Alexander Cyclocross Superstar

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

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

Cheers,

FGR

The Rockburn Cross

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

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

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

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

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

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

Latitude Thurmont Ride

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

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

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

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

Regrouping at Gathland State Park

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

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

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

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

Yeah Baby, all you can eat fried chicken!

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

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

The New "Other Saturday Ride"

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


View Larger Map

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

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

Thursday October 30th Training Ride: The Wheelsucker Report or "We're Not Sprinting!"

This was it, the last weeknight training ride of the year. With the Daylight Savings Time clock change coming this weekend, there would not be enough daylight to ride any more. Actually even without the DST change, there was not enough light to finish the ride.

The wheelsucker kept on going on Patuxent Parkway when the others split off left, as he wanted to do his 2x20 @ 80-90% of LT workout, and would have been going too hard if on the front, and way too easy if sitting in.

By happenstance and some careful timing by the wheelsucker, just after he crossed 214 on his way back, part way through is second 20 minute interval, he saw a target -- the other riders -- some distance up the road. It was dark enough that the wheelsucker's aging eyes could not read the power numbers on his computer clearly. He was supposed to be averaging about 250 watts, but with a target up the road, a
"7" looked a lot like a "1", and the wheelsucker was probably seeing 27n, deciding it was 21n, and pushing harder. It took him all the way from 214 to the last level before the sprint to catch the group, though the chase was a little quicker once the 20 minute interval ended and the wheelsucker gave up all pretences of keeping his wattage in the target range and PUT THE HAMMER DOWN! (well, put the hammer down for the wheelsucker), and rolled up to the tail end of the group, huffing, puffing, hyper ventilating and wheezing, just as they were setting up for the sprint. But then a strange thing happened; no one seemed to be sprinting. The wheelsucker rolled up to Stu, who told him no one was sprinting. This was a little hard for the wheelsucker to believe, so he rolled past Stu and Steve, and accelerated to catch Ace who was in front a few bike lengths ahead. The wheelsucker pulled up next to Ace and asked him what was going on. Ace replied with "GO! He's jumping!", as Steve Owens (who it turns out WAS sprinting after all) whizzed by at speed. Gosh!, said the wheelsucker (well, not really, but this is a family blog so we'll leave it as "gosh") as the gap to Steve opened. But then the wheelsucker launched into the signature wheelsucker sprint, and went after Steve. But Steve was at speed and had a gap, and the wheelsucker could not get to him, and in the meantime someone else who was not going to sprint, was in fact sprinting. In the fading dusk light, the wheelsucker's eyesight was not good enough to distinguish who was second between him and the other person "not sprinting", but Steve was clearly first.

"Gosh!, so much for not sprinting", thought the wheelsucker, considering that it would be months until Tuesday/Thursday training rides started again, and provided a chance for revenge.

Tuesday October 28th Training Ride: The Wheelsucker Report

The cold! The wind! The suffering, the misery!

Four certifiable "hard men" did the training ride. It was so bad, Steve Owens was not there. There was so little daylight they turned right off of route 2 onto Polling House, for the short-short version of the route. Despite the shorter route it was still nearly dark when they returned to the Park & Ride.

Saturday on Sunday, A Fine Piece of Wheelsucking

Since, according to Steve, we all screwed the pooch on the weather on Saturday (he had a fine ride with the Navy riders) and the rain that did eventually come washed out the proposed Sunday mountain bike ride, we gathered on Sunday morning at 9 for a "do over" on the Saturday training ride. The weather was glorious albeit a bit cool, but not bad for the end of October.

Steve, Ryan, Rick, Tom A, Ali, Ian, Dave, and Alex left for a nice tempo ride. The pace was nice and steady, not too fast for the first half to the store, though Ryan, Dave and Ali showed occasional alarming tendencies to take longer harder pulls. The wheelsucker stopped doing this when he very nearly went OTB after taking a long and hard (for the wheelsucker) pull, but Ryan and Dave were frequently at the front.

