven seconds behind the same rider in the second.

Bobby Philips was 4th in 60+, and the wheelsucker learned to his amazement that he has won 50+ and 30+, and even more amazing, his second race time was only nine seconds slower than his first. This led the wheelsucker to conclude that he would rather be aero than good :-)

Indeed, the wheelsucker has an exceptional TT bike, which must be EXCEPTIONALY aero, because the wheelsucker's sustainable power is not what a strong experienced rider can put out.
For example, do you see a front brake caliper? Does the wind see a front brake caliper?


Winning 30+ was a gift, as only two 30+ riders had started, and the wheelsucker had the faster time of the two. Winning 50+ was great, even though the strongest time trialers the wheelsucker had raced against at the Church Creek races and the Tour of Washington County TT were not there.

Winning a TT is 15 BAR points and second is 13 points, so a very good day for Latitude winning five fields, and getting some seconds and fourths. for a total of 111 BAR points. The wheelsucker cannot remember any of the finishing times, but does recall that Spencer had a REALLY good time, having the fastest time of all competitors including two man teams, tandems and cat 1-2.

The results/times spreadsheet is available at http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p0dGdZHV_Way5PNxiOmxrXA&hl=en.

What a great end to the season!

Seagull Century

I don't think it could have been a better day for the Seagull. Bright sunshine, very little wind and cool, dry air. It rolled, 4 hr and 10 minutes by my watch.

Being a Seagull Century virgin, I was a little apprehensive the night before because of all the stories I heard about the DC Velo pain train. This sparked my pathological fear of being dropped with 50 miles to go. On top of that, nothing gets the adrenaline pumping like leaving yourself enough time to get to Salisbury, but realizing AFTER going over the Bay Bridge that you forgot your helmet; Doh! I did manage to get back to Annapolis, get the helmet and in 1.5 hrs get to Salisbury, park, change and ride to the Hardees. I was actually the first Latitude rider there!

Crisis averted, Michel was next followed by Sue, Dennis, Tom, Ace, Amanda and Ty. On top of that, we had a definite John Ver Bryke sighting! We rolled out a few minutes after 8 to a nice tempo, weaving around the crowd. I was not fully prepared for how this was going to go; there are a LOT of riders of all walks of life on this ride. Some try to hop in, some wander all over the road, some wave... Anyway, we stayed left, and it was interesting balancing the riders on the right and the oncoming cars on the left. For the first 20 miles past the first rest stop (that we skipped), it was dodge and weave. After that point, it steadied out considerably and the train built steam until the second stop.

After a nature break and some food, a few DC Velo guys started rolling, so Tom, Michel and I rolled out slowly. We were anticipating the train coming by, but in the end our pace ramped up a bit and we formed a nice rotating paceline. This was the hardest point of the day because there was a little easterly headwind, and no train to hide behind! Nonetheless, we ended up getting to Assateague ahead of the rest of the group by a couple minutes. Funny, just before the bridge to Assateague, a pony wandered on the path, and left a nice large present for the rest of the riders. Assateague was spectacular, especially today. I've been to Chincoteage, and the lower part of Assateague, but never this part.

More steady tempo riding until the last rest stop. Unfortunately SuePerFlat got delayed fixing a puncture, but she and Dennis just rolled in as we were leaving, so they hopped on the train. Things definitely stepped up a notch in the last 20 miles. I was surprised that I still felt pretty good, less tired than a typical Saturday ride. Given this, I started spending some more time up front, taking some pulls with Ace and John Ver Bryke, who rode very strong given that his longest ride recently was about 35 miles! In the last 10 miles, there was a camera van with a guy sitting in the back of the mini van with the hatch up video taping the group rocking along. I hope that video will be available some place because he had an awesome vantage point. With a couple miles to go, there were attacks that pretty much broke up the group. John, Tom and I were up towards the front with Ace off the front with the leaders. Not sure how he faired in the final sprint, but I think he sealed the deal.

