The Wheelsucker Hangs On at the Glenelg Ride

Having made it almost to the finish with the lead group (actually, does anyone know where the OFFICIAL sprint line is for the Glenelg ride?) the last time he rode it, the wheelsucker decided to do this ride with his super bling Edge Composite 68mm wheels instead of his lighter AC350s, and using the merely very light CAAD9 instead of the ridiculously light SuperSix, just to see if he could still hang. Just in case this was too much additional weight to get up the climbs, the wheelsucker kept his ultra light skewers on, and wore his lightest helmet.

The more or less usual group rolled out, though this time the wheelsucker left work earlier and arrived earlier, and was ready and even warmed up at rollout, instead of chasing desperately to catch on before the pace ramped up.

The wheelsucker admits to some curiosity about when, where and how the group shrinks, but he is not looking back counting riders, but rather focused with grim determination on the wheel in front of him. But each time the wheelsucker did look back the group was a bit smaller.

Five or six strong riders drove the pace early, in a rotating paceline. Determined to keep something in the tank, the wheelsucker rode behind this group, letting each rider in turn rotate in ahead of him. The wheelsucker felt like each rider gave him a “you lazy bxxxxxd” look as they moved over to the back of the rotating group, but the wheelsucker rationalized that everyone behind him was skipping pulls too.

The hardest part of the ride for the wheelsucker is a double climb combination. The wheelsucker normally goes to his limit on the first, is gapped slightly, chases the last wheel in desperation, gets back on while flying on the downhill section and is then gapped again on the second climb and chasing the last wheel desperately to catch back on and sit in, and recover. But this time either the pace was not quite so high, or the wheelsucker was feeling uncharacteristically strong. Part way up the first climb coach Birner was on the front with a slight gap. Not feeling pressured, the wheelsucker closed the gap and then thought he could go harder. Calling down to the engine room for more revs and power, the wheelsucker spun into a sort of attack, pulling out in front of the other riders on the climb. Of course this started out feeling easy, but things quickly deteriorated. By the top of the climb the wheelsucker’s power and revs were down, his legs were burning and he was gasping for air. And the best climber on the ride – a rider who can gap the field on the climbs and stay away from a Ramon-led chase for miles – was on his wheel. But this worked well, as the wheelsucker let him by, and wheelsucked on the downhill, keeping a gap to the next riders; a gap that proved very useful as the wheelsucker was caught on the last climb, and then managed to grab Ramon’s wheel and hold on to the top. But the group had shrunk on the first climb and was down to less than eight riders. This lead group stayed together on the very fast paceline section through the downhill S curves.

Then there were a few more attacks or at least gaps opened on sharper turns or short climbs. The wheelsucker was riding at the back trying to recover and when the pace suddenly picked up the rider in front let a gap open. That rider sped up but could not close the gap. In mounting panic the wheelsucker waited for a few more seconds, but the gap was opening, and then the wheelsucker came around the rider in front of him and to his surprise crossed the gap and tagged onto the back. That was another rider or two gone from the lead group, but the wheelsucker was still there.

Mike Birner dropped off at some point. Mike is backing off the intensity for awhile in preparation for cross season. A little while later Ramon split off from the group of six or seven, saying he wanted to get some extra miles in. Between gasps for air the wheelsucker managed to retort, "So what are you saying Ramon? This ride is too easy for you?" Ramon politely disagreed.

The lead group was down to five riders for the last part of the ride. At one point super-climber and another rider rolled off the front. The wheelsucker was at the back (usually an excellent place to look for the wheelsucker) thinking that three should bring back two, but the rider at the front of the second group was working hard, but the gap was opening. Finally the wheelsucker blinked and came around and going at his maximum gap crossing power started across the gap. To his surprise he was crossing, but part way there realized one rider had followed him. The wheelsucker made it over and caught on at the back, but had little left. But the lead group was down to four, and the wheelsucker was still part of it. Then the rider who had taken a tow behind the wheelsucker as he bridged, launched. The wheelsucker did not have the willpower to go after him, but one of the riders in front did, and those two were leading by 5-10 bike lengths at a left turn to an uphill sprint. The wheelsucker ramped it up and tried to come around super-climber who was in third on the sprint, but he was betrayed by his aging wheelsucker lungs, legs and brain, and the power started to drop off, and super-climber went by him, and the wheelsucker was fourth of four. But there were a lot of riders riding alone or in small groups, behind the wheelsucker.