The reduced "A" group -- which included some ABRTers and some others -- then rolled out with 15 riders including Thomas and Johan. The pace was high, but this was partly due to the tailwind. The route was flat to minor rolling for the first two hours or so, but then there was a right turn at a sign that said "San Salvador". The group stopped so Thomas and Johan could make the regroup points clear to everyone, and then it was off up the climb. The first one kilometer were not steep, but after that it was generally steep with lots of switchbacks. Not everyone started the climb together; some of the group had rolled out a little ahead. But the Wheelsucker rolled out with Scott and Katy Giles, Matt Albanese and a few others. And almost immediately the effort was higher than the Wheelsucker could sustain and he was gapped. And once the climb was steep enough Scott put it in gear, and rolled off the front to chase down those who had started a little earlier.
The Wheelsucker had started out with the notion that it was too early in the training camp to "go to the limit", but was very quickly going just about as hard as he could, trying to keep a small group which included Matt and Katy, in range. Several other rides initially tried to glue themselves to the Wheelsucker's wheel, but the Wheelsucker was able to lose some weight prior to the camp. He may not have a lot of watts at threshold -- particularly after being sick for three weeks -- but he HAD succeeded in making the divisor in the watts/kg equation somewhat smaller. So several strong-but-heavier riders were looking good initially, but dropped away from the Wheelsucker. There were all sorts of riders on the climb, and the ABRTers were passing a lot of them on the way up.
And then a strange thing happened, without the Wheelsucker trying to go harder, the small gap to the Matt-and Katy group shrunk and somehow the Wheelsucker made it back on. And in the meantime others from that group were being gapped.
And then near the top the Wheelsucker accidentally discovered an interesting tactic. Having pulled in front of Katy, the Wheelsucker glanced down at his Joule bike computer and saw three dashes instead of numbers on the power line of the display. The computer was not reading power data from the Powertap hub!
Now the Wheelsucker is very attached to the (limited) watts he can put out, and he very badly wanted to know how he did on this climb. So he needed the bike computer to be recording numbers, not three dashes (which meant it was not getting or recording data). So while climbing up the S curves, the Wheelsucker was looking down and hitting buttons on his bike computer to re-synch to the Powertap hub. This resulted in the Wheelsucker steering wildly all over the road and so unnerved Katy that she sat up. Afer a few seonds of intense button pushing, the Wheelsucker managed to get actual power nubmers back on the Joule display. He looked up and was on the last ramp to the finish. Looking down, he called down to the engine room for whatever was left -- darn little -- and pushed with all his remaining power and crossed the line ahead of Katy. It is almost certainly possible that Katy could easily have sprinted around, but was still worried about the Wheelsucker swerving into her, so stayed safely behind.
The Wheelsucker thinks this tactic might work again in races.
There was a nice pause at the top to recover and take some images. The view from the top of San Salvadore is SPECTACULAR!
From the top of San Salvador
From the top of San Salvador
Matt Albanese
Katy Giles
An easy climb for Katy?
From the top of San Salvador
From the top of San Salvador
From the top of San Salvador
From the top of San Salvador
From the top of San Salvador
From the top of San Salvador
From the top of San SalvadorAfter a pause at the top to recover and take some pictures, the group started rolling back down. John Howard demonstrated his bike handling skills by riding away from anyone near him. The Wheelsucker was initially followed by Scott Giles who was providing real-time coaching: "weight on the outside foot, bend your arms and get lower, push down on the inside bar." While it wasn't pretty, the Wheelsucker was soon descending rather better than he had been.
The re-group point was at the bottom, and then there was a short ride to a nearby town, and then a search for a cafe.
The group was happy to take a long break, and basically ignored Thomas and Johan's efforts to get everyone back on their bikes. But eventually the group rolled out.
Laura Van Gilder and Tyler
John Howard
The group was in no hurry to leave
The wind was incredible; another day perhaps better suited to sailing rather than cycling.
On the way back the guides announced a 10 kilometer race on a rolling road section, with a strong headwind. This was the same road section the group raced on last year. The Wheelsucker was initially successful in tagging on to the back of a two rider move (becoming the third) though another rider follwed him up, but this four rider group was quickly caught by the strong riders driving a larger group. All the Wheelsucker needed was a good short surge to get on at the back of the fast train, but he was unable to find the willpower to do this, and missed the back of the train. He did tag onto a smaller chase group, but was not able to stay with them either, popping on a short climb a couple of minutes later. With most of the riders up the road, and just two riders and a guide behind him, the Wheelsucker had to TT by himself, in the headwind. And he had already expended most of the energy he had on the climb, and was unable to hold any sort of power, so rolled in alone, a long way behind the others. The lead group had done a little drafting behind a tractor, early in the race, and some of the chase group got across to them.
It was supposed to be easy from here back to the hotel, but when close to Playa di Palma Scott jumped clear and the Wheelsucker followed wheels finding himself in a chase group. After a long bit of wheelsucking, the Wheelsucker decided to come around and take a pull. Scott was not far ahead. The Wheelsucker gave it everthing he had for a very short pull, then flicked his elbow and pulled to the left. And the chase went by at a high rate of speed, and the Wheelsucker could not find the willpower to surge hard enough to get on at the back, for a downhill into the wind ride. So once again the Wheelsucker was chasing on his own.
The lead group sat up on the beach road, and the Wheelsucker quickly caught back on for the short easy ride to the Orient hotel bar, where the guides bought us a drink while we watched Nibali, Sagan and Rodriguez crush the four rider chase and what little remained of the peleton, in today's Tirreno-Adriatico stage. The Wheelsucker is SHOCKED to report that Sagan outsprinted Nibali and Rodriguez, but Nibali took over the maglia azzura of race leader, pushing Team Sky's Chris Froome down to second; very exciting stuff!
Laura and Nick about to enjoy post ride drinks at the Orient hotel
Wheelsucker Data
Time: 4:38:12
Distance: 84.35 miles
Work: 2827 Kj
TSS: 281.5
Elevation gain: 3385 feet
Average power: 169 watts, max 774 watts
San Salvador climb: 17:26, 2.95 miles, elevation gain 1095 feet, average power 290 watts, speed 10.16 mph, VAM 1149 meters/hour
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