Tuesday May24th Training RideThe Wheelsucker Report

A tough day at the office or "un jour sans"!
The Wheelsucker suffered and struggled and barely made it to the finish, with a large group ...

The Wheelsucker sneaked out of work a little early and arrived at the Davidsonville Park & Ride early enough to warm up before the ride. Once back the Park & Ride after a little over 20 minutes of warmup, the Wheelsucker noted that Ace and Eric Boone were there, but Ryan was not. Other strong riders included Brian Whitesell and Kyle Pittman, but it was a large group and the Wheelsucker did not see everyone before rollout.

The pace to 214 was fast but not really fast. But as Eric said later, he was not there to ride easy, so after taking some pulls on the way to 214, he started driving the pace hard afterwards. Several other riders was pulling hard and looking strong, like Jeff Chun, Matt Albanese, and Spencer Seibert, with others like Michelle " Michelle the Merciless" Faurot, Tom Aga, Keith Reeder and Matt Albanese looking strong near the front.

Halfway to Harwood Hill the Wheelsucker was dreading the climb and wondering why he had taken up bicycle racing. But he made it to the top of Harwood Hill close enough to the leaders to grab Jeff's wheel and hold on. The Wheelsucker did not look back but suspects that several riders were dropped here.

The Wheelsucker was following Ace with Keith Reeder behind him on the short route 2 section. Ace let a gap open just after the turn onto Polling House and the Wheelsucker jumped across before the gap grew. Ace did not close it and most of the group stayed with him, so by the left turn onto South Polling House a break of about seven or eight -- with Eric as the primary locomotive -- had a useful gap. The Wheelsucker yelled to the others that they had a gap and that Ace would bridge later.

One rider attacked hard on the stairstep climb, but no one went with him, and he must have burned most of his matches because he went OTB later in the ride. The Wheelsucker was content to follow Kyle and then Eric hoping to be with the strongest riders at the top. Eric went easy enough that the Wheelsucker was able to do this. The single rider who had attacked sat up at the top. The Wheelsucker briefly tried to drive the break after the right turn off the top to get rid of the gapped riders, but had to pull off to recover and the riders made it back on, reforming the same break.

The break was still away at the turn from Bayard onto Polling House, and the Wheelsucker noted that Ace was not in it. Hmn.

After the turn onto Polling House Eric drove the pace up the climb and the sweeping right turn and past the golf course. The Wheelsucker was suffering. Eric was taking long hard pulls. Other riders were taking short pulls and pulling off. As the break passed the golf course the Wheelsucker tried to pull through when Eric pulled off but could not actually get in front of Eric to pull over, as Eric was driving it up the short climb at the end of the false flat. Barely hanging on, the Wheelsucker noticed that no one was on his wheel. The rest of the break had sat up as Ace had pulled the large chase up to the break. The Wheelsucker was gapped behind Eric and sat up to find a wheel. But Eric kept going.

A few fresher riders jumped across to Eric forming a new break. As the Wheelsucker drifted back Ace told him he shouldn’t let those riders get away, but the Wheelsucker was past caring and just wanted to find a wheel. He was thinking about sitting up and soft pedaling the rest of the ride.

But after getting on at the back and holding on, the Wheelsucker was able to recover slightly and the break was caught again before the right turn onto South Polling House.

Of course this meant the South Polling House stairstep climb was next on the agenda. The Wheelsucker kept his nose out of the wind and then maneuvered to follow Eric and Kyle up the climb, but the two of them and a third rider hammered it hard and the Wheelsucker was gapped. He chased hard and in turn gapped everyone behind him. He was still quite close to the three at the top of the climb and right turn onto Bayard, but was so blown he could not chase effectively. As he pedaled up Bayard, with the three riders just up the road but out of reach, Chris Adair powered by. But the Wheelsucker was too blown to get on Chris’ wheel. Then Steve Owens came by and the Wheelsucker dug deep and grabbed his wheel.

Then the leaders eased up and it all came back together again, though the Wheelsucker noted that Ace was not there, though it was a large group.

