Tuesday September 21 Training RideThe Wheelsucker Report

Getting older may beat the alternative, but it is still not great. The wheelsucker was looking forward to the Tuesday evening training ride, but was still feeling his Saturday century and Sunday Ellicott City efforts in his legs and lower back.

So the wheelsucker responded in his usual way, sitting in and wheelsucking, hoping to have a long easy warmup. Steve Owens, Bob Walters and Alex Pline rolled off the front very shortly after the left turn onto Rossback Rd. The wheelsucker watched them go up the road from his near-the-back vantage point, but stuck to the plan. The rest of the group included Ace, ex pro Pete Penzell, Matt Albanese, the wheelsucker and Ty Wu, so the break did not have the horsepower to stay away from a serious chase. However, this did not stop Steve, Bob and Alex from giving it all they had (later reports from riders in the break indicate that Bob was driving very hard).

The break was soon out of sight, but the small main field did not start to chase until the wheelsucker found himself on the front at the left turn onto Queen Anne Bridge road and pushed up the climb. The pace picked up from then on, but was still survivable for an aging wheelsucker, up Harwood Hill.

Matt pulled off the top of Harwood Hill at a decent pace, with the wheelsucker carefully tucked in behind him. The wheelsucker pulled through shortly before route 2 and led through the turn and up the short climb before pulling off where Polling House runs into route 2. The break was down to just Steve and Bob (Alex had other commitments and had turned around) and was not far ahead.

The next rider in line when the wheelsucker pulled off was Ace, and Ace went by deciding he wanted to get to the break NOW! The wheelsucker saw him go by in a blur and quickly decided that trying to sprint for his wheel was inconsistent with both the wheelsucker's plans to sit in and take it easy, and the wheelsucker's abilities.

The next guy to roll by was Pete Penzell. He was already gapped by Ace, but was going at a pace that the wheelsucker could briefly get to, so the wheelsucker grabbed his wheel and hung on down the route 2 shoulder. This was made easier because Pete was initially waiting for Matt, but Matt was too far back after pulling off to make it on. No one else made it on either.

Ace quickly bridged the short distance to the break and then drove it hard, initially opening the gap back up. The wheelsucker decided following one of the two strong men on the ride was his best option, and could not imagine bridging the gap by himself, so just wheelsucked behind Pete.

Pete went steady hard taking long pulls. Having ridden with Pete before, the wheelsucker was paranoid that Pete would let him take a pull to tire, and would then easily jump across the gap without him, so offered to pull provided Pete did not jump him. So the wheelsucker started taking short pulls. The trouble was that to keep the speed up so as to close the gap to the break, the wheelsucker had to pull at above his VO2 Max power. He could not do this for long, and was "burning matchsticks" rapidly doing it.


Bob Walters popped out of the break on the South Polling House climb, and then Steve fell off Ace's wheel on the last South Polling House rollers and jumped on the back of the Pete Penzell train as it came by.

Ace was still ahead early on Polling House, but not by much. He was caught before the fat man's sprint. Steve Owens led up the climb while the wheelsucker was paranoid that Ace and Pete would jump on the climb, and had been wheelsucking at the back trying to recover in case he had to go hard. Steve faded off the top; Ace and Pete did not jump, and the wheelsucker took the right turn onto Bayard and tucked in behind Ace and Pete and tried to hang on. The wheelsucker could not actually avoid pulling through and was on the front leading into the Sands Road right turn.

But as he took the turn he felt a small pop in his chest and felt dizzy for a couple of seconds. Concerned for his health the wheelsucker sat up The dizziness cleared, but Ace and Pete were up the road. There was no chase in sight behind, to the wheelsucker TT’d to the finish, frequently checking behind, but never seeing a chase.

In post ride discussions the wheelsucker learned that Ace had dropped Pete on some rollers, and that Pete had not been riding at all for something like 1.5 years. This may explain why he was pulling at 26-27 mph down the route 2 shoulder instead of the 30 mph the wheelsucker remembers.

Wheelsucker data (from crossing finish line on the way out to where he sat up)

Time: 47:51
Power: 231/807 watts
HR: 145/166 bpm
Cadence: 95 rpm
Speed: 24.2 mph

From sitting up to finish line

Time: 22:44
Power: 250/643 watts
HR: 150/165 bpm
Cadence: 87 rpm
Speed: 23.0 mph