2:00 hours. BT: Group ride. Treat parts of this as a race. Ride aggressively. Experiment with race strategies and test yourself.
Needing to get two hours in, the Wheelsucker decided to ride from work to the P&R and then ride back after the ride. In addition to lengthening the ride to over two hours, the Wheelsucker would be nicely warmed up for the start of the group ride. Without going hard he had nearly 30 minutes of warmup before stopping in the P&R to chat while the group formed. Riders there included: Sara, Stu, Patrick Hogan, Steve O, Eric Boone, C Kick, Tom Aga and Rick Paukstitus.
Sara and the Wheelsucker thought the group was dawdling in the P&R, so they started to roll out with Steve O joining them. Sure enough this “spooked the herd” and the rest of the group followed.
As soon as he turned right out of the P&R onto 424 the Wheelsucker was reminded that there was noticeable wind. The Wheelsucker got to the front and gapped Sara and Steve just before the left turn onto Rossback. Ex pro Pete Penzell and Iain Banks were waiting at that turn to join the group. The Wheelsucker waved at them and rolled by as Rossback is slightly downhill here.
The Wheelsucker kept going at tempo or the low end of threshold. Part way to Governor Bridge Road he looked behind and there was no one in site. Hmm.
The Wheelsucker does not consider himself to be a strong tactician but it seemed obvious that trying to ride away solo from a group that includes multiple stronger riders who like to go hard is probably insanity. But the gap was there, what should the Wheelsucker do? So he continued on, riding at steady power in his most aero position with his forearms resting on the handlebar tops.
He checked behind part way to Governor Bridge Road; still no one there. He kept going trying to go fast without straining too hard. He glanced behind two or three times on the way to 214; there was no one there. The Wheelsucker was delayed briefly at the 214 traffic light waiting for a gap in traffic. Desperate times require desperate measures, so the Wheelsucker jumped across in a traffic gap without waiting for the green light. He saw a single rider approaching as he rode across 214. The Wheelsucker continued. He was holding low end of threshold power and avoiding any harder efforts, trying to conserve energy so he would be able to jump on a wheel when caught. The rider was in ABRT kit, so was not Pete Penzell. Could it be Eric Boone? Slowly the rider behind closed the gap. Climbing out of the dip, just before passing the right turn onto Sands, Steve Owens caught the Wheelsucker, and said he was doing a twenty minute interval. It was about 14:30 since the Wheelsucker had crossed the finish line (going the other way). Not wanting to interfere with Steve’s interval, the Wheelsucker tucked in behind Steve.
A few minutes later Steve flicked his elbow and pulled off and the Wheelsucker took a long pull, resting forearms on the handlebar tops, as aero as possible. Every now and then Steve or the Wheelsucker would sneak a peak behind them, and each time there was no sign of a chase.
First the Wheelsucker thought maybe they could stay clear until past Harwood Hill and avoid having to respond to a probable attack from the strong riders. But Harwood Hill came and went and Steve and the Wheelsucker were still clear. Then the Wheelsucker thought maybe they could make it up the South Polling House stairstep climb and avoid having to respond to a probable attack by the strongest riders, but the South Polling House stairstep climb came and went with no sign of a chase. Steve took a hard pull at the bottom of Polling House and was tired when the Wheelsucker took over and led up the false flat at the golf course. Steve fell off the Wheelsucker’s wheel and the gap opened. But the Wheelsucker thought it was much too early (only about half way through the ride) to go it alone and he needed Steve, so he eased up slightly and gestured to Steve to get back on.
And then a miracle occurred.
As Steve and the Wheelsucker approached the right turn onto South Polling House, leading to the South Polling House stairstep for a second time, they saw a rider waiting at the turn. When a little closer the Wheelsucker saw that this was young, strong, fit, and fresh Aaron Canale, back from college (and college A racing) at Ft. Lewis in Colorado.
This was a beautiful thing, thought the Wheelsucker, a fast tow all the way to the finish line! Because the truth was that it was not just Steve who was tiring, the Wheelsucker was feeling the effort in his legs, too.
Aaron got on the front and moderated his pace to what Steve and the Wheelsucker could manage. The three made it up the South Polling House stairstep and then turned west on Bayard to Sands. And somehow there was still no chase in site. What were those guys doing, thought the Wheelsucker; stopping for a flat?
Once on Sands, the Wheelsucker was thinking it was probably only 15-18 minutes to the finish line; could they hold on?
The Wheelsucker was tired, but had enough presence of mind left to give the matter some thought. Steve looked to be tiring and Aaron was not going that hard either. The Wheelsucker’s average speed was dropping slowly, as was his average power. He considered trying to jump clear of Steve to ensure a win, but then considered that Steve was still taking pulls and the group was probably still as fast or faster with three riders rather than two. And Steve had worked very hard and trying to drop him would not be nice. And preserving the break had to be the priority. The Wheelsucker was finding the pace easier while following, and would "ramp it up" whenever he got on the front, but was probably pulling too hard, keeping his pulls short and quickly pulling off and going to the back. In retrospect the break and the Wheelsucker would have done better if the Wheelsucker had gone a little easier and pulled longer.
Aaron was taking the longest pulls and showed no sign of tiring or strain. Climbing out of the dip on Patuxent River road Aaron was leading and Steve was slowly gapped at the top of the climb. The Wheelsucker waited until the top of the climb and then rode around Steve and started closing the gap, just about the time Aaron noticed the gap and eased up to wait. Steve followed the Wheelsucker and the three were back together soon enough.
The light at 214 changed from green to amber and then red as the three approached. Desperate times call for desperate measures; two cars approaching from the left had their right turn indicators on, so the three jumped across after a short wait.
There was still no sign of a chase! What was going on, thought the Wheelsucker.
The Wheelsucker was scheming, Aaron had not ridden the full course so the Wheelsucker decided he did not have to beat Aaron to win the race (oops, group ride), and Steve was hanging but showing signs of fatigue. So the Wheelsucker continued with his short hard pulls, letting Aaron do the bulk of the work, hoping to jump Steve at the sprint. But at the penultimate dip, Aaron was leading up the short hard climb out of the dip with the Wheelsucker riding second, and Steve third. Steve eased up or was gapped, and did not close the gap on the flat. The Wheelsucker let Aaron do the entire leadout on the flat, down the last dip and up the other side. The Wheelsucker was tired, so he waited and waited and waited and then tried to jump Aaron for a very short sprint. Aaron looked over and easily sped up and crossed the finish line first.
But the Wheelsucker crossed ahead of Steve, and so considered this a win. The three soft pedaled at the Governor Bridge Road intersection waiting for the others. About 1:05 after they finished Pete and Eric soft pedaled across the finish line with most of the group close behind.
Apparently Pete and Eric had eased up to let the others back on. And the Wheelsucker had shamelessly let Aaron and even a tired Steve do most of the work in the break, and had even lost the sprint to Aaron, but decided this was still technically a win for the Wheelsucker.
And as Pete Penzell said, "A win is a win." Now if the Wheelsucker could just do this in a REAL race …
Wheelsucker data:
Time from first crossing finish line, back to finish line: 1:16:34
Distance: 30.62 miles
Average power: 244 watts (this dropped off during the second half of the ride)
Normalized power: 261 watts
Average cadence: 89 rpm
Average speed: 24.02 (was still 24.8 2/3 of the way through)
Readers should not be surprised to learn that the Wheelsucker keeps score. He has recently "won" four training rides ...
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