Wednesday May 4th Greenbelt RaceA Wheelsucker Special Report

The Wheelsucker races sailboats – a Farr 40 -- most Wednesday evenings from May to August. But he can miss the occasional sailboat race. This week the Wheelsucker’s coach suggested the Greenbelt “Training” race as the Wednesday workout. So the Wheelsucker told his Farr 40 team mates he had another commitment and went bike racing instead.

Having committed to doing the race, the Wheelsucker started to worry.
Despite being an aging Wheelsucker who avoids pulls, cannot hammer, cannot sprint and cannot hammer up short climbs – in short a wheelsucker – the Wheelsucker somehow finagled an upgrade to cat 3 about three years ago. This is not normally an issue as the Wheelsucker races 45+ and 50+. But there are no masters races at Greenbelt. There is the “C” race for cat 5s, the “B” race for 4s and 5s, and the “A” race for everyone else. And being on paper a cat 3, the Wheelsucker is supposed to race the A race. The Wheelsucker raced the last Greenbelt “A” race of the 2010 season, and was struggling desperately to hang on at the back, as Chuck Hutcheson launched attack after attack, working to get the right combination in the break, and wear out the competition. Chuck succeeded in this endeavor – his team mate beat Chip Hoover in the race and moved ahead of him on points for the season – and the Wheelsucker was essentially collateral damage. By some miracle he made it to the bottom of the climb on the finish lap, with the main field, but the Wheelsucker was skeptical he could do it again.

A downgrade to cat 4 was not something that could be done on short notice.

So when checking in for the race, the Wheelsucker was careful to ask what the preferred way to handle being dropped was: Was it OK to rejoin the race a lap down? If so, how and where should this be done?

These issues being addressed (OK to jump back in, wait at the gate and go like h*ll when the pack comes by to catch on at the back), the Wheelsucker changed and got his bike – his magnificent new ABRT Team Colors CAAD10, almost certainly the world’s lightest 58cm CAAD10 – ready.

There were several ABRTers preparing to race, with ABRT riders in the C, B and A races. The Wheelsucker would be racing with Tim Shaffer and Mark Lahuec. The Wheelsucker considered asking them what help they wanted, but then -- considering that he needed to be “in play” to help anyone -- thought better of it.

The next issue was warmup. With the “C” race on, warming up on the course was not allowed. Experienced Greenbelters had brought indoor trainers or rollers. The Wheelsucker rode back and forth in the parking lot at low speed, low power and low heart rate, hoping this would be better than nothing. Even this effort was broken up by frequent nervousness-induced trips to the restroom.

And then it was time to race. A not-really-warmed-up, not-really-ready and rather apprehensive Wheelsucker lined up. The Wheelsucker did not recognize any of the best known MABRA powerhouses in the field. No Chuck, no Chip, no SuperDave, no Ramon. It was a twenty rider field. The Wheelsucker lined up in the third row.
And then it was time to race and the official blew the whistle.

The Wheelsucker had a nice clip in, easily passed the rider in front of him having trouble clipping in, and was safely tucked in on a wheel near the front of the pack, on the first decent and on the back stretch.

But up the climb the Wheelsucker struggled. He was last in the group and gapped by a bike length at the top of the climb, was hyperventilating desperately, but caught back on on the descent and moved up in the pack. Then it was sprint like crazy out of the sweeping right turn, catch back on as the pack slowed, move up closer to the front, and hit the climb again. Repeat.

Sometimes the pace up the climb would ease a little and the Wheelsucker would not be last and most of the time the field did not go hard on the descent, so it was always possible to move up. Though on the verge of being dropped on a bunch of laps, it never quite happened.

There were break attempts and riders off the front for multiple laps.

With four laps to go, the Wheelsucker caught up after sprinting out of the corner once again, the group slowed again, and the Wheeluscker kept going fast and worked his way up to Tim Shaffer and asked if there was still a rider off the front. Tim was just saying “They have all been caught” as the Wheelsucker flew by him. The Wheelsucker had started going thinking it was time to bring back the last rider off the front. But learning he had been caught and no one was off the front didn’t change the Wheelsucker’s mind, he was already moving fast and off the front, without actually pushing all that hard. In the Wheelsucker’s mind, attacking the A field was an end in itself, and besides, a headstart for the climb couldn’t be bad, right? Unbeknownst to the Wheelsucker, his two teammates immediately swung into action behind him, went to the front of the pack and started blocking. And a really amazing thing happened, the gap opened!

