Not Quite Ready for the Nancy Boy Ride

The Wheelsucker has been having headaches for some weeks now. Not the very painful, shut-you-down headaches like migraines, but mild headaches that keep recurring and perhaps slow one down, even if they don’t stop one. And then about last Tuesday the headaches stopped being intermittent and became continuous. The Wheelsucker also found he was down on power (and willpower) on the Tuesday ride, and dropped out and short cut for the Park & Ride.

Being slowed down a little is one thing, being unable to contest the Tuesday training ride is an entirely different matter; the Wheelsucker was on the phone making a Doctor appointment the next morning, was at the Doctor on Friday, and by Friday evening was on medication.

This took care of the headaches, but what about the power?

The Saturday ride is normally a great way to find out what one’s form is. But the group was discussing a "Nancy Boy" easy ride. There WAS a race in West VA, but that was a long way to go if it turned out the Wheelsucker was still lacking in form, or started on a bad headache ten minutes in. So the Wheelsucker decided to do the Saturday ride on his own, hard.

Kyle Jones suggested the Wheelsucker start thirty minutes behind the others and chase, but catching the group when they had a thirty minute head start would require riding twenty percent faster than the group, for sixty miles, which seemed pretty much impossible to the Wheelsucker. So he rolled out just before the group, to stop at the ball park for a bathroom break, intending to chase from there.

He passed the Annapolis triathlon club group forming up at the intersection of Governor Bridge Road and Patuxent River Road, and spooked a couple into going hard until the Wheelsucker turned off at the Ball Park. Nick Vita was at the Ball Park waiting for the group, but was gone – so the group had gone by – when the Wheelsucker left the ball park.

Riding alone, with no one to surge or attack, the Wheelsucker was able to ride at his hardest sustainable pace. It was almost one hour – 59:03 – to the rest stop, and the Wheelsucker averaged 261 watts, a HR of 154 bpm and 21.91 mph. He passed a number of recreational cyclists, but did not catch any of the ABRT group; but they were all at the rest stop when he rolled in.

The Wheelsucker wanted to keep going hard, and did not want to be tempted to sit in with the group, so he refilled one water bottle, jumped back on his bike, and was rolling again in less than two minutes.

He took a very short interval to get going again and to the correct side of Chesapeake Beach Road and then "hit it" again. But the Wheelsucker was tired, and his power dropped. He averaged 272 watts for the first two minutes, but about 216 for the next two minutes. Forty-five minutes later, halfway to the finish line, he was averaging 216 watts, though his average went up from that point on.

And the Wheelsucker was expecting to be caught! His lower average power was resulting in lower average speed and surely the large group had not waited long at the rest stop and was coming up the road after him. The Wheelsucker pressed on. He crossed the finish line alone, 1:32:16 into the interval, averaging 228 watts, 149 bpm, and 20.66 mph.

Shortly after he reached the Park & Ride a small group rolled in; they had short cut at Boyds Turn Road.

A little later the main group rolled in. They had been delayed first by a flat tire, then by a reported head on collision between two cars on Towne Point Road when a car tried to pass them, crossing a double yellow line at a blind spot on the road, and hit the oncoming car head on.

Wheelsucker Data:
From Ball Park to Finish Line (so excluding warmup and cooldown): time: 2:32:23
distance: 53.55 miles
2185 KJ
Power: 239 watts average, 635 watts maximum, 250 watts normalized
HR: 151 bpm average, 166 max
Speed: 21.09 mph.