Despite a number of ABRT team mates racing cycle-cross it was a large group rolling out of the Park & Ride at 9:00am. The Wheelsucker was near the front as Sebastian Byers led the group around the left turn onto Rossback, and the initial descent.
As Rossback flattened out a little Sebastian was riding steady at the front. The Wheelsucker knew he needed to warmup before making any hard efforts, but… no one else was warmed up… so he decided to warm up by jumping off the front for fun.
And it worked!!!!
He got the gap and was quickly out of site up the road, or at least not seeing anyone when he looked behind. But after a few minutes the Wheelsucker was surprised to see Mark Frazer finishing a bridge effort.
A few minutes later the Wheelsucker flicked his elbow to indicate that he was pulling off and Mark could pull a bit. But Mark slowed and stayed glued to the Wheelsucker’s wheel. So the Wheelsucker smiled and put his head down and kept going. Finally, about 11 minutes into the ride, he pulled off and this time Mark pulled through. The two were slowed at 214 by a red light, but the light was changing, so they slowed to a crawl and then crossed on the green. But the delay was enough for Steve Owens and Sebastian to complete their bridge effort; they caught Mark and the Wheelsucker very shortly after crossing 214, making it four riders together.
What had started as a near-threshold individual warm up effort was suddenly a break off the front, with riders willing to work hard.
Steve Owens took killer-long pulls; the Wheelsucker took shorter pulls, trying to go harder. Sebastian and Mark took hard pulls. Whenever they looked back there was no sign of a chase. The only riders they saw were small clumps of non-ABRT riders they were passing. The lead group rode steady hard up Ed Prout, there was no reason to attack each other as they needed everyone pulling hard.
But the pace was hard and the four were tiring. Mark skipped a couple of pulls. The Wheelsucker had to strain to catch on at the back after some of his pulls. The Wheelsucker’s average power was slowly dropping, but his PE and HR were very high. There were no attacks, the four worked well together, and they rolled into the rest stop tired, happy and with no chase in sight. Steve reported it was the second fastest time to the rest stop.
It turned out to be a long wait, as no one had been chasing hard. There were two separate chase groups. The second of the chase groups rolled by the rest stop without stopping. They probably just wanted a bit of a head start, but some riders at the rest stop frantically jumped on their bikes and rolled out after them. The Wheelsucker and most of the rest stop group caught them part way up the climb out, probably abandoning some riders at the rest stop.
There were attacks on the rollers on the way to North Beach. A group opened a small gap, but was caught at the traffic light in North Beach.
The Wheelsucker was tired and drained. He felt like he had nothing left, and was worried about being dropped. He was sitting in, taking very short pulls when he did get to the front, and wondering if he was going to make it to the finish with the lead group.
The climb out of Herrington Harbor on Old Colony Cove Road and Friendship road was steady and the Wheelsucker was relieved to make it to the right turn on Fairhaven with the group. On the downhill (into a headwind!) riders with far too much energy were jumping clear; the Wheelsucker avoided chasing and others closed the gap as the jumpers quickly tired. The group was facing a headwind or crosswind all the way back, so the Wheelsucker thought a small break getting away was unlikely. But the risk was being dropped out of a move with strong riders and being unable to chase back on. Once on Towne Point Road the Wheelsucker was wondering how he was going to avoid being dropped on The Wall.
Rick Tucker jumped near the bottom of the Leitch Road climb. Calling down to the engine room for whatever was left, the Wheelsucker went after Rick, with Brian Synowiec on his wheel. After what seemed like a long hard effort, the Wheelsucker got close to Rick’s back wheel, and Brian launched past them both. Rick went after Brian, leaving the Wheelsucker gapped and gasping. But Brian sat up, Rick kept going, and the Wheelsucker kept chasing though gapped a little, but with a larger gap behind. Rick eased up at the top of the climb and the Wheelsucker caught on shortly after the sharp right turn, caught his breath for a few moments while wheelsucking, and then pulled into the descent and JUST HAMMERED up The Wall. Well, not really HAMMERED, maybe more just hammered. The Wheelsucker gave it about 80% and Rick declined to drop him and they reached the top together. The Wheelsucker felt he had done what he wanted to, get to The Wall clear of the group and make it up to the top without being dropped, so he eased up.
