Tuesday May 17th Training RideThe Wheelsucker Report

The Wheelsucker spent the weekend in Ontario with his girlfriend and was tired from the nine hour drive home Monday night, and short on sleep having arrived home in the very early hours of Tuesday AM. The Wheelsucker’s girlfriend is an avid hiker, and the Wheelsucker was also sore from a fast two hour hike in the Niagara escarpment on Saturday.

Sore legs and sore back, and lack of sleep notwithstanding, the Wheelsucker was looking forward – with some apprehension – to the Tuesday training ride. Tuesday’s on-again-off-again rain was not looking great, but the weather radar showed it clearing around 5:30, so the Wheelsucker drove from Annapolis to the Davidsonville Park & Ride. It rained hard most of the way out there, but amazingly the rain stopped half a mile before the exit and the roads were dry at the P&R.

But the rain did limit turnout, with only Ace, Ryan Brian, Rick, Tom, Mike Schneider, and Mike, a non-ABRT rider with aero bars, in the Park & Ride. The Wheelsucker’s warmup started really well when he flatted after half a lap in the P&R. But the others were kind enough to wait while he stuffed a spare tube into his front tire. The group rolled out about 6:04.

Just as they were leaving, Will Nuckols passed them in his car and raced ahead to find a spot to meet them. Given the small group and the forecast the notion of keeping the group together and shortening the route had been discussed, and --the Wheelsucker thought -- agreed to.

The pace picked up shortly after the left turn onto Rossback. Well before 214 the Wheelsucker was hurting and thinking he really needed more time to warmup before going this hard. Mike-with-aerobars popped before 214. Also before 214 a rider was spotted ahead. As he came back to the group this turned out to be Will. Will was caught on a shallow climb. The Wheelsucker shouted “Jump, jump!” a short distance before the catch, but Will must have struggled to catch on to the back of the fast moving train from nearly a standing start, because he was popped by 214 as well. Ace was driving hard, and the Wheelsucker appreciated the short break at the red light at the 214 intersection.

Given the pace being set by Ace and Ryan, the Wheelsucker was into survival mode early. He was struggling to stay on for the shallow climb out of the dip to past the Sands turn, and was dreading Harwood Hill. Ace pulled hard to the base, and then pulled off for Ryan shortly after the climb started. The Wheelsucker tried to glue himself to Ryan’s rear wheel, but it wasn’t sticking hard enough. Somehow a knackered Wheelsucker made it to the top and grimly hung on as Ace and Ryan accelerated off the top. Once the road flattened out and the Wheelsucker was not working quite as hard to just stay on, he checked behind him and realized Rick, Tom and Mike Schneider were gone. So it was just Ace, Ryan, Brian and the Wheelsucker. This group agreed to skip the additional loop to shorten the ride and limit the risk of being caught out in hard rain.

The Wheelsucker tried to avoid working hard before the South Polling House road stairstep climb and was riding third wheel, on Ryan, at the base of the climb. Part way up Ace did his slightly-out-of-the-saddle move and started to push a little harder. Ryan went with him. The Wheelsucker dug deep and stayed with them, with Brian behind him, and the four were together at the right turn onto Bayard. “Whew!”, thought the Wheelsucker, “dodged that bullet.”

Since the group had agreed to skip the loop the route was straight on Bayard. The Wheelsucker took the downhill pull to the turn they were skipping and pulled off for Brian. Bayard is slightly downhill and FAST through this section. Brian took the next pull, with the Wheelsucker struggling to catch on at the back. Then Brian pulled off and Ace took over. For whatever reason – does Ace need a reason? – Ace decided to drill it. The Wheelsucker was trying to glue himself to Ryan’s wheel again, but the speedo was showing 34 to 35 mph. The Wheelsucker’s pain-and-suffering indicator was going off. And then the Wheelsucker realized Brian had popped, probably unable to get on the back of the short train as Ace hit it at the front.

Desperately wanting a break and thinking the group had agreed to ride together, the Wheelsucker yelled “Wait!” to Ace and Ryan and eased up. But Ace and Ryan were having none of it, and hammered on. The Wheelsucker waited for Brian while wondering if he would have been able to hold on for another eight seconds if he had really tried hard…

Brian and the Wheelsucker (mostly Brian) chased and Ace and Ryan eased up so the four were back together a little up Sands Road. The Wheelsucker was taking shorter and shorter pulls, but even so catching on at the back was taking desperate measures, and just holding a wheel was hard enough that there was no recovery.

The Wheelsucker was certain Ace would go on his favorite second roller, but Ace didn’t. Ace continued his pull into the last dip on Sands. Then part way up the climb, after the group had started to slow, Ace did his slightly-out-of-the-saddle move. Ryan responded again, and the Wheelsucker once again tried to glue himself to Ryan’s wheel. He was so close to Ryan that he had to coast for a second to avoid hitting Ryan’s wheel, but then the gap to Ryan’s wheel started to open. The Wheelsucker set his CP5 seconds, CP10 seconds and CP20 seconds here, but still could not hold Ryan’s wheel. Near the top of the climb, shortly before the left onto Harwood/Patuxent River Road the Wheelsucker was officially unglued and off the back. He looked behind him for help, but Brian was gapped behind the Wheelsucker

The Wheelsucker was blown. He decided he had no chance of catching Ace and Ryan on his own, so he waited for Brian and they chased together, with Brian doing most of the work. They were still close to Ace and Ryan at the dip. The Wheelsucker went to emergency climbing power for the climb, and the gap held, but he was not able to match Ace and Ryan’s acceleration off the top and the gap opened. Meanwhile Brian was gapped again.

Ace and Ryan caught the tail end of the green at 214. When the Wheelsucker got there it was a new red with 214 traffic going through the intersection so the Wheelsucker could not jump across. Brian caught up while this happened, so the they rolled through the intersection together and took up the chase.

Every now and then they would gain on Ace and Ryan because Ace and Ryan had eased up and were chatting, but they would work harder when Brian and the Wheelsucker got closer and kept their gap. Brian took a long hard last pull, but the Wheelsucker popped, so Brian eased up. Coming to the finish line the Wheelsucker tried to launch a sprint from behind Brian but had nothing left.

From first crossing the finish line, back to the finish line.

distance: 23.87 miles
time: 58:27
power: 250 watts average, 800 watts max
cadence: 94 rpm average
speed: 24.67 mph