While rolling by the beach in North Beach the wheelsucker goes off the front pushing a steady 260 watts. Knowing it was just the wheelsucker, no one cared. The chase let him go, but kept him in easy range, and carefully timed the catch for just about the middle of the hill out of Rosehaven, after the wheelsucker had pedaled hard by himself all the way from North Beach to the hill. But the wheelsucker had "upped" his power on the climb to 310-330 watts and so was caught by a flying chase led by Ryan, but about 2/3rds of the way up the climb. "Oh, sh**!" muttered the wheelsucker as Ryan led the chase by, but he dug deep, and found a few more watts from somewhere to catch on the back and wheelsuck for all he was worth, and not go OTB. Dave and Tom Aga kept it fast up Leitch Road. The pace was high enough that the wheelsucker accused Dave of being nasty. Steve Owens and Alex Pline led down the hill to the wall, but Ryan and Dave put the hammer down, and rolled by everyone on the wall. The wheelsucker went to wheelsucker maximum power in an effort to stay with them, and did get to the top in third, just a couple of bike lengths behind, but thoughts of off season, leg pain, lung pain and wondering why he was doing this took over, and he gave up, and sat up, letting the gap open. The wheelsucker rolled to the back of the chase and let others do the work. Alex took up the chase and just about closed the gap at the stop sign, setting the stage for some successful wheel sucking shortly thereafter. The pace up the short climb after crossing the second road was not excessive, but no one was able to relax and catch their breath.

On the rollers after the dump, the bill from the chase over the wall was coming due. Alex went very quickly from garden variety wheelsucking with the Wheelsucker and Rick (who was tired from his previous days running), to a "grim determination" must-follow-the-wheel-in-front, to must-wheel-front... While riders were tiring, Ryan and Dave seemed to be in energizer bunny mode, taking long, fast, high cadence pulls while the rest hung on in varying degrees of pain. And if the others were pulling and not going fast enough, Ryan and Dave would simply roll by and take over. Alex finally did recover, but it took until after turning on Harwood.

The wheelsucker found himself leading up his favorite hill after the descent to the sweeping right, and was giving it a good, but–not-too-hard-in-case-someone-put-in-an-attack-at-the-top effort; he made it to the top, but just as he got to the false flat, Alex rolled by him (with a sh-eating grin) with the rest of the group on Alex's wheel. The wheelsucker was just able to gasp "You're dissing an old man!" while pushing hard to grab on at the back and wheelsuck some more.

The group stayed together across 214 and all the way to the sprint. Ryan and Alex did last leadout, while those who were maneuvering for the sprint jockeyed for position, with the wheelsucker wheelsucking at the back. Ryan got the group up to 28 mph on the climb to the finish turning it over to Alex before the would-be sprinters started rolling by him. The wheelsucker was hanging on at the back for dear life, as the sprinting group rolled by Alex. Every time someone pulled out to the left to pass a rider ahead, those following all stayed on his wheel. And so it came to pass that as the dwindling sprint group approached the finish line, it was down to only two riders, with Tom Aga doing the classic Tom Aga-I-can-spin-at-150-plus-seated sprint, while the wheelsucker, still glued to Tom's wheel, was standing and going as hard as a tired aging wheelsucker can go. All the passing had been to the left, so Tom was lined up fairly far left in the lane. But the wheelsucker was too tired and too focused to notice or care, and in a desperate move rolled a little further left, crossed the yellow lines he did not see, and inched past Tom Aga, and rolled across the finish line first, with Tom perhaps half a bike length behind his wheel.

Tom pointed out the wheelsucker's error, but the wheelsucker was gasping too hard to respond, and was way too tired to care. A remarkably strong Steve Owens held steady power up the climb to Davidsonville Road, easily pulling away. The wheelsucker gave chase after catching is breath, but could not catch Steve, and was caught by the others just before the right turn onto Davidsonville.

Later in the Park & Ride a quick comparison over average power was made. Ryan was the clear winner at 225, and the lowest figure was Rick's at 170 (with the wheelsucker only slightly above that). As Ryan put it, "a fine piece of wheelsucking!"