The Greene County Road RaceThe Wheelsucker Report

The forecast for Saturday in Waynesboro PA, where the Greene County road race staged, was a 60% change of rain and thunderstorms. It rained for almost the entire (long) five hour drive there, but shortly before the start the rain stopped, then the skies cleared and the weather turned out to be marvelous. Given this and the improvement in weather shortly before the start of the Morgantown race, the Wheelsucker is not inclined to bet against ABRA promoter JR Petsko!

The route was only 35 miles, but there were three significant climbs, the first not long into the race, the second not as hard, and the third not far from the finish.

The 40/50/60 men’s masters are apparently always combined in ABRA road races, but due to the small field sizes, the women and juniors were added to the same wave. So a decent sized group rolled out together, at a good pace. Despite the initial headwind there was nothing to make a selection until the first climb.

For reasons unknown to the Wheelsucker, Mike Spinnler was frequently on the front and probably pulled more than any other rider in the race. There were one or two half hearted attacks, but nothing that could actually shed anyone.

The first climb was not as steep as the third, but it was longer. The road was not narrow, there were no curves to gap riders, there were no desperate moves to get near the front; none of that mattered. What did matter was how fast one could climb. The Wheelsucker took roughly 10 minutes to climb it, and hit is max HR doing it, while averaging power very close to the top of his VO2Max range. At several points he was only doing eight mph. Brian MacLean easily pedaled away with one or two other riders and dissappeared up the road.

And here is where the Wheelsucker made the first of a series of mistakes. He knew Brian was up the road, but he was not sure if there were one or two riders with him, who they were, and what age group they were in. The Wheelsucker thought it was two other riders, with one of them being 50+. But actually it was just one other rider, Gunnar Shogren, and he was 40+.

The Wheelsucker summited very close to three other riders, including a very energetic rider on a mountain bike with knobby tires, and these four soon combined and worked to close the gap, while trying to stay away from a large group that was forming behind them. But not only was the Wheelsucker’s group not closing on Brian and Gunnar, who were out of site up the road, but they were soon reeled in by the large chase, creating a combined group of about 15 riders. The Wheelsucker never rode to the back to see exactly who was in the group; it may have included some of the stronger women, but it was quite a bit smaller than the field that had rolled out.

The Wheelsucker quickly decided he could not work in this group, as Brian was up the road. And the Wheelsucker was encouraged because team mates Ken McDowell and soon Steve Owens were also in this combined group, making ABRT the only strongly represented team.

The route follows the top of the ridge for a little while, so there was no immediate descent. Mike Spinnler continued to do a lot of pulling, while the Wheelsucker and his team mates tried to be subtle about blocking. The amazing MTB rider avoided actually pulling, but was comfortable riding 3rd or 4th wheel and closing some of the easier gaps. And at least half the riders were not pulling at all.

The Wheelsucker guessed not much would happen until the third major climb and that was generally true. Mike Spinnler continued to take long pulls; a small number of other riders took pulls. There were a few half-hearted attacks but no gap lasted as long as 20 seconds. The Wheelsucker and other ABRTers took their turns at the front on occasion. But the Wheelsucker would start his pull at over 330 watts, and would very soon be apparently straining, and only putting out 190 watts.

There was a smaller second climb, but the Wheelsucker made it to the top with the leaders, though a couple of bike lengths behind a strong 50+ rider. Fortunately Ken McDowell was there to make sure the Wheelsucker got to a wheel on the descent, and most of the group reformed as the road flattened out.

Eventually the group approached the third climb. This climb was not as long as the first, but it was steeper. First there was a false flat and then the climb started. As the road tilted up the speed dropped while torque and power climbed up. This climb had a wall. The worst of the wall took a little less than a minute to climb, but it shredded the group. The MTB rider outclimbed everyone; A 40+ rider was standing pushing a big gear and straining to hold second, the Wheelsucker was holding 3rd. The Wheelsucker briefly looked around, saw gaps behind him, the two riders in front and concluded that neither the MTBer, nor the 40+ rider were going to ride away on their own, and so the Wheelsucker decided to ease up slightly and conserve some energy. Ken McDowell and another 50+ rider rolled up next to the Wheelsucker, with another 40+ rider not far behind. This group reformed at the crest with the last-placed 40+ rider yelling "We’ve got a gap!!" The five were flying down the steep descent within seconds; the Wheelsucker hit 53.24 mph within 30 seconds of the crest.

