Thursday April 1st Training RideThe Wheelsucker Report

It was sunny and warm, and a large group rolled out of the Park & Ride, with more riders joining on the way to 214, including Bike Doctor rider Mike Schneider on a snazzy new-to-him CAAD9, a young Bike Doctor rider and Team Hayfever standout Lance Lacy.

The wheelsucker's "Plan A" was attack, attack, attack, so as soon as the group turned left onto Rossback the wheelsucker rolled smoothly to the front and went to wheelsucker threshold power. He was quickly off the front and was able to wave to Mike and the other Bike Doctor rider who were waiting at the ball park, and at Lance who was riding the course backwards to meet up with the group. The wheelsucker did not expect that he would be able to ride away and stay away for the entire ride, but thought it was worth a try and would warm him up well. Part way to 214 he could not see a chase and thought things were looking rather good, but as he slowed for the red light (unlucky!) at 214 the group closed up on him, clearly having reduced the gap significantly before the light.

Wanting to rest the wheelsucker sat in and did not chase when about six riders rolled off the front as soon as the light turned green. But Ace decided to close the gap, with Stu on his wheel, and the wheelsucker took the tow as Ace pulled the group up to the leaders before they turned right off Queen Anne Bridge.

The wheelsucker tried to stay near the front but without actually doing any work, but this is hard, as the riders in front tend to pull off and expect the next rider to take a pull. So the wheelsucker did find himself taking a pull after Harwood Hill, on the way to route 2. The group ramped it up on route 2, with the wheelsucker seeing 32 mph while safely wheelsucking.

The apparently-now-traditional Lance Lacy attack just before the route 2 shoulder disappears as route 2 nears the circle happened again. Ace and Stu went with Lance, but given the volume of car traffic approaching the circle and backed up at the circle, others chose not to jump out of line and chase, so the three had a small gap as they turned off the circle and they drilled it. The wheelsucker rolled out of the circle about three more riders back, but the two riders in front sat up and made no effort to close the gap. With three of the strongest riders attacking off the front the wheelsucker knew it was now or never and jumped around them and tried to hammer across the gap. He gave it everything an aging wheelsucker had, but it wasn't enough and he blew up after crossing about 2/3 of a widening gap. Sitting up and gasping, the wheelsucker slowed while the three rolled away.

The wheelsucker believes he could have gotten to this move if he had jumped while on route 2, in the heavy traffic, but that he chose not to for safety reasons. At least that is the wheelsucker's story, and he is sticking to it.

The remains of the main pack rolled up, and the wheelsucker struggled to get on the back, but made it. The strongest remaining rider was Denzil Hathaway, riding his TT bike. Once the group had reformed Denzil rolled to the front and started taking monster pulls. Denzil would pull on the flat, Denzil would pull on the downhills, Denzil would pull for minutes at a time. Denzil was a little tired by the time the chase was climbing on South Polling House, and a few riders rolled by, with the wheelsucker closing the gap bringing the group together at the top of the climb. The three leaders were well within range at the left turn, but the chase had to stop at the intersection for a "car right" situation, allowing the leaders to re-extend the gap. Once the chase reformed on Polling House Denzil went to the front and another monster pull got the chase close for the fat man's sprint and the climb to the right on Bayard. But the large chase was a little unwieldy and some riders would jump on the climbs, allowing one or two to gap the chase. This seemed pointless to the wheelsucker, one or two riders on their own were not going to reel in Ace, Lance and Stu, and they were also unlikely to be able to stay away from the rest of the chase once the chase reformed. So the wheelsucker worked to close those gaps and get on the front when the pace slowed, but letting Denzil continue with the monster pulls whenever he could. Denzil was still doing 30-32 mph when pulling, and the wheelsucker knew he could only pull at that speed for a few seconds, so it was faster to let Denzil stay on the front for as long as he could, and then get the other strong riders in the chase rotate quickly though until Denzil was ready for another pull. But the chase would break up on each roller, and momentum was lost and slowly the gap to the lead three opened.

At the 214 light the three either had a green or jumped the light, while the chase had to wait, and the gap opened further. The chase group had been shrinking on Sands and Patuxent River Road as riders went OTB, but there were still 8 or 9 riders after the 214 light. The pace stayed high to the finish, with more riders going OTB. Shortly before the finish Denzil attacked and rode off the front with no one willing to fight for his wheel. The wheelsucker figured Denzil had worked so hard he deserved fourth place, and let him go. Then the youg Bike Doctor rider drilled it up the penultimate short climb and opened a gap at the top on the last flat before the sprint. The wheelsucker wasn't confident anyone else left would close it, so he pulled the remains of the chase back up to the Bike Doctor rider and then sucked his wheel waiting for him to launch. The kid was quick and strong, and when he launched the wheelsucker tried to go with him. The remaining two or three riders in the chase were spit out the back, but the kid sprinted away from the wheelsucker and they both rolled by Denzil meters from the finish with the kid taking the field sprint and the wheelsucker second.

Wheelsucker data:

These are estimated for the route, excluding warmup, and cooldown after the finish line.

Time for route 1:15 (estimated, did not set interval)
Average speed for route 23.7
Average power for route: 250 watts, Max power 817 watts
Average cadence for route: 87rpm
Average HR for route: 150bpm, max 173 (which is also the wheelsucker’s all-time max HR)