Team Training Ride, Views From the Front and Back: Wheelsuckers in Agony

This report comes to you as a combo report from THE Wheelsucker, who is always desperate to be at the front and the fixie wheelsucker who was just trying to survive on the wrong bike.

The Saturday after the party was a please-come-if-you-can team ride with the entire group riding together for awhile, and then splitting into 20, 30 and 60 mile rides, the latter with "no-dropping-anyone-who-does-not-know-the-route" and "take-no-prisoners" variants. The twist for the 60 mile riders was that the normal Saturday ride route was ridden backwards.

The whole group, probably 40 riders or so, rolled out of the parking lot at a nice leisurely pace for all abilities. The group was a little smaller than expected because of a little overnight snow that left the roads clear but very wet. This factor led to Alex Pline, the fixie wheelsucker, riding his fixie because he has a brand new drive train on his road bike and didn't want to muss it up. The first split was at the corner of Waysons Road and Harwood Road, just before Harwood Hill where the 20 mile group looped around back to the park and ride. The 30/60 mile groups continued at a civilized pace for a little while longer but shortly after turning onto route 2 the 30 mile group split off on Polling House lead by Doug Shapter, who, contrary to popular belief, has not forgotten how to ride his bike.

The 60 mile group turned onto Owensville Sudley Road and stopped for what Paul Sherwin calls a natural break, which allowed a few riders to get up the road. The chase back was interesting as the pace heated up over the rollers and eventually going hard by the dump. Both wheelsuckers were carefully sucking Ace's wheel but being ridden off it as Ace pushed up a short hill to close with the leaders. There were several WOOSHING sounds as other riders went down what it typically a long slog uphill to the dump, but the wheelsucker made it up to the lead group somehow, as did most others. However, the fixie wheelsucker tried desperately to suck wheels at a very high cadence after experiencing a LOT of whooshing sounds thinking it's awfully early in the day to be riding alone. But he did manage to catch back on at the stop sign at 258, even though he realized he would be left for dead over the impending wall with his 76 gear inch rig.

Most riders knew the wall was coming and everyone was getting ready. The wheelsucker was sitting in, wheelsucking near the front as the group flew down the wall we climb on a normal Saturday ride and then started up the other side. The wheelsucker went to full wheelsucker power to hold wheels on the climb. Full wheelsucker power wasn't enough. It wasn't even close to enough. The group splintered, with the strongest in a lead group, Aaron dangling behind, the wheelsucker dangling further behind him, Tom Aga just behind the wheelsucker and the fixie wheelsucker flailing with a few riders complaining they were stuck behind the fixie. In this direction the climbing does not stop once the wall part is done; there is a false flat all the way to the sharp left turn on Leitch Road to go downhill by the horse farm. The wheelsucker could see Aaron disappearing up the road but hoped to keep it close enough that he could catch on the descent. Part way to the turn Tom Aga came around him and accelerated up the road and the wheelsucker could not stay on his wheel. Aaron and Tom made it up to the lead group, but the wheelsucker did not. After what seemed like an interminable chase down Leitch Road and onto Town Point Road, the wheelsucker had to sit up, and almost immediately there were more whooshing sounds as riders went by, before the wheelsucker recovered enough to grab a wheel. The fixie wheelsucker, if you could call him that because there were no more wheels to suck, resigned himself to accept the consequences of his choice to ride a fixie and ride as hard as he could hoping to find the group at the Dash-In before they left again, knowing the trip back north would be very hard alone into the wind.

There is a bit of a downhill as the route descends on Fairhaven to the water (small pond on right side this direction), followed by the climb up Fairhaven to the left on Friendship Road. The group the wheelsucker had tagged onto ramped it up for the climb. The wheelsucker took one look at his power meter and knew he could not hold close to that power all the way up, so continued at his sustainable pace while the others climbed away. But the wheelsucker's pacing wasn't bad and several of them came back quickly enough when they faded. At the end of Friendship Road, the wheelsucker was with a group of four. They shared pulls and the chase froup hammered into Herrington Harbor where they saw the reformed lead group stopped in a parking lot adjusting Nat Thompson's bike. SAVED thought the wheelsucker. The fixie wheelsucker, went as fast as possible up the climb and down the hill. To his surprise the group was still there. The ride from there to the normal rest stop was reasonably paced, though the wheelsucker needed a red light at the top of the second climb on 260 to catch back on. The fixie wheelsucker, made the best of still being in the group and tried to rest as much as possible, staying somewhat comfortably in the group and trying to keep his speed comparable (not always easy on rolling terrain), so as not to piss off his geared brethren.

