Mallorca Training Camp Day 3The Wheelsucker Report

After two long days of riding, the Wheelsucker was hurting. His legs were tired and he noticed a very high resting heart rate when he went to bed Monday evening. He was worried about "digging a hole."

So the scheming Wheelsucker came up with a brilliant strategy hoping to make the "A" ride slightly slower and more survivable and enjoyable (for him); encourage the rest of the ABRT women's team to do the A ride instead of dominating the B group. Having the women along would only enhance the beauty of riding in Mallorca. And if the A group's pace came down by 1/2 a k/hr, so much the better. And the stronger riders in the B group had been driving the pace to the point that their guide was having trouble holding on; guide abuse?.

And it worked!

A larger A group rolled out together. The Wheelsucker sat in early and waited for the one hard climb; up the Orient. And on that climb, he went from the start with Nick Vita, tried one very early Contador-style attack (this may have made the highlight video) and then went easy, not worrying about it when others rolled by. So first Nick was gone up the road, then Scott. Then Matt and Katy rolled by and asked the Wheelsucker to jump on, but the Wheelsucker declined, wanting to go easier. But soon he stood up and felt better, climbing back up to Luc from Belgium, and then closed up a bit on Katy near the top. The S curves at the top were very tight; so tight that he even had to coast around some of them while CLIMBING. Near the top the Wheelsucker stood up and hammered around the last two turns and up to the Col d’Honner sign. He even went back down a short distance and came up again after the last rider.

After some minor rollers at about the height of the Col d’Honner there was a spectacular descent – more open turns – to a nice village square for a café stop.

Sue and Matt enjoy the lunch/cafe stop

Thomas, one of our guides, and Luc from Belgium

Great coffee!

A nice square

On the way back the Wheelsucker skipped the optional climb up Randa (kudos to stronger riders Scott, Katy, Matt, Laura, Nick, Tyler for doing Randa for a second time!), opting to do the normal route back by the beach, into the wind or with a strong cross wind, with the remaining riders and Thomas and Johan. But in the reduced A group the Wheelsucker got off the front a couple of times, and took some solid pulls in the wind. And the descent back into Palma was fast and fun! Johan got on the front for most of this descent and drove the fast train. After several minutes of furious hold-that-wheel-or-die-trying pedaling a non-ABRT rider just ahead of the Wheelsucker gave up trying to stay on Amanda's wheel and pulled over. The Wheelsucker closed the small gap and held on. The group eased up to encourage the rider to catch back on at the back, and a couple of other riders went by. This was like a bullfighter waving a red flatg at the bull for Sean and the Wheelsucker, who jumped out of line and sprinted after those riders, catching and passing them. But with the route back to the hotel not clear, Sean and the Wheelsucker sat up and waited for the rest of the group.

Both halves of the A group were back at La Terrazza (the cyclist bar) in time to see the GC leaders do the TT (final stage) in Tirreno-Adriatico. Tony Martin won. Nibali lost a few seconds to Froome, but it was a short TT, and Froome was not going to gain back all of his 32 second deficit, so Nibali won overall, with Froome second.

The Wheelsucker is looking forward to carb and nutrient replenishment at dinner. And the Wheelsucker is very much looking forward to a rest day.

Wheelsucker Data:

4:46:17, 83.16 miles
Work: 2746 Kj
Elevation gain: 3694 feet
Power: 160 watts average, 826 watts max
Speed: 17.43 mph average, 42.37 mph max

The climb of the day: 21:22, 3.79 miles, elevation gain 1106 feet, 264 watts average, 747 max, HR: 148 bpm average, 164 bpm max, 10.65 mph average, VAM 947 meters/hour