Riding the Hills on Fixed Gear with Younger Stronger Riders

The wheelsucker has read somewhere that one way to get better at something is to do it with people who are better at it that you are. It is easy for the wheelsucker to do this with cycling because there is no shortage of riders better than the wheelsucker; most of MABRA is stronger than wheelsucker!

As per his coach, the wheelsucker has being doing fixed gear rides out of Ellicott City on Sundays. The route is from Ellicott City to near the airport, and back to Ellicott City, apparently routing through as many climbs and descents as possible on the way there and back, followed by –– you guessed it –– more climbs and descents in Ellicott City. The first climb –– Bonnie Branch –– is the longest.

The wheelsucker goes hard up Bonnie Branch mostly because no one else does; nine minutes into the ride they are still trying to warm up so the wheelsucker figures it is his best chance of winning a climb. On this occasion the wheelsucker had a gap half way up, but Jay Murphy stopped chatting with the other riders and became serious for the last few seconds of the climb and sped by as the wheelsucker was 20 seconds from the top.

After being told by his coach that he had "a good ride" the previous Sunday but that he had conserved energy by sitting in the wheelsucker was determined to get a workout and avoid sitting in except when necessary to recover. He pushed hard on the climbs to stay with the strongest riders, who were Jay and Chris Harshman. The wheelsucker even rolled off the front a few times.

This worked for a little while, but then the others grew stronger, or maybe it was the wheelsucker tiring. First he was being gapped on climbs by Jay and Chris. Then one or two other riders were able to gap him on the climbs; then it was only Marc behind him at the top of the climbs. The wheelsucker was getting to the top of a short climb gasping for air, his legs burning and the gap in front of him opening. Then his left calf and right quad started to twitch, ready to cramp.

But the wheelsucker kept trying to hold on wondering if he could make it up one more climb or if he would be the first to cry "Uncle!" And then to the wheelsucker's relief Marc called "Uncle!" as Jay steered the group right from River onto Thistle for yet another climb, and Marc peeled off on River for the parking lot. A little while later, after the group had climbed Thistle to route 144/Frederick Road, Rich decided to stay on route 144/Frederick Road and head for the cars, while Jay led the dwindling group up Oella.

Jay turned left at the stopsign onto Old Frederick Road (to go back to Frederick Road). The wheelsucker was trying to keep Jay in range on the descent when his chain jumped off the rear cog (the chain had somehow become too loose). Fortunately the wheel did not jam and the wheelsucker was able to coast to a stop, advise the rider behind him that he could fix it OK, loosen the wheel nuts, slide the wheel forward, put the chain back on, slide the wheel back to tighten the chain, and tighten the nuts (this is why one carries a wrench when riding a fixed gear without quick releases). But now that he was alone, the wheelsucker called it a day and rolled down the Frederick Road/Main Street hill into Ellicott City, ignoring further climbing opportunities. The third rider was already at the cars.

Jay had not had enough of a workout and did several more climbs, meeting the others later at the local coffee shop.

Wheelsucker Data:

Ride time	02:08:31
Distance	36.41 miles
Energy (trainingpeaks estimate based on HR	1821 calories
	Average	Max
HR	142 bpm	168 bpm
Cadence	86 rpm	177 rpm
Speed 16.9 mph	35.1 mph