The Wheelsucker Digs a Little Too Deep at Deep Blue

One would think that having raced Deep Blue twice before, the wheelsucker would have learned that one has to arrive early, and that despite the shorter-than-Church-Creek distance, it is a hard race. But one might be wrong, or perhaps the wheelsucker is just more forgetful at his advanced age (birthday in August).

In any case, for whatever reasons, the wheelsucker managed to roll over to the start line just four minutes before his 08:44:00 start time, so his warmup was all of three minutes. The wheelsucker's other immediate problem was that in an earlier fit of irrational exuberance over his time trialing ability, the wheelsucker had signed up for not just one, not just two, but THREE time trials; 45+, 35+ and cat 3. And the race he cared about -- 45+ -- was the last one. To fit three races in organizers gave him the first adult start time (only the juniors started before him) and the last single rider start time, just before the tandems and teams.

The wheelsucker's first race was for cat 3, and the wheelsucker tried to not go "to the limit" for the entire race so he could save something for later races. The wheelsucker went out way too hard (as nearly always happens), struggled in the crosswind, and came back with a time of 25:20.47, a little slower than his best time at Deep Blue, which was set in less wind.

After a far too brief rest -- most of which was spent taking off the first race number -- the wheelsucker started his second race, the 35+. The good news was that he was quite familiar with the course and where it was windiest, the bad news was that the first race had taken its toll, and the wheelsucker struggled to hold decent power numbers. But somehow he was able to ramp it up on the way back and drive average power up all the way back, so averaging higher power in the second half than the first, though rather lower than the average power for the first race. The time was slower too, 25:35.41.

The best news was that the wheelsucker had a longer recovery interval before his third race. This did not seem to help much though, as the wheelsucker rolled out for the third race and fairly quickly discovered he was having even more trouble holding power than in the second race (this may be expected by everyone who knows anything about cycling, but the wheelsucker was, and continues to be, in denial regarding his lack of power) and was well down on average power. But once again the second half worked better than the first and the wheelsucker was able to drive the average up by holding higher power in the second half of the race, crossing in 25:29.43.

Note that this third race had the lowest power, but the middle time.

Wheelsucker Data:

cat 3 25:20.47, 296 watts average, 25.9 mph average, 6th place (Powertap not properly zeroed)
35+ 25:35.41, 271 watts average, 25.5 mph average, 4 place
45+ 25:29.43, 264 watts average, 25.7 mph average, 3rd place

Results on US Cycling website

While the wheelsucker likes to think he could have gone faster if he had done the 45+ first, he does not think he could have gone 50 seconds faster, which is what it would have taken to get close to Grant Soma who was second, or anywhere near a fast Spencer Becket who was first.

The wheelsucker now thinks that three races maybe one or two too many, but is liable to forget this by registration time, next year.

The last word goes to the wheelsucker's coach: "You're nuts to do 3 categories!!"