The Wheelsucker Trains in Spain

The Wheelsucker was at the recent ABRT Spain Training Camp at Idlebreaks, for the third year in a row. Each year the Wheelsucker hopes to improve his form at this camp and be stronger for the start of the racing season. And nine days in southern Spain, nearly "off the grid", and just riding, eating and sleeping, all in a beautiful setting with team mates, seems like a great way to do this.

Idlebreaks -- http://www.idlebreaks.com/ -- is run by a British expatriate masters tri-athlete, Andy Idle. His wife Tracey, assisted by a daughter or two, provides the food. The facility is perhaps best described as a bed and breakfast with a pool. The difference is that Andy, Tracey and part time staff (pro triathlete Anne Fallows and Josh, a British expatriate teenager living nearby), organize the daily rides, ride with us or in the support van, provide massages, and do whatever they can so visitors can focus on riding their bikes and training. Life at Idlebreaks is simple, essentially riding, eating and sleeping, though there is a large screen TV with cable and some excellent Spanish red wine to go with the delicious dinners. The food is great and available in large quantities, the accommodations are simple, the wine is excellent, but the riding is incredible, and Andy, Sue and Josh do an amazing job of sheparding the group so no turns are missed, and no one gets lost.

The setting, near two small villages -- Villaneuva del Rosario and Villaneuva del Trabuco -- with the nearest town/city being Antiquera, is in a very hilly part of Southern Spain, perhaps 45 minutes drive north of Malaga. See: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=l&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=idle+breaks&near=spain&ie=UTF8&t=h&om=1&s=AARTsJoIN7rBHNnMU21NBbei8zBsFWC61Q&ll=36.978352,-4.397922&spn=0.017142,0.038624&z=15&iwloc=A&output=embed. All rides start and end at a service station on the way to Villaneuva del Rosario; Idlebreaks itself is on a gravel and dirt road that is easily rideable in the dry, but might be messy in the wet.

Though March is theoretically in the rainy season – and we have had some very wet days – this is an arid area with heavily eroded hills, winding creeks and rivers, and the lower hillsides and valleys covered with olive trees. A typical vista is a rural road with fields on both sides, a couple of old farm houses, and the fields sloping up and then ending as a rock hill reaches up to a cloudless blue sky. Or it might just be raining so hard you can barely see the wheel in front of you.

The 2011 training camp may have been the best ever. It was overcast the first few days, and one day was cut short for most riders – the girls and Brian toughed it out – by very heavy rain, but later in the week it was warm and sunny each day. The last three to four days were exceptional.

In his ongoing efforts to make the training camp as enjoyable as possible, Andy arranged for some riders from a local club to ride with us. And an informal race was scheduled for the last Saturday.

Thirteen riders – twelve ABRTers and Greg Smith from DC Velo – participated, the maximum number Idlebreaks can handle at one time.

While the Wheelsucker is getting older and perhaps slower (and his back was bothering him at times), he was not the oldest or slowest rider at the camp. He rode easy on some days, but on several days when he was feeling good he gave it everything he had to stay with the younger stronger riders on the long climbs and on the fast, winding descents. And who can blame the Wheelsucker if over time he forgets the painful moments when he was dropped and left for dead on a climb, and instead remembers the climb where he rode strong and was in the lead group of three at the top and down the fast descent, with everyone else well back? And if the group was riding easy for the last hour on the way back, can you blame a feeling-frisky Wheelsucker for jumping on his own trying to stay away to the service station?

The Wheelsucker and some of the other camp participants rode all nine days, though the first evening ride and the rest day ride were very short and easy.

For the Wheelsucker the highlight of the camp was the race with the Spanish riders.

The race:
Course: First some easy rollers on a main road, trending downhill. This was a fast section. Then a right turn at the top of a roller to a nice fast descent with S curves down to the bottom, then a 6k climb, then more rollers while descending, a mostly fast section, then a 2k climb, then the last 18k to the finish with rollers going up at average 2.5%.

