And he still felt it Tuesday afternoon!
Knowing he was tired and sore, the Wheelsucker arrived early and did a lap behind the Park & Ride, and decided to "sit in" early to get more of a warmup. Even when he is tired and sore, his legs usually eventually start responding, but it takes a lot longer to warmup.
As the group (which included Rick Paukstitus, Patrick Hogan, Brian Whitesell, the Saxo kid (named Andrew), Tom Aga, and a few more) gathered in the Park & Ride, the Wheelsucker saw Nick Vita roll up. Seeing Nick, the Wheelsucker announced that it was a "Plan B" ride.
As the group turned onto Rossback Road Aaron Canale joined in. The Wheelsucker loudly advised Rick Paukstitus that it was now "Plan C".
The pace was mostly civilized until the 214 intersection, but picked up afterwards. The Wheelsucker avoided long pulls and tried to position himself where he could watch Nick and Aaron. When Aaron drove the pace on the descent into the dip and the climb out, the Wheelsucker was riding second, and just let the gap open rather than strain to close it. So Rick closed it.
Sure enough, Aaron attacked on Harwood Hill, with Nick and one or two more going with him. The Wheelsucker was expecting something like that and going to full Wheelsucker power,went after them. He was initially gapped by about two bike lengths, but with help from Rick Paukstitus got to the leaders quickly. But at that point everyone was fresh and almost everyone was back on moments later.
Nick pulled from the right turn off of route 2 to Polling House, to the left onto South Polling House, and then pulled off leaving the Wheelsucker on the front. While generally reluctant to pull, the Wheelsucker is especially disinclined to pull hard on a downhill before a hard climb where the strong guys like to attack. So he took a short medium-hard pull and swung off. But when he swung off only Mike and another rider were on his wheel, and there was a gap to the rest of the group. So the Wheelsucker tucked in.
Riding third wheel, the Wheelsucker encouraged the two in front of him to keep the gap, and they drove hard to the base of the climb. Mike started the climb in the lead, spinning at a high cadence, and then pulled off. This left the Wheelsucker on the front; he went to 500 watts initially, but all of a sudden several strong guys (Nick, Aaron, Patrick and Andrew) went by on his left, going considerably faster.
The Wheelsucker immediately went to full Wheelsucker power, but nothing happened and he was quickly gapped by a few bike lengths. But going almost as hard as he could the Wheelsucker was eventually able to match their speed and stop the gap opening, and then slowly closed it and grabbed a wheel.
OUCH!
But the leaders had eased and the second half of the climb was not so hard.
At the top-and-right-turn onto Bayard, the group had shrunk.
The Wheelsucker found himself on the front again shortly after the right turn onto Polling House and pulled up the climb, and through the right turn to go past the golf course. The Wheelsucker knew that that false flat, and particularly the little wall at the end, are favored attack points for strong riders. So the Wheelsucker pulled off slightly early to recover at the back.
Very soon after he pulled off, while he was at the back, and before he had recovered, Nick and Aaron jumped on that little wall climb and gapped everyone else. The rest of the group accelerated hard trying to go with them, and the Wheelsucker was straining to stay on at the back. Despite the group accelerating, Nick and Aaron got clear.
The rest of the group gave chase. The chase looked strong with Patrick Hogan, Brian Whitesell, Andrew the Saxo kid, Rick P. the Wheelsucker and another rider or two.
But Nick and Aaron were riding strong!
Nick and Aaron kept going hard and were chased hard, though the chase was not as smooth as the Wheelsucker would have liked. There were some too-quick accelerations, and some too-sudden slowing, and the Wheelsucker was having to use his brakes much more than he wanted to.
The pursuit continued up Polling House, and onto South Polling House. The gap closed as Aaron and Nick started the stairstep, but they were riding smoothly and opened it again later in the climb.
The Wheelsucker observed that the chase would gain when going smoothly on the flat, but would lose a little to the leaders on climbs and other places the rotation was disrupted.
