The Wheelsucker was not expecting Ace, and perhaps the other riders were not as well. The ride started out easy, with Ace frequently riding at the back. Perhaps no one was confident in knowing what to do. The Wheelsucker decided to sit in early, wait to warm up, and to be ready if something went at the hard spots on the course. And shortly before Harwood Hill, the Wheelsucker noticed Ace move up from the back. The Wheelsucker may not be much of a tactician, but he can follow a wheel, so he followed Ace up to near the front of the group and then noticed Patrick and Ace chatting; the Wheelsucker was sure they were plotting an attack. The pace was steady (and hard) most of the way up Harwood, without attacks until Patrick launched near the top. Ace did not try to go with him. The Wheelsucker was boxed in as he had pulled slightly to the left of the rider in front, but had someone to his left. Patrick made it up the last short steep section and was opening a small gap when the next few riders got to the top. The Wheelsucker waited for a gap and then launched after Patrick.
And it worked!
The Wheelsucker closed the gap; no one came with him, and he was soon rolling by Patrick and motioning to him to get on his wheel. And then the Wheelsucker laid down a blistering (for an aging Wheelsucker) pull and – thinking he had opened the gap a little and it was time for Patrick to take a really nice long hard pull to really open the gap – flicked his wrist. But Patrick declined to pull, pointing out that the Wheelsucker’s major effort had only allowed the small gap to close, and the rest of the bunch were back on.
Somewhat disappointed the Wheelsucker quickly reverted to recovery mode, hoping to be ready if anything went on the South Polling House stairstep. There were no attacks on the way to South Polling House and the Wheelsucker was able to recover. After turning off the route 2 shoulder, groundhog favorite Rick was pulling with the Wheelsucker following. The Wheelsucker let the gap open to see what Rick would do when he realized he had a gap on the way to the stairstep, and then the Wheelsucker pulled off to get behind someone.
No one was going hard, but a small group opened a gap, probably just to get a bit of a head start for the climb, and the Wheelsucker tagged on the back of it. On the climb the Wheelsucker was careful to keep a small gap between him and the rider in front, and set up just a little to that rider's left in case he needed to jump suddenly. And he kept checking over his left shoulder expecting to see a blur as Ace, or Patrick or Sean, or someone, went by at a high rate of speed. But no one did. Riders in front pulled off and and the Wheelsucker was leading at the top of the stairstep and the right turn onto Bayard, and unlike most times, he was not, to quote Ace, "cross-eyed and blowing snot bubbles."
But not everyone made it to the top in the group, and it was definitely a smaller peloton down Bayard.
The rotations continued and the Wheelsucker found himself on the front soon after the right turn onto Polling House. This was sooner than the Wheelsucker wanted to be on the front, and it was on a downhill, followed by a shallow climb to the sweeping right and the false flat that goes by the golf course. So after taking a decent – by Wheelsucker standards, not yours – pull, the Wheelsucker pulled off before the sweeping right and sat in, hoping to grab a wheel as the pace was ramped up by someone on the false flat and over the short wall.
But no one ramped up the pace...
Riders were looking at each other. The strong experienced riders seemed to occasionally be frustrated with the pace or the way some riders would not pull through, but they were also watching each other and watching Ace, and it seemed no one was willing to burn matchsticks to speed up the pace and shrink the group.
Being from Canada the Wheelsucker is a hockey fan, and he was recalling when the great Boston Bruins defenceman Bobby Ore, returned from a serious knee injury. Ore’s mobility and skating were severely hampered (the injury ended his career soon after), but everyone else had so much respect for his skill and ability that no one dared skate up to him and try to take the puck away from him. So Ace may have been sick, and was not his usual leg ripping self, but apparently no one was willing to go hard and risk Ace countering.
And then Ace decided he would go, part way to the right turn for South Polling House. The Wheelsucker likes to ride behind Ace so he has a chance to see what Ace is doing, and a chance to react. And the Wheelsucker needs all the chances he can get to stay with Ace when Ace decides to go. So when Ace went, the Wheelsucker was as ready as he was going to be, but was still redlined and at his limit, holding Ace's wheel. The gap to Ace's wheel opened a little on a slight climb, but a straining Wheelsucker closed it back off the top. And then Ace was done and pulled off and the Wheelsucker found himself on the front at a high rate of speed and pedaling very hard trying to keep that speed up. He hung on as long as he could and then pulled off and went back looking for a place to hide.
On the second climb up the stairstep the Wheelsucker was again expecting attacks. It was more than halfway through the ride, many riders were tired, strong riders had not yet burned too many matches, and it was close enough to the finish for a small group of very strong riders to get the gap and stay away. So the Wheelsucker kept checking over his left shoulder, but saw no one. Jeff Chun was leading with Mike Faber on his wheel and the Wheelsucker third. Most of the way up, Mike pulled over. The Wheelsucker closed the gap to Jeff’s rear wheel and realized he was still relatively fresh two thirds of the way up the climb.
