The Wheelsucker at Turkey Day

Turkey Day was the last race of the season (the wheelsucker does not do cyclocross). The 45+ race was only 14 laps of a 1.1 mile loop (approximately 15 miles), too short for BAR points and short enough to tempt the wheelsucker to do two races (the Deep Blue TT had temporarily cured him of trying for three races). After playing Hamlet over whether the second race should be cat 3, 35+ (which had so few riders registered, decent BAR points were guaranteed!) or the P123, the wheelsucker chose the P123. Racing P123 races has been a goal for the wheelsucker for some time. He had yet to finish one, with the closest to success being hanging on at a Greenbelt A Race for 16th place.

But the 45+ was the first of the two races, at 10:50AM.

After several break attempts including some from the wheelsucker, four riders including Steve Owens got off the front. The break had riders from EVO, Artemis, ABRT (Steve), and AVC (John Olinski)). The Artemis rider popped out of the break after 2 or 3 laps, so it was a three rider break. Ted Harris, the wheelsucker, and an AVC rider did a great job of blocking and the break stayed away to the finish. Steve was third when Olinski surprised the other two by starting his sprint very early.

The wheelsucker was very pleased for Steve, but a little disappointed not to be in the winning break himself. But being a good team mate is a reward in and of itself, and in this race no one from the main field was going anywhere without Ted, the wheelsucker, or the AVC rider on their wheel. The three blockers completely shut down riders like Paul Mittelstadt and cat 1 sprinter Marc Frazer. Hey when did Frazer get so old he decided to race 45+?

No time gaps were given, so being unsure of the gap the wheelsucker decided not to jump with just a few laps to go, as he did not want to risk sparking a reaction that ended up bringing the break back. The sprint was a little sketchy on the wet surface, but the wheelsucker probably rolled across about 8th in the main field.

P123 race, late afternoon

Despite his age and lack of results in masters racing, the wheelsucker harbors ongoing fantasies about being strong enough to race P123 races. And he wants to do more than hang on in the main field, he wants to be a player. In his few more lucid moments he might concede that he is unlikely to actually win a P123 race (consider that he has not won a Masters race yet, either), but he dreams of being strong enough to do good work for team mates.

The Turkey day course was almost dead flat and had no tight corners, so it was nearly ideal for an aging "never was" to try a P123 race. The race was 27 laps, almost double the 14 laps of the 45+ race.

This race ended up being a bad news/mostly good news situation for the wheelsucker.

The bad news: His weight weenie seatpost clamp broke with about four laps to go, when the wheelsucker hit a bump very hard. The seat and several seatpost clamp parts fell off the bike onto the road.

The good news: The wheelsucker was not dropped until then, while some others were. He covered moves, got into some breaks and even attacked twice. He blocked when his team mates were in breaks, and was a player -- not a major player, but a player -- in the race.

When the seat came off, the wheelsucker slowed and pulled off to let the field by, then picked up the pieces he could find, dropped them at the start finish line and jumped back into the race after the field went by, hoping to be scored as finishing. He rode the last 2-3 laps standing, in his 53x11. One of the wheelsucker's goals for the season was to finish a 123 race. He was told that he was scored as finishing the race, so this goal was met.

The seatpost clamp breaking was a little disappointing, but the wheelsucker is close to ecstatic about how he did until then, and believes had it not broken he would have finished with the main field. As above he got into some breaks, chased down some strong riders, helped chase down breaks, attacked a couple of times, and on one attack got a big gap on the field on a prime lap before being caught with 1/4 lap to go.

And he believes his efforts helped his team mates, and team mate Stephen "Stevie Wonder" Wahl won the race. The wheelsucker rather doubts his efforts were a major factor, but at least he did not chase his own team mates.

Wheelsucker Data:

45+ Race
time: 35:02
power: 252/821 watts
HR: 149/166 bpm
cadence: 103 rpm
speed: 25.70/35.2 mph

P123 Race (until sitting up when seatpost clamp broke)
time: 53:48
power: 251/983 watts
HR: 155/170 bpm
cadence 104 rpm
speed: 27.3/34.2 mph