Mallorca Training Camp Day 5The Wheelsucker Report

This was probably the Queen Stage with five significant climbs. It was cooler than the day before, and still rather windy. The Fred Rumpelberg "A" group has shrunk to the ABRTers and one strong Dutch guy named Jeroen.

The Wheelsucker had decided to warm up and see how he felt, but intended to go hard if he felt alright after warmup. And after sitting in for a long warmup he DID feel good, so pushed hard most of the day. But the first climb was 17-18 minutes, and took a lot out of the Wheelsucker.

The top of the first climb of the day

It was "over the hills and far away", north and then west, over the west coast hill/mountain range and then an amazing hour ride going southwest down the west coast of the island with mostly short climbs and descents and some long climbs. There were spectacular views of the Mediterranean at times, which prompted some to ease up or stop to admire the view and take photographs.

The group stopped on the first descent to admire the view.

The group stopped on the descent to admire the view

While the group was stopped on the descent, some noticed a Blanco Pro Cycling pro go by the group.

Once onto the coast road, some riders accelerated on short descents. The Wheelsucker pushed hard to close the first gap and get with the leaders, and then stayed with the lead group as it shrunk when more riders stopped for photos. The group was soon down to Scott Giles, Jeroen, and the Wheelsucker, but the Wheelsucker was at his limit and being gapped on the short climbs, and was chasing desperately to catch back on. Actually the Wheelsucker was turning himself inside out to stay on, but somehow he was very slightly stronger than Jeroen on the longest climbs, and would gap him near the top, and then try to close on Scott on the descents. Though really just rolling, there was lots of climbing and descending: what goes up must come down.

Though this group of three broke apart several times with the Wheelsucker being dropped on short climbs, it also came back together several times, probably because Scott eased up so Jeroen and the Wheelsucker could rejoin.

Scott was almost always on the front of this small group, driving the pace. And then up the road was an occasional view of a rider in blue and white. Scott continued to drive the pace, with a stretched-to-the-limit Wheelsucker holding on to Jeroen's wheel. And slowly Scott reeled in the rider ahead, who turned out to be the Blanco Pro Cycling rider who had passed the group earlier. Initially this was thought to be Bauke Mollema, but careful examination of Strava that evening, and confirmation from our guides Thomas and Johan, revealed that it was Laurens ten Dam (a climber who finished 8th in the 2012 Vuelta):http://www.procyclingstats.com/rider/1405311-Laurens-ten-Dam. He was riding a gorgeous shiny Giant in Blanco colors. Scott did all the work to reel him in, but Jeroen and the Wheelsucker both managed to hold Scott’s wheel while he closed the gap, so also made it on.

Once there, Scott looked over and said something about how nice ten Dam's bike looked.

ten Dam looked over, realized he had been caught by aging tourists; a 40+ rider and two 50+ riders; or a Wheelsucker and two Freds. So ten Dam immediately ramped it up. Jeroen and the Wheelsucker popped within seconds, but Scott held ten Dam’s wheel for about five minutes as ten Dam slowly ramped it up to shake Scott.

Members of pro tour teams are not supposed to be caught by Wheelsuckers and Freds. Can you imagine if others in the pro peloton heard about this? ten Dam would never have heard the end of it.

There was a long climb to get back over the west coast heights. A desperate Wheelsucker could not hold Scott Giles on the long climb, but eventually gapped a tenacious Jeroen (who was more of a sprinter, but was very strong). And then Scott stopped near the top to deal with a wind jacket and the Wheelsucker rolled by just before the crest, and went as hard as a not-very-good descender aging Wheelsucker can go, to keep the gap to the traffic circle at the bottom. It was a beautiful road with mostly not tight bends and excellent visibility; Lots of fun descending on open sweepers.

One by one the riders in the group rolled into the traffic circle at the end of the descent.

Scott finishing the descent

Spencer rolls round the circle at the bottom of the descent

Amanda climbed part way back up and came down again

Once the group was all together there was more riding and another climb. It was over three hours of riding and four of the day's five climbs before the coffee/lunch stop. Duane had rolled out early and was caught at the bottom of the last long climb on the one hour section down the coast. Being an excellent descender he was with the group at the traffic circle.

The Wheelsucker imagined that Laurens ten Dam's perspective on being caught might have been rather different from that of Scott, Jeroen, and the Wheelsucker:

 

Laurens Ten Dam:
I was doing a nice training block in Mallorca, going for about 180km. I was riding the beautiful road down the west coast with some rollers and a couple of short climbs; a route I frequently do. I passed a group on Fred Rumpelberg bikes – Freds -- on a descent where they were stopped. Some time later I am riding southwest on the coast road and I noticed that three riders in different team kits were slowly gaining on me. I was going easy. When they caught me one admired my bike. I looked over and realized I have been caught by three old guys, two clearly over fifty, and two of them are riding Fred bikes with triples. Oh, the shame of it!

I was supposed to be doing an easy day, but this was intolerable, so I ramped it up. The two oldest guys popped immediately, but the third hung on, so I had to go harder. The guy was riding a Fred bike with a triple that probably did not fit him and must have weighed well over 20 pounds. I kept having to go harder and harder but after five minutes or so I finally rode him off my wheel. After that I kept the pressure on to make sure they did not come back. It completely ruined my training day, I was not supposed to go hard there, but I simply could not tolerate being caught by the Freds. They would probably write some crap in a blog about it, and I would be the laughing stock of the pro circuit at the next big race.

 

Wheelsucker Data:

5:13:28, 87.18 miles, 16.7 mph average, 38.3 mph max, 3365 Kcal, 6358 elevation gain, 3365Kj,
Power: 179 watts average, 923 watts max,
HR 134 bpm average
56 F average temperature
TSS 369.2 (0.836)