So the Wheelsucker attacked!
He pulled to the left, stood and mashed the pedals as hard as he could, laying down all the power an aging Wheelsucker could muster.
And amazingly, it worked!
He opened a small gap to Jeff, who appeared to be chasing half heartedly. Quickly running out of steam and redlined, the Wheelsucker tried to keep it going, accelerated on the flat portion of one of the stairsteps and then hammered the last short climb and swept into the right turn and kept going. Just before the right turn he glanced back and saw Jeff a few short bike lengths behind, and a rather larger gap to the chase pack. The Wheelsucker still had something in the tank and tried to keep the pace up on Bayard without going so far into the red he was unable to catch on if a train came by.
But the now smaller group quickly caught him and Jeff, and the Wheelsucker pulled over and fell back to the tail end to recover.
Though quite a bit smaller than the group that rolled out, this lead group was still at least seven riders. The pace was civilized for most of Bayard but part way down the last descent (before the intersection with Polling House) a few riders – presumably short cutters – were spotted ahead. Bayard is slightly downhill, straight and very fast here and the pace ramped up. And then Ace got on the front and REALLY lit it up. The Wheelsucker was in his special pain room trying to hold on to Ace’s wheel. The pace hit 35.5 mph, and then Ace pulled off and the Wheelsucker found himself trying to lead a 35 mph paceline. This is a problem, because the Wheelsucker cannot pedal a bike that fast.
The pace slowed for the right turn onto Sands, and for reasons the Wheelsucker could not fathom, the group eased right up and soft pedaled. The Wheelsucker eased up and let one rider by, but even just coasting he had a gap on the group. And then the Wheelsucker got silly: No one was riding, there was a small gap, no one was on his wheel, and he was feeling good. So the Wheelsucker jumped, put his head down, put his forearms on the tops of the handlebars and pedaled HARD.
And it worked!
No one came after him. Trying to avoid looking back too often the Wheelsucker kept his head down and pedaled hard for what seemed like a very long time, until curiosity got the better of him and he sneaked a quick glance back. And the road was open and no cyclists were in sight!
You may wish to ask yourself if a lone aging Wheelsucker attacking a large group that includes Sean Easley, Patrick Hogan, Ace McDermott and a number of other strong riders, 18 minutes ride from the finish line is courageous or stupid; the Wheelsucker is still pondering this point.
All the way up Sands the Wheelsucker was on his own. His Powertap hub was acting up and giving him ridiculous power readings (and he did not have an HR strap), so the Wheelsucker was pacing himself by perceived exertion. And was DEFINIATELY exerting himself! Finally, just before making the left turn off of Sands onto Harwood/Patuxent River Road the Wheelsucker glanced back and saw the chase coming.
But they were still a ways back and the Wheelsucker was not done yet. He put his head down, got more aero, and pushed hard on the downhill to the dip, and then went steady but not ridiculous on the climb out, so he would still be able to accelerate off the top. The 214 light was in range and the Wheelsucker was thinking that he might get a green, or might be able to jump across on a red if traffic was clear, but the light was red as he approached and as he slowed to check the intersection he was caught by the chasers.
A hyperventilating Wheelsucker needed the red light to recover, and not long after crossing on the green, he had maneuvered himself to the back to sit in and recover. More riders had joined the group so it was rather larger.
Once again Ace and Patrick were plotting at the back. Jeff Chun was following Patrick and the Wheelsucker was following Jeff. The steady rotation at the front brought them closer and closer to the sprint. On the last flat section Ace moved up a bit with Patrick, Jeff and the Wheelsucker following in lock step. Shortly after the last dip, on the climb to the finish, Ace launched. The three following riders all jumped and accelerated. The Wheelsucker was in danger of being gapped, but stood and pushed as hard as he could and reclosed the gap to Jeff’s wheel. Most of the rest of the group were not sprinting.
Then Ace pulled right and Patrick launched past him. The acceleration was more than the Wheelsucker could match and this time the gap between his front wheel and Jeff Chun’s rear opened for good. As Jeff accelerated away from the Wheelsucker he started to come around Patrick, while Mike Faber started to come around the Wheelsucker. Patrick and the Wheelsucker were fading, while Jeff and Mike were still accelerating. Jeff the sprint, Patrick and Mike sorted out 2nd and 3rd, while the Wheelsucker was 4th, out of four sprinters.
Since the Wheelsucker's Powertap was acting up, no Wheelsucker data is available. However, the Wheelsucker's attack lasted a little over 13 minutes. He reached 36.5mph following Ace's wheel on Bayard.
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