The easy pace continued after the rest stop, while Tom Aga easily rolled off the front and up the road. The wheelsucker, carefully staying within his capabilities, went after him and Tom waited at the route 2 traffic circle. The two had a short period off the front, riding into the wind on Sandsbury Rd, but then the rest of the peleton showed up, and then there was another WOOSHING sound as a break of three or four went by on the Wilson Rd downhill. The wheelsucker tried to go after them, but didn't make it on, and faded on the climb out. Then there were more WHOOSHING sounds as riders working to bridge up to the break went by. The wheelsucker was spent and wasn't able to grab a wheel for awhile, but did catch on with Mike Wagner, Tom Aga and Mike Schneider. They traded pulls, working hard, but relying on Mike to take the longest pulls. The fixie wheelsucker figured he would loose all wheelsucking opportunities on the upcoming climb on Wilson Road, but nonetheless hoped that being up front on the downhill and executing "the fade" up the hill would be enough to still have some company when all was said and done. No such luck and he was resigned to fighting the headwind for the last 20 miles alone.

The lead group slowed on 408 and were within close range when they turned right for the downhill on Ed Prout. The wheelsucker pulled the chase the last short distance to close on the downhill, worked his way inside the group and tried to hide and recover. But it wasn't long on Sands before the pace ramped up and the wheelsucker was spat out the back again. Soon enough the same four riders reformed a chase group and managed to keep it close enough that the 214 light entered play, though the wheelsucker's chase group splintered on the climb out of the flooding area with Mike trying to catch the lead group on his own.

Meanwhile at the back, the fixie wheelsucker caught a glipse of a few riders very far up the road on McKendrie and thought there may be some hope. He kept as much power on as possible and little by little started to close the gap until finally on one of the rollers on 408 made the final bridge to a group of four who were all working together. This was welcome relief and after sitting in to recover, worked with that group up to the end.

Back to the lead group -- with Mike -- waiting at the 214 light. As the chase came within range the light changed to green. As you may know the 214 light does not stay green in the Patuxent Parkway direction for long! The wheelsucker called down to the engine room for maximum power and sprinted for the light; he was at maximum wheelsucker speed when the light changed to amber, but he and Mike Schneider made it across, abandoning Tom Aga who stopped for the light. Mike and the wheelsucker sprinted up to the back of the lead group and tried to hide. Sitting at the back and not taking any pulls allowed the wheelsucker to recover enough that he could make it up the few short climbs on the way to the finish line without being dropped. He was still with the group, riding right at the back, as they went down the penultimate dip. Now the wheelsucker knew that most of the riders in the lead group were going to outsprint him, so the wheelsucker went for his favorite (actually his only) move, pulled out of line part way down the dip, dove left for the yellow lines, and went to full wheelsucker power. Hammering up the hill as hard as he could (which wasn't much as the wheelsucker was basically knackered at this point), the wheelsucker opened a gap. Since most riders were positioning for the sprint, were not taking the wheelsucker seriously, or were not even bothering, only one rider came after the Wheelsucker. Will, having taken the short cut at Boyds turn to rejoin the group at the end, powered up the climb out of the dip and was quickly onto the wheelsucker's wheel. The wheelsucker had nothing left and slowed up letting Will by and then sucked his wheel all the way across the flat and then down the final dip. Amazingly they still had a gap as they started the false flat rise to the finish line. Will pulled hard and then pulled off. The wheelsucker was too tired to actually sprint, but went to what he could hold to the line – perhaps 400 watts – and went for it. He sneaked one glance shortly after going by Will and still had the gap. Then, within meters of the finish line there were two WOOSHING sounds as Ace and Stevie Wonder went flying by. The wheelsucker rolled across third as no one else was still sprinting.
 
The aging wheelsucker wonders what his difficulty with this ride means for his hopes of being able to race 123 races. There are 50+ racers who race race 123 and be a factor in them; Art Brown can do it, so can Mark Sommers. So far the wheelsucker cannot. At the back, the fixie wheelsucker was told that riding a fixie on the Team Ride Saturday was a "bold" move, but he thinks the more appropriate word would be "stupid".