Up Bayard and onto Sands Road the chase continued. The Wheelsucker considered that the advantage should swing to the chase once on Bayard and then Sands, as the two leaders had to be tiring and the road was flatter, making the chase smoother. But while the leaders had to be working very hard, riders in the chase were working very hard too. And the chase started taking casualties, leaving good men on the road. Rick sat up after yet another hard pull, other riders sat up, or did not make it on at the back, after a pull. Part way up Sands the chase was down to four: Patrick, Andrew (the Saxo kid), Mike and the Wheelsucker.
And the chase was faltering! The relentless pursuit was taxing the remaining riders in the chase and the pace was slowing! At one point the Wheelsucker was following a rider when they grabbed a water bottle (half full of sports drink, not water) and dumped most of the contents on their head! OOPS! But up the road Nick and Aaron were also finally tiring and slowing. And slowly the gap was closing.
Finally warmed up well, and confident that no one in the chase was going to surge on a climb (there were few climbs left on the route), the Wheelsucker was able to get to the front and take a fast hard pull. The Wheelsucker's view was that to close the gap to the leaders, whoever was leading the chase had to be going harder than Nick and Aaron. With the carrot not far up the road inspiring the Wheelsucker, he was going very hard (for an aging Wheelsucker) and then pulling off with just enough reserve to get on the back and recover. And it was getting easier to catch on at the back as the chase was smaller. And each time he pulled he could see the gap shrinking.
But Nick and Aaron were not going to give up easily. They still had a gap at the top of Sands Road, and then they accelerated on the fast descent to the dip and sweeping right. But now the gap was shrinking all the time.
The Wheelsucker pulled the chase up from the dip. He was no longer desperate, and when starting his pulls was being careful to not hurt the rider who had just pulled off; there was no point losing another rider out of the chase. Nick and Aaron were just up the road and only a miracle in the form of them catching a green light that turned red just behind them, could save them now.
But no miracle occurred.
The Wheelsucker had considered waiting until they were close and then trying to jump across alone and revitalize them, but it would have taken a big effort to shake the other riders in the chase, and the mostly likely outcome was that it was all coming back together at the 214 traffic light, so there was little point making that effort.
Once through the 214 intersection the Wheelsucker sat in at the back of the recombined group of six. He quickly decided that Aaron and Nick still had some matchsticks left and tried to position himself where he could see them.
As the finish approached the Wheelsucker was busy scheming at the back. He knew all five other riders could outsprint him (your deceased grandmother could outsprint the Wheelsucker), so a desperate Wheelsucker decided to go early. He decided to attack on the penultimate dip, and tried to be on the back of the line for this point. But the rotations did not quite work out for this, and the Wheelsucker was 2nd or 3rd last in line as the group descended into the dip.
With Aaron on the front the Wheelsucker pulled left out of line, stood and accelerated hard on the last of the descent. Pushing close to 800 watts the Wheelsucker powered up the short steep climb, accelerated on the flat and then clicked into the gear he wanted and put his head down for speed. He looked down and behind him and saw a front wheel not far behind him. And just about this point in time the Wheelsucker realized he was out of matchsticks and had almost nothing left.
And the Wheelsucker gave up!
He pulled over and prepared to grab the wheel. But as he did, he saw the next few riders, all slightly gapped but closing fast, and the Wheelsucker waited until four riders had gone by, and then slowly started pedaling after them. Behind him Andrew the Saxo kid close the gap to his wheel.
The Wheelsucker was only a few bike lengths behind the four leaders, but had almost nothing left. After recovering for a few seconds – which took them through the final dip and starting up the false flat to the finish – the Wheelsucker stood up and started a long sprint. But it was too late to close the gap, as the four ahead were already sprinting and riding away. Andrew sat up and the Wheelsucker eventually rolled past Aaron who had led the other three out, rolling across the line a distant fourth.
He was too far back to see who won it, but thought it was Nick, Patrick, then Mike.
Wheelsucker data (from 214 to the finish):
1:06:36
236 watts average, 898 watts max (the penultimate dip attack), 285 watts normalized
143 bpm average, 162 bpm max
89 rpm average, 119 rpm max
24.74 mph <=== one of the fastest Tuesday rides!
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