We stopped in Easton at this little hole in the wall BBQ place which was just what we needed! For anyone who has never done this, I highly recommend it next year. Take my word for it: it feels good to loose your virginity at 47!

Thursday October 2 Training Ride: The Wheelsucker Report

Thursday was a beautiful fall day, windy with temps in the mid 60s. For this wheelsucker, that means arm warmers, knee warmers and wind vest. The usual small 5pm group was assembled: Ace, Stu, Tom A, Rick P, Ty, Amanda, Aaron, Russ, and Alex. Sorry to anyone I may have missed as it was, thanks to ACE, a "high watts" ride, at least for me: Must focus on the wheel in front of me....

The ride started out as a "Low watts: I wonder what kind of tree that is? Funny I don't remember seeing that mailbox there before" kind of ride until near the end of Rt 2. Aaron, practicing for Saturday's TT with TT clipons, got the pace up for most of Rt 2 until after the false flat. I took over (ok, I'm not like the REAL wheelsucker) at a reasonable tempo. It must have been a little too reasonable, because after a minute Stu with Ace, Rick and Ty on his wheel came screaming by. I jumped as hard as I could and eventually caught on. The first instance of "Must focus on the wheel in front of me..." We slowed at the circle and the group reassembled.

We got into a nice rotating paceline on Bayard ala last week, but again at the downhill section just before Polling House comes back into Bayard (we skipped Polling House due to light constraints), Ace put in attack number two, again with the usual suspects on his wheel. I went as hard as I could to get on and was able to even take a pull or two. At Sands, we again regrouped, but Ace had enough of that and took off really hard. We organized a chase that whittled down to Stu, Tom, Rick and me. Must focus on the wheel in front of me... We eventually reeled him in just at Harwood.

Not sure who all got back on after the turn but we ran into the incredible shrinking Doug Shapter. It cranked up again, down around the flood area and up the hill at which point the incredible Shrinking Doug Shapter "Seagulled" up to 214.

"Seagulling" - a phase used to indicate the behavior of someone who comes into a group, flaps their wings, craps all over the place and leaves.

Doug, being relatively fresh, egged Ace on and ramped it up for Ace attack number 3 which pretty much split the group for good. At 214, we had to wait a second for the light - the incredible shrinking Doug Shapter went his own way - but once again put the hammer down up Patuxent River Road. With 2 more rollers to go, Ace took control. Must focus on the wheel in front of me... with the finish in sight, I took over for 2 pedal stokes and Tom and Rick shot by with Tom taking the sprint.

Tuesday September 30th Training Ride: A "Sort of" Wheelsucker Report

The wheelsucker works hard at recovery. He is an old man and even putting out the limited maximum watts he can, does tax him. The wheelsucker's coach is aware of this and schedules the wheelsucker's workouts with that in mind. So in the week before the last event of the season offering MABRA BAR Points -- the rescheduled Deep Blue TT -- the wheelsucker has very easy workouts. And they very clearly do NOT include giving it 110% to desperately stay on Ace or Keith or Doetsch or whoever’s wheel, even if that is what the wheelsucker does best. So no Tuesday (or Thursday) training ride for the wheelsucker this week.

But the wheelsucker does hear a few things from time to time... so here goes with the Tuesday September 30th Training Ride report.

An aggressive Stu Waring attacked VICIOUSLY on route 2; waiting until after Doetsch took a long hard pull, and barely waiting for Doetsch to hook on the back before launching. Stu went clear, but Ace caught him alone, leaving Doetsch in the chase pack.

After catching his breath a very determined Doetsch put his dead down and went so hard he shed the entire pack and closed the gap solo.

"I killed myself to catch him and Ace after my pull", said Doetsch. "It took me one mile to get on -- and I managed to drop everyone ... in the process. The whole time I was chasing I was thinking ... deleted ... deleted ... deleted.... LOL"

The three stayed away together, though Stu faltered on the long climb coming out of the flood area, before 214, and Doetsch was more than happy to drop him. But a mellowing Ace (is he feeling OK?, who would call Ace mellow?) convinced Doetsch to slow up just long enough for Stu to catch back on. Stu hung on until just before the sprint.

