Saturday July 16th Training RideThe Wheelsucker Gets a Breakaway

With some ABRT riders racing Giro di Coppi, the Wheelsucker was expecting a somewhat lower than normal turnout for the Saturday ride. When the Wheelsucker drove into the Davidsonville Park and Ride (better known as "ABRT Ride Staging Area" on Facebook) Mike Wagner was getting ready and Rick Paukstitus, Stu Waring and more of the regulars were there. But the Wheelsucker's hopes for a civilized ride ended when Ryan Guttridge rolled in, followed a minute or two later by Ace McDermott.

The group rolled out and Steve Owens – yes, THAT Steve Owens, the one who crashed in W VA and separated his shoulder and should be riding on an indoor trainer at most – rolled out at a quicker pace and made the left off of Davidsonville road first. The Wheelsucker was second at that turn and decided to close up on Steve. It took a bit of effort and a bit of time, as Steve was pushing. No one went with the Wheelsucker, so when he made it across to Steve shortly after Governor Bridge road he could not see the third rider on the road. When the Wheelsucker caught Steve he want right by, made sure Steve was on his wheel, and kept going. Suddenly it was game on!

Taking medium length pulls at a steady pace the two continued, occasionally sneaking a glance behind but seeing no one. The pace was hard, and Steve – who is more banged up than most of the prestart GC favorites at the TdF are now – was concerned about maintaining the pace for the entire ride.

Taking longer pulls as time went by the Wheelsucker led them to the rest stop, still clear of the chase.

And then the Wheelsucker got silly. After quickly refilling his water bottles, he got back on his bicycle and told Steve he was rolling out to try to stay ahead of the chase and pick up more KOM and intermediate sprint points. Steve decided to wait, but timed the gap until the chase arrived.

Per Steve, the two had a three minute gap over the chase at the rest stop. The chase ramped it up from McKendree on, so Steve and the Wheelsucker probably had the largest gap about then. And the Wheelsucker apparently rolled out one minute before the chase arrived. The chase group left about six minutes later, so the Wheelsucker probably had a seven minute lead.

The Wheelsucker rolled out of the rest stop and tried to hold a steady pace. He caught a green light at the left turn in North Beach, and kept the pressure on the pedals through Rosehaven, up the climb out of Rosehaven, up the horse farm climb, and up the wall. Whenever the road was flat and straight enough, the Wheelsucker would rest his forearms on the bar tops to get low in front (a la Floyd Landis epic stage where he rides almost the entire stage with his nose in the wind, winning decisively and putting him back in range of the yellow jersey). Every now and then the Wheelsucker would sneak a peak behind him, but no chase was in sight.

Meanwhile Ace, Ryan, Stu and Mike were driving hard enough that they had gapped the others in North Beach and disappeared up the road.

A tired Wheelsucker took the left from route 2 onto Harwood and kept going, thinking the chase had to be close behind. He had a short wait at 214 for a green light, and kept going, though everything hurt and he was struggling to hold 230 watts. And finally the Wheelsucker neared the line, took one last look behind him, pushed down the last dip and tried to hammer for the line. When he got close he stood and tried to sprint but he had nothing left, and had to sit down. He coasted across the line with no chase in sight. There was no one to see it, and the Wheelsucker was too drained to raise his arms as he crossed the line.

A tired Wheelsucker soft pedaled back to the P&R and was chatting with Debbie Dudas when Mike Wagner rolled in a couple of minutes later. Mike expressed surprise that the Wheelsucker had ridden the full course, not taken a short cut, and had stayed away. The Wheelsucker just smiled.

Wheelsucker Data:

From rollout to rest stop (with Steve O.):
About 1:08:00, 229/582 watts, 149bpm, 93 rpm, 22.29 mph

From rest stop to finish line (alone):
About 1:30, 227/621 watts, 152 bpm, 87rpm, 21.48 mph