The Wheelsucker started up the climb without the usual surge, but just holding his best, steady, sustainable power. A third of the way up the climb a very energetic rider bridged up and yelled “grab my wheel!” as he pushed by. A quick glance behind revealed a significant gap to the pack.

Now this was interesting, thought the Wheelsucker. Could this be a break off the front with 4 laps to go?

So the Wheelsucker stood up and climbed as hard as he could to stay with the other rider. And this is where being an aging Wheelsucker who avoids pulls, cannot hammer, cannot sprint and cannot hammer up short climbs came into play; the Wheelsucker gave it everything he had, but could not stay with the other rider. At the top of the climb, the other rider was clear, the Wheelsucker still had a nice gap on the field, but he was completely blown. He tried to accelerate down the descent and close the gap, but he was not recovered enough to actually push hard, and the gap did not close. On the flat backstretch the Wheelsucker was still not recovered, and the chasing field was gaining on him. Time to ease up and sit in, thought the Wheelsucker, who was concerned that he would still be so blown when caught that he would go straight off the back on the climb.

So the Wheelsucker sat up, sat in, and then it was time to climb again. They’ll hurt me bad, thought the Wheelsucker, but with encouragement from Tim he made it up the climb last but in contact with the main field, and moved up on the descent again. The other rider was still off the front trying for the solo win.

A lap later – two to go – the Wheelsucker was feeling better and wondering why the field was not chasing down the lone leader. The field crested the climb and no one pushed on the descent. The Wheelsucker tried a Jay Murphy move, pedal hard for a few strokes to accelerate, get everyone moving, and immediately pull off. And it worked! Half way down the descent the Wheelsucker was tucked in third wheel behind two riders who were going fast. Coming out of the sweeping right it was only a short distance to the leader and the three sprinted across. And suddenly, with 1.5 laps to go the Wheelsucker was in a four rider break with a small gap.

The Wheelsucker sat in as long as he could, but was finally shamed into taking a pull part way up the climb. He pulled through and found himself leading as the four crossed the start/finish line to start the final lap. The four started the descent, but this time the field had decided to bring it back and the four were caught on the descent. The Wheelsucker tucked in on a wheel, followed around the backstretch and then realizing he really had nothing left, eased up and did not contest the climb and sprint on the last lap. He rolled across last in the group, good for 17th overall.

This A race did not have the fireworks and did not seem quite as hard as the end of season A race the Wheelsucker recalled, but his average power was slightly higher. Despite finishing last out of the pack, 2 or 3 riders had been dropped and finished behind him. The Wheelsucker was thrilled to have attacked, thrilled to have gotten a gap, and thrilled that he had been making moves in the final laps, instead of just hanging on trying to finish with the pack.

After the race Tim told the Wheelsucker that his attacks had made the last laps easier for Tim and Mark, as they did not need to do any work and Tim was gracious enough to say that his 7th place finish (2nd cat 3) was made easier by the Wheelsucker’s efforts. Mark was 12th (7th cat 3).

In the concurrent "B" race, Patrick Hogan (who does not show up on the results for some reason) and Steve Owens were in a good break but were caught. Blown from their efforts they had little left for the sprint. Steve was 21st, Patrick's finish is not on the results and Mike Faber was 24th, but 6th cat 5.

In the "C" race Nich Caddenhead and Aidan Palmer were 6th and 7th, and Andrew Schindler was 12th.

Wheelsucker Race Data:
57:20 time
242 watts average, 933 max, 299 normalized.
152bpmm 95rpm, 23.71mph

Results: https://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?permit=2011-1014


The Wheelsucker’s Thoughts:

He is working so hard trying to hold a wheel on the climb, and is head down, not looking up the road, that he is not as aware of what is happening at the front. The Wheelsucker needs to look around more.

When riders who are good at jumping go at a difficult part of the course, it is very very hard or even impossible for the Wheelsucker to go with them. Jumping just before the top of the climb is an obvious place, but the Wheelsucker just does not have anything left to go with, at the top of the climb. An alternative may be going when he can, getting a gap, and hoping one or more riders come across to him.

Aging Wheelsuckers need to warm up even more than everyone else. The Wheelsucker needs to bring rollers or an indoor trainer for a better warmup.