There was no sign of the next riders on the road behind.

The Wheelsucker considered the situation. He still thought (incorrectly) there was one 50+ rider up the road, so he thought he was racing for second. And there was only one other 50+ rider in this group, so the Wheelsucker thought he had a good shot at second. As the descent flattened out a paceline formed, with the MTBer skipping pulls. And then the Wheelsucker looked back and saw a very determined Mike Spinnler, towing another 50+ rider, within a few bikelengths of the group. Drat! Thought the Wheelsucker, who had rather liked only having one other 50+ rider to deal with.

But the Wheelsucker thought there might still be time to rectify the situation. He got to the front and accelerated, hoping to reopen a bit of a gap between his group and Mike. But instead he gapped the group and Mike and the other 50+ rider joined it. And here is where the Wheelsucker may have made another key mistake. With Mike presumably tired (he had pulled more than anyone else, had been gapped on all three climbs and had chased like a madman to get back on), two other 50+ riders in the group, but one of whom was doing no work, and with his ABRT 40+ teammate Ken McDowell in the group, the Wheelsucker could have tried to keep going and TT away to the finish. But he did not check his computer, did not check distance to the finish, and concluded that it was too early to try to get away, and eased up to let the group back on. A few moments later Spinnler was back at the front pulling.

Jeez! Does he think he's Cancellara or something?

A little while later the Wheelsucker pulled through again and again no one was on his wheel and again he got a small gap. And again he thought it was too early to go and eased up to let them back on again (in reality this might have been within two miles of the finish).

Then the Wheelsucker somehow missed the one-mile-to-go sign AND then also missed the 200 meter sign. The group went around a small bend, the Wheelsucker saw the finish tent, but the two riders who knew were the finish line was were already sprinting and had gapped the rest. Mike Spinnler had pulled off after taking yet another long hard pull and was spent. The rest of the group tried to react and start their sprint, but they finished together, with the two finish-line-aware 50+ riders a short distance ahead. And the winner of the 50+ race was the rider who was towed back by Mike Spinnler and who had hardly ever stuck his nose in the wind.

It was such a nice day the ABRTers rolled back on the course in the reverse direction (after checking this was OK with the officials), climbed back up to the top of the last climb and watched the 123 and 3-4 fields summit and start their descent to the finish. The Wheelsucker was mentally kicking himself the entire time, thinking he could have won the race if he had been a little more aware of the situation.

Thinking back on this race there were several thing the Wheelsucker could have, or should have, done:

1. Know where the finish is and what the last mile looks like.
2. Check the distance on his bike computer a little more often
3. Tried to go alone either of the two times he pulled through and had a small gap
4. Jumped Spinnler after he had taken a long pull in the sections between the climbs, trying to drop him and take a smaller group of strong riders, probably mostly 40+, to the base of the last climb.
5. Gone all out on the last climb to summit with the MTB rider, the 40+ rider in black and Ken McDowell, and gapping everyone else, though it would have been harder to hammer all the way to the finish line if he had gone to the max on the climb.
6. Know EXACTLY who was up the road.

After watching most of the 123 and 3-4 fields summit and start the descent, the ABRTers rolled after them. Wondering if he could have stayed away if he had attacked after the summit, the Wheelsucker jumped hard on the descent, opened a gap, and hammered as hard as an aging Wheelsucker can hammer. He hammered all the way to the last turn before the finish, turned around and saw he had a useful gap on Ken, who had been chasing hard all the way.

It took the Wheelsucker 8:52 from the summit to the last turn, averaging 29.15 mph and 247 watts (he was coasting in a tuck on the steepest parts and some of the corners). The distance was 4.3 miles.

In retrospect, the Wheelsucker knows he should have gone for it.

Results: http://www.abraracing.com/Results/2011GCRR.html

Route and elevation: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/80673054