Having ridden one day on the first weekend with the Spanish riders, team ABRT knew they had several good riders and that their strongest rider, Jose, would be very strong on the climbs. And ABRT had pre ridden the course, so knew where the climbs and descents were, though not as well as the Spaniards did.

The Wheelsucker's concern was getting up the first climb close enough to the leaders to be of use to the team.

The race started at an easy pace with ABRT's Janet and Sue active at the front covering any moves. No big moves were expected until the first climb, but Paco -- one of the older Spanish riders -- loves to bomb descents and hammered off the top of every one before getting into an aero tuck. He and another Spanish rider got off the front early with Janet and Sue covering the move. Trying not to attract any attention to himself, the Wheelsucker casually tagged on the back, trying to mentally telegraph to everyone that he was just there in case Janet and Sue needed any help. Anyone who knew how Sue and Janet ride – all the ABRTers – knew that the two older Spaniards had no chance at all of getting away without Sue and Janet, but the Spanish riders did not know this.

The strong riders were not worried by anyone in this group knowing the two climbs would sort out the strong riders from the pretenders, so the break of five got a short distance off the front.

Perhaps not realizing how strong Janet and Sue were, or perhaps being a gentleman, Paco took some pulls and encouraged the Wheelsucker to pull. Not being so constrained the Wheelsucker declined and did nothing beyond making sure he was on a wheel. Janet showed her years of racing experience and suggested to the Wheelsucker that he could go on his own; the Wheelsucker was trying to balance making the least possible effort while still getting enough of a gap on the main field to summit with them at the first climb.

The two Spanish riders were built to bomb descents not climb, so on the last roller before the right turn to the descent the Wheelsucker coasted by Paco, went to 75% effort for the first time and easily pulled away on the short climb, with the amazing Sue McQuiston (who had done more work than the Wheelsucker) a couple of bike lengths back, Janet and the two Spaniards a little further back, and the main field in pursuit.

The Wheelsucker recalled this section of the course well from the pre-ride. It was a fast descent. There were lots of S curves but they were all open sweepers, not tight turns, except for the very first and the very last. He glanced back at Sue but she did not seem inclined to hammer the descent, so the Wheelsucker hammered down, slowed for the first tight corner, then sprinted out of the corner and went into a pro-looking aero tuck, sitting on his top tube with his head down.

It has been pointed out to the Wheelsucker by more experienced riders that the pros who do these sitting-on-the-top-tube aero tucks are much better riders and are being paid good money to risk their lives, and that the Wheelsucker should not do this, but the Wheelsucker is a desperate man and will consider almost anything to get a few more feet ahead. He was quickly out of sight around the curves.

The descent ended all too soon, and the Wheelsucker started up the 6k climb at his best sustainable power level. The road straightens out at the base of the climb, and he could see the chasing pack coming. The Wheelsucker pedaled on, hoping for a miracle. About 2k from the summit as the group closed on the Wheelsucker, Jose stood and sprinted out of the group and passed the Wheelsucker like he was standing still. The strongest Spaniards and ABRTers were in pursuit. The Wheelsucker could not lift his pace. Neither could Steve Owens, and they were both gapped. They pedaled on, gasping for air and reached the summit with the Wheelsucker a little in front of Steve, but with the others mostly out of site up the road.

The Wheelsucker recalled this section of the course from the pre-ride and thought that on a rolling descent with just a few short easy climbs, he could hammer the climbs and flat sections and go into his aero tuck on the descents and maybe chase back on like the not-quite-the-best-climber pros do in the tours, so off he went. And it almost worked. He could see a group of four to five a short distance ahead on the straighter sections, but could not quite get to them. The Wheelsucker chased and chased and chased and lost site of Steve behind him. But as he tired, he felt the gap between him and the group ahead opening. And then the second climb started. The Wheelsucker no longer thought he could catch the group ahead on his own, so was riding at a more sustainable pace. Part way up the climb he saw a group behind him and eased up so he could jump on when they caught him. On the last steep section of the climb Steve Owens and Stu Waring came up to the Wheelsucker and he grabbed Stu's wheel and hung on to the top. The others did not make it on, so the three took turns pulling as they started on the 18k rolling uphill at 2.5% section.

