Mallorca Training Camp Day 4The Wheelsucker Report

An epic day’s ride. 106.25 miles, 5:42:56 Ride time.

Wednesday is a day off for the Fred Rompelberg organization, but ABRT was not ready for a rest day, so rode with ex pro Ken Whelpdale of 3fsports: http://www.3fsports.com/

The Wheelsucker was not feeling good at the rollout. The technical phrase is “felt like shit”. After three days of long rides, perhaps the Wheelsucker was tired and needed a day off? He considered splitting off with Bob Walters but did not. After Bob was gone the Wheelsucker considered turning around and heading back several times. He asked Ace how long he should go for a warmup before deciding, and Ace said “one hour”. So the Wheelsucker hung on at the back miserably and waited for it to be one hour. At one hour the Wheelsucker was feeling a little better, and decided to continue, though this was partly because he was no longer confident of retracing the route back to the hotel, by himself.

At least the Wheelsucker knew what to do: ride at the back, take no pulls, minimize efforts, and hope to feel better; the Wheelsucker does this all the time. But any efforts over 250 watts were taxing, even if quite short. He was being gapped on small bumps.

When the long climb started, the Wheelsucker was feeling a little better, but clearly not on his game. He could not hold threshold and was quickly left in last. But a strange thing happened part way up the climb, the Wheelsucker started to feel a little better. The stronger riders were gone, but then Ken – who had been pulling a lot on the front – came back to Stu and Mike, who were frequently within sight up the road. As the Wheelsucker started to feel better, he was able to hold better power numbers both seated spinning and standing and grinding, and he started to close some distance on the three ahead. And then a miracle happened; he caught and passed them. In fairness they were trying to go easy and enjoy the incredible scenery while the Wheelsucker was in his special pain/misery place, gasping for air, driven mostly by grim determination. The climb flattened out for awhile and the Wheelsucker put it in the big ring and ground it out to some speed, opening a gap and passing several more riders. The other ABRTers were long gone up the road. He was passed by one thin climber. The Wheelsucker yelled that Contador was just up the road and the climber accelerated. It later turned out this guy was doing hill repeats! The others were waiting at the top. Scott had stopped for a pee break very early in the climb and had ridden past the Wheelsucker, Stu, Mike and Ken in short order, but had not caught Ace. Ace had dueled with two track World Cup Omnium stars who were in Mallorca training (big ring on the climb).

The original plan was to turn around at the top and go back, but some of the other riders were still feeling frisky, so Ken was convinced to go down the other side, adding significant distance and time to the ride. The Wheelsucker was in favor of shorter, but was reluctant to head back on his own, so followed the others. There was a short descent, then some flat and climbing. The Wheelsucker was feeling better and ground past the group on one short bump, for fun. Ken declared that the KOM point and awarded the Wheelsucker the climbers jersey ;-) Then there was an amazing long descent led by Ken and Ace. WOW!!!! After some work on the flat, the group rolled into the Pollenca town square for coffee, coke and lunch.

Another great coffee stop. ABRTers wore their "Mallorca 2012" jerseys on Day 4. Ken Whelpdate is wearing the USA shorts.

While better than when the ride started the Wheelsuck was still feeling weak. Coffee AND Coca Cola AND a large sandwich AND a Cliff bar may have helped a bit.



Matt and Ace find a warmer spot in the sun

After a nice relaxing long lunch the group set out. There were still some asking for another good climb, but fortunately for the Wheelsucker, Ken pointed out that there was no longer time to add that to the route. However the group was still a long way from the hotel and still had many miles to go. There were some rollers, but no long climbs and the group ground out the miles.



The town/village square taken just as ABRT was leaving



But about mile 85 another miracle happened; the Wheelsucker started to feel good, just as a couple of other riders started to tire. All-of-a-sudden he was on the front taking some pulls. On the mostly flat or slightly downhill sections the Wheelsucker would put his forearms on the tops of the bars, get as low in front as possible and would drive it, sometimes seeing 350 watts, with brief moments of 400+ on very short climbs. Overall the group was not going superfast, as some riders were tiring (not Ace or Scott, and the Wheelsucker doubts Katy was tiring either), but the Wheelsucker was able to take pulls and hurt people. HE EVEN SPLIT THE GROUP AT ONE POINT!!!

Scott was taking his usual long TT-style pulls, and Ace was taking long pulls as well, with some others helping at times. The route back was over some very narrow country roads, barely wide enough for one vehicle. Vehicles going in opposite directions could only pass each other if one pulled over and stopped.

Eventually the group was on the shoulder of a larger road, going flat or slightly downhill most of the time and the speed crept up. The last bit before we had to ease up at a traffic circle and soft pedal due to traffic was a nice downhill. Ace and Ken decided this was a sprint, but a frisky Wheelsucker saw Ace getting ready and was on his wheel. Ace “won” this, but Ken and the Wheelsucker are claiming that they slowed up so as to be able to stop for the traffic circle in time.

There were some strange moments during the ride. To put this in context, the Wheelsucker needs to tell you that a day or two ago it seemed that the sheep were responding to Ace’s presence. Some would run away as he rode by, but further away some could be heard saying “Baaaa… Ace” instead of “Baaaaah”. Then today, during a pee break late in the ride, several sheep could be heard calling “Maaaaaa..t, Maaaa…t”. The riders were laughing so hard they could not finish peeing.

In a bizarre twist, Ace and Matt apparently both ate lamb for dinner…

There is also more news on the “man love” reported on yesterday, with Ace and Scott singing each other's praises for much of the ride. After yesterday’s ride ended, Scott and Ace wanted to get a few more miles in so they would have over 80 for the day, and continued on the boardwalk; apparently this was a “man date”, and later it transpired that they were buying each other coffees and chocolate. Katy and Tina have kept their cool, so far. Katy said she was “cool with it”, while Tina reported that she did not give a …

Today is a much needed rest day. Everyone is tired and sore. The Wheelsucker has run out of ibuprofen.