The Wheelsucker at the last few Tuesday/Thursday Rides

The daylight savings time season is over and the Tuesday/Thursday rides are gone for another year. But the wheelsucker has good memories from some of the last rides.

On one ride Steve Owens rolled off the front on the downhill immediately after turning left onto Rossback. Liking the early breakaway, the wheelsucker went after him motioning to Brian to grab a wheel. The wheelsucker went straight to the front and took a long and hard (for the wheelsucker) pull. Steve and Brian were both committed, and the three quickly opened a gap. They were well clear at the 214 light and prepared to jump across, but car after car on 214 made this impossible, and eventually the light turned green. They sped across, but the peloton made it across on the same green, and the break was reeled in by the left turn. The wheelsucker needed the rest of the ride to recover. The wheelsucker has vivid memories of Michelle the Merciless getting on the front on her TT/tri bike and setting a pace that had everyone else -- or at least the wheelsucker -- suffering.

On a later ride the wheelsucker was following Ace’s wheel on the two bumps before the left onto Harwood Hill, when Ace pulled off. The wheelsucker (who had been redlined to stay on Ace’s wheel) continued, went into an aero tuck on the downhill and opened the gap. Liking the solo attack and wheelsucker ramped it up on Harwood Hill and the last he saw of a chase was Tom Aga turning left onto Harwood Hill, well behind. The wheelsucker went at low threshold for the rest of the ride, kept checking his six, and never saw a chase. Days later he learned that the peloton had taken the first shortcut, turning off of route 2 onto Polling House. No wonder they never caught him!

The wheelsucker is currently enjoying his "off season" but has started training for the Spain trip. The key to doing well on the Spain trip is having trained for the Spanish Tempranillo wine. The wheelsucker has increased his training load to get a solid base, and will work on “wine intensity” closer to the Spain trip. In addition the wheelsucker is doing high reps/low weight workouts at the gym, in preparation for more weight and plyometrics, closer to racing season.