The Wheelsucker told them that the group ahead was only one to two minutes up the road, and this was confirmed by Andy at the side of the road, who told them the gap was down to a minute. Not long after this they spotted a group of five not far ahead, and reeled them in soon after.

Further up the road Brian MacLean was with two Spaniards in the lead group. The chase Steve, Stu and the Wheelsucker had just joined contained Jose, a second Spanish rider who was their team's road captain, Steve Wahl, Paul Beyer, Tim Shaffer, and now Steve Owens, Stu and the Wheelsucker.

Tim was taking long pulls, and once recovered the wheelsucker took a shorter and harder -- at least for the wheelsucker -- pull after Tim pulled off. But the two Spaniards were doing no work at all. After assessing the situation the ABRTers split the group to isolate Jose. Tim jumped hard with Paul and Steve going with him. Jose tagged along; who could stop him from going with the move? But the other Spanish rider did not make the jump and was left with Steve Owens, Stu and the Wheelsucker.

The first chase started to close with Brian and the two Spaniards ahead, while the gap back to the Wheelsucker's group grew, as the ABRTers sat on the Spaniard's wheel.

This group was not going hard, and as the Wheelsucker recovered he decided the Spanish rider was tiring and there was an opportunity to drop him and try to get up the road to help his team mates. So the Wheelsucker jumped as hard as he could. But the Spaniard was not in fact tiring, and rather easily got the Wheelsucker's wheel, while Steve Owens and Stu were gapped. The Wheelsucker pulled off as soon as he realized the Spaniard was on him, encouraged by Steve and Stu as well, got on the Spaniard's wheel and waited for Steve and Stu. Not wanting to risk taking the Spaniard with them, the three just sat on and let the gap to the groups ahead open.

Finally with two kilometers to go and the race up the road and not reachable the Wheelsucker was given permission to attack. He jumped and was not covered by the Spaniard, who must have known the Wheelsucker's effort could not change the outcome of the race.

The Wheelsucker got clear, and a little closer to the line Steve and Stu did as well. The Wheelsucker rolled across for 8th, but learned that Jose had jumped early as the chase closed on the leaders, and had caught and passed Brian, so the Spanish team went 1,2,3. with the ABRTers in the lead groups getting 4th through 7th. Ouch! The Wheelsucker has been wracking his brain ever since, trying to figure out if he could have done anything differently.

The Spaniards also rode with the group on the Sunday after the race, again demonstrating their climbing ability on the Puerto del Sol climb. The Wheelsucker was tired and his back was sore, so this was a low effort day for him. Several riders split off to shorten the ride, but over half continued. As the group rode into the last village on the way back after a coffee stop, the Wheelsucker was taking a pull into the wind on a short climb and eased off the front with Sue McQuiston, and then when Sue declined to go, attacked in the village and got a gap.

It was a little confusing going through the village in traffic. Young Josh caught the Wheelsucker and grabbed his wheel. As they left the village with perhaps 1k to go, Josh encouraged the Wheelsucker to go hard. The Wheelsucker gave it everything an aging Wheelsucker, tired from nine days of camp and with a sore back can give, but gapped Josh doing it. So he found himself sprinting for the service station finish line all alone. But the Wheelsucker was not the only one going for it, as a few lengths back Josh was sprinting as hard as he could trying to stay in front of a very fast closing Steve Wahl. But the Wheelsucker had all the gap he needed and coasted across the imaginary line first.

Feeling quite good about his "victory", the Wheelsucker decided to ride back on the gravel road rather than put the bike in the van, at the service station. He was still feeling good when he turned up the Idlebreaks driveway and pushed up through the loose gravel towards the bike room. And then, with literally two feet to go to the end of the gravel and the end of the ride the Wheelsucker was paid back for his smugness when he slid out and wiped out onto his left side, with an astonished Janet looking on. How appropriate.

Wheelsucker Data:

466.45 miles, 27:43:06 hours, 17,814 KJoules