Saturday September 27: Swim Report

I was wondering how many people would show given the Saturday rain forecast. When I rolled in at 8:45 there were a few Lattitude riders getting ready. As it turned out there were 8: Steve O, SuePer, Ted, Sara, Dennis, Michel, Doug S and me. We rolled out a little after 9 under cloudy skies and wet roads. The pace was down right off season and we all had a good time chatting it up. In a few places like Brooks Woods and Wilson Rd, the pace did pick up a bit, just because that's the nature of this ride. I don't think we had any real rain on the first half to the store just maybe a sprinkle or two. In what turned out to be an omen, the sun poked out a few times before the store and SuePer said, "I think we are through it".

Just before we came to the stoplight at the beach, the torrential rain started. We thought it might be just the proximity to the bay. Nope. I think we rode this slow moving rain band all the way back to the park and ride. At times it was raining so hard it really felt like swimming! At least it was warm - and it was the first opportunity I had to wear my fancy-schmancy Pactimo rain jacket, which was very comfortable. The pace was high enough to keep warm, but the group all kept together.

We ran into the incredible shrinking Doug S at the end of the ride as he had short circuited the store. Turns out he ran into Doetsch and they did the Tue/Thu ride backwards on the way home.

I ended up having to walk 1/4 mile into the park and ride. After crossing under Rt 50 after Gov Bridge Rd, I heard the tell tale "hssssssss" in my front tire. Oh s#%$, changing a flat with 1 mile to go was not what I wanted to do. I was thinking of trying to ride Curious George style, all the way back, but instead I sat waaaay back in my saddle to get as much weight off the front wheel as possible. I nursed it as much as I could up the hill and around the corner on 424 until the rim hit and I had to walk it in... Oh well, at least I made it that far.

Doug S, Dennis, Sue, Sara and I went to Baha Fresh, ate and talked Spain. A great way to end what turned out to be a very nice ride.

Tuesday September 24 Training Ride: The Wheelsucker Report

Since the wheelsucker actually has to work for a living, he was not able to show for the newly moved start time of 5pm. As typically happens, the change in start time really thinned out the group. It was looking like a nice "off season" ride (according to Bill Neuman), but at the last minute Doetsch screeched in on his bike. We were just rolling out a few minutes past 5 when the amazing Amanda Wu rolled in; the lashing the Tues/Thurs group received at the fingers of SuePerMad must have sunk in because everyone stopped and waited.

The ride went at a nice steady pace up Harwood Hill and down Rt 2, with this Wheelsucker trying to, well, suck wheels, since he rode to the park and ride from Annapolis. After the circle, and after a clueless resident passed the group and then attempted to turn into their driveway infront of the group, instead of ripping our legs off Doetsch organized a very nice rolling paceline on South Polling House. It took a little bit of time for everyone to get organized, but with words of, uh, "encouragement" by Doetsch, everyone got in the swing of things. The rolling paceline worked its magic all the way past 214 at which point, a single line train rocked to the end. The rolling paceline was really good practice for everyone to keep riding very smoothly and tightly. Hopefully, we can do more of this in the off season.

The wheelsucker unfortunately had no wheels to suck on the way back to Annapolis, but hey, life is not all fair winds and following seas!

For others who did not make it yesterday but plan on doing the 5pm rides, keep your guard up as the traffic patterns are a different; lots more less than friendly commuters on the road at that time.

Original Snow Valley Women's Team

Debbie Dudas brought this picture to the Saturday ride today. Evidently, it is the original Snow Valley Women's Team from the 90s. Since I'm new around here, can anyone identify the riders and the date?

Update from Arch:

"It was actually circa 1993. Prior to 1992, I think the 'women's team' consisted of just Debbie Dudas. That photo was taken for an article which ran in the Capital. Left to right: Deb Dudas, Debbie Neilson, Nita Settina, Margy McArdle, and Megan Bilodeau."