The ride start time had shifted to 6:00PM as we now have enough daylight.
Before the ride started President Stu Waring and ride leader Ace McDermott spoke about safety concerns (apparently the Anne Arundel County police had contacted us) on route 2. There are now two neutral zones where we turn onto route 2 and where we turn off route 2 onto Bayard.
The wheelsucker arrived early, tested his unobtanium deep dish carbon wheels with powertap hub, and given the wind conditions, opted for shallower profile wheels. He warmed up doing laps in the Park & Ride with a few half hearted sprints.
The ride had a different feel as early as the rollout. There was more traffic on 424 and the large group broke into several chunks at the left turn onto Rossback, due to oncoming traffic.
The wheelsucker’s workout description was:
Group ride. Ride how you feel today: If tired, sit in at CP90-CP180; if fresh, ride race effort. Be smart.
The wheelsucker was definitely tired, having gone hard and long (for the wheelsucker) on the weekend, so was trying to sit in and not work too hard. But with the field breaking into chunks at the turn onto Rossback, and the wheelsucker in the last group, he was getting nervous, and this was only about two minutes into the ride! Thinking the rest of the grupetto was on his wheel, the wheelsucker ramped it up a little and pulled up to and then past the next group, and kept going until he was with the lead group. No one came with him, but the groups did close up a little later on Patuxent River road.
The second of the two new neutral zones -- the false flat leading into the circle on route 2 -- has been the favored attack point for the last few training rides. With that no longer available, the strong riders had to find other places to attack, and they did. The wheelsucker found himself chasing back on to stay with a shrinking lead group several times, even early in the ride; as early as the Queen Anne Bridge climb, and the two rollers.
Each time a gap opened in front of him, the wheelsucker didn't wait to see if someone else would close it, but went to wheelsucker chase power, and closed back on, warning those behind he was accelerating, so they could follow. The chase from the top of Queen Anne bridge was a workout, as the wheelsucker was hammering downhill trying to close the gap. Closing gaps downhill means riding several miles per hour faster than a group ahead, hard to do when the group is doing 30+ mph. It takes a lot of watts to do this. The wheelsucker caught back on just before the flat before the first roller, and was hyperventilating at the back hoping there were no violent attacks on the rollers. The pace did ramp up (thanks to Ace), but not so badly that the wheelsucker couldn't hang on. There was a brief respite as the leaders slowed at the left turn onto Harwood road checking for traffic, and the wheelsucker held on for the climb and the acceleration off the top.
Each time the wheelsucker got to the front he pulled through and rotated off, or took the shortest possible pull before pulling off. Ace, and Brian from Atlantic Fitness (but wearing Bike Doctor kit), were taking long hard pulls, with Kyle Pittman and others chipping in.
At the turn onto route 2 (now a neutral zone) the lead group was down to 8-12 riders. Ty Wu flatted out on route 2, but the rest of the group was together (though many were hurting) on Bayard, South Polling House and Polling House. The amazing Amanda Wu was hanging tough, pulling through and taking her pulls out of shear bloody determination. The wheelsucker was following her in the rotation and would see her bike weave as she pedaled as hard as she could to pull through and over; a really impressive performance for Amanda to be not only hanging, but taking her pulls, as the lead group shrunk to the strongest (and other than Amanda all male) riders. The wheelsucker was trying to pull over and get in front of Amanda as quickly as possible, both to shelter Amanda as quickly as possible when she pulled off, but also to shorten his pulls as much as possible.
Amanda took the last pull into the left hand sweeper at the end of the fat man's sprint, and the wheelsucker took over. One of Ace or Stu flatted at this point, and they both stopped, while the rest of the lead group continued. Suffering himself, the wheelsucker told the group he would do the climb at a steady pace and Amanda thanked him. But Brian and Kyle did not hear this, or did not agree, and ¾ of the way up Brian went by at a high rate of speed, with Kyle glued to his rear wheel. "Expletive deleted!", said the wheelsucker. The gap to Kyle's rear wheel was opening rapidly. Digging in to his suitcase of courage :-) the wheelsucker ramped it up to full aging wheelsucker power, abandoning Amanda and the others to their fate, and tried to close the gap to Kyle's rear wheel. It continued to open. At the top of climb the gap was perhaps 6-8 bike lengths. The wheelsucker clicked it into a bigger gear as the road flattened, stood up and sprinted as hard as an aging wheelsucker can sprint and somehow, slowly, painfully, closed the gap to Kyle's rear wheel and then hung on for grim death. It was all he could do to stay there. He didn't even have the energy to look back and see if anyone else had made the move.
The three went into a constantly rotating paceline down Bayard and onto Sands. The pace was fast but still survivable for the wheelsucker, so he started to feel a little better and thought he had a little in reserve if Brian or Kyle attacked.
Easy to drop?Brian was riding very strong, and the wheelsucker couldn't come up with a scenario that had him dropping Brian, but dropping Kyle was at least a theoretical possibility. The wheelsucker concluded that Kyle is young, and big, and strong, and a marine, but anything is possible theoretically, right? The dynamic changed slightly when Iain, riding his new tri bike, caught the leading three most of the way up Bayard. This effort really impressed the wheelsucker, as Iain had caught three guys working fairly hard, after a long chase.
Recalling the "If tired, sit in at CP90-CP180" part of his workout description (and he was averaging above CP90 in the paceline), the wheelsucker decided to forget about attacking but hold on, and hope he had enough in reserve if someone else attacked.
At 214 -- the world’s shortest green light in the Patuxent River direction -- the light changed to green as they approached, so instead of the hoped-for forced-rest, the four sprinted across the intersection as the light turned amber. The four stayed together at a steady pace all the way to the finish. The wheelsucker considered attacking on his favorite penultimate climb, just before the flat before the dip before the finish, but Iain pulled off on the downhill, leaving the wheelsucker leading at this point, such that the other three could easily see him make the move, and respond. So the wheelsucker went just hard enough to not be attacked on the climb (that was hard enough) and pulled off. The four maneuvered for the sprint, with the wheelsucker initially holding Iain's wheel, but shifting over to Kyle's, with Kyle on Brian's wheel, when it became clear that Iain was not only not sprinting, but not leading out either. Iain sat up, the other three rolled on and on waiting for the jump. The wheelsucker probably should have gone from the back hoping to get a gap, but he waited and waited and went when the other two did. The wheelsucker went left, Kyle went right, but Brian held on to cross first, with the other two overlapped with him. Kyle was second, the wheelsucker third.
Wheelsucker data (from interval start somewhere on Patuxent River Road, before 214, to the finish line):
Riding time: 01:06:36
Distance: 27.42 miles
Work: 935 kJ
Average power 234 watts (264 while actually pedaling), Max power 977 watts
Average cadence 95 rpm
Average speed: 24.64 mph
Can anyone explain the "Be smart" part of the workout description? The wheelsucker still has not figured this out.
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