Rick continued. The Wheelsucker could see a small chase group behind him, but Rick was not far up the road, and was slowed slightly at the Deale Road/256 intersection and eased up after crossing. The Wheelsucker caught back on. The two continued and picked up Will Nuckols (who had probably short cut). The Wheelsucker got on the front for the descent into the Bay Front Road/258 intersection, where they were held up by car traffic.
Rick was riding like the energizer bunny and got on the front soon after they crossed. Will was gone; the Wheelsucker followed Rick. The chase – with Mike Wagner, Mike Faber, Steve Owens, Jay Murphy and Mark Frazer – quickly caught them. A really tired Wheelsucker took short pulls and mostly hung on at the back. Then somewhere on Nutwell Sudley or later on Sudley Road, Steve commented to the Wheelsucker that it was "the Thrilla in Manilla", Ali versus Frazer, again. Three of the four riders who were in the break to the rest stop were in this lead group, and presumably whichever of them beat the others in the sprint could claim they "won" the ride. A tired Wheelsucker noted that Steve’s focus on Ali versus Frazer was leaving Steve out of it. Hmn. The point may be moot, thought the Wheelsucker, because he was struggling just to stay on.
It was painful to Sudley Road, and then the climbing started. But the Wheelsucker was still there when the lead group crossed 255 and was thinking the only climb left was climbing out of the dip on Patuxent River Road. So he hung on, and schemed. Ace and Nick Vita bridged up to the group, catching it on the route 2 shoulder.
The Wheelsucker was following Mike Wagner (a great wheel to follow, being fast but very steady) near the back of the group after 214, and slowly rotated forward as riders pulled off. Mike ended up taking a long pull past the ball park, through the last dip and up onto the last flat. The Wheelsucker had worked hard to stay on Mike's wheel, and was thinking he did not want to start the sprint that close to the front. Without even waiting to get to the front he shamelessly pulled out of line and went to the back. Steve Owens was now second wheel, with Mark Frazer not far behind him. At the back the Wheelsucker found himself behind Ace, Nick Vita, Rick and Mike Faber. With the sprinters (and would-be sprinters) maneuvering for position, a small branch lying on the right side of the lane was not pointed out well enough for everyone to see it, and Mike Faber went over it and caught it between his seat tube and his rear wheel. The Wheelsucker passed him on the left as the wheel locked up and Mike skidded. The Wheelsucker was too busy looking at Rick’s rear wheel to notice Mike crash into the right side fence.
Ace was gesturing to Nick for Nick to follow Ace's wheel. The only idea the Wheelsucker could come up with was to follow Nick in the sprint. Just after the group sped through the last dip Rick launched early. The Wheelsucker knew he had nothing left and this was too early for the Wheelsucker to go, so he let Rick go, but then had to go hard to get to Nick's wheel. And just as he was finally closing in on Nick's wheel, Ace went, with Nick glued to him. The Wheelsucker want to maximum Wheelsucker power, essentially sprinting to go after them. Rick died and came back, then Steve Owens and Mike Wagner came back. But the gap to Nick's wheel was growing despite the Wheelsucker giving it everything he had left. Then the Wheelsucker's tired legs made it clear that his sprint was over; the Wheelsucker gave up. Perhaps ten bike lengths in front Frazer gave up about the same time, as Ace and Nick flew passed.
Nick won, Ace was second, Frazer was third, and a resurgent Mike Wagner pulled past the dead-and-coasting Wheelsucker for fourth.
So for those keeping score, quite possibly just the Wheelsucker and Steve Owens, Frazer beat Ali, and Steve.
Wheelsucker Data:
From jump to rest stop: 1:02:03, 23.85 miles, 232 watts, 618 watts maximum, 255 watts normalized, 91 rpm, 48 F. After comparing notes, Steve Owens averaged higher power for that interval, 244 watts.
Entire ride: 2:50:38, 59.6 miles, 195/717 watts, 142 bpm, 86 rpm, 50 F.
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