The Wheelsucker was still thinking about sitting up and soft pedaling home, and actually did ease off at the back for a few seconds -- giving up -- but the large group ahead slowed, and the Wheelsucker caught back on.

Eric attacked again late on Bayard as Bob Walters was taking a pull. Matt Albanese went after him, and another rider or two tried to go with them. The Wheelsucker was pinned to the right and could not immediately go after them. Eric and Matt got a small gap. Keith Reeder pulled out to go after them and the Wheelsucker was able to grab his wheel and yelled at Bob to catch on as they went by him. Keith got up to the same speed as Eric and Matt, and closed part of the gap. This was working very well for the Wheelsucker until Keith pulled over to the left, leaving the Wheelsucker in the wind and leading. The Wheelsucker did not know if anyone was actually on his wheel, and felt he had no choice but to take a hard pull. Wondering how many match sticks he was burning and how many he had left, the Wheelsucker pushed hard. It was not a big gap, but the Wheelsucker was doing 33 mph and was pushing rather more than 400 watts. But the gap was closed just about at the small bump and a gasping Wheelsucker caught on to Eric’s wheel shortly before the right turn onto Bayard.

Eric and Matt had probably eased up again, and then the leaders were slowed at the turn because a truck was approaching from the left. Still exhausted and drained from his effort, the Wheelsucker noted that the large lead group was all back together, again.

With Ace not in the group there was no one to attack on the second roller, so it was still a large lead group as the last dip and climb on Sands arrived. The Wheelsucker was letting riders in ahead of him to avoid getting to the front too early, and was riding about 6th or 7th down the dip. Sure enough Keith and another rider – Spencer? -- jumped as the climb started, and the Wheelsucker rang down to the engine room for maximum power and chased. He was still within range at the top, with a gap behind him. Keith eased up but Spencer kept going, so the Wheelsucker tucked in on Spencer’s wheel. Then Spencer pulled off and the Wheelsucker had to take another pull shortly before the dip. He took the shortest pull he could and pulled off, but everyone else had caught back on. The Wheelsucker was still blown as the group started the climb out of the dip. Digging hard the Wheelsucker made it up last, but still in touch.

He was very much looking forward to the red light at 214 and a pause, but the light was green, and riders started to sprint for it. A knackered Wheelsucker with almost nothing left made it across the intersection gasping and wondering if he could just sit up and soft pedal to the finish. The ride to the finish was miserable. The pace stayed high and the Wheelsucker never properly recovered. He rotated through to the front as the group was on the flat going by the sports park, took a short fast pull and got off. It was a long way to the back of the group. Eric offered him a gap to get in early, but the Wheelsucker no longer had the mental toughness to fight for position, let that opportunity go, and drifted to the back. He nearly came unstuck on the short climb out of the penultimate dip (a Wheelsucker preferred attack point when he has something left), and hung on at the back on the last flat. Then it was down the last dip and hold on as the leaders wound it up for the sprint at the front. On principle, the Wheelsucker ramped it up and jumped around the riders immediately in front of him. But the lead group had broken the elastic and the Wheelsucker did not have the determination to get across to them, and just soft pedaled for the line.

It was such a relief for the ride to be over. The Wheelsucker nearly crawled through the Governor Bridge Road intersection, but part way back to the Park & Ride he started to recover, got his head down, and started pushing to catch and pass the leaders – who were soft pedaling and chatting – before Davidsonville Road.

Needing to get a few more minutes in per his coach’s instructions (two hour group ride) the Wheelsucker slowly pedaled one loop behind the Park & Ride to get another fourteen minutes in, and coasted in to the Park & Ride.

Maybe it was time to quit cycling and take up horseshoes and drinking, thought the Wheelsucker.

Wheelsucker Data (from just past 214 to the finish line)

Distance: 27.15 miles
Time: 1:04:43
Power: 219 watts average, 800 watts max, 267 watts normalized
Heart rate: 151/168 bpm
Cadence: 97 rpm average
Average Speed: 25.13 mph